A message for the Democrats: It’s the corruption, stupid

Though President Trump’s approval rating hovers at around 37 percent, Democrats still need a solid message apart from “we’re not Trump” if happy days are to be here again. Just wait until we nominate a candidate, they say, then we will have one. 

One issue that voters can rally round is the wanton corruption in Washington. Last year was a financial bonanza for Trump, bringing in over $2 billion — more than half of which came from crypto, even as his administration gutted the industry’s primary regulator.  

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. is a director of a company called GrabAGun. Called the “Amazon of guns,” GrabAGun handles ammunition and gun accessories, selling directly online. The administration has proposed regulatory changes that would dramatically benefit the company. A White House official said the new rules were “driven by the administration’s interest in protecting the Second Amendment,” and were unrelated to Trump Jr.’s business interests.   

The pièce de résistance is 1789 Capital, which profanes the year of the U.S. Constitution. 1789 Capital — run by Trump Jr. and his partner, Omeed Malik — has made investments in artificial intelligence and defense technology that have tripled in value in just one month.

Many of these investments have been in companies seeking large government contracts. Others “have benefited directly from new Trump policies or rollbacks of existing laws.”

One of the investments is Polymarket, a prediction market betting site with fortunes hinging directly on government policies. It was worth $300 million when 1789 Capital invested in it. Earlier last year, Polymarket was granted a U.S.........

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