Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to the deaths of over 150,000 Americans and a historic recession that has left millions unemployed, President Donald Trump has continued funneling money to himself and several of his ultra-wealthy associates in an attempt to quietly grow their fortunes while most of America suffers.
During President Trump’s presidency, income inequality has skyrocketed to the highest level ever recorded, a trend only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A few months ago, the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), ostensibly designed to help small businesses weather the pandemic, saw vast amounts of the taxpayer-funded benefits go towards extremely wealthy firms closely tied to Trump.
A review by American Ledger found that three companies directly linked to the Trump Administration received a combined $18.3 million in interest-free loans and over a dozen businesses valued at over $100 million also received aid under the program that was supposed to benefit struggling, locally-owned American businesses.
In addition to the poorly administered PPP program that served partially as a taxpayer-funded slush fund for elite politically-connected businesses, several Trump donors, friends, and associates have reaped-in millions of government dollars from various contracts granted by the Trump administration, including one mega-donor of the president whose private jet company received $27 million in government funds and a prominent defense contractor already worth billions that received $2 million.
Additionally, Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow and a prominent supporter of the president, was granted $75,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs to manufacture masks, and Zach Fuentes, the president’s former Deputy Chief of Staff, won a $3 million federal contract to supply masks to the Navajo Nation.
The overt favoritism to reward political allies who have given millions to the president’s campaign has been a trend throughout his time in office. One close ally of the president, Tommy Fisher, received a whopping total of $407 million to build just 31 miles of a border wall in Arizona, likely personally profiting in the millions from the expenditure.
The president’s overtures to wealthy and well-connected tycoons and corporations has been a consistent pattern throughout his first term in the White House. In his first year in office, Trump proudly championed and signed into law the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that massively cut taxes for billionaires and big corporations.
In November, Trump is running for reelection and seeking the support of millions of hard-working Americans who make up the 99% of the country that his economic policies have been willfully designed to leave out in the cold amidst the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.