Corruption Calendar Week 22: Another Week In The Circus Of Destruction
It’s week twenty-two of the Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we highlight the latest slate of corporate corruption that’s shaping the Trump Administration, its agenda, and the material impacts of that corruption on real people. Our first twenty-one issues can be found here, and follow us on Bluesky and X for more updates on this work.
We are just over ten percent of the way through Donald Trump’s second term, an ongoing project of destruction, destabilization and self-enrichment for the president and his gaggle of sycophants.
MAKING AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN…BY LETTING CORPORATIONS POISON YOU
What’s So Bad About Chemical Explosions Anyway? The chemical industry’s main regulator, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, is being closed by the Trump Administration even while the board pursues crucial investigations into devastating petrochemical explosions.This includes its examinations of explosions like one that resulted in poisonous gas spewing from a Dow chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2023. Beth Rosenberg, a public health expert who was a member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board from 2013 - 2014, told Grist that “closing the CSB will mean more accidents at chemical plants, more explosions and more deaths.”
Yummy! Toxic Chemicals Are Now On The Menu. Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it will push back its own deadline for making public the safety information for sixteen toxic chemicals, including those “linked to cancer or developmental problems in babies.” The delay has been celebrated by the chemical industry and decried by environmentalists, and may well “stall future decisions that could limit exposures to harmful chemicals and require new protective measures for workers.”
The U.S. Forest Service Is Selling Sacred Lands To Notoriously Destructive International Mining Conglomerates. Brooke Rollins and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week announced the release of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that paves the way for the construction of the Resolution Copper Mine at Oak Flat in Arizona. The site would be owned by international conglomerates BHP and Rio Tinto, both companies notorious for international environmental disasters. Oak Flat is itself sacred to the Apache Tribe and other Indigenous nations, but was added to Donald Trump’s permitting priority list in April, putting it on a fast track (regardless of Indigenous or environmentalist objection) for approval.
The mine has long been a protested entity since 2014 when the original land transfer was approved by Congress, and then the original EIS (published in 2021) was withdrawn by President Joe Biden in order to pursue “further tribal consultation.” Sandy Bahr, the Director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter told Arizona Central that “We are reviewing the environmental impact statement now, but think it is highly unlikely the Forest Service addressed the significant issues with the prior document or corrected its deficiencies…[this mine will] provide enormous financial benefits to these mining companies and cause significant harm to Oak Flat and to the public that cannot be mitigated.”
THE SEEMINGLY SOLE PURPOSE OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: ENRICHING TRUMP
Coming Soon To Markets Near You: Trump’s Gaudy $500 Cell Phone. This week the Trump Organization, which is led by his sons, announced its launch of a $499 smartphone that is supposed to debut in September. The deal is a licensing agreement, meaning the phone is not directly “developed, manufactured, distributed or sold by The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals,” but “critics have raised ethics concerns about the flurry of licensing deals and other branded-merchandise agreements surrounding Trump.” Indeed, Trump himself reported that he made more than $8 million in 2024 from licensing agreements, and is likely to make even more now that he has resumed the office of the presidency.
Donald Trump Is Making $600 Million In Income And Holds $1.6 Billion In Assets. Donald Trump reported over $600 million in income and $1.6 billion in assets in his required financial disclosures this past Friday, revealing holdings that include cryptocurrency, real estate, and “licensing deals with foreign developers.” Trump also reported making $1.3 million in royalties from a Bible he endorsed, along with “$2.8 million from Trump-branded watches, $2.5 million for Trump sneakers and fragrances, and $3 million for his book ‘Save America.’”
Don’t Think That’s Enough? The Rich Are Using Trump’s Little Projects To Seemingly Pay Off The Administration. Don Wilson, a Chicago-based trader funneled $100 million into Trump’s bitcoin just nine weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped a probe into Wilson’s crypto company. Before that, Wilson’s investment company bought nearly 4 million shares of Trump Media & Technology, making Wilson one of the “biggest financiers of the group’s crypto bet.”
Worried They Might At Least Might Pay Taxes On It? Don’t Be! Trump Is Destroying That Too. The Justice Department announced plans this week to eliminate its tax division, which is meant to encourage voluntary compliance with the tax code and to enforce penalties against tax cheats. The move serves the interest of Trump’s rich friends and donors, who famously don’t like paying taxes anyways, and will likely make it harder for normal people to dispute their returns, make it expeditiously through audit processes, and more.
Resource updates this week include:
A list of the key revolvers who have facilitated the crypto industry’s complete capture of our politics: How Crypto Is Buying DC One Revolver At A Time
Read our Hannah Story Brown in the American Prospect: Why Is a Former Obama Official Attacking the Left on Climate?
For more on our work tracking the Trump-Musk administration, visit TheRevolvingDoorProject.org/DogeWatch
And if you’ve got any tips on DOGE personnel or updates to any of our DogeWatch trackers, reach out to us at revolvingdoorproject@protonmail.com.