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Most Corrupt Presidency in History? ho-hum.... yawn...
The Most Corrupt Presidency in American History, By the NumbersTrump's second-term pardons and sentence commutations have wiped away more than $2 billion in fines and restitutions. The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2025 that the president's forgiveness spree "has spawned a pardon-shopping industry where lobbyists say their going rate is $1 million." The Atlantic in June 2026 set the updated price at $2 million. Whereas Bill Clinton conceded within 15 months that the Marc Rich clemency had been a mistake (even while hotly denying that political donations had anything to do with it; he claims to have been persuaded by testimony from high-profile Israelis such as Ehud Barak), the always-unapologetic Trump barely feigns interest in the process, even while his family and Cabinet members forge business deals with the ex-cons and their companies.
Queried by 60 Minutes in October 2025 as to why he had just pardoned Changpeng Zhao—the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who had already served four months in prison and had his company pay $4.3 billion for money laundering—Trump said: "I have no idea who he is." The president might have asked his son Don Jr., who had recently introduced his dad to Zhao's pardon lobbyist and in the preceding months had contracted Binance to exclusively host and build the blockchain technology for the Trump family crypto trading platform World Liberty Financial. (That company's stablecoin, USD1, was used in May 2025 as the currency for a $2 billion investment into Binance by the United Arab Emirates company MGX, a transaction that, according to The Wall Street Journal, "rocketed USD1 up the rankings of largest stablecoins," thereby "pushing its market capitalization up from $127 million to over $2.1 billion." ) When asked about the controversial clemency, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a one-size-fits-all denial: "Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest."
Say what you will about Clinton's skeevy pardon of Marc Rich, at least it wasn't preceded by Rich forging billion-dollar partnerships with a company owned by the president and managed by his daughter. Yet here we are in Trump's second term, so overwhelmed by dodgy-sounding deals that any attempt to measure or characterize the scope of corruption can seem preemptively futile. The numbers are too big, the conflicts too brazen, the examples too numerous.
...
Jared Kushner, as Jacob Sullum recounts, has amassed north of $6 billion in his Affinity Partners private equity firm since launching in 2021, the bulk of which has come from the leadership of the same Middle Eastern countries he has been a senior negotiator with during both of his father-in-law's presidencies. Companies owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have forged deals with Dad's government in the hundreds of millions. Eyebrows barely get raised anymore when the president, during official overseas trips, cuts ribbons on his latest golf course.
Queried by 60 Minutes in October 2025 as to why he had just pardoned Changpeng Zhao—the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who had already served four months in prison and had his company pay $4.3 billion for money laundering—Trump said: "I have no idea who he is." The president might have asked his son Don Jr., who had recently introduced his dad to Zhao's pardon lobbyist and in the preceding months had contracted Binance to exclusively host and build the blockchain technology for the Trump family crypto trading platform World Liberty Financial. (That company's stablecoin, USD1, was used in May 2025 as the currency for a $2 billion investment into Binance by the United Arab Emirates company MGX, a transaction that, according to The Wall Street Journal, "rocketed USD1 up the rankings of largest stablecoins," thereby "pushing its market capitalization up from $127 million to over $2.1 billion." ) When asked about the controversial clemency, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a one-size-fits-all denial: "Neither the president nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest."
Say what you will about Clinton's skeevy pardon of Marc Rich, at least it wasn't preceded by Rich forging billion-dollar partnerships with a company owned by the president and managed by his daughter. Yet here we are in Trump's second term, so overwhelmed by dodgy-sounding deals that any attempt to measure or characterize the scope of corruption can seem preemptively futile. The numbers are too big, the conflicts too brazen, the examples too numerous.
...
Jared Kushner, as Jacob Sullum recounts, has amassed north of $6 billion in his Affinity Partners private equity firm since launching in 2021, the bulk of which has come from the leadership of the same Middle Eastern countries he has been a senior negotiator with during both of his father-in-law's presidencies. Companies owned by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have forged deals with Dad's government in the hundreds of millions. Eyebrows barely get raised anymore when the president, during official overseas trips, cuts ribbons on his latest golf course.
The whole article is worth reading... but the real story is the total lack of interest by major media in covering any of the brazen, blatant corruption of [Redacted], his family, and his sycophantic minions.
Because apparently media consumers would rather watch another episode of some grotesque reality show or see some celebrity making an ass of themselves or learn about the latest overpriced looksmaxxing product from some teenybopper "Influencer".
We are so f****d...
wearily,
Bright
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