The $1.776 Billion Slush Fund

I am so distraught and angry that I can physically feel my stomach churn:

The latest and most egregious example of the Trump administration’s corruption is the outrageous $1.776 billion slush fund to reward his loyal subjects who claim the government was “weaponized” against them, particularly those who rioted at the Capital on January 6. I’d call that an insurrection aiming to keep President Trump in office.

Tied to this slush fund, the president’s personal attorney who now heads the Justice Department “negotiated” a deal to protect the president, his family, and businesses from IRS audits or future claims — despite a federal law that bars the president from interfering with the IRS.

Add all the stock trades timed to benefit from the president’s insider knowledge, the jet from Qatar, and the blatant business deals enriching his family.

(Hunter Biden was such an amateur.)

The president claims his administration is the most transparent in history. Yes, the most transparently corrupt.

This week when I filled my car, I paid $4.19 a gallon for the lowest grade of regular, the highest price since the president unilaterally attacked Iran. There’s no end in sight regardless of his yo-yo optimism, well timed to play the market.

Despite the war with Iran and the escalating cost of living, the president seems more interested in his big beautiful ballroom. I recall he said it would be funded with private donations; now he wants Congress to kick in $1 billion.

All these billions, not counting the to-be-defined cost of the Iran war, yet Republicans say we must cut programs that benefit Americans, like Medicaid and the tax credits to reduce the cost of health insurance.

By enabling the president to do whatever he wants, the Republican Congress is abetting his authoritarian hold on the country and undermining the Constitution. The words of Liz Cheney ring in my ears:

“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”