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Stopping Trump’s Slush Fund—Plus, the Transformations of Bill Gates

Rob Weissman of Public Citizen explains some of the key lawsuits challenging Trump, and Ben Tarnoff traces Bill Gates from software to philanthropy to the world of Jeffrey Epstein.

Jon Wiener

May 27, 2026

US President Donald Trump delivers a speech about the economy at Rockland Community College Fieldhouse in Suffern, New York.(Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

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Stopping Trump’s Slush Fund, plus the Transformations of Bill Gates / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Trump’s Billion Dollar Ballroom is a familiar kind of corruption, but his slush fund to pay the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name is an unprecedented attack on democracy. Rob Weissman of Public Citizen explains, and also talks about the immense, and immnsely unpopular, proposed Arc d’Trump.

Also: Bill Gates was once the country’s youngest billionaire and the first billionaire to come from tech. Then he became the most hated man in America; then the biggest philanthropist, and the world’s most admired man. Then we learned of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Ben Tarnoff explains how all happened.

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On this episode of Start Making Sense, Rob Weissman of Public Citizen explains some of the key lawsuits challenging Trump, and Ben Tarnoff traces Bill Gates from software to philanthropy to the world of Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom is a familiar kind of corruption, but his slush fund to pay the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name is an unprecedented attack on democracy. Rob Weissman of Public Citizen explains, and also talks about the immense, and immensely unpopular, proposed Arc d’Trump.

Also: Bill Gates was once the country’s youngest billionaire and the first billionaire to come from tech. Then he became the most hated man in America, then the biggest philanthropist, and the world’s most admired man. Then we learned of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Ben Tarnoff explains how all happened.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/subscribe.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Norm Eisen on the Paramount-Warners Merger, plus Trump and TV News / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

The primary force behind the settlement that will allow Trump’s allies at Paramount to take over Warners-Discovery and CNN was Gavin Newsom, who pressured California Attorney General Rob Bonta to end the anti-trust fight defending media independence. Norm Eisen explains – he’s co-founder and executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action, and, the New York Times reported, “the leader of a coalition of entertainment and news industry professionals who opposed the deal.”

Also: After Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House newsroom, the TV networks united in refusing coverage of his events – including Fox News. John Nichols has our analysis.

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Jon WienerTwitterJon Wiener is a contributing editor of The Nation and co-author (with Mike Davis) of Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties.


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