Executive Branch: More First Family Graft

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I have posted in this blog on a couple of recent occasions about the Trump family's shameful peddling of access to the President through sales of their  $TRUMP meme coins.   Not only is the sale of these imaginary digital coins making the family rich, Donald Trump is offering access to himself through a competition which will reward the 200 individuals who buy the most of his family's meme coins with a dinner with him at one of his golf clubs - and a nighttime tour of the White House.  In con artist parlance that is is referred to as "pay to play," and from a good governance perspective - it stinks.

But Trump and his family, who now have less than four years left to profit from his presidency, have no intention to stop squeezing eggs out of the golden goose.  Membership in Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida doubled from $100, 000 to $200,000 when he was first elected President in 2016, and has risen steadily ever since.  Last year, not long before the 2024 election, it was at $700,000 and Trump announced that he was jacking the price of memberhsip to one million dollars.   Membership at Mar-a-Lago is limited to just 500 highly privileged individuals, and Trump said they had four memberships currently open.

People who purchase memberships to Mar-a-Lago also have an informal access to Trump who is often there.  At least three of the club members have moved on to ambassadorships in South Africa, Romania, and Hungary.

Now, in the spirit of Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump, Junior, has found another way to sell access to his father, or at least to big-name players in his father's administration.  Junior is a co-founder of a new private club in Washington, DC, called "Executive Branch," which looks as though its primary function is to help connect people with top level government officials in a comfortable and private setting.  

According to an article in the on-line news magazine "Daily Kos," administration officials who attended the launch party for Junior's club included:  Secretary of State Marco Rubio, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, and Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Memberships in Junior's access club will no doubt be snapped up by lobbyists, officials of foreign governments, and filthy rich individuals who have specific axes to grind or merchandise and services to hawk.  

The pay-to-play fee for entry into the highly exclusive "Executive Branch" club?  A mere $500,000 - but apply today because that could go up!