1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

Donald Trump’s latest grift is so egregious, not only is he being sued over it, he’s lost the support of his varsity cheerleader, Joe Rogan. Recently, two news organizations, the Intercept and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation, sued Trump for his scheme to sell early access to Truth Social posts to the highest bidder, for $100,000 a month. The suits allege this violates the First Amendment, which gives everyone equal access to the president’s statements. Now, it’s absolutely a free speech issue, but in our apocalyptically game-ified economy, it’s also basically an insider trading issue. Case in point, the first ten customers to sign up are mostly high-frequency trading firms. They’re paying for early access to Trump’s statements on things like tariffs, the economy, and the Iran War - all topics that move markets. Even a few seconds of advance notice could amount to millions in profits. So, obviously media outlets and press freedom organizations are going to sue, and they should. And naturally Trump’s detractors are going to put out statements against this, referencing the historic level of self-enrichment this president has engaged in, and they should. But even Joe Rogan, can’t wrap his head around the level of corruption this move reaches. On his famous podcast, he questioned how this could possibly be legal, and said what we’re all thinking - that it is “literally crazy.” I’ve spilled a lot of ink calling out Trump for everything he’s not doing for regular people and how it’s led to a marked decline in quality of life for Americans since he’s been in office. But this isn’t just a matter of what he’s not doing; it’s a matter of what he is doing for his cronies. The friends and family deals - of which this scheme is just one of MANY - is leading to a shocking concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few people willing to sell their souls to Trump. The United States has descended into an oligarchy. Trump has allowed power to be concentrated in the hands of a few rich and powerful people close to him and his family, and together they’re running the country for their own benefit, rather than for the good of the people. This is what Russia looks like. This is textbook Putin, and we all know that Trump is the ultimate Putin fangirl. I hope, for the sake of the country, that these lawsuits succeed in shutting down this grift. But with Trump, it’s just a game of whack-a-mole. If this scam gets cut off, I’d put money on the fact that another one will pop up in its place. Of course, I’d get better returns on my bet if I could just buy some early access to the inside track on what exactly Trump might do next.