this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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United States | News & Politics
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He did it wrong, you just have to call them "lobbyists," and have them donate to your campaign or your PAC, (without coordination, nudge-nudge,) and it's all legal.
That's not how you get the actual personal spending money though. You set up yourself with a cush retirement job lobbying in between when you hold office, speaking fee agreements, jobs for friends and all sorts of other people who now feel indebted to you, business opportunities that wouldn't be available to others. All those can be legal if done right, under current laws.
IMO Citizens United is what brought US Politics to where we are today. Legalized money laundering and influence purchasing are apt descriptors. The sheer flood of money since CU catapulted us into the era of massive ad and social media spending.
The SCOTUS corruption is seriously disturbing though. There seems to be zero appetite from the Justice Dept., Executive or Legislative branches to rock the boat. The media keeps bringing the stories and all the public gets are tepid remarks and half-hearted investigation announcements.
Well he had literal gold bars in his house, so I would say that as long as you don't have people dropping of literal gold bars and bags with Dollar Signs on them, most of the rest of the Senate is safe.