Trump’s ‘pay-to-play’ politics fuel a ‘new gilded age’, experts say | Donald Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/23/trumps-politics-gilded-age

7 Comments

  1. tldr; Donald Trump’s ‘pay-to-play’ politics have created a new gilded age, where wealthy donors to his Super PAC and other initiatives gain political and financial benefits, including deregulation and government contracts. His administration’s policies have favored industries like cryptocurrency, AI, and fossil fuels, with Trump and his family profiting from their own crypto ventures. Critics argue this approach mirrors historical corruption, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and governance influenced by financial ties.

    *This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.

  2. Absolutely, it’s the most obviously corrupt USA presidency I’ve seen, pardoning people who have been convicted for ponzi schemes and fraud, yet there are still average people (or maybe they are just bots, which is more likely) on social media cheering him on.

  3. Didn’t Citizens United officially launch pay to play? He’s just openly embracing it, while Congress was little more subtle.

  4. I hope that history books write that he ran on policy x, got applause for policy x, people went to the ballot box in support of policy x, and then he executed policy x once elected. Americans were overwhelmingly in support, either by literally voting for him or chilling out at the house and saying they’re good either way the election falls.

    I get the feeling that people are going to spin it like Trump was something done to America as opposed to the reality that America championed this guy and begged for it at every step.