In Donald Trump’s second presidency, the masks of decency, tolerance, commitment to democracy and concern for people’s problems that appeared in the first fell. The true attributes of the regime were diluted and in their place refloated
Whether because what comes to light is his true character and ideology – or lack thereof – or because they are the signs of aging of someone who will turn 80 on June 14, it is increasingly difficult for the White House to explain the behavior of its predominant tenant, the most powerful man in the world.
It’s not that we think Trump doesn’t care about the people’s travails and finances. He himself said it last week when talking about the war in Iran: “I don’t think about the finances of the Americans.” “Not even a little bit,” he added. A couple of days later, confronted with the adverse reactions, he repeated it. “It’s a perfect statement,” he said. “I would say it again.”
Starting on January 20, we have seen the President, his family and his social environment dedicated themselves to the accumulation of money and power and less to the task of governing.
Little evidence of this could be clearer than the lawsuit filed by the President and several of his associates against his own government. In late January, the President, along with the Trump Group, his main company, and his sons Eric and Don Jr., filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seeking “at least $10,000,000,000” in damages.
The reason? In 2019 and 2020, Charles Littlejohn, then an IRS contractor, leaked to the press 15 years of Trump’s tax returns, revealing that the billionaire did not pay taxes for 10 years, citing losses, and paid $750 in 2016 and 2017, his first year as President. In 2024, Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison for his actions.
The Trumps alleged that the publication damaged their “prestige” and “image.”
The billions in compensation they demanded are consistent with lawsuits filed by the Trumps for defamation, disagreements in their casino business, real estate ventures and election campaign. In 2017, an analysis by USA At the present time estimated them at 4,095 lawsuits.
But never against his own government. Against himself in his capacity as the nation’s predominant executive. The lawsuit filed was corrupt because a President’s Justice Department lawyers cannot mount a meaningful defense against his own personal lawyers.
The federal judge in Florida who was hearing the case, Kathleen Williams, gave the parties until May 20 to explain why two should be considered, while only one. She appointed a committee of six lawyers to give their opinion on the same and expressed skepticism that this was possible.
To avoid this judicial scrutiny, the administration negotiated an extrajudicial agreement, and just when the deadline was about to expire, the president and his people withdrew the lawsuit. Yesterday the price was known: the IRS will create a compensation fund for 1,776 million dollars for the “victims” of the alleged persecution by the Department of Justice during the presidency of Joe Biden. The committee that would manage it would be controlled by Trump. He would ultimately have management of the fund. An undeserved gift.
The name of the committee? “President Donald J. Trump’s Truth and Justice Commission.”
The funds would come from the public treasury without approval from Congress, which has the right to determine government spending. Unfortunately, with both chambers in the hands of Trump-friendly Republicans, they are doing nothing about it.
The money would supposedly go to “compensate” the coup plotters of January 6, 2021, who tried to take over Congress to prevent the declaration of Joe Biden as the winner of the previous November elections and, therefore, president-elect.
In addition to being corrupt, the idea is unconstitutional. It violates the Fourteenth Amendment which says in its Section IV: “neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of an insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
