Politics

America Has Never Seen Corruption Like This

Trump’s Qatari jet was just the beginning.

First published in The Atlantic on July 10, 2025

by Casey Michel, The Atlantic
July 17, 2025 | reading time: 4 Min.

The White House has seen its share of shady deals. Ulysses S. Grant’s brother-in-law used his family ties to engineer an insider-trading scheme that tanked the gold market. Warren Harding’s secretary of the interior secretly leased land to oil barons, who paid a fortune for his troubles. To bankroll Richard Nixon’s reelection, corporate executives sneaked suitcases full of cash into the capital.

© SZ - You can acquire rights to the article here.