It’s easy to sell your
soul to the highest bidder when you’re an empty shell. Trump’s nature has
always been transactional. His supporters view this as an asset: Because Trump
stands for nothing, they believe, he won’t be influenced by ideological
concerns and instead will make the best deals he can for the nation. What they
don’t see is that the nation will always come second to Trump himself and that
he’ll quickly sell out our collective future for his personal present. They
also miss that money—with the possible exception of acts of vengeance—will
always be Trump’s primary motivator, meaning that the welfare
of the poor, care
for the elderly, and the preservation of lives through programs like USAID will always take a
back seat to corporate profits. So will the fate of Eastern Europe. Will America
continue to support Ukraine? It depends on how much they’re willing to give us
as far as natural
resources. Teslas can’t run on spilt blood, after all.
Rather than make
decisions based on sound reasoning, evidence, and morality, Trump will always
do what’s best for his own pockets and those of his billionaire pals. Though
he’d initially supported a ban on TikTok, he suddenly reversed
himself after winning the election, declaring that he no longer sees the
company as a major security threat. It just might have had something to do with
the fact that Jeff Yass, a major Trump supporter and by far the top
Republican donor last cycle, has a stake in the app’s parent company,
ByteDance. It also didn’t hurt that TikTok
execs were putting up money and throwing parties for the Trump
inauguration.
The same holds true for
Trump’s immigration policies. While the administration is trying to strike fear
into undocumented workers, ending
asylum programs, selling off Venezuelans
to work in El Salvador’s notorious prison system, violating basic human
rights in its treatment of Colombians, canceling the CHNV
program for over half a million Latinos looking to become American
citizens, and preparing a brand-new “travel
ban” to target immigrants from predominantly Black and Muslim countries, Trump
has somehow found it in his heart to welcome certain immigrants—those willing
to pay $5 million for a visa “gold
card.” He’s even suggested calling it the “Trump
card,” which is fitting not only because it
would allow Russian oligarchs to jump the line but because it also symbolizes
the special privilege he’s had throughout his life.
