Well, come on all of you, big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Well, come on generals, let's move fast
Your big chance has come at last
Now you can go out and get those reds
'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come
And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade
But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
They drop it on the Viet Cong
And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Come on mothers throughout the land
Pack your boys off to Vietnam
Come on fathers, and don't hesitate
To send your sons off before it's too late
And you can be the first ones in your block
To have your boy come home in a box
And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Trump’s Vile New $230 Million Shakedown of DOJ Just Got Even Worse
It’s
bad enough that Trump wants—and DOJ will likely fork over—this tribute
payment. Now, get this: It can probably be done at first without even
being revealed publicly.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Image
Donald
Trump is rapidly transforming the presidency into a massive Bribe
Delivery System. For convenience’s sake, let’s refer to this going
forward as Trump’s presidential “BDS.”
This is underscored by the jarring news
that Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him $230
million in compensation related to various federal actions against him.
As The New York Timesreports,
Trump submitted claims in 2023 and 2024 seeking “damages” stemming from
the investigation into Russian interference in 2016 and his prosecution
for stealing classified documents at the end of his first term.
Now that Trump is president again, he is still demanding those payments, sources told the Times.
And one of the officials who would decide the matter is Deputy Attorney
General Todd Blanche—one of Trump’s former personal attorneys.
Ethics experts point out that Trump now appears in a position to command his subordinates to hand him $230 million in taxpayer money. As the Times delicately put it, Trump expects this to happen.
But it gets even worse.
In
an interview, Representative Jamie Raskin—who is investigating this as
ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee—said his staff’s
research indicates that these payments can probably be made
confidentially at first, with no immediate public disclosure.
“Our
reading is that, even though this is a private settlement, it doesn’t
have to be disclosed anywhere until there is an accounting of where all
the money has gone at the end of the year,” Raskin told me.
This
is because Trump is seeking these payments via an internal DOJ
administrative claims process, a spokesperson for House Judiciary
Committee Democrats says, which is typically confidential. Though any
payments would come out eventually in a later report to Congress, a
payment could be made confidentially well before DOJ makes a public
disclosure.
“I’m
not aware of any reason this would automatically be made public at the
time it happened,” says Dan Weiner, a lawyer at the Brennan Center.
It’s
hard to fathom how bad this is. Start with the claims themselves: In
2023, Trump sought damages from DOJ from the Russia investigation, which
he’s called a “hoax” for years. But while that probe had some serious
problems, DOJ’s inspector general concluded it was legitimately predicated, and a GOP-led Senate committee, chaired by the fellow who’s now Trump’s secretary of state, confirmed in August 2020 that Russia did attempt to swing the election to Trump. Of course his campaign’s potential role in this had to be investigated.
Then, in 2024, Trump sought damages related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago. But that search did yield powerful evidence that Trump was criminally hoarding classified documents.
Regardless, for Trump to continue seeking these payments as president
is even more wildly corrupt. The conflict-of-interest issues involved
in Blanche making this decision are obvious. This is probably
unconstitutional too.
“The domestic emoluments clause says the
president may not receive any compensation at all from the U.S.
government or the states beyond his official salary,” Raskin told me.
“This means he cannot be ordering government officials to write checks
to the president.”
Trump, for his part, told reporters
that “I’m the one that makes the decision.” Though Trump did admit this
is “awfully strange,” his quote should be understood as an open
declaration that he can command Blanche to sign off on the payment.
Watch Trump here:
Note
that Trump also declared this would be legitimate, saying: “I was
damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to
charity.” Even if you take that last claim at face value—which you
shouldn’t—this isn’t his money to give.
In our interview, Raskin added more detail on what he’ll seek in the investigation that Judiciary Committee Democrats just announced.
Raskin said he will demand internal communications between the White
House and DOJ, including Blanche himself, about these claims, and any
communications indicating that Trump is pressing DOJ to make the payment
or shedding light on DOJ deliberations about it.
“We
want the entire paper trail,” Raskin told me. “We’re looking for any
correspondence, memoranda, or records of conversations between the White
House and the Department of Justice. If we had subpoena power, we would
be going after that.”
Raskin noted that if Democrats had power,
they would also subpoena “any interactions between Blanche and Trump or
Trump and other DOJ officials.” This also telegraphs what Democrats will seek by subpoena if they win the House. “We are demanding this information for the public,” Raskin said.
