Jonathan Chait of The Atlantic joins Mona to discuss the incredible scope and scale of Trump’s corruption—from the $4 billion the Trump family has added to its net worth since January 2025, to the $1.776 billion “weaponization” slush fund, to the dozens of DOJ officials who quit rather than follow corrupt orders. They trace how a century of progressive-era reforms that kept American government relatively clean is being systematically dismantled, and why the mafia-style loyalty-and-punishment logic now governing federal law enforcement is more authoritarian than merely corrupt.
Plus: are Senate Republicans finally showing a spine? And is the Democratic Party’s new obsession with monopolies as the root of all evil a winning strategy—or a trap?
show notes
Read Jonathan’s article on the $1.8 billion slush fund
Read Mona’s article on Trump’s corruption
Bulwark Book Club: Mona will interview retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling abour his book, If I Don’t Return: A Father’s Wartime Journal.
Join the conversation! Drop your questions or comments about the book for Mona to explore with Gen. Hertling here. We’ll pin this post to the top of The Mona Charen Show page on the site.
Programming note: June 8 at 7pm EDT, Mona will interview retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling about his new book If I Don’t Return: A Father’s Wartime Journal live on Substack. Watch your inbox for details.
The Mona Charen Show is a weekly, one-on-one discussion that goes in depth on political and cultural topics. New shows drop Saturdays. Find this show wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. Add the show to your player of choice, here.
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