Trump’s Carnival of Corruption Threatens Our Democracy
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Teapot Dome scandal
10 min read
Referenced in the article as a historical corruption precedent - this 1920s scandal involving Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall accepting bribes for oil leases was the largest government corruption scandal until Watergate, providing essential context for understanding American political corruption history
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Abscam
11 min read
Mentioned as an example of congressional corruption - this FBI sting operation in the late 1970s-early 1980s caught seven members of Congress accepting bribes, representing a fascinating case study in anti-corruption enforcement and political scandal
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Iran–Contra affair
13 min read
Cited as an example of executive branch lawlessness - this complex scandal involving secret arms sales to Iran and illegal funding of Nicaraguan rebels reveals how administrations can circumvent congressional oversight, directly relevant to the article's theme of presidential abuse of power
The United States had suffered all kinds of federal government corruption long before Donald Trump showed up in the White House.
Watergate exposed Richard Nixon’s abuse of the presidency for the purpose of keeping power. Iran-Contra showed how Ronald Reagan’s administration defied Congress to pursue a policy goal that lawmakers had outlawed. Abscam caught members of Congress taking cash bribes; in the Teapot Dome scandal, a Cabinet member did the same.
The Pentagon Papers revealed lies by multiple administrations to justify US involvement in Vietnam. In the My Lai massacre, that war produced ugly war crimes. And so on, since the nation’s founding 250 years ago.
What distinguishes Trump’s second presidency is the breadth and depth of its crookedness – the enormous personal graft, of course, but also rampant abuse of power, subversion of the rule of law, violation of the Constitution, top-to-bottom dishonesty, and acts of violence, including murder. Over the last 11 months of 2025, he has conducted an orgy of corruption and criminality that threatens the American experiment itself.
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