Jon Farrington
jonfarrington.bsky.social
Jon Farrington
@jonfarrington.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.4K following 1.5K posts
Engineer, oyster farmer, Chesapeake Bay
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Reposted by Jon Farrington
Dems should push a bill banning such administrative claim payments to presidents even if claims predated their service. Republicans will block vote on it. Let them. Then hammer away at that to voters. Push media to cover GOP complicity in Trump's theft of taxpayer $.

newrepublic.com/article/2021...
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Well, in a certain way, Trump achieved what the flight 93 hijackers could not
WASHINGTON (AP) — The entire White House East Wing has been demolished as Trump moves forward with ballroom construction, AP photos show.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Trump raises the price of the ballroom to $350 million

(It changed from $200 million, then $300 million, now $350 million within the course of a few days)
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Call this what it is: rank corruption.

Major corporations funding a president's vanity project is a textbook model for pay-to-play. Why else would tech giants, crypto firms, and defense contractors care about a 90,000 sq ft ballroom?
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Trump rewarded Changpeng Zhao, a business partner who boosted his crypto venture, with a pardon for crimes that Zhao pleaded guilty to.

Trading presidential favors for self-interest.

You can’t get more classically corrupt than this.
Q: On the pardon of Changpeng Zhao, Binance has significant business interests with World Liberty Financial, the president family's crypto company. How do you respond to criticisms that this is a corrupt act?

LEAVITT: I would respond and say the president is exercising his constitutional authority
Reposted by Jon Farrington
An actual terrorist would be thrilled to achieve this level of physical devastation of the White House
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Leavitt: "At this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president's main priority."
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Q: Can the president tear down anything he wants without oversight? Could he demolish this building or the Jefferson Memorial?

LEAVITT: Only for vertical construction will a submission be required.

Q: So it sounds like the answer is yes
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
Brilliant piece, truly captures the depravity of this moment.
The destruction of the East Wing is a reminder that America has violated the only check-and-balance that actually ends up mattering: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-only-c...
The only check-and-balance that actually matters
www.doomsdayscenario.co
Reposted by Jon Farrington
The destruction of the East Wing is a reminder that America has violated the only check-and-balance that actually ends up mattering: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-only-c...
The only check-and-balance that actually matters
www.doomsdayscenario.co
Reposted by Jon Farrington
President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose crypto exchange has been boosting the Trump family's own crypto venture.
Exclusive | Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder
The pardon follows months of efforts by Changpeng Zhao to boost Trump crypto company
on.wsj.com
Reposted by Jon Farrington
This is the much bigger problem than the actual construction project, bad as that is. He has completely destroyed the basic power of the purse, the tax and spend loop between executive and legislative powers. That's the hot molten core of the entire Anglo-American constitutional tradition.
Reposted by Jon Farrington
It's bribery and corruption, a protection racket. But another way to describe money given to the government under threat of punishment is taxation, here imposed unilaterally and arbitrarily by the executive without the legislature.

Ship money is the analogy, if you're up on 17th C. English history.
Exclusive | Trump Hosts Corporate Ballroom Donors at Glitzy White House Dinner
The event included representatives from Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon.com and Palantir.
www.wsj.com
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Trump didn’t just take billions of taxpayer dollars and give it to Argentina with no legal process to help a politician he likes avoid losses in domestic elections and hook up a billionaire he knows who made a bad bet on Argentina.

He gave away billions of Americans’ money and it didn’t even work.
Things are not going well in Argentina, official exchange rate has now decoupled from the market-implied exchange rate to the tune of about 8%
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Good: Jamie Raskin tells me he's formally demanding any/all internal communications between WH and DOJ on Trump's $230 million payoff.

More Dems should talk this way about Trump's criming. He's turning the presidency into a massive Bribe Delivery System.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2021...
Trump’s Vile New $230 Million Shakedown of DOJ Just Got Even Worse
It’s bad enough that Trump wants—and DOJ will likely fork over—this tribute payment. Now, get this: It can probably be done at first without even being revealed publicly.
newrepublic.com
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Trump is turning the presidency into a massive Bribe Delivery System, or BDS. He's creating many new avenues for media companies, law firms, universities, etc to channel tribute payments as he directs. Feeding the BDS is the cost of doing business in Trump's America.

newrepublic.com/article/2021...
Reposted by Jon Farrington
The Louvre thieves were small time guys, only going after $100 million in jewels from a museum. When you're a real master criminal, you go after much bigger hauls from much bigger targets. Like the US Treasury. www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-dayli...
Trump’s Daylight Robbery Makes the Louvre Jewelry Heist Look Like Chump Change
Why stop at a few chokers and tiaras when you can just empty out Fort Knox?
www.thedailybeast.com
King Trump will now punish Indiana for its insolence.
Reposted by Jon Farrington
Another Russian ship has been added to the grain smuggling fleet, captured on camera and on satellite imagery, evading sanctions to deliver grain from occupied Crimea to Houthi-controlled Yemen. Follow its covert journey here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...
Russia’s Grain Smuggling Fleet Continues Undeterred - bellingcat
Bellingcat has identified yet another Russian-flagged vessel exporting grain from occupied Crimea to Houthi-controlled Yemen.
www.bellingcat.com
Reposted by Jon Farrington
It is shocking that Trump is quickly tearing down a portion of the White House. But isn’t the bigger story that this action is of a piece with his autocratic presumption that he can unilaterally destroy public goods without any public consultation or explanation?
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/u...
Trump Is Wasting No Time in Tearing Down the East Wing
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Jon Farrington
That would be Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, in the Oval Office for a meeting btwn the U.S. president and the NATO Secretary-General in the middle of a brutal war in Europe, staring at plans for a ballroom that will replace the now-demolished East Wing of the White House.
Trump waves around renderings of his new ballroom, which appears to be entirely gold