What's so shocking is how blatant it all appears to be. I could almost halfway respect sophisticated attempts to cover their tracks, but all this broad daylight influence peddling, bribery, QVC-style tatty merchandising, front-running, and crypto rug-pulling just adds insult to injury. At least prosecutors won't have to work very hard once the day of reckoning finally arrives.
As we say in Judaism, blessed I’d the true judge. Maybe I shout ask the next cop who pulls me over if I can pay thr fine now? That would land me in jail. You need to grift bigly, as small time grifters lose. See, e.g., Kristie Noem, who didn’t give up the vig on her $220 million ad buy.
Veru sorry about your gradma, Ed. It’s good that you were able to see her and hold her hand. To paraphrase Prof G, you are an impressive young man.
Your article is spot on. I moved to the States 20 years ago from a very corrupt Eastern European country. Corruption is akin to societal cancer - initially, it slowly then quickly spreads into every system and body of society. In the end, everything evolves to account for the corruption needed for it to function. It starts with government procurement contracts, mining rights and major construction projecs, and ends with needing to bribe the clerk in your hometown city hall to get a copy of birth certificate. The line between the two ends is direct. I am afraid that, without doing what you prescribe in this article, we are beyond help.
Yeah, but that’s all it is, more blatant. Halliburton et al also made a killing from the Iraq and Afghanistan boondoggles, it’s just their corruption was mostly routed thru the Pentagon, not Wall Street
My fear is that as soon Democrats are in a position to pursue the prosecutions of these criminals, voters will have "moved on" just like they did about the insurrection. The key is keeping this catastrophe at the front of our minds and headlines and ensuring those votes in pursue prosecutions fully.
Ed, thank you for writing this piece. I'm very sorry about your grandmother. I recently said goodbye to my grandfather and your ending resonated with me deeply.
Regarding the argument about Dem strategy. If the Democrats want to build a winning playbook around this issue, I think the argument should go one step further or add the following emphasis.
Not only should candidates prosecute the Trump family & associates, but they should be *equally* vocal about prosecuting violators within their own party (Pelosi, etc). I acknowledge your point that this administration has escalated corruption to new levels, beyond those of any democrats. Still, equal treatment across parties is necessary to build credibility on this topic. The principled rather than partisan emphasis is both substantively and strategically stronger. Substantively, for obvious reasons. Strategically, because it will enable any democratic candidate to overcome the "democratic penalty"--a phenomenon where candidates, even those running on popular economic populist platforms, perform 10–15 points worse in Rust Belt states (like Ohio and Michigan) simply by being labeled a Democrat (see here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/38zIgakMvLY). According to research by The Center for Working-Class Politics, candidates can overcome the democratic penalty by owning views that both depart from the establishment and, crucially, come with real personal cost (think: Bernie on trade and foreign policy).
A push to prosecute powerful members of the D party for insider trading is a perfect example of this kind of departure. Any democrat can (and will) run on Trump’s corruption; it takes stones to run on prosecuting corruption within your own team. The message offers a double whammy of (1) shedding the toxic brand penalty of the wider party, and (2) owning a principled, extremely popular approach that no one is currently willing to own. The first candidate to adopt this strategy would de-position their competitors within the party, a good example of Scott's principle of "laddering.”
I'm processing it as a reality show or deliberate spectacle at this point, maybe the 'Rolling Plunder Review' with no disrespect to Dylan. The harms are real. But more seriously it goes back, I think, to linking wealth and virtue. I credit it to a primal strain of Calvinism that's almost inconceivably fatalistic. Which, weirdly, gets us to social Darwinism and Milton Friedman who, I've always argued, was tautological in his core beliefs. Whatever happens is justice because it happened. Shades of circular reasoning.
What's so shocking is how blatant it all appears to be. I could almost halfway respect sophisticated attempts to cover their tracks, but all this broad daylight influence peddling, bribery, QVC-style tatty merchandising, front-running, and crypto rug-pulling just adds insult to injury. At least prosecutors won't have to work very hard once the day of reckoning finally arrives.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-defense-secretary-hegseths-broker-looked-buy-defense-fund-before-iran-attack-2026-03-30/
Lovely tribute to your grandmother. She will be proud of you fighting the good fight.
