The Trump administration’s plan to create a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund” with our taxpayer dollars is outrageous. First, it should be pointed out this is not a court-sanctioned settlement; the lawsuit that Donald Trump brought against the government for disclosure of his tax returns some years ago was on the verge of being dismissed by the judge when he withdrew it and made a “deal,” as he likes to say, with his cronies in the Justice and Treasury Departments to create this slush fund to give his supporters money if they claim to have been unfairly targeted by the justice system. This could potentially include people who injured law enforcement officers, trashed public property, and sent our elected representatives and their staffs running for their lives on January 6.
For the law-and-order Republican Party, rewarding people who have blatantly broken the law and attacked our democracy is the height of hypocrisy. Even worse, this deal would bar the Internal Revenue Service from investigating and taking enforcement action against Trump, his family, his businesses, and “related or affiliated individuals” for any past tax violations. In other words, we have to follow the law and pay our taxes, while Trump and those in his circle get to cheat and steal from us with impunity. It’s time for members of Congress and our court system to just say “No!” This kind of self-dealing must not be allowed, and those who would willingly enable it should be removed, through legal means, from office.
Susan Grant
Easthampton