Republicans
on the Judiciary Committee, led by Trump water-carrier Jim Jordan of
Ohio, will stonewall all of this—yet more enabling of Trump’s
world-historical corruption and consolidation of autocratic power. But
Raskin said he will press the case when the committee convenes next.
“I
will say that we should consider this a civic emergency from the
standpoint of the Judiciary Committee,” Raskin told me. “Are we going to
have presidents from here on in just shaking down the Department of
Justice or other parts of the U.S. government for money to put in their
pockets?”
There’s also the Blanche angle. As Marcy Wheeler pointsout,
Blanche is involved in DOJ decisions—from prosecuting Trump’s enemies
to signing off on potentially illegal deportations—that could make him
legally vulnerable later. If Trump really wants DOJ to hand over these
“damages,” could Blanche really say no, given that he may be dependent
on Trump for a pardon later?
“It goes without saying that anybody
in the Trump administration who violates the law is now expecting a
pardon from Donald Trump,” Raskin told me, though he didn’t directly
address Blanche. “If you want the protection of the president, you need
to comply with his every wish.”
As
an aside, Democrats should consider pushing legislation that more
concretely bans such administrative claim payments to presidents (and
other officials) even if the claims predated their service. Yes,
Republicans will block a vote on it. Let them punt, then take it to the
country.
It’s always possible that Trump will decide against such
payments. But even if he does, would that have happened if this whole
scandal had never been disclosed?
As writer John Ganz points out, this sort of corruption is foundational to MAGA politics. Whether it’s Trump selling favors to kleptocratic allies abroad,
or ICE agents getting handed newly created government jobs by the
thousands to arrest nonviolent day laborers on real worksites, or Trump pardoning
1,500 of his insurrectionist followers in exchange for them serving as
MAGA’s paramilitary street-violence wing, everything is subject to
buying and selling. Meanwhile, explains Don Moynihan, Trump is simultaneously gutting internal executive branch oversight. For MAGA, all this is a positive.
Enter Trump’s reinvention of the presidency as a Bribe Delivery System. His bad-faith threats toward law firms and universities have invited them to hand over huge sums toward causes Trump likes. His frivolous lawsuits against media companies give their corporate overlords a way to effectively bribe him—with payments to his “presidential library”—to ensure government approval for other business.
And any officials who might be legally vulnerable after carrying out
Trump’s orders have put themselves in a position of subjugation where
displeasing him might risk losing his protection later.
It
doesn’t matter where this money goes in the end. These are still
functionally extortion payments, or tribute payments, being directed in
accordance with Trump’s commands—payments that
shouldn’t be happening in the first place. But feeding this BDS is now
the cost of doing business—or perhaps even surviving at all—in Trump’s
America.
twas the night before trumpmas twas the night before trumpmas,and throughout the church house,not a democrat was stirring,except the old parish mouse,
who awakened to check out,just what was the clatter,
as men wheeled in voting machines,to settle the matter,
of who would now lead us,- cause they were secure,
to protect us from voter fraud,though the mouse still demure,
did not notice donald pussycat,a veteran mouse-catcher,who gobbled her up,- trumps latest poll-watcher!
this is a song i first tried to write a long time ago and feel that its appropriate to publish now...
the covid depression christmas song 2020 (like nat king cole sang it)
reindeer roasting on an open fire
elves just looking to get paid
santa got hit by recession this year
there werent many toys on christmas day ... everybody knows
boughs of holly and some mistletoe
dont help keep the fireplace bright
we burned a dresser and an ottoman
as children huddled closer this cold night
(they know that santas been laid off
and he and mrs clause have caught a nasty cough
but with his rising healthcare cost
it seems his battle with blue cross is all but lost)
they know that santa struggled too
he did as much as any jolly elf could do
but he got laid off at the mall and he wont be decking anybodys halls ... with
boughs of holly and some mistletoe
dont help to keep the fireplace bright
and every mothers child is gonna try
to see if reindeer tastes better baked or fried
and now kriss kringles gone away
foreclosure signs are in his yard and his driveway
and all the elves have been laid off
their jobs are now in taiwan and bangkok, ... and china
i sing this song without expecting praise
from those just trying to survive if we make it through new years its a miracle
and another year we have to keep alive
