Amanda Carpenter

Writer/Editor @protctdemocracy. Views are my own. 🇺🇸 On Bluesky (same name)

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

We’ve been dragged into Trump's Golden Age of Corruption.

We need a game plan to bring it to an end and hold his administration accountable.

That means more than voting them out.

It means GETTING THE MONEY BACK for the American people.

From me. I need to know if this hits. Let me know?

[Justice Connection @Justice_CXN]

Judges once presumed DOJ acted lawfully and could be trusted at its word. @propublica found more than 40 cases where judges have questioned that presumption, citing conduct they called “unlawful,” “unethical” and “unseemly.” The damage to DOJ’s credibility is mounting.
https://t.co/8yv5gJgg3m

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

THE TARP IS STILL UP

[Roger Parloff @rparloff]

"Mr [Trump], tear down this [tarp]."

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Q: There's a report that the US has taken in $13 billion from Venezuela. Where is that money going?

TRUMP: I think even more than that

Q: But where is that money going?

TRUMP: We've paid for that war many times over

Q: But where is the money going?

TRUMP: Running the country

Q: No, the money the US is taking in -- where is it going?

TRUMP: Running the country

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

From @svdate : "Missing from the 922-page Project 2025 autocracy manual, as it turns out, is the singular feature of Orbán’s rule that in the end brought him down: his corruption. Not just ordinary, better-access-for-friends corruption, but shameless, over-the-top, ostentatious-to-the-point-of-absurdity corruption. The sort where the childhood friend of the prime minister goes from being a gas line fitter to a billionaire, the richest person in Hungary. The sort where Orbán’s family estate hosts a herd of, of all things, zebras."

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

*Reporting that's well worth your time to read.*

HuffPost's @svdate went to Hungary to talk with people on the ground about how they defeated Orbán.

Their experience provides lessons & inspo for those of us trying to beat authoritarians in the US.

https://t.co/3IdwIKIjJb

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

“Péter Magyar connected corruption to the misery of ordinary people,” said Zsolt Enyedi, a political science professor at Central European University, as he described Magyar’s framing of the election. “It was also a choice between democracy and dictatorship. A choice between rule of law and oppression, a choice between the west and Moscow. At the moment, a majority of Hungarians believe that oppressive authoritarian rule also makes you poorer.”

[Sam Stein @samstein]

It will be quite the sequence when the Senate confirms Blanche as the chief law enforcement officer in the country right after a judge finds that he is violating the law and more or less conceding it.

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

So weird he and his supporters have been wearing these hats for months for the WHCD “joke.”

If he could he would. This is a test.

[Forbes Middle East @Forbes_MENA_]

At the White House Correspondents' Dinner, President Donald Trump jokingly declared his intention to run for a "fourth term," arguing he had won three previous elections. Amid groans and laughter from the press corps, he pulled on a red "Trump 2028" cap—sparking an instant viral debate over whether it was classic political theater or a poke at constitutional term limits.

#Forbes

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

So funny. It’s the joke he keeps making. Over and over.

[CSPAN @cspan]

President Trump jokes about serving third term at White House Correspondents' Dinner: "But just like my presidency, the second time is always better, and the third time will be better yet."

[Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle]

Wow: The National Guard has signed a $292 million contract to house thousands of troops deployed to D.C. in 2,000 apartments in the city, instead of in hotels or other places where they've been put up. https://t.co/UwOD9WkqTb

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

Yeah that tracks.

[NBC News @NBCNews]

Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor President Trump pardoned last year on federal corruption charges, has turned to pardon lobbying. https://t.co/xdXkK5cLkO

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

The main investment fund of Donald Trump Jr.'s firm generated returns of roughly 200% as of June 30, a person familiar with its performance tells @maureenmfarrell. "People are paying for proximity to power." https://t.co/4mwzMmF1BM

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

What is she talking about.
Seriously.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Sen. Lummis complains that "we're dealing with the president's willingness to subject himself and Melania Trump to the most restrictive ethics language that a president has ever subjected himself to. But of course there's no pleasing Democrats."

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

Dang Max found a way to drink on the job.

[Max Flugrath🗳️ @MaxFlugrath]

“hold my beer” – the act of handing one's drink to another before attempting a dangerous stunt, this often involves an element of stupidity.

That's essentially what Trump's "election integrity" primetime speech was.

Give me 2 mins to explain. ⬇️

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

"Dangerous" and "corrupt" top the words Americans are most likely to use to describe President Trump.

Economist/YouGov poll: "The words Americans are most likely to say to describe Trump, from a list of 13 positive and negative words, are all negative: 'dangerous' (52% say this describes Trump), 'corrupt' (49%) 'racist' (45%), and 'out-of-touch' (45%)."

https://t.co/nNHJtpXxJ9

[Anna Giaritelli @Anna_Giaritelli]

EXCLUSIVE — ICE officers who voted for Trump in 2024 speak out, against his handling of immigration

“Many on the right will think this is an attack on Trump,” he said. “I voted for Trump this time around. I believe in immigration enforcement. But man, it’s so disorganized and chaotic. I’ve talked to many officers who said that at least [former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] showed appreciation by giving us admin leave.”

https://t.co/9m28Z4F9e9

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

Audit the White House.

Find every penny of ill-gotten gains and get the money back!

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

While the legal work of forensic auditing and asset tracing is complex, the message is a simple one: You can’t keep what you stole.
https://t.co/bpIM1pDapw

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

The flagrant corruption is in plain sight.

Donald Trump has turned the presidency into a grift.

Here is how to undo Trump's golden age of government corruption.

From me for The Bulwark.

https://t.co/b8W5vLXqyq

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

President Trump has turned the presidency into a golden grift.

Here are some ways we can claw back ill-gotten gains using laws that are untouchable by his pardon abuse.

From me.

https://t.co/b8W5vLXqyq

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

What?

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: Federal agents are said to have been told that the FBI will no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents. If enacted, such a change would sharply limit law enforcement scrutiny of immigration agents. https://t.co/0b0uUQ2Yfu