Meme Streets Corruption, to Phrase a Coin

  

Meme Streets Corruption, to Phrase a Coin

"The U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors." 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. on X, April 9th

Here’s good news: according to the US Office of Special Counsel. “​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. ​The law’s purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation.​​​​” Here’s the bad news: The President and the Vice President are excepted.​ And at no time in American history have the American people needed ethical boundaries around presidential misuse of his office than today. Bibles, sneakers, Tesla cars, meme coins, hats, mugs, etc. are the little things. Instead, the Supreme Court gives him criminal immunity for anything remotely tied to his official acts.

Even when Donald Trump solicits “donors” for his little desires, like $300M grand ballroom, he’s really selling favors from various regulatory agencies (like the NLRB, SEC, DOJ, IRS, Commerce, etc.), providing a “we won’t investigate and prosecute; you a-get-out-of- jail free” card, better conditions in prison or even commutations and pardons, or lucrative government contracts, inside information and even research funding that would be withheld to save lives unless the “donation” is made. But where Donald John Trump is able to put the money into his own pockets (including the caretaker pockets of his family), the numbers are staggering.

Back in May, Allison Morrow, writing for CNN (5/14/25) opened our eyes to the massive, blatant effort to turn the presidency into the highest paying job behind Tesla CEO. Here’s the grift: after the election, but just before he took office in Trump 2.0 in January, President Donald Trump launched a type of cryptocurrency called meme coin, dubbed $Trump, which people anywhere in the world can buy while concealing their identity. Experts believe this cryptocurrency could make it possible for people to channel money to Trump beyond legal limits for campaign contributions… or boost Trump net worth by raising value by the resulting demand. A new public vehicle, with so much upside. With Trump legitimizing what he once called a “scam,” Trump and family were rolling their doggie bodies in crypto:

“The Trump family’s crypto empire is expanding rapidly, and it’s making earlier ethics debates over his hotel and casino business interests look downright quaint… There are only so many rooms a foreign diplomat can book to curry favor with the president, and that might total into thousands of dollars, at most. And even President Donald Trump might have a limit on how many luxury Qatari jets he’d accept as gifts… But in the opaque world of cryptocurrencies, where transactions are often anonymous and unbound by national borders, there is virtually no cap on the amount of money a person or government could funnel to the president, his family and the growing list of entities they control.

“That list of entities already includes two ‘meme coins’ — digital assets with no utility that serious crypto advocates tend to roll their eyes at — and an exchange called World Liberty Financial, which issues its own token… And soon, anyone with a brokerage account [was] able to buy shares on the open market of American Bitcoin, a crypto mining firm backed by the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. [and Baron Trump enrolled in NYU could be a “consultant”]…

“[Trump even held an] auction for a private dinner with Trump, billed as an ‘unforgettable gala,’ for the top holders of the $TRUMP meme coin. The top 25 were promised face time with Trump and a ‘VIP tour’ of one of his private clubs…The dinner auction may be the most flagrant pay-to-play effort Trump has engaged in as president so far.

“Presidents giving access to campaign donors is nothing new — in the ’90s, the Bill Clinton administration lavished dozens of Democratic contributors with stays in the Lincoln Bedroom, in a scandal known as the Fat Cat Hotel. But crypto offers a level of anonymity and scale that the White House has never seen… [Just in April and May], crypto investors plowed an estimated $148 million into Trump’s meme coin, according to Reuters, which cited data from crypto research firm Chainalysis.

“The vast majority of the coin’s supply — 80% — is held by two Trump Organization affiliates, which make money through transaction fees. Chainalysis estimates that those entities raked in at least $1.3 million in fees in the weeks after Trump announced the private dinner auction… The dinner auction is just part of the crypto controversy… [In May], the New York Times’ David Yaffe-Bellany reported that World Liberty Financial had secured a deal to take $2 billion in deposits from a venture fund backed by the government of Abu Dhabi.”

Even in his recent appearance at the international Gaza-focused conference in Egypt last month, a hot mike caught Trump probably hinting about a possible real estate development deal in Indonesia: “Trump and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto were reportedly overheard discussing a potential meeting with Trump's son, Eric, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization… The two leaders, whose exchange was also captured on video footage, appeared unaware that a live microphone was recording their private discussion… Speaking to Trump as the two men stood behind a podium with a microphone, Prabowo refers to a region that is ‘not safe, security-wise’ and then asks Trump: ‘Can I meet Eric?’” The Independent, October 14th.

Poor Donald, he and his family just do not have enough money. He’s happy to set tax breaks for the rich, reward his cronies with exemptions from his inane tariffs and watch his holdings and fees print money for the entire Trump clan. Screw the nation, let the deficit rise from the Big Beautiful Bill tax cuts, and it’s just too bad that losers in the lower income brackets have to live with cuts to the SNAP food program and can no longer afford medical coverage. That shutdown resolution left a whole lot of Americans dangling above the jaws of starvation and untreated illness. But then maybe young folks could buy a starter home, one that would not fit a growing family, with a 50-year mortgage… that might be paid off shortly after their student loans are retired.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you voted for him, please let us know how you are better off with this master of economic loopholes governing your financial life.