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Welcome to this week’s issue of Receipts. I don’t usually think of the economy as a zero-sum game—that the rich necessarily get richer at the expense of everyone else. There are ways to grow the pie. But under the current administration, that has not been the case.
Trump has been enriching his friends, aides, and donors at the expense of the rest of us. This has happened through (what certainly looks suspiciously like) insider trading on confidential military or economic information; the relaxation of white-collar criminal enforcement; pardons granted to those already convicted of said crimes; encouraging more potential victims to fall for potential scams; and of course, general degradation of the rule of law, which leads to (among other things) deterioration of the integrity of markets.
Are there examples I’ve missed? Drop them in the comments. And if you’re not already a member of Bulwark+, I hope you’ll consider joining. The support of our members helps us track all the ways Trump is ripping you off.
–Catherine
Trump’s Economy: You’re Either an Insider or a Chump
The president is enriching friends, pardoning criminals, and impoverishing everyone else.
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A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GETTING RICH off the Trump presidency. Donald Trump himself tops the list, of course, but it also includes his kids and in-laws; other grifting nepo-babies; cabinet members (as well as their staff and children), senior aides; and other well-connected friends, investors, and firms.
You know who isn’t on that list?
You.
Yes, you, dear reader—at least assuming you’re not among the small community of courtiers sucking public funds dry. Instead, in virtually every way imaginable, Trump has made it easier for all those insiders to profit and, in turn, rip you off. If you bet on or invest in anything Trump might influence and you don’t have inside information, you’re a chump.
As the expression goes: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
The recent rash of curiously well-timed trades in prediction markets is one example of how those who have drawn up chairs to Trump’s banquet table appear to be feasting at public expense.
For example, there was the Polymarket account that banked over half a million dollars by betting on Iran strikes and the, ahem, departure of the ayatollah shortly before our military started dropping bombs. Other ‘lucky’ betting-market accounts, created right before the United States invaded Venezuela, engaged only in Venezuela-related bets, and somehow made perfect predictions every time, the Financial Times reported.
Similarly, just this week, a group of newly created Polymarket accounts “made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7,” Politico found.
These kinds of trades have raised concerns about not only insider-trading based o