Trump is Raking it in. Congratulations to All Who Fell for the Hunter Biden Misdirection

Last month Forbes did their best to figure out Donald Trump's various sources of income and summarized it in the graphic below. A large chunk of his wealth is now in the form of cryptocurrency-associated activities. $Trump of course is the meme coin he launched days before his inaugruation and that he has occasionally plugged via social media. Market caps of meme coins are not necessarily what they seem, but what is more certain is that Trump has made $350 million just from the trading fees alone. Beyond that, he has a cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, that was established last year just two months before the election while the crypto industry was making big donations to his campaign. He is thereby positioned to directly benefit from his own administration's decisions around crypto, not to mention creating a portal for global forces to funnel money to him. (Independent journalist Molly White tracks the crime and corruption in the crypto industry. See her latest rundown on Trump's crypto profiteering here.)

Remember, Republicans in the House wanted to impeach Joe Biden because his son had previously brought in $20 million by allegedly trading on his family name, with the innuendo that Joe Biden had also profited. The whole theory was dodgy as noted by multiple fact-checking organizations (here and here), but it was all Fox News could talk about. It was pretty obvious at the time, and is even more so in retrospect, that the whole Hunter Biden obsession of Republicans was just a cynical ploy to damage Joe Biden's re-election and to direct the public's attention away from the sins of Donald Trump and minimize them by making Joe Biden look just as bad.

Donald Trump trades on his own name right out in the open while holding presidential office for vastly greater amounts of money while controlling policy making and law enforcement. Too bad Hunter Biden wasn't a "businessman". Because if you're a "buisinessman", they let you do it.

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Everything Good Flows from Truth

Oh say, what is truth? ’Tis the fairest gem
That the riches of worlds can produce,

Unless it conflicts with political views.
Then disparage it, deny it, and call it fake news,
And count it but dross and refuse.

The New Testament book of James asks,

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? (James 3:11–12)

This is echoed by Mormon, who said,

For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water (Moroni 7:11)

Elder Richard G. Scott once said, "[T]ruth is the only meaningful foundation upon which we can make wise decisions." Some people don't know what is true because they are "blinded by the subtle craftiness of men." Others, however, know what is true but choose not to honor it because they believe that they will receive some favored outcome or because embracing the truth is harmful to their self-conception. But the fact of the matter is that you cannot get good medicine, a good economy, or good public policy if you do not value what is true. A random process may indeed yield rewards from time to time. It's why people go to casinos, after all. But over the longer term, as the consequences of decision after decision build, you are ultimately left with bitter water.

America decided to give the most powerful position in the world to a man who not only does not value the truth, but is himself a continual source and enforcer of untruth. A man whose guiding ethic is, "It doesn’t matter what you say...say it enough and people will believe you." Somehow people thought that this would bring forth sweet water. Moreover, this time around he made sure to put sycophants in the most powerful positions of government, and now we watch one continual parade of toadying, deflecting, and gaslighting. How can we expect anything other than bitter water [1]?

Inasmuch as this is ostensibly a science blog, you may wonder why I am harping on politics. The reason is that science is downstream of valuing truth, as it is the primary method for discovering truth in this world. A nation that doesn't care about truth has little need for science, and therefore we shouldn't be surprised to see science under attack by the current administration as it cuts grants, destroys its science-based agencies, and replaces competent professionals with cranks and "influencers". When you don't care about the truth, science isn't just irrelevant. It gets in the way because it insists on distinguishing truth from falsehood.

Value truth and you can have good water. Ignore or deny truth and you join those who, as the prophet Isaiah put it, eat their own dung and drink their own piss.

Notes:
1. You would think that voters who lived through the Iraq War under George W. Bush would intuitively understand this, but evidently not!

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