TRUMP CORRUPTION INDEX

This Week in Trumpland Corruption: The President’s Personal Piggy Bank

This week saw revelations of the president’s use of taxpayer money to bankroll his businesses, plus a doomed scheme to vaccinate Santa

Photo illustration. Source: State Department

Is there enough graft, double-dealing, and self-interested chicanery in the Trump administration to publish this column every week? Only time — and Trump — will tell. (But we feel pretty confident.) Presenting this week’s installment of the Trump Corruption Index.

A Very Expensive Dinner

New reporting by the Washington Post reveals that President Trump’s personal businesses have brought in more $2.5 million from the U.S. government during his time in office. Among the most notable charges: a $7,000 30-person dinner featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017; a $6,000 bill from Mar-a-Lago for floral arrangements from Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April 2018; and a $17,000 monthly charge to Secret Service between May and November for a cottage on Trump’s golf course grounds in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the Trump family likes to vacation. In addition, Trump’s campaign and fundraising committee has forked over $5.6 million to his companies since he assumed office. “Americans elect a president to serve the people, not profit off them,” Ryan Shapiro, the executive director of the watchdog group Property of the People, told the Post. “Yet President Trump exploits his office to line his pockets with taxpayer dollars.”

• Corrupt-o-meter (out of a possible five emojis): 🍗🍗🍗💰💰

Santa Claus Was Coming to Town

The Health and Human Services Department told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday it had scrapped plans for a $250 million campaign to give Santa Claus performers across the U.S. early access to a Covid-19 vaccine in exchange for their promotion of the vaccine to the general public (i.e., to children who sit on Santa’s lap, plus their parents).The idea was proposed by HHS Assistant Secretary Michael Caputo; in an August phone call with Ric Erwin, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas (really)…