Corruption at the Highest Level Is Bad Optics for America

These are troubling times for American democracy. Is Donald Trump setting a dark precedent for future Presidents?

- JOHN DOBSON

"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," wrote the 19th-century British historian Lord Acton, underscoring his belief that unchecked power poses the greatest threat to human freedom. Acton would currently be having a field day in America as corruption runs rampant at the highest level. Brian Klaas, an assistant professor of global politics at University College London, agrees. The creator of the podcast "Power Corrupts," which reveals the hidden and often nefarious forces that shape our world, Klaas insisted in a recent interview with the BBC that "what is happening in the US is blatant corruption—the abuse of public office for private gain."

Klaas believes there is "no question that corruption is happening right now, and it's happening quite openly." The White House maintains that because it's open it can't be corruption, a point which Klaas refutes, saying that what's happening under Donald Trump "is beyond that pale in normal democracies. Because of rampant corruption, democracy in America is dying by a thousand cuts." Many would concur.

Trump's Cabinet is the wealthiest in American history, stocked with billionaires, many of whom were mega donors to his election campaign. According to Axios's Zachary Basu, "billionaire DNA coursed through the US election system like never before, smashing campaign finance records and ushering in a new age of influence, while moral guardrails simply vanished." Some 150 billionaire families spent upward of $2 billion during the election, shredding populist taboos, driving news cycles and increasingly shaping the terms of American democracy. The result was a payday for the powerful.