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THE BILLIONAIRES HAVE CAPTURED DONALD TRUMP  
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Alex Shephard
June 6, 2024
The New Republic
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_ Desperate to avoid prison—and needing cash to win reelection, so
he can pardon himself—Trump is selling his administration’s
domestic and foreign policy to the highest bidder. He is traveling
from billionaire to billionaire, with hat in hand.... _

Photo: Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse (AFP) // The New Republic,

 

One of the most enduring—and ridiculous—#Resistance narratives of
the Trump era was the idea that the president of the United States was
a literal Manchurian Candidate, a man who had been compromised for
years (perhaps even decades
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by a foreign power, namely Russia. 

Like most enduring conspiracy theories, this one was built on a kernel
of truth. Donald Trump really was admiring of Vladimir Putin
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had no apparent problem with the Russian dictator arresting dissidents
or invading neighbors. In fact, Trump was far more conciliatory
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long-standing adversary, than he was to many of America’s closest
allies. 

When Trump’s troubling admiration of Putin was combined with other
details—particularly salacious (and dubious)
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of Trump, as a private citizen, being videotaped in Moscow
and salacious (and accurate)
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of Trump doing business with shady Russian oligarchs
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conspiracy was born. Trump was compromised. Either through blackmail
or bribery, America’s foreign policy was obviously being directed by
Russia. 

Nearly a decade into Trump’s political career, there is no evidence
that he is compromised by Putin or any other foreign power. But as he
runs for reelection, Trump is indeed compromised in a way he never has
been before. Desperate to avoid prison—and needing cash to win
reelection, so he can pardon himself—Trump is selling his
administration’s domestic and foreign policy to the highest bidder.
It’s hardly a conspiracy, either. As we speak, he is traveling from
billionaire to billionaire with hat in hand, making explicit promises
to sell his presidency.  

Trump has raked in campaign contributions
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the wake of his conviction
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week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records—$60 million
alone in the 24 hours after the jury delivered a guilty verdict,
nearly half of his total $141 million haul in May. But even with that
sizable pot, his campaign is still trailing
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And given Trump’s use of campaign contributions
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pay attorneys representing him in his numerous criminal trials, much
of that money is being spent on legal rather than political
expenses. 

For Trump, the 2024 presidential campaign is an existential project.
If he wins, he surely will direct the Department of Justice to drop
two ongoing
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cases against him—one involving his retention of classified
information after leaving office in 2021, another involving his role
in the January 6 insurrection. He could, as president, also pardon
himself and several key witnesses who might otherwise be tempted to
testify against him to avoid jail time or reduce sentences. To keep
those cases from advancing, and ultimately kill them, Trump needs to
win the 2024 election. To do that, he needs money—lots of it. 

In recent weeks, one strategy for raising money has become clear:
Trump is going to wealthy donors and interest groups and offering to
cede policymaking to them—in exchange for massive campaign
contributions. Last month, _The Washington Post_ reported
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Trump gathered oil executives at Mar-a-Lago and made a pitch: For the
low cost of $1 billion, he would, as president “reverse dozens of
President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones
from being enacted.” The pitch reportedly “stunned several of the
executives in the room.” But it is nevertheless in keeping with
Trump’s larger program. Despite promising during his first run for
office in 2016 that he was, as a rich person, incorruptible—and that
he would use his inside knowledge of a corrupt system to benefit his
voters—Trump has always dispensed with subtlety and flaunted his
corruption
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Here, he is advertising his willingness to take a bribe: Give me what
I want, and I’ll give you what you want.

And less than two weeks after that _Post_ report, Trump made even
more promises
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oil and gas executives at a campaign fundraiser. He reportedly ended
his speech by saying, “Be generous, please,” and was rewarded with
more than $25 million in donations.

That’s not all. In late May, an interesting item appeared in a _New
York_ magazine profile
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billionaire casino magnate—and part owner of the NBA Finals–bound
Dallas Mavericks—Miriam Adelson. Adelson, a long-standing donor to
right-wing Republicans and a staunch supporter of Israel, is expected
to be Trump’s largest donor in the 2024 cycle. But her money comes
with strings attached. 

“One can assume she’ll press for the unfinished items of Trump’s
Israel agenda from last term,” _New York_’s Elizabeth Weil wrote.
“Top of that list: Israel annexing the West Bank and the U.S.
recognizing its sovereignty there.” That would mark a dramatic shift
in America’s policy toward Israel—and would make ending Israel’s
destructive military campaign in Gaza significantly harder. But Trump
is advertising that he’s open for business, and he has never shown
any interest in Palestinian rights; it’s fair to assume he would see
supporting annexation of the West Bank as a small price to pay for
millions in campaign contributions. Last month, moreover, Trump
promised donors that he would set back the pro-Palestinian movement
by “25 or 30 years.
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One easy way to do that: Allow Israel to annex the West Bank. 

There’s little doubt that if Trump returns to the White House,
he’ll again speak favorably of Putin and likely even support
Russia’s annexation of Ukraine. But if so, it will be because Trump
is fond of autocrats and disdains America’s alliances, rather than
because Putin holds some kind of leverage over him. And yet, if Trump
as president also does everything in his power to enrich the
billionaire donors who have contributed so generously to his campaign,
it will be hard to believe it’s because of a fondness for
billionaires. Rather, he will simply be returning the favors that, for
all the world to see, he promised them this year.

_[ALEX SHEPHARD is a staff writer at The New Republic.
@alex_shephard [[link removed]]]_

* Donald Trump
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* 2024 Elections
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* MAGA
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* GOP
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* Make America Great Again
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* Republican Party
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* Billionaires
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* Israel-lobby
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* AIPAC
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* West Bank
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Palestine
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* Oil
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* Oil lobby
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* Trump Corruption
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* political corruption
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* political contributions
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