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In almost every way imaginable, Donald Trump’s second term is a purer expression of his personality and preferences than his first term was. Not only is he far less constrained — by the courts, by the law, by Congress, or by aides who might suffer an unfortunate attack of conscience — he has created a system in which his desires and predilections are translated into policy far more smoothly than before.
So it should not be surprising that a man who built a career on scams, cons, grifts, and swindles has fundamentally reoriented the US government’s approach to corruption. It isn’t just that Trump has ramped up his own personal self-dealing (though he most certainly has), or that his administration is tolerant of conflicts of interest in other officials (though it is). Just as important, Trump is enacting a sweeping set of policy changes that will make it more likely that Americans will themselves be the victims of all kinds of scams.
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This is less a single strategy than the accumulation of many policy decisions pushing in the same direction: to make America a place where citizens can no longer expect that the government will be there to protect them when they’re being taken advantage of.
There are few better examples than the demise of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), one of the key progressive achievements of recent years. Arising out of the 2008 financial crash, it was based on a simple premise: Americans ought to be protected from financial scams and exploitation. And it was extraordinarily successful: According to the Bureau’s data (which for some reason the Trump administration hasn’t gotten around to removing from the web), its actions have returned over $21 billion to consumers and imposed billions in fines on wrongdoers. Just as important, it sent a message to anyone contemplating financial exploitation of consumers that there is an agency that will aggressively investigate illegal activity, and there will be consequences for those who break the law.
So when Trump took office, he sought to shut the CFPB down. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the dark lord of the effort to dismantle the government, told its employees to stay home and “stand down from performing any work task.” Under its new management, the agency then began dropping lawsuits it had brought against banks, mortgage companies, car dealers, and others it had found were defrauding or mistreating customers. The administration is hoping to fire 1,500 of the agency’s 1,700 employees (that move has been temporarily halted by a judge).
Doing their part, congressional Republicans sought to eliminate the agency entirely in their budget bill. Fortunately, that provision was struck down by the parliamentarian as being inconsistent with the rules of budget reconciliation. Nevertheless, the CFPB has all but ceased to function, which means that the kind of financial abuse it was established to prevent will likely go unpunished.
You’re on your own
The administration is taking a similar approach in area after area, sending a clear message to consumers that you’re on your own, and a message to those who exploit them that they’re free to do pretty much whatever they like.
Trump’s attempts to fire Democrat-appointed members of independent commissions have been described mostly as an effort to consolidate power, which is true, but those moves also mean removing restraints on scams and abuse. In other words, he is dismantling the government’s ability to rectify exploitation based on power imbalances. If he succeeds, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will do far less to protect consumers, the National Labor Relations Board will cease protecting workers, and the Merit Systems Protection Board will no longer protect government employees.
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If the Department of Education is dismantled, it will no longer police the for-profit colleges that saddled millions with crushing debt and useless degrees (or no degrees at all). With long-awaited reforms at the Internal Revenue Service being quickly reversed — the administration is planning t