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Everything Is a Scam
(www.thenation.com)
If we are going to be outraged by the grift, we need to be outraged by all the grift, not just the spectacle at the top. Get outraged at the $60 application fees for apartments that never materialize; the wage theft that goes unpunished; 29.99 percent APR credit cards and car loans. Let’s get serious about the taxes that billionaires don’t pay; the Polymarket bets and insider trading; the congressional stock trading; the tech and utility monopolies that are always favored to win, win, win while ordinary people like Al and me and the family with the Trump flag pinned to their fence absorb all the consequences.
Last I checked, people are. "Everyone does it" doesn't justify Trump doing it (especially as brazenly as he does). On the other hand, supporting him means you support the grift. You want people to be scammed, fucked over, killed, and so on just to make some rich people richer.
The family with the Trump flag deserves the consequences of their own actions.
Anyway, during his term, it feels like people have been pushed past their breaking point somewhat. Where there have been progressive wins, they are often even more progressive than the Democrats would like. Hopefully we see a hard pivot during this year's election on the off chance we're able to have a fair one in most places (we already know it won't be a fair election in some states, like Louisiana, though).