governments live die
by their ability to
sustain corruption

Mr. Trump is apparently profiting from these cases: The Times estimates that he has made more than $1.4 billion since he was elected to his second term, in part from supplicants seeking his clemency. But his subordinates, too, have benefited from the broader rollback of white-collar prosecutions.

His border czar, Tom Homan, for instance, accepted $50,000 in cash in a paper bag from undercover F.B.I. agents in September 2024 in exchange for promising to secure government favors if Mr. Trump returned to office. (Mr. Homan has denied taking the money.) Such a scheme would have ordinarily resulted in a scandal, and quite likely a prosecution. But the office that would have investigated Mr. Homan has been largely gutted — just five attorneys reportedly remain — and Mr. Homan himself remains in office.

All this self-dealing is a threat to our democracy. Illiberal governments tend to live or die by their ability to sustain corruption. That’s because they rely for support on a network of oligarchs, who in turn are tied to the administration’s success. It happened in Hungary, in Turkey, in Russia and increasingly, it is happening here.

We don’t have to end up that way. As other countries’ experience shows, when bribery is risky, rich criminals are less likely to try it, and less likely to feel bound to a regime’s success. When corruption is revealed, voters often realize that the strongman they elected cares more for a small group of rich cronies than he does about them. That’s why it’s often the corruption that is key to toppling autocratic leaders, like Joseph Estrada in the Philippines, Alberto Fujimori in Peru, Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine and Otto Pérez Molina in Guatemala.

In a world where the Department of Justice and the president are either indifferent to or actively support rich criminals, what can be done?

Adapted from the opinion piece, One Man Stole $660 Million. He’ll Never Pay It Back By Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor and the founder of the Public Integrity Project.

In this high powered world of corruption at the highest levels of government, something to remember is the words of Silvio Dante when he said, “You’re only as good as your last envelope.“

One day, that bill is going to come due.

most enviable
of titles, the character
of an honest man

In a letter to Alexander Hamilton dated 28 August 1788, George Washington wrote:

Still I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man, as well as prove (what I desire to be considered in reality) that I am …

The character of an honest man.

The headline comes to mind, “Channel 4 to mark Trump’s UK visit with ‘longest uninterrupted reel of untruths’”.

The occassion for the show was the current man in office and his visit tot he UK in Ocotber of 2025.

Another columnist for the Guardian wrote: “Channel 4 will be marking Donald Trump’s visit to the UK with what it describes as “the longest uninterrupted reel of untruths, falsehoods and distortions ever broadcast on television”. It will play more than 100 of Trump’s lies or misleading statements in a segment called Trump v The Truth. All his greatest hits, from false claims about the price of eggs to disgusting lies about the US spending millions on condoms for Hamas, packaged together.

Obviously we’ve got to be fair and balanced here, though, haven’t we? Gotta show both sides. So I think it’s only right that Channel 4 also broadcast a 10-second segment covering all of the truthful and astute things the president has said”

(It’s not all lies, lies, lies with Trump – sometimes he’s unnervingly honest by Arwa Mahdawi. How was that feller unnervingly honest your ask? Like when he said, “Smart people don’t like me, you know?”)

What was it that the General wrote?

Still I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man, as well as prove (what I desire to be considered in reality) that I am …

The character of an honest man.

Washington’s letter came at the time when the new country was discussing the adoption the new Constitution that had been pulled together in 1787.

It was during the discussion about the Executive and its powers that Dr. Ben Franklin said:

“The first man put at the helm will be a good one.

No body knows what sort may come afterwards.“*

Just some thoughts for Presidents Day, 2026.

*Notes on the Debates in the Federal Convention, Monday June 4, 1787 – The Question was resumed on motion of Mr. PINKNEY 2ded. by WILSON, “shall the blank for the number of the Executive be filled with a single person?”