Senator Blows Whistle on Putin-Like Corruption in First Weeks of New Administration
Astounding levels of corruption comparable to those of President Putin, have happened in the first six weeks of President Trump’s time in office, says Senator Chris Murphy. In a recent speech on the Senate floor, he names a number of blatant examples and closes with an appeal that the entire senate do something about it. He compares it to what has become normalized under President Putin.
People have talked of Mr. tRump as “transactionary,” which is a polite way of saying “everything and everyone is for sale.” But this is no way to run a government or reshape democracy. OR capitalism. This is rendering capitalism grotesque again—what it was before there were labor laws or Social Security or Medicaid to protect the most vulnerable among us. A whole new chapter of the shadow side of capitalism is happening at the highest level of our government, and the money is being stolen from us citizens. As under Putin’s Russia.
A brief summary of Murphy’s findings follow:
- For $5 million, any CEO can have a sit-down with President Trump. This is being openly advertised.
- The IRS is being cut by 7000 workers—especially those who audit millionaires, billionaires and corporations.
- Advertising on Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is now de facto required in order to get favors from the federal government.
- On February 20, a CDC meeting on vaccines was abruptly cancelled and not rescheduled.
- MAGA hats are on display in the Oval Office to make money.
- $400 million was approved to buy armored Teslas (Musk’s company—the richest man in the world who put up $280 million for Trump’s campaign, and has pumped over $6 million into the current campaign for supreme court judge in Wisconsin).
- The DOJ ended the case against New York mayor Eric Adams on a quid pro quo basis, and seven DOJ lawyers quit because of its blatant scandal and precedent: Loyalty to Trump gives you a get-out-of-jail card. (This parallels the release from jail of all January 6 insurrectionists, including the most violent ones.)
- The National Labor Relations Board is gutted, and the serious case against Musk’s Space X is dropped.
- Fossil fuel CEOs who backed Trump’s campaign are rewarded, and their competitors, clean energy companies, are attacked and regulations minimized.
- A meme coin set up by Trump allows anonymous and secret money to be sent directly to him. He gets 80% of each transaction. Players can send any amount and tell him, “it’s from me. Got something for me?”
If you want to learn more about this “institutionalized corruption” and violence against the rule of law and capitalism sans guardrails, I recommend listening to Murphy’s significant Senate speech yourself at Murphy: Six Weeks In, This White House Is On Its Way To Being The Most Corrupt In U.S. History.
One reader of the DM a week ago told me to “quit calling Trump names” such as antichrist. I am not calling him names—if one read my book, one would know that. I am naming the archetype that he and MAGA are bowing to, an archetype that stands for Evil. That is part of my job as a spiritual theologian, not only to celebrate the Sacred, but to call out its opposite, Evil. We should all pray and work to do that.
I thank Senator Murphy for his genuine contribution and his spiritual warriorship. Would that more senators were speaking truth to power. “This is how democracies die,” he said, “when the very powerful steal from us, and this stealing becomes recognized as normal. Corruption has happened before—but never this openly or this frequently.”
See Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ.
And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.
And, Fox, “Warriors for Ecological and Economic Justice: Meister Eckhart Meets Dorothy Stang, Karl Marx, David Korten, Serge Latouche, Anita Roddick, and Howard Thurman,” in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 221-230.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, “Spiritual Warriors” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
And Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 404-422.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image:
Queries for Contemplation
Do you take strength and courage and moral imagination from Senator Murphy’s speaking truth to power that you can apply to your resistance also? And commitment to spread the word to citizens who still believe in democracy and in limiting raw, unfettered, capitalism?
Recommended Reading
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit