In President Donald Trump’s second term, much of the Leftmedia criticism levied against him can be considered propaganda at best. Journalists (read: Democrat activists) tend to blow events out of proportion or sometimes simply make up things that didn’t happen. But what Republicans previously ignored about the Trump portfolio is now coming to light, and this criticism carries some real weight.
For the first time in decades, the most common issue on voters’ minds wasn’t the economy, the border, or national defense. It was corruption.
President Trump has long been known for making deals with anyone and everyone, but lately they’ve taken what seems to be a shady turn.
For example, before his second inauguration, the UAE royal family agreed to buy a $500 million stake in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, in exchange for selling the Emiratis state-of-the-art American AI chips.
A few months later, the Trumps made 327 stock purchases the day before President Trump announced he would reverse tariffs. That move alone netted $18 million. Around that same time, Vietnam agreed to host a Trump resort to avoid tariffs. Even big companies got a cut. Paramount agreed to invest millions in Trump’s presidential library in exchange for Trump allowing the company’s merger with Warner Bros.
He has also commoditized his presidential power in his own companies. For the small price of $100,000, you too can see President Trump’s Truth Social messages before anyone else. Supposedly, this is for media companies that want the early scoop on his activities.
All of this and more raises issues in the White House. Though President Trump often implements effective policies prioritizing the American people, he seems to have spent more time monetizing his political power this second go-around.
Activities such as taking a free jet from Qatar, pardoning a Chinese crypto CEO for free handouts, and having a Russian oligarch fund his son’s wedding do not sound like things that the president did just because foreign nations were giving free handouts. These all carry the odor of corruption, and Republicans now face a choice of whether to stop looking the other way.
For all the criticism that Republicans aimed at the Biden Crime Family when Joe Biden was president, at least they had enough self-respect to attempt to hide their shady dealings.
At this point, when it comes to fighting the Democrats on issues or narratives, Republicans don’t need to fight every battle. The case of Trump’s alleged corruption illustrates that.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may be feeling a bit of that old I told you so vibe these days. After losing to Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, DeSantis got back to work making the Free State of Florida a model for the country. As a result, it remained red last Tuesday. And DeSantis hasn’t exactly been shy in his evaluation of the GOP. Or Trump. “The swamp is the worst it has ever been,” he said last week before lamenting “the amount of money these people are making who are in the administration.”
If DeSantis could see it and say it, so could voters.
