This Week in Democracy – Week 71: Trump’s Slush Fund Might Be on Pause But He’s Still Getting Richer
Zeteo's weekly round-up, documenting the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Donald Trump wants his face on a $250 banknote. It would be laughable – depictions of living individuals on banknotes have been banned since 1866 – if it weren’t yet another example of King Trump’s obsession with autocrats and turning DC into his very own version of Pyongyang.
There were plenty of other examples this week of Trump harming what’s left of American democracy, undermining the constitution, and hurting societies worldwide.
From Trump and his cronies gutting the crypto enforcement agency to his immigration authorities pepper-spraying a U.S. senator to his Justice Department subpoenaing Hasan Piker and Medea Benjamin, here’s ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 71’:
Saturday, May 23 – DOJ Scrubs Jan. 6 Releases, Subpoenas Hasan Piker and Medea Benjamin
AP reported that Trump’s Justice Department admitted it was scrubbing press releases from its government website about criminal cases associated with the Jan. 6 insurrection, including those involving multiple people who were sentenced to several years in prison for assaulting police officers. On Twitter, the DOJ Rapid Response account ridiculously called the move an effort to strip the department’s website of “partisan propaganda.”
Meanwhile, Fox reported that the Trump administration subpoenaed Hasan Piker and CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin over their trips to Cuba.
Sunday, May 24 – Trump Admin Is Gutting Crypto Enforcement Agency
The New York Times reported that during the past 16 months of the Trump administration, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has gutted its workforce, sidelined several senior officials, massively cut back on cryptocurrency enforcement, and consistently helped prediction markets.
The commission placed two top officials on leave after they expressed concerns about three companies with ties to the president’s family business and placed them under internal investigation. The same thing happened to three others, who enforced crypto laws.
Monday, May 25 – U.S. Senator Pepper-Sprayed at ICE Detention Facility
Federal agents used pepper spray on anti-ICE protesters outside of an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, where detainees have staged a hunger strike against poor conditions in the facility and the denial of medical care.
Those pepper-sprayed included Senator Andy Kim, who had been denied entry to the facility, despite saying he had ICE approval for a congressional oversight visit. In a Twitter thread, he noted that detainees have been “threatened with retaliation” for their hunger strike.
Tuesday, May 26 – Kash Patel Fires Another Top FBI Official
MS NOW reported that FBI Director Kash Patel fired a top intelligence analyst who worked on an assessment following the 2017 mass shooting at a House Republican baseball practice in Virginia.
The report, which looked at the motives of the gunman, was controversial among Republicans who complained that the incident wasn’t labeled as an act of domestic terrorism.
Wednesday, May 27 – More People Are Dying By Suicide In ICE Custody Than Ever
AP reported that at least 10 men have died by suicide while in ICE custody since Trump’s second term began last year. Nine of the 10 men were Hispanic, and the other was a citizen of China. Seven of the men had no record of violent crimes in the U.S.
In this fiscal year alone (since October), ICE has recorded seven deaths by suicide – the highest number for any fiscal year in ICE’s history. ICE typically reports one or no deaths by suicide each year.
Thursday, May 28 – Corruption Abounds
ProPublica reported that a $620 million loan approved by the Pentagon last year to a company linked to Donald Trump Jr. was initiated by White House adviser Peter Navarro, with one unnamed Pentagon source being told, “The call came from the White House: We have to get this done.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon’s announcement of a $9.7 billion contract with Dell is likely to bolster Trump’s investment portfolio, after the president bought more than $1 million worth of the computer company’s stock earlier this year.
Friday, May 29 – Trump’s Slush Fund Blocked … Temporarily
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with the creation or operation of its planned $1.776 billion slush fund for people who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the government – potentially even those Trump pardoned over their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The order prohibits the Trump administration from considering any claims that have been submitted or transferring or disbursing any funds from the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund ahead of a June 12 hearing.
Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:
