Trump’s Crypto Corruption Is Off The Charts — Mehdi and Ben McKenzie Explore Why

Zeteo · collected 2026-08-24 · by Mehdi Hasan commentary
Read the original at Zeteo ↗

Summary

Author Mehdi was joined by Ben McKenzie in April to discuss his new documentary "Everyone Is Lying to You For Money", which investigates the cryptocurrency industry. The documentary is now available online for a limited time only, from August 22 to September 6. Ben's film explores the industry's global reach, including an interview with convicted crypto grifter Sam Bankman-Fried, and examines how politicians from both parties are influenced by it. Mehdi and Ben also discuss their concerns about the Democratic Party in the conversation.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

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Claims extracted
10
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
0%
0 of 10 hedged
Leaning
Leans strongly left
expected in commentary, which argues a position
Publisher trust
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Commentary is not rated for newsroom trust
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-08-24 · how these are computed

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Story summary

Ben McKenzie's documentary "Everyone Is Lying to You For Money" is now available online, but only for a limited time from August 22 to September 6. The documentary explores the fraudulent and predatory cryptocurrency industry, which Ben investigated on his travels to Miami, El Salvador, and London. In the film, he also interviews Sam Bankman-Fried, a convicted crypto grifter. The documentary touches on how the crypto industry has influenced both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US, with the Trump family being seen as an example of how this influence can lead to corruption.

Written for “Trump's Cryptocurrency Controversy” on 2026-08-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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Score -0.85 Confidence high
Leaning score -0.85 for article 1984 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-08-28

Story

📰 Trump's Cryptocurrency Controversy
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event. This is the one the site leads with.

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Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Mother Jones
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 14% hedged 1 of 7 📰 publisher trust 95
“They cover different aspects of a related topic, and mention the documentary 'Everyone Is Lying to You For Money' but do not describe the same specific happening”

Publisher

Zeteo · 25 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected

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Who wrote this

Mehdi Hasan
3 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Mehdi Hasan
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

El Salvador London Miami Republican Zeteo

Subjects

Ben PERSON · 5× Mehdi PERSON · 2× Zeteo ORG · 2× Ben McKenzie PERSON · 1× Democratic NORP · 1× El Salvador GPE · 1× London GPE · 1× Miami GPE · 1× Republican NORP · 1× Sam Bankman-Fried PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Back in April, Mehdi was joined on ‘We’re Not Kidding’ by actor, author, and now documentary filmmaker Ben McKenzie to talk about Ben’s new film which investigates the fraudulent and predatory cryptocurrency industry, ‘Everyone Is Lying to You For Money’.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-24

Claims (10 extracted, 0 hedged)

Back in April, Mehdi was joined on ‘We’re Not Kidding’ by actor, author, and now documentary filmmaker Ben McKenzie to talk about Ben’s new film which investigates the fraudulent and predatory cryptocurrency industry, ‘Everyone Is Lying to You For Money’. asserted
Everyone → join → Money
The documentary is finally available to stream online, but for a limited time only from Aug. 22 - Sept. 6. asserted
documentary → stream → Aug.
You can click the button below to stream ‘Everyone Is Lying to You For Money’ now. asserted
Everyone → click → You
You can also revisit Mehdi’s conversation with Ben from earlier this year. asserted
You → revisit → year
They unpack the documentary’s globetrotting story — from Miami, to El Salvador, to London — as Ben follows the (figurative) money, including his now famous interview with convicted crypto grifter Sam Bankman-Fried. asserted
Ben → unpack → Fried
Ben also explains what exactly cryptocurrency is and uncovers why its evangelists want you to buy it so badly. asserted
you → explain → it
They also dig into the crypto industry’s influence on both the Republican and Democratic party, why the Trump family is the perfect avatar for crypto fraudsters, and end up having a blunt conversation about the direction of the Democratic Party. asserted
family → dig → Party
“If you’re a Democrat and you’re having a hard time choosing between people and corporations, my humble suggestion is to get the fuck out of the party,” Ben says. asserted
Ben → ’re → party
If you enjoy the conversation and want to support our work, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo. asserted
you → enjoy → Zeteo
As always, you can also listen to previous episodes of ‘We’re Not Kidding’ wherever you get your podcasts. asserted
you → listen → podcasts
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