The Successful President
If you look at traditional measures from the economy to polling to America’s role in the world, the first two years of Trump’s second term has been an abject failure. But those are probably not the measurements Trump and his family (and those who have fallen in line) are using. When you consider the pace at which the system has been corrupted, along with the financial gains of those who took advantage, it’s been a hell of a run. Noah Shachtman in the NYT (Gift Article): Is This the End for Trump’s Princelings? Or Just the Start? “President Trump’s second term has ushered in a starkly different arrangement. Tariffs, prosecutions and regulations are all now subject to one man’s whims. Business leaders are being asked to underwrite government projects, such as the White House ballroom. The government assigns to itself a cut of private businesses. The White House bestows enterprises from oil fields to social media platforms on loyal allies. A coterie of top officials, their children and their gaggle of hangers-on move through the world like princelings. The rule of law can seem situational at best. It’s a throwback to an old style of governing, centered on a father figure who treats the nation like an extension of his household, and who dispenses resources and favors and jobs like a dad handing out candy to his kids. In an environment like this, fealty to the national patriarch can seem like the surest — in some cases only — way to get ahead.” (And plenty of people and companies are taking that way.) “Wealth can still buy political power, just as it did in the oligarchy’s previous iteration. The difference today is that a new gusher of cash has erupted and is flowing in the opposite direction. Political power, or even just proximity to it, is generating wealth to a degree unknown in modern American history.”
+ Has the war in Iran been a success? Depends how you measure: U.S. Oil Industry Earned Over $130 Billion in Profit During Iran War.
+ In two years, American democracy has been turned into the plot of your average mob movie. Trump Erupted After Learning of Alina Habba’s $50 Million Deal. He wasn’t mad that his pardons are for sale. He was mad that he didn’t get a taste. “Angry about the scale of a contract signed by one of his former lawyers with the family of a wealthy pardon seeker, the president told allies he wanted some of the money to go to his future presidential library.” (In the business, we call this making her an offer she can’t refuse.)
+ The tech market is looking dangerously shaky. What if things go really south and the bubble bursts? Guess who’s in charge of the bailout? The Atlantic (Gift Article): Can Democracy Survive the Next Financial Crash? “If the crash happens on Donald Trump’s watch, his administration would likely sidestep Congress entirely. A Trump bailout would proceed on whatever terms please the president and his allies, who would use it as a bonanza to enrich their favored companies and CEOs, even if they were the ones who caused the crisis to begin with.” So, yeah, the midterms are a pretty big deal.
