"A brazen grift": Trump turns his inauguration over to MAGA scams [View all]

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"A brazen grift": Trump turns his inauguration over to MAGA scams
Forget "unity" — the real theme of the day was "rich people swindling the rest of America"

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published January 21, 2025 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump won in November with a campaign built on "tough guy" posturing. Despite his inability to walk more than a few yards without calling for a golf cart, Trump supporters and his billionaire benefactors love to crow about how their leader is an icon of virility. Indeed, the masculinity braggadocio of the past year has been inescapable, from Trump's tedious "fight fight fight" slogan to Trump-loving Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg crowing that he wants more "masculine energy" at his company, where over 60% of employees are men.

And yet, at Trump's supposedly triumphant moment of being sworn into his second term Monday, he and his billionaire bro crew of Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos revealed themselves to be rather soft. Protecting delicate skin and elaborate makeup took precedence over the long-standing tradition of holding the inauguration outside. Instead, the soft-handed MAGA men of Silicon Valley stuck to the warmth of the Capitol Rotunda.

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As Rebecca Shaw of the Guardian wrote last week, "I did not anticipate that the people in power would also be such huge losers." Economist Paul Krugman concurred, noting that many "rich men are extraordinarily insecure," and bitter upon finding out there are things "money can’t buy, like universal admiration." In the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie observed, "We have a clique of powerful middle-aged men who want nothing more than to be boys," following "a selfish, petulant and narcissistic man-child" of a president. Even during his speech, Trump couldn't muster the energy of a winner. He read his speech in the tired, bored voice of a junior high kid reciting a book report written off Cliff Notes.

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The farcical nature of the inauguration was a fitting reminder that everything about the MAGA movement is a scam. The weekend before the inauguration, Trump cashed in on his cultists' faith with a grift so obvious it would make Jim Bakker blush: releasing meme coins named after himself and his wife. Judd Legum of Popular Info summed up the move with, "Trump has turned the inauguration itself into a brazen grift, launching a meme coin hours before being sworn in." ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/01/21/a-brazen-grift-turns-his-inauguration-over-to-maga-scams/