05/24/2026
Mike Kelly
NorthJersey.com |
USA TODAY NETWORK
Have you ever been stuck in traffic behind a garbage truck? One of the first things you notice is the smell. But after a block or two, you try to ignore it. Maybe you just hold your nose. Maybe you just get used to rot and you keep rolling along.
This is the state of America now under Donald Trump.
The continuing stream of sleazy decisions and outrageous statements by Trump and his cronies doesn’t let up. Nor does the man’s capacity for vengeance. But the national outrage quickly fades. The traffic of life and politics in America moves on. It’s as if the entire nation refuses to slam on its breaks and examine what is happening and what has been lost.
Consider, for example, the decision by CBS to pull late night talk show host and sizzling Trump critic Stephen Colbert, off the air just as the network's parent company needed the Trump administration’s approval of its $8 billion merger with a larger conglomerate.
Next consider, the sleazy move by Trump’s acolytes in the federal government to set up a $1.776 billion government account, funded by taxpayers, that is largely geared to enrich the president’s followers who feel they have been targeted for what they say are unfair and 'weaponized' investigations by federal authorities. This group of alleged victims includes the throngs who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — even those caught on video who assaulted police officers.
On paper, the deal also seems to have opened legal doors to Trump opponents who say they were unfairly investigated as part of the president’s efforts to punish what he feels are his enemies — such as former FBI director James Comey. But, in yet another Trumpian Catch-22 move, payouts from such claims would have to be approved by a commission appointed by Trump’s allies. How convenient, no? Police officers who were assaulted and beaten at the Capitol building that day have already filed a lawsuit to block Trump's brazen effort to manipulate the system. Where is the rest of America, however?
The deal to create this unprecedented tax-funded slush fund and commission came in return for Trump agreeing to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service — a dispute that has its roots in the fact that Trump feels the IRS deliberately leaked portions of his tax returns several years ago. But for Trump, the deal is even sweeter. And the implications for the rest of America are much more ominous.
After announcing the establishment of the $1.776 billion slush fund, the terms of the deal were amended to include a supplemental provision that grants broad legal immunity to Trump, his family and his businesses from ongoing federal investigations of their taxes.
Put another way, the president first filed a lawsuit against his own administration. Then, as part of a settlement that his personal lawyers created with federal officials appointed by him and he had agreed to, his administration found a way to make sure that federal investigators would be 'forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing' almost every tax inquiry against Trump, his family and his business empire.
It's not a 'get out of jail free' card. It's worse. It's a 'don't worry about jail card.' It gives a whole new dimension to the terms, 'insider trading' and 'sweetheart deal.' Forget Watergate. This may give a whole new dimension to corruption.
What's the common denominator in Trump's schemes? Money, of course
The common denominator in each of these most recent examples of Trumpian influence — from Colbert to the slush fund and tax immunity — is money. And once again, America has yet another example of how Trump manages to bend, twist and sidestep common standards of behavior. Usually money is at the center.
Years ago, it was Trump’s racially motivated management of rental apartments in New York City that was investigated — but with little long-term accountability, however. Then came the accusations that Trump and his family manipulated property values to secure loans or save money on taxes. Then came allegations of his financial games to prop up his Atlantic City casinos. Then came his unabashed efforts to promote his family’s businesses while sitting in the Oval office.
In each case, the rot of money trailed Trump like the stench from a garbage truck. But with these latest Trumpian games, it's clear that America has lost its sense of smell — indeed, its ability to call on the nation’s higher principles and at least express some measure of outrage for more than just a few days or weeks. .
This was especially evident when CBS announced it was canceling the talk show 'Late Night With Stephen Colbert.'
Trump wants to 'put Colbert to sleep'
It needs to be said here that Colbert will always hold a secure place in history for his innovative political satire. Luckily Trump has not managed to soil Colbert's reputation.
Late night talk shows are often bland programming deserts, filled with celebrity interviews and light-hearted comedy sketches. Colbert changed that. Besides being funny, he brought a pointed political edge to his program — and America started watching. For most of the last decade, Colbert was the top-rated late night talk show host. His popularity grew so much that CBS pushed hard for him to agree to a contract extension just three years ago.
Then Trump, who had long campaigned for CBS to cancel Colbert’s show and 'put Colbert to sleep,' was reelected.
Coincidentally, the CBS-Paramount conglomerate needed approval from an increasingly vengeful Trump administration to complete an $8 billion proposed merger with the Skydance media corporation.
After Trump took over the presidency in January 2025, the merger seemed stalled. But then, things quickly changed.
Trump sued CBS for $20 billion in damages, charging that the network’s respected news show, '60 Minutes,' deceptively edited its interview with his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to favor her. It did not seem to matter that Trump beat Harris to regain the presidency. Trump wanted his pound of media flesh.
And he got it.
On July 1, CBS-Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the president’s lawsuit against CBS — a lawsuit that many legal experts said CBS would have easily won. The CBS payout was slated to be donated to a presidential library that Trump envisioned for himself someday.
Colbert was not impressed with this so-called library donation. He called the payout a 'big fat bribe' to Trump to grease federal approval of the CBS-Paramount-Skydance merger. Days later, CBS-Paramount announced it was canceling his show. Soon after, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission approved the CBS-Paramount-Skydance merger.
What's striking here is that CBS and the Trump administration did not even try to cover their tracks. Meanwhile, liberal commentators performed their usual rhetorical equivalent of clutching their pearls. Hollywood screamed for a short time. But the rest of America just kept moving. The country seemed to collectively say: 'So what if CBS canceled the most popular TV comic in America because of his political views? So what if CBS paid off Trump' -- akin to a developer slipping a few dollars to a politician in return for a special zoning variance to build a new shopping mall? It's all about money.
After the outrage grew, CBS offered up a lame defense, saying that Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year. At best, the CBS statement was misleading. At worst, it was a bald-faced lie. Why would CBS cancel Colbert, then allow him to stay on the air for almost a year if his show was losing that much money. For one thing, the network's claim that Colbert's show was a money loser did not take into account the licensing fees that Colbert generated or the growing appeal of the show on social media. Yes, the overall audience of late night talk shows was aging and decreasing. But Colbert was one of the stars of CBS -- a true drawing card.
But the outrage quickly faded, replaced by other political outrages over Trump’s immigration policies or his decision to tear down a portion of the White House to build a new ballroom or even his series of stops and starts on tariff deals and his war on Iran. The cyclone of chaos seems endless.
If you bow to Trump — and pay him — he'll help you
Yes, Colbert was allowed to stay on the air until this week. And he has not been placed on the kind of blacklist that was characteristic of America’s entertainment business during the anti-communist scares of the 1950s. Colbert will still find work.
But the message was clear. If you bow to Trump — and pay him — he will find a way to help you. And CBS, once considered the gold standard of independent journalism, bowed. How nice.
And now, with Trump’s sweet deals with his own administration over his tax troubles, America has watched long-respected government agencies engaging in their version of a grand, humiliating bow to Trump. Why, for example, would the IRS ever agree to no longer pursue tax investigations of a man who long seemed to create questions on taxes as easily as he breathed? Like CBS, whatever respect the IRS once had has been lost.
These are just the events from recent days. We still have more than two-and-a-half years left of Trump in the White House. There will be more sweetheart deals disguised in all sorts of Trumpian costumes. There will be more outrageous statements by Trump and his pals. But America has grown accustomed to this behavior. Yes, we hold our 'No Kings' rallies. We file court suits. And some political figures express outrage — even a few Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene who smell the garbage rot emanating from the White House.
But for the most part, the traffic just moves on. America has learned to fall in line.
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