Week 80 - Historic Corruption, a Failed China Summit, and Trump’s Unending Iran War

The biggest stories this week center on the blatant, unprecedented corruption by Trump, his family, and his regime. What is shocking is not only the scope, but also Trump’s willingness, even eagerness, to flaunt his kleptocracy in the light of day, seeming to regale in the fact that no one in his regime or party would dare to challenge or in any way stop him.Notable this week was not only Trump’s disclosure that he or his agents had made more than 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter, many of which involved companies with business before his regime, but also several that he had publicly promoted or directly helped through his actions and policies. Far more brazen was his so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was poised to award $1.8 billion of taxpayer money not only to his allies, but also to Jan. 6 insurrections, whom he had already pardoned, and will now be enriched and encouraged to do the same in the future at his beck and call! This was another in the long list of examples of Trump getting away with one thing (pardons), then taking a broken norm to a next level, after little to no pushback.These remarkable headlines sucked much of the oxygen out of other important story lines. The Iran War continued with no progress, and following the same pattern of Trump threatening strikes, then backing off (TACO), with no end in sight. Bloomberg reported financial markets had gotten desensitized to his pattern, and Trump’s words and posts were having diminishing impacts. The American public moved increasingly against not only the war, but also on Trump’s overall approval and approval on other key issues, reaching new lows.Trump’s China Summit was by most accounts not only unproductive, but also deleterious to U.S. standing, and an embarrassment. While Trump seemed smitten by, and trying hard for a friendship with China’s president, Xi referred to the U.S. as a “declining nation,” and seemed to troll Trump throughout his visit. Meanwhile, Trump continued to pull away from our NATO allies, and took steps toward conflicts with Cuba and Greenland, which would also serve to allow him to control the narrative away from what we are no longer talking about — the Epstein files.As a second outbreak hit this week, the Department of Health and Human Services was hit with another senior level resignation. There are other important stories as well on the dysfunction within our federal agencies, which is only getting worse. With all this happening, Trump remained focused on his ballroom, and his campaign of retribution.