In Trump's D.C., the Swamp Runneth Over - This is by far the most corrupt administration in American history.

https://prospect.org/power/2025-08-29-in-trumps-dc-swamp-runneth-over-corruption-lobbying/



The Ringer’s Press Box podcast regularly features something they call the “Media Piss Test.” The joke is that it has become a political cliché to say something new is like something old, but “on steroids.” It might be a cliché to describe the corruption saturating the Trump administration as steroidal, but it is simply true that every tool of corruption in our politics, from self-dealing to gerrymandering to outright bribery, has become vastly stronger under Donald Trump. (It also bears mentioning that some figures in the administration display the telltale signs of hitting the gear.)

So perhaps it suffices to say that in 2025, the revolving door between the federal government and the corporations that encircle it has been “Trump-sized.” Even before his inauguration, it was glaringly obvious that the influence industry would have enormous sway in Trump’s Washington. While loyalty and obsequiousness are defining characteristics of multiple White House staff, corporate lobbying experience seems to be valued just as highly.

Even Politico is being direct about the president’s embrace of the swamp, noting that “Trump has abandoned any pretense of cleaning up the age-old ways of Washington,” and that a rash of spins through the revolving door “illustrate the ways in which his administration continues to push the bounds of ethics norms and guardrails designed to prevent government officials from profiting off their time in public service.” Politico’s reporting further reveals the individuals who are already exploiting this erosion of ethics guardrails, swinging from federal government work to influence-peddling in this boom time for Washington’s quintessential venal operatives.

Republican lobbying firm CGCN Group announced its hiring of White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields last Wednesday. His colleague Trent Morse is set to wrap up his stint in government this week before moving on to his newly founded Morse Strategies. Morse will also advise K Street behemoth Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Fields and Morse are joined by May Davis Mailman, a former strategist who shaped Trump’s intimidation of universities, and former crypto adviser Bo Hines, who’s decamped to Tether.

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