I don't blindly trust the US government, nor do I reflexively distrust it either. Which you would know if you've followed my posts here. The government is very complex, full of different actors with different motivations, but overall, I would say that most are called to serve in some capacity. I actually think our leaders often represent the worst of our government.
I think you underestimate your fellow citizens, sometimes. That said, the American system isn't set up to respond to a lot of civic pressure, and the last decade or so has seen a process of the Republican Party in particular seeking to insulate itself from the democratic will of the People.
Truely?
I guess that's why they don't call it a falsism. Or anything else, for that matter.
If we're just too comfortable to bother ourselves with good governance, what then is the solution? To make ourselves less comfortable?
You'll get little dispute from me that there were problems with legislators serving themselves instead of the country before Trump arrived on the scene. But I agree with many of the folks here, including many of the conservatives who say that Trump's corruption is on another level. I think that much of the reason we have reached this point is that we've allowed Congress as an institution to be hollowed out and filled with some of the worst people imaginable. But that shouldn't mean Trump gets carte blanche.
Trump is the first "President" since the 1970s not to release his tax returns, so we can't even evaluate where he makes his money or who he's serving in specific detail. All we know is his career as a real estate scammer, which is revealing enough, but I think people would be more than a little upset if they could put a number to how much of a windfall he gave himself.
Um...that's an easy answer. You could Wikipedia that.
He wrote two NYT bestselling books. I'd imagine a lot of his money came from that. And both Barack and Michelle Obama were working lawyers. Yeah, he was a community organizer (a paid gig at a Christian organization, I might add), but he wasn't
just a community organizer.
Edit:
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danale...on-since-arriving-in-washington/#3687f1e15bf0
And just one gentle nudge....if you're going to complain about the laziness of your fellow citizens, probably don't then lob an easily debunked conspiracy theory out. It makes you look, well, you know...