Impeachment Number Three is on the Horizon

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The "GRRR" words:

Greed:   intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

Graft:   the acquisition of money, power, or other advantages, through dishonest or illegal means, often involving the abuse of one's position.

Grift:   to obtain money or property illicity, as in a confidence game.

Several days ago in this space I posted about the Trump family's crypto  memecoin scheme business that they (Donald and his adult children) started last September during the presidential race.  The piece was entitled "Pure, Naked Corruption," and it focused on perks that the business was going to give to the 200 people who purchased the most "$TRUMP" meme coins, including dinner with Trump at one of his country clubs and a nighttime tour of the White House.   The scheme was clearly an attempt to sell more crypto meme coins by pairing it with access to the President of the United States.  

Meme coins are a type of crypto currency that originate as a meme or a joke and thrive around on-line communities of people sharing the same interest.  Their prices soar or drop as sales of the coin rise and fall.  They generally aren't backed by anything substantive, like a pile of gold bullion or reserves of established currency.

The Trump family owns the business and they also own the biggest share of the $TRUMP crypto currency, a commodity which they created.  The price of the $TRUMP currency fluctuates in conjunction with the buying and selling of the "currency" which is traded on-line - much like the stock market.  When Trump or his spawn hatch a plan to increase sales, such as with special White House tours, the price of the currency goes up as more is sold - and the value of the Trump family's holdings in the currency goes up as well.  The same thing happens when Trump gets on social media and proclaims "I love $TRUMP" as he did recently.  It reminds his sheeple to buy more - and, in so doing, puts more money into his pocket.

And when the Trump family suddenly cashes in their shares with no notice, as many predict they will, they will have sold high and the suckers will be left with $TRUMP (an imaginary currency maintained in cyber space) that is worth far less.  Some people won't care that much, because their primary reason for buying was to purchase access to Trump.   Others, the little fish, will care because they will lose money they can't afford to lose.

I covered all of that in the previous blog.  The people buying big amounts of $TRUMP are getting the access they were after, and by buying large amounts they are driving the price up so the Trumps will ultimately bank big bucks when they dump their shares.  It's a sweet deal for everyone except knuckleheads who bought theirs thinking they would hitch their star to Donald Trump's wagon and make some money.  Mostly they will lose.  

An entertainer whose blog I read described "Trump's crypto scheme" as a "pipeline for bribes," referring to the major purchasers who realize up front that they are likely to eventually lose their investment.  They aren't buying to win on the memecoins, the short game, they are in it for what special access to Trump can do for them further down the road, the long game.

One thing that I did not realize when I posted the initial blog about the $TRUMP crypto is that the owners of the business also collect a processing fee for every "coin" they sell.  I heard some chatter on a podcast the other day where some fairly bright people were speculating that the Trump family had already cleared (banked) over a billion dollars from just the fees for the sales of the cyber currency.

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D, MA) and Adam Schiff (D, CA) are calling for an ethics investigation into what they say appears to be a "pay to play" corruption scheme that shovels money from corporations and the very rich directly into the hands of the President and members of his family.

All of that along with the Qatar royal family trying to give Donald Trump a $400 million jetliner - something he really, really wants - makes the presidency appear to be a very lucrative job  - and certainly nothing like what the Founding Fathers envisioned.

Bring on that ethics investigation.   Impeachment number three is on the horizon, and maybe, at long last, so is some jail time!