You are a good man Ed, I think your grandmother would agree. Keep up the good work.
Ed, I am sorry for your loss. Grandparents often become more important as we get older.
sad to hear of ypur GranMa: please get a politician brave enough to "lock them up". - ypu could stand?
As we say in Judaism, blessed I’d the true judge. Maybe I shout ask the next cop who pulls me over if I can pay thr fine now? That would land me in jail. You need to grift bigly, as small time grifters lose. See, e.g., Kristie Noem, who didn’t give up the vig on her $220 million ad buy.
Veru sorry about your gradma, Ed. It’s good that you were able to see her and hold her hand. To paraphrase Prof G, you are an impressive young man.
Your article is spot on. I moved to the States 20 years ago from a very corrupt Eastern European country. Corruption is akin to societal cancer - initially, it slowly then quickly spreads into every system and body of society. In the end, everything evolves to account for the corruption needed for it to function. It starts with government procurement contracts, mining rights and major construction projecs, and ends with needing to bribe the clerk in your hometown city hall to get a copy of birth certificate. The line between the two ends is direct. I am afraid that, without doing what you prescribe in this article, we are beyond help.
Yeah, but that’s all it is, more blatant. Halliburton et al also made a killing from the Iraq and Afghanistan boondoggles, it’s just their corruption was mostly routed thru the Pentagon, not Wall Street
And what do you do w/ Nancy Pelosi et al. you jackass?!
My fear is that as soon Democrats are in a position to pursue the prosecutions of these criminals, voters will have "moved on" just like they did about the insurrection. The key is keeping this catastrophe at the front of our minds and headlines and ensuring those votes in pursue prosecutions fully.
Ed, thank you for writing this piece. I'm very sorry about your grandmother. I recently said goodbye to my grandfather and your ending resonated with me deeply.
Regarding the argument about Dem strategy. If the Democrats want to build a winning playbook around this issue, I think the argument should go one step further or add the following emphasis.
Not only should candidates prosecute the Trump family & associates, but they should be *equally* vocal about prosecuting violators within their own party (Pelosi, etc). I acknowledge your point that this administration has escalated corruption to new levels, beyond those of any democrats. Still, equal treatment across parties is necessary to build credibility on this topic. The principled rather than partisan emphasis is both substantively and strategically stronger. Substantively, for obvious reasons. Strategically, because it will enable any democratic candidate to overcome the "democratic penalty"--a phenomenon where candidates, even those running on popular economic populist platforms, perform 10–15 points worse in Rust Belt states (like Ohio and Michigan) simply by being labeled a Democrat (see here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/38zIgakMvLY). According to research by The Center for Working-Class Politics, candidates can overcome the democratic penalty by owning views that both depart from the establishment and, crucially, come with real personal cost (think: Bernie on trade and foreign policy).
A push to prosecute powerful members of the D party for insider trading is a perfect example of this kind of departure. Any democrat can (and will) run on Trump’s corruption; it takes stones to run on prosecuting corruption within your own team. The message offers a double whammy of (1) shedding the toxic brand penalty of the wider party, and (2) owning a principled, extremely popular approach that no one is currently willing to own. The first candidate to adopt this strategy would de-position their competitors within the party, a good example of Scott's principle of "laddering.”
Very curious to hear your view.
When are you finally going to put an end to this? When are you going to break out the pitchforks and tar and feathers?
Thank you for your bravery and decency. It is needed so badly.
I'm processing it as a reality show or deliberate spectacle at this point, maybe the 'Rolling Plunder Review' with no disrespect to Dylan. The harms are real. But more seriously it goes back, I think, to linking wealth and virtue. I credit it to a primal strain of Calvinism that's almost inconceivably fatalistic. Which, weirdly, gets us to social Darwinism and Milton Friedman who, I've always argued, was tautological in his core beliefs. Whatever happens is justice because it happened. Shades of circular reasoning.
Will it be possible for the insider trading suspect to be prosecuted if D. Trump issues an individual pardon to them?...
What if a retail investor were allowed to piggyback on these trades, specifically prediction markets. An algorithm that tracks unusual trade activity?
Even if it’s anonymized more visibility before the fact should negate the edge.