2025-11-22
49 分钟The Economist.
Washington was searching for a job.
Bushrod Washington, who wanted to be the US Attorney for Virginia.
So, he asked his uncle George, who was the president, to appoint him.
He promptly rejected his nephew.
George Washington knew that nepotism favors corruption would endanger the young republic.
Today, that seems rather quaint.
President Trump has mainstreamed self-dealing.
He and his family are enriching themselves through government connections and power at levels unseen before.
From crypto to Qatari jets to gold bars,
they seemingly don't care about the laws or the standards that Washington and his successors set.
I'm John Prideaux, this is Checks and Balance from The Economist.
Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
Today, anything goes in Trump's America.
He has fired government watchdogs, accepted increasingly lavish gifts from foreign governments, doled out pardons.
It goes on.
At what cost?
And it's not just about personal enrichment, it's also about allowing others to flout rules too.
Will the Trump era inspire a new age of good government reform?
Or will this be one more thing on the list of things Trump broke?