The New Abnormal

Billionaire Trump Sets Out a Tip Jar Like an Underpaid Barista

THE NEW ABNORMAL

Labor reporter Hamilton Nolan joins The New Abnormal to discuss Trump’s cryptocurrency venture—and what it portends for the future of his presidency.

Opinion
Trump's tip jar
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Reuters

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher (update links).

President Donald Trump launched a “meme coin” cryptocurrency venture just days before his inauguration—genius timing, really, for a venture with so many ethical concerns swirling around it.

Hamilton Nolan, a labor reporter and the author of the Substack How Things Work, joined The New Abnormal this week to discuss Trump’s “bucket for bribery”—and what it foreshadows for the future of his presidency.

“I mean, his family just set out a tip jar and said: ‘Give us money,’” Nolan said. “I can’t even think of a comparison in history of something that is this clearly corrupt and clearly set up to enrich the incoming president of the United States.”

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Plus! A conversation with New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, whose office filed a challenge to Trump’s executive order that would get rid of birthright citizenship in the United States—and which a federal judge used to temporarily block the order on Thursday.

“The president cannot just write out of the Constitution a provision that’s been there for a century and a half with the stroke of a pen,” Platkin said. “I think Americans know that babies born in this country should be treated the same way every other child is treated who is born here.”

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher (update links).

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