Two-Thirds Believe Trump Illegally / Unethically Enriched Himself In Office

 

Our only question reading the lede to this story on polling on the Malignant Fascist's open and utterly unprecedented corruption is, "what is the other one-third of Americans smoking?":

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that President Donald Trump has engaged in illegal or unethical activity to profit from his presidency, according to a new poll released Tuesday from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“Most Americans say President Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests and the interests of people close to him since taking office again in 2025,” the AP-NORC article states in its introduction. “Far fewer say he has prioritized the country as a whole or people like them.”

The nationwide survey was conducted between Sept. 24 and Sept. 28 and found that 41% of the 2,140 polled U.S. adults believe Trump has done something illegal to profit from his position, with another 18% arguing he has done something “unethical, but not illegal.”

That puts general distrust in the MAGA leader’s ethical or legal behavior at a whopping 59% in the poll, which further found that only 18% of respondents said Trump has done “nothing wrong” — while another 21% said they do not know whether he has or hasn’t.

“More adults see Trump as focused on his own business interests and those of his inner circle than on the country as a whole or people like them,” states the poll in its introduction. “A majority, 56%, say Trump has prioritized his personal business interests ‘a lot.’”

The write-up noted that 54% of Americans feel the same about Trump and the business interests of his friends and family, with only 23% stating he has prioritized the country “a lot” — and a pitiful 11% saying they believe Trump has prioritized people like them “a lot.”

“Half of Americans say Trump has not prioritized people like them at all,” it continued.

Trump was already rich when he first took office in 2017 but has certainly amassed far more wealth throughout his second term: MS NOW economic analyst Steve Rattner noted in May that Trump had grown his net worth from $2.3 billion to $6.5 billion since reelection.

Forbes reported in September that his net worth has since reached $7 billion... (our emphasis)

His shady crypto deals, his pay-to-play schemes, and who knows what corrupt over- and- under- the- table beak-wetting deals he's made with foreign and domestic oligarchs foreign have belatedly begun to sink into the public consciousness (we know, wtf!).  Fortunately, Democrats are already marrying this corruption theme to the affordability crisis, to very positive effect.  From Politico:

" ... Messaging from Democrats that tied corruption to housing, health care and the cost of living increased voter support for Democratic congressional candidates by about 3 percentage points, according to a national survey last month conducted by Blue Rose Research and Democratic-aligned Winning Jobs Narrative Action, which was obtained by POLITICO.

The findings align with a shift in how Democrats are talking about corruption — and help explain why that message has exploded on the campaign trail. From Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia to James Talarico in Texas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Democrats have zeroed in on a common argument: Washington is rigged to benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyday Americans.

“We have a corruption crisis in this country, and it is leading to an affordability crisis,” Iowa Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek said during his Senate debate against Rep. Ashley Hinson last week..."

It's a message that has the benefit of being not only powerful, but true. Keep pounding.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

... The 2025 elections already gave us a preview of what an affordability midterm might look like. In the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, for example, roughly half of voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, according to the exit poll. Those voters backed Democratic candidates for governor over their Republican challengers by 30 percentage points — a 90-point swing relative to the 2024 election.

My polling data affirms these exit polls. Voters who say the top issue facing the country today is either the economy or inflation (my group of “affordability voters”) give Trump a lower approval rating than the average voter, and also give Democrats a higher margin in the House generic ballot.

According to this data, voters who say inflation or the economy is their top issue favor Democrats over Republicans for the 2026 midterm election in their local House district by a 12 percentage point margin. It’s not proof that the data above are perfect, but note that a 12-point margin is exactly what you’d get if you shifted the 2024 national environment (R+1.5) to the left based on the 13.3-point pro-Democratic swing we’ve been seeing in special elections this cycle.

Put a little more concretely: if the 2026 electorate ended up looking like the voters who say affordability is their top concern, we’d be looking at a huge blue wave, with a swing 50% larger than in 2018. And this is not some tiny, niche group in the electorate: in our October Strength In Numbers poll, 30 percent of adults name prices or inflation as the most important problem facing the country today, and another 18 percent say “jobs and the economy” are the most important. That puts nearly half the country into my bucket of affordability voters.

We hope the narcissistic and demented Malignant Fascist continues to call "affordability" a made-up Democratic hoax all through 2026.  The bigger the disconnect between his already bonkers rhetoric and reality, the more the American voter will see that big changes need to be made, both for individual and national survival.

The bad:

An attack at a famous Australian beach killed 16 people, including a child, officials said Monday, after two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an act of antisemitic terrorism.

