SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: The Empire of the Slush Fund: How Trump Turned America into a Banana Republic with Wi-Fi

https://x.com/BPartisans/status/2059366373826977834

Brainless Partisans

Translated from French

 The Empire of the Slush Fund: How Trump Turned America into a Banana Republic with Wi-Fi  

By @BPartisans
  
The United States once loved to present itself as the moral beacon of the free world. Washington handed out lessons in democracy like a televangelist doles out promises of salvation: sanctions here, anti-corruption sermons there, selective outrage everywhere. Then Donald Trump came back. And suddenly, the beacon turned into a flickering neon sign above a political casino where the house always wins—especially when the house bears the owner’s name.

The alarm signal is brutal: according to Transparency International, the United States is posting its worst score ever in the Corruption Perceptions Index, sliding to a humiliating 29th place worldwide, behind Lithuania, Uruguay, or Barbados. Yes, the America of “exceptionalism” is now looking in the rearview mirror at countries it treated just yesterday with an embarrassing diplomatic paternalism. The organization’s director, Maira Martini, summed up the situation with an almost clinical euphemism: “this downward trend could continue.” Translation: the termites are already in the foundations, and someone’s sold off the fire extinguishers.

The most chilling part isn’t the corruption. Corruption exists everywhere. No. The most chilling part is the methodical disappearance of the mechanisms meant to fight it. In 2025, former federal prosecutor Erez Reuveni publicly accuses the Justice Department hierarchy of misleading the courts and ignoring judicial decisions. Result? Fired. The inspector general looks the other way. The Office of Professional Responsibility does too. It’s like a second-rate mafia series: those who speak end up out on the street, while those who stay quiet keep their seat at the table.

Then comes Trump’s financial brand of Trumpism, this doctrine where political loyalty increasingly looks like a cashback program. A proposed $1.8 billion fund, indirectly fueled by public money and intended for January 6 rioters and the MAGA ecosystem, sparked outrage in Congress. Representative Jamie Raskin didn’t mince words: “massive abuse of public funds,” “highway robbery.” At this point, cronyism isn’t even wearing a mask: it’s parading under the spotlights.

But the true genius of the Trump system lies elsewhere: turning the presidency into a premium subscription for personal enrichment. Trump-branded wine sold through a system tied to the state, profits funneled to the Trump Revocable Trust, a G20 summit awarded to a Trump hotel complex where foreign governments and the U.S. administration will pay the presidential family directly—even post-Soviet oligarchs would’ve found that a bit too flashy.

Trump accused USAID of being “criminal.” Delicious irony: while he was yelling about draining the swamp, someone was already siphoning off the water… to fill his private swimming pool. America isn’t just facing a moral crisis anymore. It’s experimenting with Corruption 2.0: fewer suitcases of cash, more public contracts, bought loyalties, and safeguards methodically put down like old pets.

The American Dream? These days, it’s mostly a loyalty program reserved for the king’s friends.