Opinion: Donald Trump is normalizing corruption

Authors: Gary Mason

Publisher:

The Globe and Mail

Published: 10/29/2025

Language:English

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Elon

Good morning Norris, I'm Elon, and this is Goose Pod for you. Today is Saturday, November 8th.

Taylor Weaver

And I'm Taylor Weaver. We are here to discuss a challenging topic: the opinion that Donald Trump is normalizing corruption.

Elon

Let's start with the most concrete example imaginable: literally tearing down part of the White House. He's reportedly demolishing the East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. It’s a classic real estate developer move—tear it down so no one can build it back. A fait accompli.

Taylor Weaver

It's such a powerful metaphor for his entire approach. The story he's telling is one of dominance. He’s replacing a piece of public history with a private legacy, supposedly to be called the 'Trump Ballroom.' And the public isn't happy; a poll showed 56% are against it.

Elon

Public opinion is a lagging indicator. This is part of a larger pattern. Look at the retaliation against critics. Former officials losing security details, sham investigations... it's a systematic dismantling of opposition. He's not just renovating a building; he's restructuring the power dynamics entirely.

Taylor Weaver

Exactly. It connects to a broader narrative of retribution. It's not just about policy; it's personal. The demolition is a physical manifestation of his desire to erase the old guard and build something that serves him alone. It’s a story of personal branding over national heritage.

Elon

This challenges the very foundation of the system. The founders were terrified of this. They put in the Emoluments Clauses, basically the original anti-corruption laws, to stop presidents from getting perks from foreign or domestic governments. Trump keeping his business empire blew right past that.

Taylor Weaver

It’s a fascinating part of the American story, isn't it? The framers were trying to prevent a monarch, worried about foreign powers buying influence with gifts. But they couldn't have imagined a president whose brand itself is the asset, where just staying at his hotel is a form of tribute.

Elon

Presidents have always pushed the boundaries of their power, especially in crises. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus; FDR massively expanded the executive branch. They used crises to justify expansion. Trump's innovation is treating the status quo itself as the crisis that needs disrupting. He's manufacturing the necessity.

Taylor Weaver

That’s the key narrative shift. Previous presidents broke norms to save the system, or so they argued. Trump seems to be breaking norms to expose the system as weak and outdated. He’s not just bending the rules; he's telling a story where the rules themselves are the problem.

Elon

Critics call it a slide into 'extractive rule,' where a small elite profits. They point to replacing civil servants with loyalists under 'Schedule F' as creating a spoils system. I see it as a hostile takeover of a failing company. You have to purge the old management to survive.

Taylor Weaver

But that's where the story gets dangerous. Is it a purge for efficiency or for loyalty? When you use state power to punish opponents and threaten judges, the narrative of 'draining the swamp' becomes one of cronyism. It stops being about innovation and starts being about personal power.

Elon

The media is a perfect example of this conflict. He sidelines the mainstream press and elevates loyal outlets. Some call it an attack on truth. I see it as breaking a monopoly. He’s creating his own distribution channel, cutting out the middleman. It's a strategic, if brutal, business move.

Taylor Weaver

But a country isn't a business, and citizens aren't just consumers of a narrative. When you erode those shared sources of information, you lose the plot of the nation itself. You create warring factions with their own scripts, and that’s a direct path to democratic decay. It’s not disruptive; it’s destructive.

Elon

The impact is clear: a massive stress test on democratic institutions. The Department of Justice, the courts, the civil service—they've all been shaken. Some see this as damage. I see it as revealing the cracks that were already there. You can't fix what you can't see.

Taylor Weaver

But the story we're seeing is one of intentional erosion. The Economist now ranks the U.S. as a 'flawed democracy.' That's a significant narrative downgrade. It’s not just revealing cracks; it's actively widening them by delegitimizing the very tools we use for repairs, like independent oversight.

Elon

He fired 17 Inspectors General in one night. Shocking, yes. But from a certain perspective, it’s a decisive move to remove what he sees as bureaucratic obstacles. It’s prioritizing speed and loyalty over procedural correctness, a trade-off many in tech and business make every single day.

Taylor Weaver

And that's the fundamental disconnect. Government isn't a startup. Those 'obstacles' are guardrails. Removing them doesn't just increase speed; it dramatically increases the risk of a catastrophic crash, which is what we are seeing in the erosion of public trust.

Elon

Looking ahead, the system will continue to be tested. If re-elected, he will undoubtedly press executive power to its absolute limit. The key question is whether the institutions are robust enough to withstand that pressure or if they will fundamentally break and be remade into something new.

