Week Eight: The White House Clown Car Dealership

Trump and Musk continue to use the executive branch to boost their personal wealth.

Welcome to Week Eight of the Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we highlight examples of corporate corruption shaping the Trump administration’s agenda and their material impact on everyday people. Read our first seven issues here and follow us on Bluesky and X for #CorruptionCalendar updates.

While the lion’s share of this weeks’ news cycle surrounds a potential partial government shutdown (readers of this newsletter know that the government already is substantially shut down by DOGE), Trump and his lackeys continue churning the corruption machine for their own benefit. Trump, Musk, and their underlings shamelessly use the government to get even richer while decimating the government’s capacity to help poor people, farmers, students, women, and well, all of us.

• The White House Turned Into A Showroom To Boost Tanking Tesla Stock. In perhaps the most blatant show of corruption yet, Trump channeled his inner car dealer at the White House, turning the lawn into a Tesla-sponsored car show. In response to Tesla stock price plummeting, Trump promised to purchase a Tesla vehicle and held a promo event for Musk’s company. Trump and Musk were not shy about the intention behind the spectacle—Trump literally said he hoped it will help boost Tesla stock. Any fluctuation in Tesla stock is immensely important for Musk. His wealth is heavily tied to its evaluation, with Forbes reporting a $22.8 billion drop in net worth for the shadow president during the latest skid.

  • As if that wasn’t obviously corrupt enough, Musk quickly completed the quid pro quo, promising another $100 million for Trump’s political operation. It's a small price to pay for the opportunity to end investigations into his companies and scoop up multi-billion dollar federal contracts.

• The Trump Family Continues To Cash In On Crypto. Not to be outdone by Musk, Trump and his family are looking to make more money in the crypto industry. Having presumably cashed in with their Trump and Melania meme coins, the family is reportedly looking to move into even less reputable parts of the industry. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump family is seeking a stake in the crypto exchange Binance. Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to violations regarding money laundering, a charge that Zhao is now asking Trump to pardon.

• DOGE Brings Layoffs To NASA. NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro announced that the agency will be closing several departments, including the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy and the Office of the Chief Scientist. The only person who would benefit from this is, of course, Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX will be eager to replace any function that NASA cuts. This is concerning for anyone in the vicinity of future launches, as SpaceX's last two rocket launches have exploded and rained debris over the Caribbean.

• Dropped Investigations Into Corporate Malfeasance. Corporations who donated to Trump’s inauguration are seeing the investment pay off in the form of dropped federal investigations and lawsuits. See here from Sludge for more.

• No Competitive Bidding For Propaganda Contract. The Department of Homeland Security will be spending $200 million to produce propaganda videos to promote Trump’s draconian immigration policies. In a stunning lack of government efficiency, the Associated Press reported that DHS did not conduct a competitive bidding process that could have lowered the price tag for tax payers. Instead, the contract was awarded to two firms with Republican connections. One firm is owned by an associate of Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager and close adviser to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

• IRS Gutted Before Tax Season. In a gift to tax-avoiding corporations and individuals, Trump has fired over 7,000 IRS employees and plans on further layoffs that could cut the agency's staffing levels in half from its current level of 100,000. This will mean fewer audits into big corporations, less staff to answer questions from people trying to do their taxes, and more opportunities for the wealthiest people to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

• Trump Lackey Directs USAID To Destroy Documents In The Midst Of Ongoing Litigation. Staff at USAID were reportedly directed by acting executive secretary Erica Carr to shred or burn classified documents. Destroying government records without permission from the National Archives and Records Administration is illegal, and it's even more alarming given the slate of lawsuits regarding the destruction of USAID. An early target of DOGE, USAID has been completely gutted—over 80% of its programs have been canceled and most employees have been fired.

• OPM’s Fashion Influencer. Lower level members of the administration are following in the corrupt footsteps of the role models at the top. McLaurine Pinover, the spokesperson at the Office of Personnel Management, has been spending time at the office posting fashion videos on her Instagram account, which links to another site selling the clothes. According to CNN’s reporting, Pinover could earn commission from the clothing sales. We couldn’t help but wonder, did DOGE forget to set up ethics training after taking over OPM?

We are continuously updating resources to keep you up to date on Trump and Musk’s all-out assault on everyday people and the Constitution.

This includes:

No Corporate Cabinet, a central hub documenting corporate corruption and conflicts of interest among those jockeying for power in the Trump administration. We’ve published profiles on Trump nominees like Paul Atkins, Linda McMahon and Chris Wright – check back for more profiles in the days to come.

Our tracker of the Trump administration’s failure to comply with court orders, and the programs and services being disrupted by its non-compliance. We are also tracking the actions judges take to attempt to enforce their orders.

A list of all of the individuals who have ever been reported to be affiliated with Elon Musk’s DOGE, with links to the original reporting.

Profiles of the agents behind DOGE attacks, including conflicts of interest that might make their unfettered access to the federal government dangerous to the public.

A list of the agencies that DOGE has visited, keeping you up to date on what Elon Musk is looking to illegally gut.

An aviation tracker of administration attacks on air safety.

Agency Spotlight—Our tracker of appointments to leadership positions at thirty-nine federal independent agencies.