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It’s week eleven of the Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we highlight the latest slate of corporate corruption that’s shaping the Trump Administration, its agenda, and the material impacts of that corruption on real people. Our first ten issues can be found here, and follow us on Bluesky and X for more updates on this work.
This week has been defined by yet more chaos, as the gaggle of incompetent buffoons that seemingly make up the policy infrastructure of this administration continue to play at political theater while doing all that they can to ruin the rest of our lives. From crashing the global economy to giving corporations free license to do whatever they want, they’re succeeding.
YOU GET A TARIFF, YOU GET A TARIFF…EVERYONE GETS A TARIFF!!!
- Trump’s Tariffs May Tank The Global Economy And Hurt Vulnerable People, But Have You Considered That They Might Also Help Tech Oligarchs Hoard Even More Wealth? The Trump tariffs announced this week have already begun wreaking havoc on U.S. and global markets, and the intrinsically regressive burden of their structure will most hurt middle and low-income families. Who, you might ask, is possibly left celebrating the insane move? Tech lobbyists for one, who seem to hope that the President might use global economic catastrophe to force the exportation of his deregulatory agenda internationally. (this isn’t a lefty conspiracy theory, we assure you! Politico: “tech lobbyists are cautiously hoping President Donald Trump will use his tariff policy as a blunt-force instrument to push [foreign regulations on Silicon Valley digital platforms] back.”)
Given Trump’s immense ties to the tech barons seeking to re-render the world in their own perverse image, this industry optimism makes sense. Who will be left to pick up the tab for the economic recession it requires? Everyday people like you, me and your next door neighbor.
- Who Else Might Be Able To Cash In On The Tariff Chaos? Anyone Willing To Prove Sufficient Fealty To Our Authoritarian-In-Chief. Who else stands to benefit from such an economic regime? The people, corporations, nations, and more who are ready to (or already have) beg Trump for favors, waivers, exemptions, and otherwise catered reprieve, as Mother Jones explored this week. Given the slate of corporate actors who already pervade the administration as its officers and advisors, those first in line to benefit from potential loyalty prizes seem clear.
QUITE EASY TO GUESS WHO MIGHT BE SKIPPING TAX SEASON THIS YEAR. ALL THANKS TO MUSK AND DOGE.
- Worried About Bad Actors Stealing From The Government? Never Fear—DOGE Laid Off The People Who Make Sure Billionaires Pay Their Taxes. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists broke news this week that DOGE-related layoffs at the Internal Revenue Service are disproportionately impacting the unit that specifically audits billionaires. That data shows the office losing no less than 38 percent of its staff, a far higher percentage than other offices at the agency suffered. Why would Elon Musk’s pet chainsaw do such a thing? Musk is one of at least sixteen high-level Trump appointees who number in the top 0.0001 percent, and who count amongst the 902 billionaires that live in the US. A number of other U.S. based billionaires have also increasingly cozied up to the administration, including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg who (along with Musk) are the three wealthiest people in the United States. Given that tax evasion from the wealthiest Americans costs the public more than $150 billion a year, it’s no surprise the gloriously corrupt Trump administration sought to gut the public servants charged with holding them accountable to it.
PAY TO PLAY—THE APPARENT NAME OF THE GAME IN TRUMP’S WASHINGTON
- The NLRB Dropped Two Cases Against Apple After Trump Nominated Its Lawyer To The Board’s Top Prosecutorial Office. Meanwhile, the apparent kickbacks remain as overt as ever. The National Labor Relations Board froze two cases against Apple last week after Trump nominated Crystal Carey to be the agency’s new general counsel. Carey, notably, is literally listed as representation for Apple in both cases. The cases, which allege that Apple had unlawfully intervened in employees’ organizing activities, are now left in limbo. Apple CEO Tim Cook’s investment in the administration seems to be paying off.
- Dirty Energy And Dirty Air Coming To A Data Center Near You. Other Trump backers also continue to cash in on their donations; Energy Transfer, the notorious pipeline company chaired by longtime Trump ally Kelcy Warren, has seen skyrocketing requests to power data centers since Trump took office, The Guardian reports. The company anticipates huge profits from its anticipated combination of regulatory rollbacks and the boom in interest for dirty energy to power the centers. What will be the consequence? A massive uptick in toxic emissions (as in, people will be maimed or die), as polluting corporations continue to drive an ever-more poisonous deregulatory regime.