Hundreds of people had gathered Sunday at the beach for an event to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, when gunmen opened fire. At least 38 others were injured in the attack.

New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park said the death toll had risen from 12 to 16 overnight, including a 12-year-old child. Three other children are being treated in hospital, he said.

“This is absolutely horrendous for the community broadly, but particularly the Jewish community. ... What we saw last night was the worst of humanity, but at the same time, the very best of humanity,” Park said.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second was arrested and in critical condition, authorities said. Police said one gunman was known to security services, but there was no specific threat.

At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, police commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.  [snip]

Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6:45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired. Video filmed by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach, as sirens wailed and people cried out in the background.

One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

Minns called the man, named by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, a “genuine hero.”...

Violence and evil are contagious, but so are compassion and brotherhood.  Please note that the hero who wrestled one of the terrorists and disarmed him, saving untold lives, was an Australian Muslim.  There's video of him posted all over the Internet risking his life to stop the shooting.  Meanwhile we mourn the innocent victims of this senseless act of despicable anti-Semitic evil, especially on the first day of the "Festival of Loghts," Hanukkah.

The ugly: 

It sure looks like Karoline Leavitt had something to do with the ICE arrest and detention of Bruna-Caroline Ferreira, the Brazilian-born DACA recipient who is the mother of a child with the Trump press secretary’s brother. Leavitt is also the child’s godmother.

Ferreira sat down for a lengthy, emotional interview on CNN Friday night. She was accompanied by her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau. Despite Trump administration claims that she had a criminal record and that her son lived full-time with his father, Ferreira seemed every bit the law-abiding, involved mother of her child, Michael.

According to Ferreira and her lawyer, she was arrested by a “swarm” of masked agents from five unmarked vehicles, and never shown a warrant, as she left her home to pick up Michael from school. They were obviously looking for her because they asked her, “Are you Bruna?” Pomerleau described a video of the arrest as looking like “an undercover drug buy, where they just go in right away and they know who they're getting.”  [snip]

Ferreira went on to tell her heartbreaking and terrifying story of arrest and detention and how she and her mother, who brought Ferreira to the U.S. as a six-year-old, had been otherwise law-abiding residents. “I don't even have a parking ticket. And I’m so proud of it,” Ferreira said.

At the very least, Leavitt seems to have helped the administration smear Ferreira by perpetuating the apparently false claim that Ferreira never lived with her son. “Why, why, why, why lie?” Ferreira asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Ferreira was asked what she would like to say to Leavitt.

“I think what I would have to say to Karoline is just because you went to a Catholic school doesn't make you a good Catholic,” Ferreira responded. “You know, you're a mother. You are a mother now. And you should know. How would you feel if you were in those -- in my shoes, you know? How would you feel if somebody did this to you?” (author's emphasis)

No doubt if something like this happened to the utterly amoral, lying, MF ass-kisser Leavitt she'd blame it on Joe Biden.  If we were believers, we might wonder why that cross she wears all the time hasn't burned a hole right through her.

 

Public Blaming Trump For Affordability Crisis

 

As the Malignant Fascist goes on the road to sell his disastrous stewardship of the economy ("Affordability is a hoax!" should play well), a new poll shows most Americans are on to the cankled con man:

New polling shows many Americans have begun to blame President Donald Trump for the high costs they’re feeling across virtually every part of their lives — and it’s shifting politics.

Almost half — 46 percent — say the cost of living in the U.S. is the worst they can ever remember it being, a view held by 37 percent of 2024 Trump voters. Americans also say that the affordability crisis is Trump’s responsibility, with 46 percent saying it is his economy now and his administration is responsible for the costs they struggle with.  [snip]

The POLITICO Poll, conducted by Public First, found that despite Trump’s continued support among the Republican base, his softest supporters — the ones the GOP most needs to hold onto next year — are expressing concern.

Republicans were already worried about how they can turn out lower-propensity voters during a midterm cycle when Trump himself is not on the ballot. Now Democrats are also trying to peel away their voters by focusing aggressively on affordability, which remains a top priority for 56 percent of Americans, according to The POLITICO Poll. As was the case in November, affordability was central to the Tennessee special election, with Behn repeatedly centering her campaign on an affordability pitch...

This is going to be an issue that will play big over the next year, as the incompetence of the MF and his self-dealing oligarch advisors drives the economy deeper into a job- shedding, stagflation economy.  What else should one expect with a regime that has plumbed new depths for America in every way imaginable.