America Corrupted: Trump, Billionaires, and the Crisis of American Democracy

It always starts at the top. The national leader was often tyrannical. Once in power, he fired or “eliminated” anyone with integrity, and replaced them with sycophants, who shared his vision of a prostrate nation — likened to a cow — to be milked for the benefit of a few. He — always a male in my experience — usually adopted democratic trappings, calling himself a president, while creating a slavish legislature and puppet judiciary. I never imagined that I might see my own country brought low in a similar manner. I was wrong.

I give you the most corrupt president in the history of our republic, Donald J. Trump. He, in turn, has done what many tin-pot dictators do. He fired the honest and competent, while filling the resulting empty chairs with similarly inclined grifters. All that they must do to keep their jobs is to remain loyal, while feeding his enormous ego and stroking his unending vanity. Also, they had to turn a blind eye to the illegal financial dealings of himself and his family. If you are wondering, please also note that corruption precedes incompetence.

How did we get here?

Although arguable, it may have begun with Fox News. This network literally created “niche reporting.” Niche reporting is simple. Fox News tells those who identify as conservative viewers exactly what they wish to hear. Millions tune in to hear their favorite pundit tell them how very Right they are — pun intended — and how very wrong everyone on the Left must be. Consequently, political adversaries soon became political enemies. Of course, there can be no accommodation with enemies. Compromise, the hallmark of all genuine democracies, became unthinkable.

It is my contention that if there were no Fox News, there would have been no President Trump. The hyper-biased network provided the serial conman with a free national loudspeaker to amplify his multitude of mendacities. For his part, Rupert Murdoch perverted constitutionally guaranteed free speech to enrich himself. Moreover, it worked beyond his wildest dreams. The fact that his avarice resulted in a massively corrupt administration twice seems to have escaped his notice, even if he cared. We are now living in a highly polarized America created — in large part — by a ruthless Australian corporate businessman, unencumbered by empathy or conscience.

Then, there is the US Supreme Court. Mr. Trump, in his first term, and with the unbridled support of malleable GOP lawmakers, selected three ultra-conservative justices for elevation to the highest court in the land. Those additions resulted in a hard-core majority of right-wingers, who have given Mr. Trump a free hand to indulge many of his most outrageous dictatorial impulses in his second term.

The groundwork was accomplished well prior, and way back in 2010, when the Supreme Court made the disastrous “Citizens United” decision. Broken down to its essentials, that decision says that money equates to free speech, and that, like free speech, cannot be infringed. The wholly predictable result — dark money as defined by author Jane Mayer poured into GOP coffers — corrupting the democratic process from that time to the present.

This sad tale must also include a Republican Party that chose to embrace a petty narcissistic autocrat, while jettisoning anything that once resembled true conservatism. The party today is a mere dried-up husk of its former self.

Two prominent examples — Tesla’s Elon Musk put Mr. Trump over the finish line with roughly a quarter billion dollars in campaign donations. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, continues to hemorrhage honest journalists. The corporate media of today cares little for journalistic ethics and integrity in reporting, especially if it negatively impacts their bottom line.

Moreover, the Oval Office’s cabinet is full of billionaires, thirteen at last count, who are very far removed from the daily hardships of most Americans. They do as nobles have done since the European Middle Ages and act in their own self-interest. Are we the new serfs? Of course, it is well known that the New Nobility do not serve in our nation’s military. So, they have no skin in the game — the current war with Iran.

But there is more, and if we are learning anything, it is that the wealthy and powerful seldom suffer for their illegal and immoral acts. Justice has been made meaningless for the well-heeled. This in and of itself is a corruption of the Framer’s intent. The outrageous protection given to a convicted felonious chief executive by a clearly self-serving attorney general, and before Congress over the Epstein Files, acts as proof of this assertion. The truly terrifying part of this story is that most Republican lawmakers continue to remain silently complicit in clear violation of their oaths of office.