- Now On Sale: Clean Air Act Exemptions For All. In this week’s Revolving Door Project newsletter, my colleague Hannah Story Brown explored how Trump is now marketing his amenability to granting inquiring corporations presidential exemptions “from a whole host of hazardous air pollution regulations that the Biden administration passed implementing the Clean Air Act.” What will be its inevitable byproduct? The same sickening, and oft deadly, air that the Clean Air Act was originally created to address.
- All New: A Get Out Of Jail Free Card…For Corporations. Will there be any consequences for the corporations poisoning our communities, abusing their workforces, and violating the law? Not likely. Donald Trump has now used the presidential pardon power, typically understood to be the domain of individuals, to pardon a corporation “sentenced to a $100 million fine for violating anti-money laundering law.” It appears to be the first time the presidential pardon has been granted to a corporation. In so doing, Trump has opened the door to yet another tool for releasing corporations from liability for even the crimes they are found guilty of. Regular people, once again, will be left to pay its price.
- A Gift From One Grifter To Another; Trump’s DOJ Succeeded In Dropping Charges Against Eric Adams. Trump’s Department of Justice finally succeeded in dropping charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams was previously indicted for fraud, bribery, and other criminal corruption. The DOJ’s move for dismissal sparked a slate of federal resignations amongst prosecutors, and the “then-Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, told the attorney general last month that Adams’ attorneys pressed for a ‘quid pro quo’ during a meeting she attended shortly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, according to a letter obtained by the New York Times.” Though both Adams and the DOJ have denied the existence of such an agreement, Judge Dale Ho wrote in his dismissal that “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”
So not only do we have to fear federal corruption, but Trump might empower local politicians to do even more corruption and evade accountability by simply cutting a deal with Donny.
THE TRUMP CORRUPTION COCKTAIL: EQUAL PARTS FAVORS; EQUAL PARTS RETRIBUTIONS
As the administration continues to hand out apparent favors to its allies, its apparent retributions for its enemies seem to be distributed in equal measure.
- ICE And Trump’s DOJ Continue Their All Out Assault On Free Speech. Trump Justice lost one of its attacks on constitutionally protected speech this week as a federal judge in New Jersey rejected the DOJ’s motion to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil’s petition challenging his detention. Despite the continuing stay on Khalil’s deportation by federal judges, ICE has seemingly continued to target visa or green card-holding students and scholars for their constitutionally-protected political speech in support of Palestine. Meanwhile, Zeteo reports that ICE appears to now be manually revoking student’s immigration statuses without informing students or their universities.
- Big Law Continues To Prove Itself A Meek Adversary To Authoritarianism. Two more law firms joined the ranks of other capitulating cowards by reaching agreements with Donald Trump as part of the administration’s “thinly-veiled anti-democratic effort to intimidate lawyers from taking cases hostile to the administration.”
- The FCC’s Latest Edition Of Anti-DEI Hysteria. Even though the Trump admin has “dropped, withdrawn or halted investigations and enforcement actions against over 100 corporations in its first two months in office,” others are not proving so lucky. Last Friday, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission opened a new investigation into Disney and its ABC unit for its DEI policies that FCC Chair Brendan Carr alleges may be “discriminatory.”
We are continuously updating resources to keep you up to date on Trump and Musk’s all-out assault on everyday people and the Constitution.
This includes:
No Corporate Cabinet, a central hub documenting corporate corruption and conflicts of interest among those jockeying for power in the Trump administration. We’ve published profiles on Trump nominees like Paul Atkins, Linda McMahon and Chris Wright – check back for more profiles in the days to come.
Our tracker of the Trump administration’s failure to comply with court orders, and the programs and services being disrupted by its non-compliance. We are also tracking the actions judges take to attempt to enforce their orders.
A list of all of the individuals who have ever been reported to be affiliated with Elon Musk’s DOGE, with links to the original reporting.
Profiles of the agents behind DOGE attacks, including conflicts of interest that might make their unfettered access to the federal government dangerous to the public.
A list of the agencies that DOGE has visited, keeping you up to date on what Elon Musk is looking to illegally gut.
An aviation tracker of administration attacks on air safety.
Agency Spotlight—Our tracker of appointments to leadership positions at thirty-nine federal independent agencies.
A list of high-level career officials who leave agencies on their own accord, especially when the Trump administration forces them to choose between following the law or Trump’s illegal orders.
The material consequences of the administration’s abandonment of the public interest.
Public Health Trackers following the administration’s response to and management of public health crises, especially measles and bird flu outbreaks.
IMAGE: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok Is In The Public Domain