TRAYON WHITE, A MEMBER of the city council in the District of Columbia, just walked away from a hung jury in a bribery trial.
asserted
WHITE → walk → trial
Though White admitted to accepting $35,000 in cash from a city contractor (who turned out to be an FBI informant), and the prosecution presented evidence that he tucked white envelopes full of bills totaling between $5,000 and $15,000 into his jacket pocket on several occasions, the jury was deadlocked.
asserted
jury → admit → occasions
The point is, this run-of-the-mill public corruption case got prosecuted in a D.C. courtroom when, just a few blocks away, the president of the United States is accepting bribes and favors that dwarf anything White could even dream of.
uncertain
White → prosecute → anything
Journalists love expressions like “the most corrupt since Watergate” or the “worst official corruption since Teapot Dome.”
asserted
Journalists → love → Dome
The trouble with those formulations is that they suggest that Watergate and Teapot Dome are the standards against which wrongdoing should be judged.
asserted
wrongdoing → suggest → which
If what we’re seeing now is only the “worst since,” then it means it isn’t quite to that level.
asserted
it → see → level
The truth is that nothing—no scandal, no graft in American history—comes remotely close to the level of corruption the Trump administration is perpetrating.
asserted
administration → come → corruption
I have chronicled some of this before, but with this crew, we have only begun to skim the scummy surface of the cesspool.
asserted
we → chronicle → cesspool
Every single day brings news of some flagrant conflict of interest, bribe, emolument, kickback, fraud, or theft.
asserted
day → bring → interest
Most of it involves Trump himself and his family.
asserted
Most → involve → Trump
But just as a fish rots from the head, Trump’s example has contaminated his administration.
asserted
example → rot → administration
A glance at this week’s papers reveals that former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, before she left office, finalized a government purchase of several aging Boeing jets from one of her campaign donors, paying way above market value.
asserted
she → reveal → value
There’s another ongoing probe of a Noem hire who was reportedly paid $19,000 a week.
uncertain
who → ’ → 19,000
When she wasn’t busy slandering Renée Good as a “domestic terrorist” or posing in front of men locked up in El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison, Noem was reportedly awarding no-bid contracts to cronies for a $220 million ad campaign that featured her on horseback at Mount Rushmore, among other things.
uncertain
that → slander → things
Contracts totaling $143 million were allegedly given to an entity that was incorporated only eleven days before the solicitation.
uncertain
that → total → solicitation
The role of Corey Lewandowski seems totally on the up and up: He was, in effect, Noem’s deputy, yet took no salary for nearly two years’ work during a time when he was widely believed to be her romantic partner.
asserted
he → seem → time
A number of executives complained to the White House that they were being asked to funnel funds to Lewandowski’s entities.
asserted
they → complain → entities
Everywhere you look, the pay-for-play nature of this government surfaces like herpes.
asserted
nature → look → herpes
The Campaign Legal Center keeps a running roster of donors who’ve received valuable posts, pardons, tariff waivers, regulatory relief, or contracts from the White House.
asserted
who → keep → House
It runs to more than forty pages of small print.
asserted
It → run → print
You might suppose that the Trump family, after extracting $2.7 billion in wealth since the paterfamilias’s re-election in 2024, could afford the weekend party at a private island.
uncertain
family → suppose → island
But no, it was bankrolled by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
asserted
it → bankroll → Putin
The bride, Bettina Trump, was offended that small-minded people might object, explaining that Umar Kremlev is a “dear friend” who hosted the party as a gift “for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”
uncertain
we → offend → which
As Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) put it: “A toaster is a wedding gift.
asserted
toaster → put → it
A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else.”
asserted
party → pay → oligarch
If someone, even a “dear friend,” shells out several hundred thousand dollars to celebrate your wedding, is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that he will want something in return?
asserted
he → shell → return
Is there any doubt that this is not a gift, but a bribe or a “stay sold” measure?
asserted
this → stay → ?
(Trump Jr. has since said he will reimburse Kremlev.)
asserted
he → say → Kremlev
Exposing corruption isn’t a one-day job.
asserted
Exposing → expose → corruption
It takes journalists willing to keep digging and holding powerful people accountable.
asserted
people → take → journalists
And it takes a community of readers who understand that the work doesn’t end with any one scandal, investigation, or election.
asserted
work → take → scandal
Let’s face it together.
asserted
’s → face → it
Come be part of the community that makes this work possible.
asserted
work → come → community
NOTHING THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION does can be taken at face value.
asserted
does → take → value
Just as judges can no longer expect Department of Justice lawyers to be telling the truth and acting in good faith (the “presumption of regularity” is moribund), citizens can no longer take it for granted that the government is acting in the public interest and not aiming to line the pockets of the Trump family and friends.
asserted
government → expect → family
Let’s take three examples: kidnapping Nicolás Maduro and trying him, pursuing an aggressive deportation regime, and negotiating to end the war in Ukraine.
asserted
’s → let → Ukraine
The Maduro capture, which convinced Trump that he could easily topple the Iranian regime the following month, was in no sense an effort to improve the lives of the Venezuelan people.
uncertain
he → convince → people
Recall that Trump’s criticism of Operation Iraqi Freedom was that we failed to “take the oil.”
asserted
we → recall → oil
No surprise, then, that taking Venezuela’s oil was foremost on his mind after the Maduro snatch-and-grab.
asserted
taking → take → snatch
Trump’s White House boasts that “In the biggest oil deal in world history, President Donald J. Trump has secured U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela.”
asserted
Trump → boast → Venezuela
…and 33 more, not listed.
The Aporia
