“How does he get away with it?”

May 12, 2025

“How does he get away with it?”

Readers frequently post comments or send emails that ask some variation of the following questions about Trump's open corruption:

• How does he get away with it?

• What can we do to stop him?

• Why doesn’t the DOJ investigate him?

• Why can‘t Democrats do something to stop him?

• What can we do about it?

I will begin today’s newsletter by examining the latest example of presumptive corruption in the Trump administration, the gift by Qatar to Trump for his personal use of a “Flying Palace”—a lavishly decorated Boeing 747-8.

Not everyone will find my proposed answer satisfactory, but it is that “We, the people” must use Trump's corruption as motivation to redeem democracy from the stranglehold of billionaires and corporations. We must reform the DOJ, FBI, and Congress. We must overturn the corrupt decisions of the Supreme Court that grant presidents criminal immunity and allow corporations to buy elections and politicians. We will accomplish those reforms at the ballot box, in the streets, in living rooms, and in school auditoriums.

Fully redeeming our democracy will be a long-term, arduous task. We have already begun the work and have reason for hope. The daily reports of corruption and lawlessness are difficult to stomach, but we must use them as a source of righteous indignation and courage for the battles to come. Stay strong and know that we are in this fight together

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Qatar to gift Trump a Boeing 747-8

Qatar is reportedly on the verge of giving Trump a lavishly outfitted Boeing 747-8 for his personal use. The transaction will be the largest illegal gift—if not outright bribe—ever paid to any US politician. Details are here: Trump to accept luxury jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One | CNN Politics

Although the transaction is disguised as a “loan” to the US Defense Department, followed by a transfer to the Trump Presidential Library for Trump's personal use, it is a thinly disguised personal gift to Trump. Shame on any media outlet that describes it as anything else.

If the motivation for the gift is to urge Trump to influence US policy, it is a bribe. See Alternet, 'Bribery in broad daylight': Experts stunned by Qatar plan to gift Trump $400 million 'flying palace'.

Regardless of the motivation for the gift, it is prohibited by the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 provides,

[N] o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

An “emolument” is an “advantage, profit, or gain received as a result of one’s employment or one’s holding of office.” See CRS, The Emoluments Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

Assuming (naively) that Qatar expects nothing in return for the gift, it is precisely the type of “present” that the Constitution forbids.

The arrangement is all the more corrupt because the US Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly co-authored a memo concluding that the transaction is permissible under US law and the Constitution.

Prior to accepting the position as US Attorney General, Pam Bondi was a registered lobbyist for Qatar—and therefore suffers from an egregious conflict of interest. See Newsweek, Pam Bondi's Lobbying For Qatar Explained. (“President-elect Donald Trump's new pick for Attorney General once earned $115,000 a month as a registered foreign lobbyist for the Qatari government, which has often been accused of human rights abuses.”)

Qatar is claiming as of late Sunday that the reports of a loan / gift are “inaccurate”—although the Qatari denial did not specify which aspects of the reports were “inaccurate.”

Which brings us to the question, “How does he get away with it?”

The short answer is that Trump has neutralized the guardrails of democracy that would prevent behavior violating US criminal laws and constitutional provisions.

• First, the US Supreme Court has immunized Trump from the criminal laws of the US (in Trump v. US). In the normal course, the DOJ would investigate and prosecute Trump under the the US criminal code.

• Second, Trump has immunized himself from impeachment and conviction by engineering a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. In the normal course, Congress would impeach, convict, and remove Trump from office.

• Third, Trump has neutered Congress, which could stop his corruption through legislation, oversight, and investigations.

• Finally, Trump has corrupted, compromised, or destroyed the DOJ, FBI, and system of inspector generals and independent agencies.

Trump did not weaken the guardrails of democracy on his own. He has been enabled and assisted by a corps of cultural war shock troops who believe in white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and antisemitism.

But he has not corrupted us—the people. To be sure, he has gained control of about one-third of the electorate. But it is not enough—or should not be enough—to halt the rebirth and reformation that has already begun.

I wish there were a better, easier answer than saying that years of protesting in the streets and showing up at town halls and ballot boxes will be needed to get us out of this mess. But here we are. The only question is, “What are we going to do about it?” For me, the answer is, “Exactly what we have been doing, only louder, more frequently, and in greater numbers.”

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Two updates

Arrest of Newark Mayor

After the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at an ICE detention facility for allegedly trespassing, representatives of Homeland Security said that they were expecting to arrest members of Congress for the same conduct. Homeland Security published a news release entitled, Members of Congress Break into Delaney Hall Detention Center.

The press release claimed that the members of the House did not have permission to enter the facility and “are not above the law.”

It is true that members of Congress “are not above the law.” But in this instance, “the law” specifically authorizes members of Congress to inspect ICE facilities at any time for purposes of oversight. See ICE.gov, ICE Facility Visits for Members of Congress.

Per the ICE memo linked above, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 provides, in relevant part,

None of the funds appropriated [to] Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security

(1) A Member of Congress.

The ICE document also notes that the members of Congress are not required to provide notice of their intent to enter an ICE facility.

So, the notion that Homeland Security will “arrest” members of Congress for entering a facility that they have a statutory right to enter without prior notice displays the ignorance of Homeland Security of the law governing its operations.

Threatened Suspension of writ of habeas corpus

Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso appeared to walk back comments by Architect of Evil Stephen Miller suggesting Trump would suspend the writ of habeas corpus.

