21 Comments
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Glenn Reynolds's avatar

What’s a little corrupt self dealing among friends and protection clients? Or is that capos and soldiers? It’s not like he had his brownshirts sack the Capitol or anything. Oops.

To think companies would be threatened for violating Reg FD - let alone insider trading.

Lawrence de Martin's avatar

I predicted this before the election. He may be senile, but after 8 years of watching Presidential press statements and stock trends even a six year can calculate that the bully pulpit moves markets. This is the same correlation as watching the overnight Nielsens during his star turn on "The Apprentice" - which is how he tuned his rhetoric for his core audience.

I called his first term the sequel, "Geo-Political Apprentice". His serious run in with the bond markets came from his idiotic and illegal "Liberation Day" assault on the global world order. It took him a good while to figure that one out (still resisting) but by now he knows how to bounce the Big Board for $Biggly overnight profits.

This all was an easy extrapolation from his own words. Many of his other "shocking" moves were predictable because he falsely accused Obama and Biden of doing it first, like "forever war" and "lawfare". Remember all those accusations of Biden's corruption? That was his "tell".

B.B. Mercury's avatar

Yea… This is actually insane. I knew there were serious conflicts of interest, but I didn’t realize Wall Street firms could pay for faster access to posts that may move the market.

The fact that politicians from both parties are questioning it says a lot. Thank you for breaking this down because more people need to understand what’s happening here.

James Lukeman's avatar

I like your analysis.

But, really, if this President of yours is behaving like this AND getting away with it, it speaks volumes for the gravity of the USA’s situation.

Will a big Democrat victory really make a huge amount of difference after November?

You’ll still be trying to deal with an entrenched syndicate of clear criminals running the federal government.

Would impeaching the President make any difference?

What about the others? You know, Miller and Vought and the people absolutely determined to implement Project 2025? The complete politicisation of the FBI, DOJ and probably CIA? How can that be dealt with?

What about the existence of: a network of …ah … detention centres, the huge ICE organisation itself and its out of control storm troopers, the MAGA and White House control over the US military and the extensive DHS establishment?

What about the existence of a Supreme Court that is generally making rulings that are directly determined by radical right wing politics?

And the list goes on ..

I feel sad to write all this and I hope events prove me wrong but, to be crudely Australian (typical!) I think your boat is very far up shit creek. Hopefully, you all have some paddles. Of some kind.

David Stevens's avatar

Yeah, James Lukeman, it takes two foreigners to point out the obvious to Americans commenting here. Their century old propaganda has been SO successful that very, very naïve commenters are still believers in their ripped, torn, shredded, and charred Sacred Constitution. THAT went out in 1999 and early 2000 when Chads were hanged and SCOTUS crowned the U.S.'s first emperor.

Eileen Davis's avatar

How is this not peddling influence?

Richard Nash's avatar

It absolutely is, and should be the ultimate insider trading as well - Trump profits off of selling insider information that he generates to a select group of people, as well as with his own trades. But this is simply par for the course with the Trump crime family. Knowing they can pretty much get away with anything, they are going heavy into what ever corrupt schemes then can - while they can.

Kelly's avatar

EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE US CONSTITUTION. It’s in there. Using his position to make and keep money for himself while in office is specifically called out as 100% ILLEGAL.

Kelly's avatar
5dEdited

😢 I don’t want to think that widespread stupidity and laziness has allowed a mob-style grifter to burn the Constitution that governed the country for 250 years. Trump WILL die eventually and so will his stupid supporters and I hope people will start to see the importance of having values and expecting moral behavior from most people again. I don’t want to live in a burned out dystopian shell of a formerly great nation all because of some greedy stupid repulsive amoral clowns and a nation half full of idiots who somehow think being amoral is “great”.

David Stevens's avatar

Kelly, I'm not American, yet I understand that the 6 republicans on SCOTUS granted IQ47 immunity. He can, and he does, do anything he wants to. Your concept of federal government checks and balances is poof! gone. Only rebellion, or a successful civil war won by centrists, can or will bring back the American Dream from the nightmare it is in August of 2026. Such a centrist win is extraordinarily unlikely. The bad guys have won, Kelly.

Kelly's avatar

Only if it’s game over and I don’t think it is yet.

Lewis J Greenwald's avatar

The Art of the Steal!!!

Beverly G. D. Hale's avatar

So, we must set up a fund for the public to claw back all the profits from Trump and Wall St trading companies tied to truth social. And that fund could collect all the ill-gotten gains from their corruption while in office. The only thing Trump understands is “what’s in your (his) wallet”.

Helen Nowlin's avatar

Of course, Trump can't, and it is unacceptable that he is!

BigDaddy52's avatar

Yeah. Saw this a few days ago. Gotta wonder who came up with it. Is trump that smart?

Kelly's avatar

Oh hell no. Trump is not only not that smart, he’s not smart, period. Smart people don’t have to wander the earth telling anyone who will listen about how smart they are. What he is though, is greedy, self-impressed and disgusting.

Joseph McPhillips's avatar

Trump admin's corruption & incompetence is beyond shocking. If Trump’s corrupted DOJ can use fake evidence to frame any critic…

As more corrupt indictments collapse, disbarment is the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myzQNX2kisMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOXjQNEX7ec

Fox is NOT news!'s avatar

Of course he did ! He has immunity!

Helen Nowlin's avatar

No, what the "supreme's" actually said was that Trump has immunity if the conduct is within the usual and ordinary part of the executive branch, and this isn't it. In fact, self-dealing is a blatant violation of the Public trust doctrine and fiduciary duties of a public servant. But, who knows? Corruption tends to create a web.

James Lukeman's avatar

Like in the Russian Federation? Trump has seemed, since 2017, very keen on this model of informal and semi secret networks of power and wealth being the primary method of governance.