The government has always been a temptation to those drawn to it – politicians, businesses, contractors.  Some see it as a way to raise their profile, shining the spotlight on their personality and genius (if you’ve never seen “A Face in the Crowd” or “All the King’s Men”, I’d recommend both).  Other’s see it as a source of connections and power, with access to money and graft thrown in (Senator Bob Menendez and his wife learned that there could be consequences for such things, and Justice Clarence Thomas learned that there are no consequences for some). Still others just see all of that money disbursed as too good an opportunity (or attraction) to pass up.  The government can be viewed by some as just a big cookie jar with so many enticements to offer.

Congress has passed many laws to make these enticements less ill-gotten.  They have created laws that ensure fair competitive contracting for government work.  They have funded auditors in the General Accounting Office (GAO) to assess proper controls and spending of America’s tax (and debt) dollars.  They passed the Inspector General Act to create independent oversight of various departments of the government and detect fraud, without political interference.  There are laws against taking bribes, there are laws against federal employee conflicts of interest, and there are laws that enable the transparency of activity of the federal government.  Even the Constitution of the United States addresses Presidential compensation in the Emoluments Clause (article II, section 1, clause 7) – even if no one seems to be able to agree on the definition of an emolument.

But President Trump seems determined to take the lid off of the proverbial cookie jar in his administration – turning the US Government into an overt kleptocracy.  There cannot be bribery by foreign officials if no one is willing to enforce the law around them – so the President suspends Justice Department enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  The President needs help with immigration enforcement actions in New York City – so he get’s his former personal attorney (now #2 at the Justice Department) to withdraw an indictment against Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges (not because he didn’t do it, but because it is inconvenient timing and could enable a more convenient quid pro quo with the Mayor – these aren’t my arguments, they are the ones that Justice named in its brief to the court asking for the charges to be withdrawn).  The President is handing an ambassadorship to France to a convicted felon (who just happens to be his son-in-law’s father).

In more systemic actions, he appears to be removing more of the guardrails built into the system of checks and balances.  He fired (although probably illegally) 17 inspector generals without any specific cause (or notice to Congress, as required by law).  He has attempted to empty out the employment base of the government, through unauthorized (and unfunded) severance packages and dismissal of all probationary employees (including the understaffed air traffic controllers).  And he has “granted” the front-man of his band, Elon Musk, the task of updating the air traffic control systems, without so much as an opaque bidding process (after spending his first term attempting to gut safety projects at the FAA).

Leaving the worst for last is the extraordinary power and influence granted to Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and federal contractor whose conflicts of interest are impossible to surmount – if anyone was interested in conflicts of interest in government anymore.  With $13 billion dollars in contracts granted to his companies in the past five years in areas of defense, transportation, NASA (17 departments in all), Musk is a walking conflict of interest with the keys to each and every budget and system in the government.  The decisions to gut leadership at the NLRB – could they have been related to the 24 labor investigations against Musk companies?  The attacks by Musk against the FAA – could they have something to do with the pending fines against SpaceX for safety violations?  Could the $250M investment in Trump’s campaign been part of Musk’s strategy to reduce or eliminate the pending $150M in SEC fines for violating securities laws? 

Opening up the cookie jar, Musk is bound to find plenty of opportunities for extra income.  His recommendation to nix the Space Launch System contracts to Boeing and Northrop Grumman would have nothing to do with SpaceX being the only other alternative to a moon landing vehicle.  There already was a secret plan at the State Department to purchase $400M of armor plated Cybertrucks – apparently that was too embarrassing and egregious for the Trump administration to let continue (but only after it became publicly known). What else might his waste eliminating DOGE find to help him line his pockets.  

The national disgrace continues…