In Part One: “The Most Corrupt Country in Europe” we reviewed Viktor Orbán’s Hungary - the looting, the cronies, the palaces, the zebras grazing behind the fence, the hospitals that ran out of toilet paper while a gas-fitter became a billionaire.
In Part Two: “The Fans of Viktor Orbán,” We noted the American conservatives who called it a model.
In Part Three, we’re examining a partial list of things that have happened in the United States since January 2025. It is not exhaustive. That is itself the point. You will notice a pattern. You can name it yourself.
Jared Kushner - Diplomat and Fundraiser. Simultaneously. Serving as Special Envoy for Peace in the Middle East, Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, has accumulated over $6 billion in assets - 99% of its funding from foreign nationals, primarily the sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund invested $1.5 billion in the firm. Kushner is now negotiating with the very governments funding his personal wealth. Senator Wyden referred him to the DOJ for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Nothing has happened.
The $400 Million “Flying Palace.” Qatar gifted the U.S. a Boeing 747 worth $400 million - 100 times the combined value of every presidential gift this century. Reports confirm the administration actually requested the plane after being told a new Boeing would take years. The retrofit cost - classified, but estimated at up to $1 billion - will be pulled from a program to replace aging nuclear missiles. The plane transfers to Trump’s private presidential library after he leaves office. The Trump Organization has also announced a multi-billion dollar golf club deal in Doha. In return, Qatar secured reinforced Major Non-NATO Ally status and defense guarantees in a region currently at war. Qatar didn’t offer a gift. They answered a request - and negotiated well.
Steve Witkoff - Chip Access for Sale. While serving as Special Envoy, Witkoff’s family crypto venture with Trump, World Liberty Financial, secured a $2 billion investment from a UAE-linked fund. Shortly thereafter, the administration approved the export of 500,000 advanced AI chips to the UAE. While Witkoff negotiated regional policy, his son Alex was soliciting billions from the same governments whose representatives were sitting across the table from his father. Forbes reported Witkoff’s personal wealth grew 15% during his first year as envoy.
The Trump Family Crypto Empire. Days before the inauguration, the family launched a meme coin accessible to any global actor - including foreign governments and criminal enterprises. The House Judiciary Committee documents family crypto holdings at $11.6 billion. After a Binance-linked entity funneled $2 billion into the venture - money flowing directly to the Trumps - Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges, received a presidential pardon in October 2025. Trump said he didn’t know who the man was.
Elon Musk - The DOGE Dividend. After spending $300 million to elect the president, Musk was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. Since then, his companies have received $15.4 billion in federal contracts. The man deciding what to cut is the primary beneficiary of what remains.
Howard Lutnick - The Bridge Troll. As we reported in “Pay the Troll,” in February 2026, Secretary Lutnick met privately with Matthew Moroun, whose family owns the aging Ambassador Bridge joining Detroit MI and Windsor Canada and has spent over $30 million trying to kill its replacement. Moroun has also handed over $1 million to the RNC, including a very specific $132,900 donation to a “legal proceedings account” directly benefiting Trump. Hours later, the president attacked the nearly-complete Gordie Howe Bridge - paid for entirely by Canada - demanding “compensation” to allow it to open. Canada provides the bridge. The donor provides the cash. The Secretary provides the leverage.
The Fossil Fuel Transaction. In 2024, Trump told oil and gas executives a $1 billion campaign contribution would be a “deal” for the regulations he’d cut. They delivered. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, donated $25 million to the main pro-Trump super PAC; his company received a key permit for a massive LNG terminal previously blocked for environmental risks. Warren’s personal wealth grew nearly 10% after it was greenlit. Harold Hamm of Continental Resources personally introduced the man who became Energy Secretary - Chris Wright, a fracking executive - to Trump at a Mar-a-Lago roundtable. Under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act of July 2025, the industry received $18 billion in tax incentives while clean energy credits were dismantled. The climate measurement infrastructure we documented in The Inheritance Thieves series - the satellites, the NOAA databases, the agency scientists - continues to be systematically dismantled. Breaking the thermometer doesn’t cure the fever. It just means we’re not meant to know what our condition is.
Pardons for Donors. The transactions aren't limited to policy. They extend to justice itself. Trevor Milton, the Nikola founder convicted of massive fraud, received a full pardon in March 2025 after donating nearly $2 million to the campaign. Binance’s founder received his after his exchange funneled $2 billion into Trump family crypto. And we reported others in “The King’s Indulgences.” As Justice Sotomayor warned in her 2024 dissent on presidential immunity: “Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune, immune, immune.”
Steve Feinberg - The Golden Dome. The Deputy Secretary of Defense oversees the $151 billion Golden Dome missile defense project. Despite his role, an unusual ethics clause allows him to continue contracting with his own firm, Cerberus, indefinitely - with no end date. At least four Cerberus-owned companies have already been awarded Golden Dome contracts.
The NASA Re-Buy. Billionaire Jared Isaacman donated $2 million to the inaugural fund and was nominated to lead NASA. After the nomination was briefly withdrawn, Isaacman donated another $1.4 million to Trump-aligned PACs. He was promptly re-nominated and confirmed in December 2025. The sequence could hardly be clearer.
Orbán’s foundation president called this “supreme policy” - the deliberate construction of a loyal class of insiders whose wealth is tied to the regime’s survival.
No one in this administration has said that out loud.
They didn’t have to.
In a remarkable bit of irony, they called it draining the swamp.
If this list sounds like a foreign country to you, read it again. If it sounds like the country you're living in, forward it to your elected representatives and share it with everyone you know. The Hungarians waited sixteen years. We don't have to.