https://abcnews.com/US/trump-administration-create-1776b-truth-justice-commission-compensate/story?id=133005480

https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-irs-leak-3729de38770b558be01712a143437bf8

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5828414/the-justice-department-gives-trump-an-unprecedented-settlement

This is something I'm very pissed about but nobody seems to be talking about despite how huge it is.

I know you're used to hearing about Trump blatantly stealing from taxpayers by giving contracts to friends, cheating on his own taxes, cutting services while giving more taxpayer money to DHS and whatnot, insider trading on his economic policy, etc.

But then Trump sued his IRS and they settled for $1776M. This means Trump brought a case against his own government, and then agreed to drop the case for two conditions:

1. $1776M for individuals who claim the DOJ was weaponized against them (i.e. Jan 6 defendants), and

2. Trump and his family will never have their taxes audited again.

I think a lot of the ways the Trump admin is stealing from the taxpayers was convoluted and too abstract for a lot of people to understand. And the "flood the zone" strategy is very effective, because there's also the other economic concerns (gas prices), the various illegal wars and attacks (Iran, Venezuela), ICE, pedophilia, bonkers incompetent men in the Trump admin, women dwindling out as they leave the scapegoat pen, etc. Late-night hosts (the most important thought leaders of our broader political network) are busy saying goodbye to Colbert, who was taken off the air at Trump's behest. There's a lot going on.

But if "how much the US adheres to its rule of law" is an important metric in the Global Fascismometer to you, this is probably so farcical as to make for one notch higher?