Sleepwalking Through Tammany Hall

 

     As a historical novelist who's written and am in the process of writing several novels set in that time period, I'm very aware of how staggeringly corrupt 19th century New York was. Ballot boxes, and bodies, floating in the East River weren't an uncommon sight. Then, as now, graft was the order of the day within the NYPD, something even the energetic and reform-minded Teddy Roosevelt wouldn't come close to eradicating while president of the board of commissioners in 1895-7.

     Throughout much of the middle third of the 19th century,  Boss Tweed was the de facto mayor of New York and more because he controlled an unimaginably powerful and corrupt political machine that was far more influential than any Democratic stooge that Tammany had ever gotten elected. He served for six years in the New York State Senate and was even a US Congressman for one term. He had his grubby fingers in a lot of pies including being president and director of a couple of banks and a major shareholder in several large companies. He was also the third largest landowner in New York State.

     New York authorities finally caught up to Tweed in 1871 and he wound up in prison before he escaped. When he finally died penniless in prison in 1878, all the millions he'd accumulated in bribes, payoffs, kickbacks and graft mysteriously disappeared. To this day, no one knows what had happened to all that money.

      We're seeing much the same thing in the Trump administration. Trump's own political machine, one that's largely dependent on bribes and tribute payments under the threat of prosecution, is on a scale that would make the 19th century's Tammany grand sachems weep with envious rage. It's impossible to wrap one's mind around the sheer size, scope and scale of Trump's naked corruption and I'm pessimistic that any one journalist is capable of comprehensively chronicling.

      However, Greg Sargent of the New Republic comes the closest in doing so in his article yesterday. Sargent asked a very simple question: What happened to the $63,000,000 that Trump extorted from four media companies to pay for his presidential library?

      Considering the impenetrable opacity that's a feature in this so-called administration, Sargent could give us no firm answers. But the US Senate is at least starting to ask questions and the line of inquiry is spearheaded by senior Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (God, how I wish she was my senator again).

     Warren had asked all four media companies (ABC; Paramount; Facebook and Twitter, who actually coughed up a total of $66 million) if they knew where their money ultimately wound up. Essentially, they collectively threw up their hands and confessed ignorance on the matter. One funny thing that Sargent learned was that after the four bribes were paid, the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund was dissolved by equally corrupt Florida officials when the fund refused to file annual disclosure reports with the state.

     It was quickly replaced by another shady entity called the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc. It's an IRS-sanctioned nonprofit that's shielded from disclosure of who'd contributed to the fund. Then poof, like magic, the money disappeared. For many years, I've been using the analogy of pouring water into a sand dune and waiting for the results. This is another case in point.

     Sargent wasn't shy about openly speculating that the money probably got sucked right into Trump's pocket, which wouldn't exactly be unheard of considering his insatiable greed that even incipient dementia can't blunt.

     So, if Trump pocketed all those tens of millions through naked extortion, then who's going to pay for the monstrosity that's he's planning on inflicting on Miami? Are we talking about an even vaster slush fund so Trump can build another bloated edifice to his glory?

     You have to give Tammany Hall credit for one thing, if nothing else. Even though the most corrupt political machine in history had no interest in or concept of purely serving in the public interest (the closest they could get to it was separating dishonest graft from honest graft), they nonetheless understood the need for civic service or at least the appearance of it. Boss Tweed put up schools, hospitals and so forth, some of which still stand to this day.

     Trump has absolutely no concept whatsoever of civic responsibility or serving in the public interest. The bloated, brobdingnagian buildings he's planning are obviously meant to be merely monuments to himself, with his semen-flecked name emblazoned on every one. The 90,000 sq. ft ballroom, the presidential library and the 250 foot-tall arch that he's also planning are plainly evidence of this. Tweed was at least smart enough not to put his name on any of the buildings he'd put up. 

     Oh and Trump also plans on adding a hotel to his so-called library (that he announced on appropriately, April Fool's Day), which seems to be an obvious attempt at competing with Obama and his own presidential library in Chicago. One wonders why he doesn't go for broke and attach a casino to it, feature Jell-O wrestling every Wednesday night and offer hourly rates for the hotel. Since the artist of the deal is also the sleaziest carbon-based life form that ever slithered across the earth, it would be perfectly consistent with him.