Thought it might be time for a recap and some good old-fashioned corruption.

What Daivd Roberts wrote in this thread:

Trump is perhaps the most transparent person in the world. His malignant narcissism precludes him from subterfuge or disguising his intentions. It also precludes him from any real ability to plan or look at potential future repercussions from words/actions taken in the moment. It is why he can literally say something and mere minutes later say the exact opposite or completely contradict himself without any qualms. He answers only to his lizard brain.

Trump is also doing to our country what he has done with pretty much every other organization he has previously “run” - he is failing and running us into the ground. BTW, I use the term “run” loosely because it’s really other people who do the work for him - he takes credit when its successful and blames others when it fails).

Let’s remember his long list of business bankruptcies:

And his long list of business failures:

 For those who have forgotten, even his New York City real estate “empire” was a disaster until his banks decided he was too big to fail: Watch: Inside the Bailout that Saved a Collapsing Trump Organization | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site | Documentary Series

It’s an impressive record of constant and unremitting failure.

Basically, Trump’s only success was a fake “reality TV show” – The Apprentice, which he did not actually run or produce (although he was named as a Producer (thanks a lot, Mark Burnett).

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Trump does have some skills – like most con artists, he generally has high social intelligence (the ability to read most people and mirror their behavior to gain trust), ability to gain trust (through status (fake or real), urgency (have to act now), familiarity (“I’m like you”) and confidence - only I can fix it), lack of empathy (no guilt for conning people; vow compunction about lying; narcissistic/psychopathic justification (“they deserve whatever they get”), confidence under pressure (his narcissism allows him to deflect, reframe or) double down without any internal cognitive dissonance), and exploiting cognitive bias (posing as an expert, using social proof – “everyone supports me”.

On the downside, his lizard brain need for recognition and adulation allows him to be manipulated more easily than most other personality types.

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There is one thing Trump (and his family) are really good at: corruption.

Check out the following:

Obviously, without having identified the people trading on inside knowledge it’s hard to make a definitive claim, but it is clear that the corruption exists. Corruption at the highest levels in our government. Maybe the most corrupt financial trading in the history of our country (and, yeah, that’s saying a lot). At a minimum it is tolerated; more likely, the this insider trading is one of the points of the whole endeavor.

Add in the crypto scam where anonymous (and some not anonymous) buyers are propping up Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin with billions of dollars and this is easily the most blatantly corrupt Admin ever.

I’ll let Josh Marshall from TPM sum it up:

This should be a major campaign issue/club to wield over Republican opponents. Tie them to the corruption at every turn. Make them play defense. If they are explaining, they are losing. Tip O’Neill said “all campaigns are local”, but IMHO, Trump has turned the tables. He has nationalized every campaign. Local issues matter, but tying candidates to the Epstein Class and gross corruption is a great foundational anchor.