Donald Trump and his appointments are almost universally losing money by going into government. The opposite was generally true for Democrats.
In days of yore, moneyed people believed that it was their responsibility to use their position and fortune in order to help others: noblesse oblige. Thus, Bushes and Roosevelts and others with wealth went into government as they were both groomed for it, and it was considered an obligation to use one’s good position in life for the betterment of others. Until Kennedy’s focus on meritocracy and the “best and the brightest”, much of America’s leadership involved “the old boys network" and a certain social hierarchy.
Donald Trump and many of those around him are very wealthy. Elon Musk is today the richest man on Earth, with a net worth approaching half a trillion dollars. Several have noted that Dan Bongino, in leaving his lucrative world of podcasting, is giving up a lot of money to become deputy director of the FBI. And one can say that about many of Donald Trump’s appointments and the president himself: if their only motivation was money, they would have been far better off staying in the private sector. During his first term, Donald Trump lost money—independent of his salary that he donated. Why would one choose becoming a pinata in Washington over making a lot more money and having a far quieter life away from the beltway? When looking at the president and his people, one can easily glean the answer.
When one thinks about Bobby Kennedy, Jr., Kash Patel, or Marco Rubio, one of the first things that a person notices is their passion. They are not talking about power or using their positions to self-enrich; rather, they see major problems and want the keys to the office that will let them fix them. Whether it is the behavior of big pharma or the quality of food we eat for Kennedy or the FBI going on tangents away from its core mission for Patel and Bongino, those entering Donald Trump’s White House see flashing red lights that need to be addressed. DOGE is on the one hand new, but its task is to go through decades of waste, fraud, self-dealing, and incompetence as the federal budget has known only one direction: up. Elon Musk does not need the job, and the mud slung at him by media figures and members of Congress are things that he could live without. Yet, he is passionate about fixing the federal budget and getting the US pointed in the right direction for success, growth and efficiency.
If one looks at many Democrats, it would seem that part of their motivation in going into politics was to self-enrich. Joe Biden did so much for the credit card companies who in turn sold him his beach house in Rehoboth Beach that he was known as the senator from MasterCard. He used his terms as vice-president to simply vacuum up money from countries all over the world. His son was his bag man and they had their Vaudeville act perfected: Hunter would meet with the prey and daddy would get on the phone or show up for dinner to show that for a few measly million bucks you could get what you wanted from the No. 2 in the U.S. government. Even while president, Joe let Hunter sell his “art” to supposedly unknown buyers who happened to be known to the Bidens. For Joe Biden and family, the U.S. government was their personal piggy bank.
And Hilary Clinton was not far behind. She deleted over 30,000 emails that no doubt had relevance for the “give to the Clinton Foundation and meet the secretary of state” pay-to-play scheme. The foundation made huge amounts of money until Hilary lost to Donald Trump, and then the money dried up. The Obamas parlayed their time in government into large book and movie deals. They spread their wealth over multiple homes from Massachusetts to Hawaii. Their friends and donors received government money, and who cared when a solar panel producer or solar energy field went out of business? The government money was already out the door and in the hands of the right people.
And one should not think that it is only the top of the pyramid or just Democrats in on the dough. What DOGE is finding and will continue to uncover is many legal or extralegal means to get your tax dollars into somebody else’s pocket. Set up an organization. An LLC in Delaware only costs a couple of hundred bucks a year to run. Get your buddies in Congress to set aside a couple million dollars for your important efforts. Of course, the board will be packed with the friends and families of those who got you the money. And your work will be minimal but it will be funded year after year, because budgets only go up and nobody is doing an audit—until now. Our representatives in Congress earn like professors and have net worths like bankers. Nancy Pelosi’s net worth would allow her to buy all of San Francisco—twice. People before Trump saw the federal government as a means to get rich and get those close to them rich as well. Thomas Sowell said that politicians only think about two things: getting elected and getting re-elected. Let’s add a third: where to put all of that money they get by being close to the spigots in Washington.
Because so many in Washington have been corrupt or caught helping themselves to the country’s wealth legally or otherwise, it is simply assumed that all of the president’s men are on the take. “Musk will push government contracts to Tesla and Starlink…” The commentators and kibitzers cannot accept or believe that there are altruistic people in the world. Since they’re on the take, they assume that everyone else must be as well. I don’t pretend to read Elon Musk’s mind and I have not yet had the pleasure of speaking with him, but it would seem by his actions and statements that he is using his personal capabilities and those of his associates to finally get the government’s house in order. After decades of more workers and bigger budgets, somebody is finally coming along and asking if we really need worker X or expense Y. It’s revolutionary, though every household and company does the same on a regular basis. And this long overdue audit is wildly popular with the American citizens who are tired of seeing their money wasted and misspent.
I was told a story by my rabbi in Madison. Madison was famous for its raucous Halloween celebrations. In my time, 100,000 revelers would crowd downtown and make merry. The rabbi said that he and his wife arrived in the city just before the festivities. On Halloween night, they decided to go for a walk and see what the place was all about. As they made their way through the crowd, one fellow pointed at him and said to his mates, “Look, this one is dressed up like a rabbi.” His friend gave him an elbow to the ribs and said, “I think this one is the real thing.” Donald Trump and those around him have come to clean up Washington. They did not come to self-enrich or steer business or contracts to their friends and families. The media refuses to accept that they are any less corrupt than their predecessors. But you know what, these folks are the real thing.