A Government That Looks Like Trump

[Hermit-The-Prog]

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2018-03-02/jared-kushner-ben-carson-and-how-donald-trump-is-corrupting-politics

It goes beyond Jared Kushner and Ben Carson's $31,000 table.

It would be easy to lose sight in the informational maelstrom of a trio stories involving Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Trump's personal pilot and his son-in-law-cum-senior adviser, Jared Kushner which bloomed brightly before being eclipsed; they serve as a reminder of the number, degree and reach of the ethical challenges and possible corruption which has become the background music in front of which the other Trump dramas unfold. We have to a depressing extent become benumbed to the fact that we are living in an age aptly dubbed one of "American kakistrocracy" (government by the worst of us), in part because of its pervasiveness and almost mind-boggling scope.

So it's useful to periodically step back and catalogue the extent to which Trumpism is corrupting our governance. The Washington Post reported last month that 9 of 22 of Trump's initial picks for Cabinet-level jobs, 40 percent, "have found themselves facing scrutiny over their actions." While the examples below range from unseemly to potentially illegal they bespeak a cavalier attitude towards government ethics and taxpayer dollars that is illustrative of the Trump era in America.

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