It is hard realizing how corrupted our Congress has become. No other President during my lifetime would ever have been allowed Trump’s corrupted latitude, yet we are watching it happen in plain sight.
The “bigger story” here isn’t just one man; it is the total compliance of a Congress that has traded its constitutional oversight for partisan loyalty and personal profit. We are seeing the “Power of the Purse” used as a weapon against the public while the well-connected thrive.
Take the news from this evening regarding the U.S. Postal Service. The agency has announced it is suspending its $2.5 billion employer pension contributions to stay afloat. While some might mistake this for a 401(k) match, the impact is the same: the retirement security of middle-class workers is being hollowed out.
Instead of stepping in to save this essential service, Congress just sits. Representative James Comer and the House Oversight Committee have already signaled a “no more bailouts” stance, effectively starving the USPS. This feels like a manufactured crisis designed to pave the way for privatization, allowing Trump’s corporate allies to swoop in and profit from what used to be a public good.
While postal workers lose their security and monopolies develop left and right, obvious insider trading is going on with the very people meant to regulate these industries. Just this past quarter, nearly 30 members of Congress significantly outperformed the S&P 500. We’ve seen reports of massive trades—totaling over a billion dollars—placed just minutes before major White House announcements.
It’s obscene. The people meant to guard the vault are helping to empty it. When the referees are also the players, and the “checks and balances” have been replaced by a “pay-to-play” system, the corruption isn’t just a side story—it’s the entire system.
I personally would like to see one of the following bills in congress come to fruition. It might go a long distance for us to be able to trust our Congress.
1. The ETHICS Act (Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks): This bipartisan bill would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from owning or trading individual stocks.
2. The TRUST in Congress Act: This would require all members to put their assets into a Qualified Blind Trust while in office, meaning they would have no idea how their money is being invested.
Congress literally has too much (insider) information that the rest of the population does not have access to. Currently we’re paying them not to do their jobs while they pad their own portfolios.