Barrasso repeatedly said that the Trump administration would “follow the law” and that Barrasso did not expect the matter to come to Congress.” See The Hill, Barrasso: ‘I don’t believe’ suggested habeas corpus suspension will ‘come to Congress’

Congress—not the president—has the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus during a time of war or insurrection. By saying that the matter would not be brought to Congress, Barrasso seemed to be signaling that the Trump administration would not pursue the idea. That is how I read Barrasso’s comments, but I welcome others to weigh in with their interpretations (in the Comment section).

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Confusion regarding the status of negotiations with China over tariffs

The Trump administration met over the weekend with Chinese trade representatives. Comments from the US side of the table suggested that a “deal” had been reached or that “substantial progress” had been achieved. China’s representatives said that the two countries agreed to keep negotiating.

Compare, for example, the headline from Reuters, US officials say deal struck to cut China trade deficit, details on Monday, with the reporting from the Wall Street Journal: Bessent Hails ‘Productive’ U.S.-China Trade Talks (accessible to all).

The subheadline on the WSJ article is “Beijing says the two sides agreed to start a formal negotiation process.” In the article, WSJ notes that the official Chinese news agency reported the countries had agreed to establish an “economic and trade consultation mechanism” that “would involve recurring discussions.”

“Start a formal negotiation process” (per China) is a far cry from “deal struck to cut China trade deficit” (per the US).

In any event, the details are supposed to be released on Monday in a joint statement between the US and China. Until then, you should view any claims from the Trump administration about trade negotiations with China with a block of salt.

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Trump falsely claims he will reduce drug prices

Once again demonstrating that Trump does not understand basic economic concepts, Trump is claiming (as of Sunday night) that he will reduce drug prices. What he means is that he will limit the amount that the government will reimburse for drugs prescribed to people insured under government programs.

To be clear, the president does not have the authority to set the prices of consumer goods, including drugs.

To be clearer, there is a difference between how much the government will reimburse the insured for a drug and the price of the drug charged by the insurer.

Although the facts of the formal proposal hasn’t been released, if the government merely refuses to pay the current price charged by pharma companies for a drug, then one of two things could happen: (a) the insured person pays the difference, or (b) the insurer removes the drug from the insured person’s approved drug list.

Neither of those options involves “reducing the price” of the drug. What Trump means to say is that he will attempt to pressure the drug companies to accept a lower rate of reimbursement by reimbursing only a portion of drug prices. He tried the same thing in his first term and was blocked by the courts.

But this story is even more outrageous than it seems. As you will recall, Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act included provisions to negotiate lower prices with pharma companies—targeting the ten most popular-expensive drugs. The provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act were supplemented by a Biden executive order to implement the reductions in drug prices through negotiations.

On Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order rescinding Biden’s prior executive order, which was intended to lower prescription drug prices. See Hours Into Presidency, Trump Rescinds Attempts To Lower Prescription Costs, Rolls Back Some ACA Rules - KFF Health News.

Trump is now claiming that he will reduce prescription drug prices after undoing Biden’s efforts to achieve the same goal. Trump is a hypocrite who believes the American people cannot remember something that happened only four months ago.

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Opportunities for Reader Engagement

Markers for Democracy et al. on Monday morning, 11 a.m. Eastern.

Join me in a Markers for Democracy online event on Monday, May 12, 11am – 12pm EDT, with Julian E. Zelizer, a best-selling author, Professor of History at Princeton University, and Substack author ( The Long View). You can sign up to join the conversation on Mobilize.

Conversation with Marc Elias of Democracy Docket

Join me and Marc Elias on Wednesday, May 14 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT as we discuss the work of Democracy Docket and Marc’s trail-blazing legal work in defending voting rights and fair elections.

If you are not familiar with Democracy Docket, it is the leading digital news platform dedicated to delivering information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts. Democracy Docket was founded by Marc Elias in 2020 to help track and explain cases that matter to our efforts to defend democracy.

I am sponsoring this event to help support the work of Democracy Docket. The pro-democracy information environment is rapidly changing. Traditional outlets are disappearing or endangered (a worrisome sign), while newer platforms and sources (e.g., Substack) are burgeoning (a good sign). But those changes make it difficult to know which pro-democracy sources to follow and support.

Simply put, there is no better source for understanding voting rights and election litigation than Democracy Docket.

The registration link is here (Register for Democracy Docket Event).

Concluding Thoughts

Jill and I were blessed with the birth of our fifth grandchild on Saturday. Mom, Dad, and baby girl are healthy but exhausted. We will be assisting over the next week or so. Once our schedule settles, I will try to arrange a reader meeting in D.C.

Trump’s public corruption demonstrates utter contempt for the 99% of the American people who are the engine of our economy and the fabric of our democracy. Trump is imposing hardship while sneering at the injury his misguided policies are inflicting as he accepts a personal gift of $400 million from a foreign government.

It is infuriating. For some, it is dispiriting. Don’t give up. Turn your anger, and even your despair, into action. There is only one path forward, and that is to challenge everything Trump is doing—even when the guardrails have been removed or eroded. The situation will not improve unless we continue to resist with every ounce of determination we can muster.

Stay strong. As of Sunday evening, we have only the reports of the massively corrupt deal between Qatar and Trump. We have not yet seen or heard the full-throated opposition from the American people.

Let’s let Trump and his Republican enablers know how we feel about his acceptance of a $400 million gift from Qatar—especially as House Republicans scheme for ways to cut Medicaid while making it seem like they are not.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Bubble Nebula is about 7,100 light years from Earth. The central “bubble” is caused by solar wind from a massive star that burns a million times brighter than our sun.