One of the first things to be done when sanity and legality are restored

Donald Trump, his wife Melania and son Barron board a U.S. Air Force plane to travel to Dulles International Airport from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, U.S. January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Marco Bello

Trump isn’t just destroying the White House to make room for a vanity ballroom — he’s selling it off to the highest bidders, who conveniently need favors from his regime.

The giant ballroom is Trump’s monument to corruption.

Google and Amazon are both chipping in with massive donations. They both just so happen to have massive antitrust lawsuits working their way through the courts. Amazon is also suing to get the National Labor Relations Board declared unconstitutional. But I’m sure their ballroom donations have nothing to do with that, right?

I suppose that Apple’s support for the ballroom isn’t related to its own legal problems — or its desire to remain exempt from Trump’s tariffs.

Oh, and Meta. It’s also involved in a major antitrust lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission right now. But I’m sure the company is just donating because Mark Zuckerberg is a patriot.

Surely it’s not because Meta and other Big Tech companies stand to gain handsomely if Trump maintains his corporate-friendly AI policy.

Other generous donors to the ballroom project include cryptocurrency players like Coinbase, Ripple, and even the Winklevoss twins.

I’m sure the Winklevoss twins would be thrilled if Trump kept up his crypto-friendly policies, which he’s also cashing in on.

And Coinbase’s donation probably has nothing to do with the company’s being under an active regulatory investigation, right?

Another donor: The railroad giant Union Pacific, which is eyeing a $72 billion megamerger that needs approval from federal regulators.

Another: Comcast, which needs government approval for the mergers and acquisitions it pursues.

As does billionaire private equity executive Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone.

Companies that survive on government contacts are also chipping in, including Palantir and Lockheed Martin. How kind of them.

The Supreme Court has narrowed the definition of “bribery” to the point where a specific favor has to be demanded in advance of payment. So we can’t say this is bribery … exactly.

But the writing’s on the wall — perhaps literally. These donors are likely to get their names etched into the new White House building itself.

Could there be a more fitting monument to the Trump presidency?

That’s because in Trump’s White House, everything is for sale — even the building itself.

Memo to all of us: One of the first things to be done when sanity and legality are restored to Washington — demolition of Trump’s ballroom memorial to corruption.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/

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