Trump's Most Audacious Grift? (So far)

Plus: Kow-towing in China

This my, friends, is what a weakened, feckless, corrupt president looks like when he dodders onto the world stage.

The Chinese, who know how to play Trump put on a two-and-a-half hour display of pomp to greet and awe the elderly president. Via Dean Blundell:

”Cannons. A military band. Three hundred drilled schoolchildren. Steps Xi descended personally to greet him. A four-word framework pre-written by Tsinghua scholars. A Taiwan red line loaded into the chamber. A readout already drafted.”

Xi made it clear to Trump that he wants Taiwan’s head on a platter. Trump’s response? A presidential grovel for the ages: Trump lavished Xi with praise and says US business execs in his entourage are there “to pay respect” to China and Xi.

In Washington, we get Trump the Insult Dog. In Beijing, Xi got Trump the Lap Dog:

“It’s an honor to be with you. It’s an honor to be your friend.”

“You’re a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true.”

“The relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before.”

“I was particularly impressed by those children. They were happy. They were beautiful. Those children were amazing.”

There’s lots of commentary this morning on the scenes from Beijing. Of course, it’s certainly possible that Trump will come out of China with an impressive-sounding package of soybean deals, but both the optics and the substance of the summit amount to a humiliating spectacle. Phillips O’Brien calls the visit, “A Case Study Of US Decline.”¹ “So while Trump praises and flatters,” he writes, “the Chinese are responding by celebrating the very decline that causes Trump to praise and flatter.”

Substacker Tom Hoelfing perhaps puts it best: “The Chinese are big burly guys with clubs, and Trump and his sons are baby seals.”

Happy Thursday.

Note: I get it. You’re overwhelmed. Some days you just want to look away. The last thing you need is another subscription. I really do understand that there are so many demands on your time and your wallet. That’s why I try to keep it short, pithy and free.

But we rely on the kindness of strangers. So, if you think this work has value to you, please consider supporting us. The dogs and I will be grateful. And you’ll will piss off Donald Trump and Elon Musk. What’s not to like?

Trump’s Most Audacious Grift?

Let me stipulate that the competition for the worst bit of Trumpian corruption is stiff: the crypto scams, the Qatar winged bribe, the bogus Trump phone, the Trump crime family cash-outs.

But don’t sleep on this story, because it amounts to a straight up cash grab from the taxpayers: “Justice Dept. Officials Consider Settling Trump Suit Against I.R.S.” - The New York Times

As you may recall, Trump is suing the federal government — the government he runs — for $10 billion for the unauthorized leak of his tax returns. (These would be the tax returns that he repeatedly promised to release himself.)

But Trump and his grifty sons, “charged in the lawsuit that the I.R.S. and the Treasury Department had failed to prevent a former I.R.S. contractor, Charles Littlejohn, from gaining access to Mr. Trump’s tax documents, which were shared with The New York Times.”

So, he wants $10 billion. From the government he runs. Straight from the taxpayers. And Trump might just give it to himself.

He wants his own Justice Department — headed by his dutiful lickspittle, Todd Blanche — to settle the suit, presumably by giving him a massive payout of your money. Blanche has made it clear that he will absolutely, positively cut off his right [redacted] for Trump, so I think it is safe to assume that this is not a hard-fought, contentious negotiation.

Indeed, the weirdness of this insider dealing has caught the attention of the courts:

Given that Mr. Trump oversees the I.R.S., the agency that he is suing, the judge in the case has taken a series of novel legal steps to probe whether there is a genuine controversy between the Justice Department and Mr. Trump. For a lawsuit to be valid, the two parties must actually be on opposite sides; otherwise, the judge can throw out the case. The judge has ordered Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers — along with the Justice Department, which represents the I.R.S. in federal court — to submit briefs by May 20 explaining whether they are in conflict with one another.

But, but, but… We have not yet gotten to the most bizarre — by which I mean Trumpian — part of this story: As part of the proposed “deal” Trump reportedly wants immunity from any and all audits of “of Mr. Trump, his family members or businesses.”

As the NYT notes rather drily, “protection from I.R.S. audits could prove quite valuable. [You think?]

I.R.S. procedures call for the mandatory audit of the president’s and vice president’s annual tax returns. The series of Times articles at the center of Mr. Trump’s suit, published in 2020, showed that he had paid little or no income tax for years. In 2024, the Times reported that a loss in an I.R.S. audit could cost Mr. Trump more than $100 million.

At the same time, federal law prohibits the president from ordering the start or conclusion of an I.R.S. audit of a specific taxpayer.

On today’s podcast, David Frum highlights Trump’s latest bid to put himself above the law:

Nota bene

Of course. “The Whore of Babylon Goes to the Mall.”

On Sunday, May 17, thousands will gather on the National Mall in Washington for Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving — a day-long event organized to rededicate America as “One Nation Under God” as the nation approaches its 250th birthday. Among the speakers: Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, with a video address from Cardinal Timothy Dolan retired Archbishop of New York. Also on the program: Father Mike Schmitz, Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, Speaker Mike Johnson, Franklin Graham, and — centrally — the event’s most enthusiastic promoter, Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas.

One of these things is not like the others.

Robert Jeffress has been unambiguous about what he thinks of the institution that Bishop Barron and Cardinal Dolan represent. In 2010, on his radio program Pathway to Victory, he delivered an extended theological indictment:“This is the Babylonian mystery religion that spread like a cult throughout the entire world. The high priests of that fake religion, that false religion… on those crowns were written the words, ‘Keeper of the Bridge,’ the bridge between Satan and man. That phrase, Keeper of the Bridge — the Roman equivalent is Pontifex Maximus. It was a title first carried by the Caesars and then the emperors and finally by the Bishop of Rome.”

He was not finished. Reflecting on the Catholic Church’s use of Scripture, sacrament, and the name of Christ, Jeffress drew his conclusion:

“After all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?”

Today’s Full Podcast

The Atlantic’s David Frum joins me to discuss Trump’s China visit amidst his flailing war in Iran. The summit highlights Trump’s ignorance on oil prices and the global economy, and Ameria’s isolation in the world today.

We also touch on Trump’s latest massive cash grab and share concerns about Democrats’ missteps heading into the midterms — and why it might cost them control of the Senate.

The conversation also turns personal: Frum reflects on loss his family’s journey through grief and his wife’s new book on the death of their daughter.

Subscribers can listen to an ad-free version right here… or you can watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed

Thursday dogs

Eli, last night at 8:27 PM. Still light. Still on watch.

Four years ago today. Pete gets one last visit to the lake. (He died on June 7, 2022).

1. Phillips O’Brien:

“Signs of decline can be dramatic or they can be small. Dramatic ones include military and strategic failure that make it obvious that a state is no longer the force that it was. Smaller signs can be seen in the use of diplomatic language or tenor of conversation. We are witnessing the latter in a clear and unmistakable way….

“So while Trump praises and flatters, the Chinese are responding by celebrating the very decline that causes Trump to praise and flatter.

“This is painful to watch. Trump has no levers of influence over China and desperate needs for Chinese support. The reality is that the US decline, which has been going on before him but which has accelerated or we might say super-charged, has fundamentally changed the balance between the two countries.

“Though that decline is being masked by diplomatic language and pageantry, it is there and unmistakable. The whole world can now see it.”