Corruption at the White House – Tariffs again

On April 8 I noted that there had been suggestions made that the Trump White House was creating an environment where personal enrichment can occur based upon the most recent tariff war. And two days later, the tariffs were paused and the NY Times posited that the Trump’s White House signaled to their cronies that they should buy. Generally speaking, this could be overlooked but in a White House which has pointedly eliminated many of the Inspector General positions as well as limiting some of the corruption deterrents, like the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, we question the behavior of the people in the White House. If one of Trump’s followers listened to him as he pointedly suggested selling then whoever had listened and acted would have had an opportunity to make money, akin to inside trading concepts. “Kathleen Clark, a professor focusing on government ethics and corruption at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said Mr. Trump’s actions “would ordinarily trigger an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.””

Again, what can be done? Not so much if the President of the United States is the one doing the signaling and the Securities and Exchange Committee, whose job is to investigate but is not interested in investigating. But, as I have mentioned before, this should be and is being publicized, and we are hearing about this on a daily basis. We are living in volatile times, but everyone can and should pay attention.

Link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-stock-market.html