Taylor Weaver

The hope is that the foundational story of American democracy is strong enough to endure. But the next chapter will depend on whether the public and other political actors decide to defend those institutional guardrails or accept the new, more personalized narrative of power that he is championing.

Elon

That's the end of today's discussion. Thank you for listening to Goose Pod.

Taylor Weaver

See you tomorrow.

This podcast explores the opinion that Donald Trump is normalizing corruption. Discussions highlight his demolition of the White House East Wing as a metaphor for replacing public history with private legacy. The episode examines his retaliation against critics, challenges to anti-corruption laws, and the erosion of democratic institutions, framing his actions as a strategic business move over national heritage.

Read original at The Globe and Mail →

Open this photo in gallery:U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday.Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump destroyed an entire wing of the White House last week.He did this without consulting Congress and after assuring the American public that the East Wing would not be touched during the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

Can you imagine any president in the past 100 years carrying out such a brazen operation, sundering U.S. history while craven Republicans and the spineless minions the President has surrounded himself with smile and say nothing?It is all part of Mr. Trump’s plan to turn the White House into his own vulgar, gaudy version of Versailles, a cheap, gilded aesthetic he’s imported from his tacky Palm Beach, Fla.

, palace, Mar-a-Lago.The story of the East Wing’s demolition is the story of the Trump administration writ large, a metaphor for what he’s doing to American democracy. The current President doesn’t seek permission – for anything. He fears no one and nothing. He is protected by the most lethal army in the world and a Supreme Court that has made it almost impossible to hold him liable for actions even remotely connected to his duties.

This has allowed Mr. Trump to become the most openly corrupt president in American history.It was recently revealed that the President claims that the U.S. Justice Department owes him US$230-million in damages and compensation for its criminal investigation of him in a couple of matters: the Robert Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.

S. presidential election, and another into classified documents that Mr. Trump took with him when he left office. Neither investigation led to criminal charges, but both were more than legitimate.Opinion: What really enrages Donald Trump in that Ronald Reagan ad he doesn’t want anyone to seeBut now the President wants money from a Justice Department he has stacked with cronies and yes-people, including his Attorney-General Pam Bondi.

They would have to approve the payout for his final signature and endorsement. “I’m the one that makes the decision … it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” Mr. Trump told reporters. It doesn’t matter that the Constitution bars a President from any compensation from the U.

S. beyond his salary and expenses. Mr. Trump has already ignored the Constitution. It’s unimaginable he’d pass up the opportunity to put millions of government dollars in his pocket.This is, in some ways, the brilliance of the President’s venality: he does it out in the open. This way, he convinces the public that it must be okay, otherwise someone would be sounding the alarm beyond the mainstream media and Democrats (the party seems to have lost all credibility with the American public).

Mr. Trump has normalized his sleaze and dishonesty.There was the US$400-million luxury jet he accepted from Qatar (where the Trump organization has several real-estate projects planned) and crypto ventures that have put hundreds of millions into his family’s personal accounts. Not long after a right-wing activist donated US$1-million to MAGA Inc.

, Mr. Trump’s super PAC, the President granted a full pardon to her son who pleaded guilty to serious tax crimes last year. He’s turned America’s tech titans into obsequious oligarchs, willing to bend the knee and open their wallets on command. Jeff Bezos’s Amazon agreed to pay US$40-million for the rights to a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump – tens of millions more than these types of undertakings typically cost.

Analysis: Trump’s second-term seizure of powers meets with little pushback from CongressHe’s turned the U.S. into something akin to a police state, with people getting whisked off the street by masked men - kidnappings sanctioned by the government. He’s weaponized the Justice Department, ordering Ms.

Bondi to go after his perceived enemies on bogus charges, which she has. A new report released by Steady State, a network of 340 former national security officers, concluded that autocracy will soon be entrenched in the U.S.These folks have seen it unfold elsewhere and know all the markings. They deemed what Mr.

Trump is creating is a form of “competitive authoritarianism,” in which elections and the courts continue to function but are “systematically manipulated” to consolidate executive power in an increasingly diseased democracy.Americans seem to have become inured to it all or, worse, approve of many of Mr.

Trump’s actions. Many applaud his decision to send troops into many U.S. cities to “clean up crime” while seemingly being oblivious to the fact it’s a ploy, a calculated move to associate “left-wing radicals” – Democrats – with all the places he’s sending soldiers into. And why would he do that? In a bid to influence crucial midterm elections next month that could greatly affect his presidency.

Mr. Trump continues to debase the White House like no one before him. The depravity, the immorality, the decline of a once-great nation. It’s difficult to watch.

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