My uncle Gus lived in a country where traffic violations were ignored with a $20 bill folded behind your driver license. Building permits were more expensive, but the process was clear: bribery for government services. America’s strict laws and enforcement penalties prohibited bribery.
No more. After decimating the FBI’s anti-bribery office, Trump institutionalizes bribery. He takes bribes openly: million-dollar tickets to fundraising dinners, memberships to his private clubs, selling cryptocurrency, a $400 million airplane “gift” and $2 billion invested in his crypto-bank, World Liberty Financial. The wealthy buy government favor, receiving tariff exemptions, financial law deregulation, pardons for felony convictions and sweetheart government contracts in return.
House Speaker Mike Johnson denied these actions are bribery, saying, “Whatever President Donald Trump is doing is out in the open.” Bold-faced flaunting does not minimize bribery. It corrupts our political and moral values, leading to dysfunctional government like the Third World society my uncle endured.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, CA
