• Asafum@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    The presidency shouldn’t be your side hustle. He’s just here to boost his main gigs. :/

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Didn’t Obama enjoy an enormous windfall both during and after his presidency, thanks to a series of book deals, speaking tours, and Netflix specials? My man’s got $70M to his name right now. He started 2005 as one of the brokest Senators in the country.

    I just don’t think this is the guy to critique Trump for getting rich off the back of public office.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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      3 minutes ago

      Trump has grifted over $3B in personal money. While still in office. And that’s just what we know.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        He didn’t do that stuff while president.

        He absolutely did.

        Clinton, the Democratic president who was in office for two terms between 1993 and 2001, started his presidency with a net worth of $1.3 million, and after leaving office, had accumulated a wealth of $120 million, according to celebritynetworth.com.

        Per the outlet, it is also thought that Clinton and his wife Hillary have earned more than $250 million to date from speaking engagements, book advances and royalties, and through investment and consulting fees.

        Barack Obama was the president who saw the second highest increase to his wealth coming out of office, at around 5,300 percent.

        After the Democrat was in office for two terms between 2009 to 2017, he accumulated a net worth of $70 million, up from $1.3 million.

        • WesternInfidels@feddit.online
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          1 hour ago

          This seems to gleefully conflate wealth and income, in order to claim that the infamously-always-grifting trump lost a fortune during his first term. Using percent to decide who had the “biggest increase” to their wealth is a sneaky way of excusing the grifting of the richest among us. It points out “Democrat” or “Democratic” repeatedly but doesn’t use the word “Republican” even one time. Its supporting “according to Bloomberg” link doesn’t even go anywhere.

    • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip
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      2 hours ago

      I’m not sure why you think releasing a book after you leave office is remotely comparable to using the office to funnel taxpayer money into your own businesses, your friends and family’s business, solicit blatant bribes from both corporations and foreign countries, manipulating the stock market to enable insider trading, and on top of all that making bets on your own actions…

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        releasing a book after you leave office

        He released his books during his campaign for President and profited enormously of the residuals and subsequent compound return on investments.

        funnel taxpayer money into your own businesses, your friends and family’s business, solicit blatant bribes from both corporations and foreign countries, manipulating the stock market to enable insider trading, and on top of all that making bets on your own actions…

        The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions

        I’ll spot you that Obama didn’t pocket nearly as much as he could have. But it is crazy to suggest a man who has become a fixture of the Wall Street speaking circuit didn’t profit from the bank bailouts he oversaw.

    • Akasazh@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      I think he’s the one to critique him. Being an ex president creates interest and opportunities, that’s nothing new.

      What is new is the most blatantly and openly corrupt presidency in history. The man is grift incarnate. There is a difference between profiting from the windfalls and openly soliciting for bribes in every way possible.

    • Steve@communick.news
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      1 hour ago

      Yah. What’s the difference between $70M and $4B+?
      It’s only $3,930,000,000 more. There’s no real difference there.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
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        2 hours ago

        How tf are we going to root out corruption in the other side when we can’t root it from ourselves? Come on, we know each side has plenty of room for rightful accusations. If we root it out of our own, the other side has nothing within us to excuse it.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        What’s the difference between $70M and $4B+?

        It is crazy that the defense of a corrupt liberal oligarch boils down to “he didn’t sell out hard enough”

        Reminds me of Joe Biden, shilling for Israel for pennies on the dollar compared to his Republican peers.

        • Steve@communick.news
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          19 minutes ago

          Did I defend him?
          Or did I point out the orders of magnitude difference. Not even mentioning that one sold books and a Netflix series after leaving office, while the other has literally solicited bribes and scammed his supporters with meme-coins, as well as selling shitty sneakers, and phones that won’t ever be released, and more while still in office.

          • Soulphite@reddthat.com
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            1 hour ago

            Hey now… Obama sold a phone… err excuse me… gave away phones to people that really needed them and didn’t profit off it at all and it literally helped 20+ million Americans have access to cellphone who otherwise couldn’t afford it, even to this day.

            Thanks Obama.

    • Soulphite@reddthat.com
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      1 hour ago

      There’s a big difference between being the first black president of the US and the first pedophile president of the US… Obama earned his clout.