Ethics in Government

Week 4 of Trump’s presidency proves yet again that Trump is only in it for his billionaire buddies. This past week, Trump and Musk repeatedly reminded us that the federal government is ready to serve the interests of their wealthy friends. In fact, in one case, Trump managed to pair this ongoing corruption with another core theme of his administration: demonization of immigrants. As our Jeff Hauser noted, by reassigning Internal Revenue Service agents to the immigration crackdown, Trump has essentially granted billionaires a “get out of taxes free card.”Let’s take a look at some other recipients of Trumpworld’s largesse (Spoiler alert: The biggest is of course Elon Musk):

Outgoing Biden officials, members of Congress, and political staffers are all up for grabs by industries looking for their own roster of influence peddlers.

When Donald Trump nominated North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his interior secretary, centrist to right-of-center “abundance agenda” advocates were jubilant. Politico reported, with typically amoral zeal, that Interior would be led by an “overnight rock star in the tech and energy worlds.” Burgum has a foot in both camps, as a former governor from fracking country with deep ties to fossil fuel executives like fracking magnate Harold Hamm, and a venture capitalist invested in software companies who sold his own software company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001.

Elon Musk isn’t the only billionaire puppetting the federal government. Sam Altman also has staff in his pocket. All it cost was $100,000

RDP Founder and Executive Director Jeff Hauser joined The Lever to discuss the conflicts of interest plaguing President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks.

DOGE is a new weapon in Trump’s ongoing war against the administrative state. But it’s important to remain clear-eyed about the value federal civil servants provide. These individuals help ensure the safety of our food, medicine, transportation, air, and water. They are also the backbone of our education, health care, and financial regulatory systems. There is no doubt that many Americans feel burned by their recent interactions with these systems, but federal employees are the wrong targets of their ire.

The initial series served as a reminder of the first Trump administration’s utter indifference to the public interest. This time around, the Revolving Door Project will be on hand to provide real time, clear-eyed analyses of the President-elect’s approach towards governance, staffing, ethics and critically, the material impact of his pro-corporate attitudes.