Trump's Corporate Crime Mulligan: CEOs Celebrate Their 'Get Out of Jail Free' Card

By I.V. Hill | DayMark News
Here we go again. Donald Trump, the self-styled “law-and-order” president, is poised for his second act, and if his first term is any indication, corporate criminals might want to pop the champagne now. Public Citizen’s new Corporate Enforcement Tracker gives us a front-row seat to what could be a four-year encore of white-collar crime going unpunished. Spoiler alert: It won’t be the bad guys sweating.

The numbers don’t lie. During Trump’s first term, the Department of Justice turned corporate enforcement into an endangered species. Antitrust prosecutions? Down by half. Labor violations? Meh. Environmental fines? Almost nonexistent. Apparently, “draining the swamp” meant giving it a penthouse view of the White House.

Public Citizen’s tracker highlights 237 federal cases involving 192 corporations—big names like Tesla (7 cases) Amazon (6 cases), Pfizer (5 cases), SpaceX (4 cases), and Meta (3 cases). But here’s the kicker: nearly one-third of these companies have ties to Trump. Whether it’s inaugural fund contributions or former employees cozying up in key government roles, the line between corporate America and Trump’s orbit is blurrier than a Mar-a-Lago dinner menu after a few rounds of Diet Coke.

Take Elon Musk. The man isn’t just building rockets; he’s also launching federal investigations. Tesla leads the pack with seven cases, followed closely by Musk’s other ventures—SpaceX, Neuralink, and X (formerly Twitter). Musk, who seems to love deregulation as much as he loves trolling on social media, is the poster boy for what happens when innovation meets impunity.

But let’s not stop at Musk. David Sacks, Trump’s freshly minted AI and Crypto Czar, is the venture capitalist with skin in the game—four companies tied to him, including SpaceX and OpenAI, appear in the tracker. And then there’s Pamela Bondi, Trump’s attorney general pick, who previously lobbied for Amazon and Republic Services, both now under federal scrutiny.

This @PamBondi, with Lev Parnas? https://t.co/OXj9J9012H pic.twitter.com/Wuqfmlomsk

— Joseph A. Bondy (@josephabondy) January 28, 2020

The agencies tasked with policing these cases—the DOJ, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—are about to find themselves in a familiar bind. With Trump back in the driver’s seat, enforcement could become a quaint memory, like Blockbuster or presidential decorum. Don’t forget: during his first term; these agencies were gutted like a fish, with career prosecutors replaced by corporate-friendly appointees. It’s hard to go after corporate giants when you’re handing them the playbook.

And here’s the real kicker: Trump has already perfected the art of selective outrage. He’ll rail against street crime, slap tariffs on foreign goods, and tweet furiously about cancel culture, but when it comes to holding corporations accountable? Crickets. It’s no wonder that Public Citizen’s tracker feels like a neon warning sign flashing “Here We Go Again.”

For all his bluster about being “tough on crime,” Trump’s track record proves otherwise. His first term gave us a masterclass in double standards: low-level offenders faced harsh penalties while corporations skated by with barely a slap on the wrist. It’s hard not to feel a minor whiplash when you realize that the same man who bemoaned the destruction of America’s middle class spent four years making it easier for corporate America to cash in and check out.

Public Citizen’s tracker is a reminder that justice isn’t blind—its priorities are mixed up. The tracker may not be comprehensive, but it’s thorough enough to make you wonder: if this is what we know about, what’s slipping through the cracks? With 237 cases already on the books, the tracker is a call to action and a crystal ball for what’s to come.

Of course, critics will argue that not every investigation leads to charges, and not every charge ends in a conviction. Fair enough. But the tracker isn’t about guilty verdicts; it’s about keeping the spotlight on cases that might otherwise disappear into the bureaucratic ether. Transparency, as they say, is the best disinfectant—especially in an administration that prefers to operate in the dark.

So here we are, watching history repeat itself. Corporate CEOs are likely breathing a sigh of relief, knowing they’ve got a friend in high places. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering if the scales of justice will ever tip back in our favor. If Trump’s first term was a warm-up, his second could be the main event—just don’t expect the criminals to break a sweat. After all, why bother when the referee is on your payroll?

This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

Donate