Trump Administration: Stunning Level of Corruption, Incompetence
Monica Rockwell
In recent weeks, grift, corruption and lawlessness have been on full display in the U.S. government. No one is hiding it. Not President Donald Trump. Not his cabinet members. It’s as if each one is taking pride in what he or she is doing to actively subvert our constitution and grab what goodies they can, like shoppers at a discount store told they can keep whatever they can shove in their carts before the timer runs out.
On a recent trip to the Middle East, Trump accepted a $400 million airplane as a gift from Qatar, a nation with ties to the terrorists who committed the 9/11 attacks.
The plane goes to the Trump presidential library on his leaving office, making it ultimately a gift for his benefit. Such a gift is against the emoluments clause of our Constitution which prohibits such gifts from foreign governments. There’s a reason the Constitution prohibits such gifts – there are no free lunches. Make no mistake, it’s a bribe.
In a shameless scheme, Trump offers his crypto meme coin, a token you buy in the hopes you profit when it becomes popular enough to sell to someone else. According to a recent CBS News report, Trump has made at least $350 Million from his meme coin so far and “it’s rife with self-dealing and insider trading”. He intends to profit much more by offering high-priced dinners for the coin’s top buyers to buy access to the president.
Trump is also planning a military parade for the Army anniversary on his birthday that could cost up to $45 million.
Meanwhile, Americans are told they may need to sacrifice due to Trump’s dumb economic policies like his tariffs that he, unlike most economists, doesn’t seem to understand represent a tax to consumers.
His back and forth on the tariffs, rambling statements and general incoherence means the dollar may no longer be viewed as the most stable currency. He’s squandering the full faith in our credit markets for overseas investors that we’ve long enjoyed. That means our national debt will become more expensive to finance, further squeezing out other funding priorities like healthcare.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has wantonly closed federal government agencies and cut funding for programs, even (and illegally) funding that had already been approved by Congress. DOGE says it has saved $160 billion through its push to root out wasteful or fraudulent spending. But the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on the federal workforce, estimates that DOGE’s actions will cost taxpayers $135 billion this year.
Few of us would argue that waste and fraud don’t exist in federal spending, but DOGE’s efforts have proved reckless as the government has scrambled to rehire some fired employees when officials realized they performed critical functions. Further, there’s no evidence that DOGE employees possess any knowledge or training in how to identify fraud and waste. DOGE employees have also been given unauthorized access to some of our personal data.
In Anderson, some nonprofit organizations who rely heavily on federal funding like First Light which serves victims of sexual assault may have to close its doors as a result of DOGE’s funding cuts.
As of this writing, a tax bill is making its way through Congress that proposes to fund tax cuts by making steep cuts to Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poorest Americans. It freezes the 2017 tax cuts, including those that went to the richest Americans, while adding a few more. The cuts to Medicaid come in the form of new work requirements. While that might sound like a good thing to some, who really benefits when people are thrown off their healthcare and we see people standing in a long line at the local free clinic? Some states have tried this idea in years past only to see it fail. No gains were ever realized. Most of those on Medicaid are already working or are in school or are disabled.
At some point we will have a true reckoning about our spending as a country. It’s unlikely to come on Trump’s watch.
Meanwhile, the level of incompetence by this administration is unparalleled. In hearings before Congress, Kash Patel, Director of the FBI, told Senator Patti Murray in questioning about his failure to provide a budget to Congress for the next fiscal year by the legal deadline, “I don’t have a timeline for that.”
Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem likes to dress up and play ICE agent, something she’s not, wielding an assault weapon while made up like Barbie. In testimony before Congress, she sat impassive as Senator Chris Murphy laid into her about her agency’s reckless spending at the border which has illegally siphoned money approved by Congress away from disaster preparedness and cybersecurity and her blatant disregard for the rule of law denying illegal immigrants due process, something to which anyone residing in the U.S. legal or not is entitled.
Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. struggled to answer any questions coherently in testimony before Congress, and, in questioning about the Measles vaccine, stated that no one should take medical advice from him. Meanwhile, measles cases have accelerated in recent months as more parents opt out of vaccinating their children.
Donald Trump is whoring America out on the world stage. The United States of America is NOT for sale. The sheer level of corruption and brazen flouting of the law not to mention incompetence by this administration is unparalleled. When will enough be enough?? Grow a spine, politicians.
Monica Rockwell resides with her husband and son in Anderson and ran for Anderson city council in 2022. Her work can be found in her Substack: “View from the Middle: A Search for Truth in Hard Times”.
