In this case, Trump is easily bought and isn't very concerned with governing himself (compared to playing golf or designing ballrooms). With this in mind, even people outside the executive branch, or even the USA are benefiting.
I’m familiar with the theory for sure. I’m just saying it’s pretty hard to defend the executive branch being able to bully/threaten such an important driver of fiscal policy for the country.
Where did you get the idea that he's the least bought? It's factually inaccurate.
He literally publicly offered oil executives whatever they wanted for a billion dollars, and though he didn't make that much (that we can prove) has been delivering on that promise since. [0]
While being "honest" in the sense of "staying bought" and delivering the promised graft is somewhat commendable, it's not exactly evidence that he holds some sort of moral high ground.
How is this any different than Biden making sweeping environmental promises and then allocating billions to those groups?
I don't see any difference and this is something that all candidates do at every level - local, state and federal elections. I mean, look at what Mamdani promised in order to get elected.
This is a classic defense of
Trump I get so tired of seeing. Everyone who supports him constantly talks about how he is so different and how refreshing it is that he is not a politician, yet when he does things that can’t be explained away or justified from a moral/ethical standpoint the canned response is “well all politicians do it.”
Same thing with so many of his supporters saying they aren’t republicans coupled with this insistence he isn’t actually a Republican either. His 2 landmark bills were primarily tax breaks for the wealthy/businesses. That’s been core Republican policy for almost 50 years now.
If you have 2 million dollars lying around you can commit any federal crimes and buy a pardon.
Which may seem like a lot but also consider if you're doing something like funding literally terrorism it's probably not that hard to scrounge up 2 million. You don't go to federal jail for jay-walking.
If that's not a good example then consider TrumpCoin where literally Trump meet with the largest holders of the coin (i.e. people that paid the most; at least intended too).
He's been caught on TV, in the Oval Office, accepting gold bars from business executives. I don't understand what you hope to gain by lying about this.
In this case, Trump is easily bought and isn't very concerned with governing himself (compared to playing golf or designing ballrooms). With this in mind, even people outside the executive branch, or even the USA are benefiting.