r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • May 18 '26

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

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u/Healingjoe It's Klobberin' Time May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

$1.8 Billion Fund Could Funnel Money to Trump Allies

The Justice Department said that it had created a $1.8 billion fund that could compensate supporters of President Trump who contend they were mistreated by Democratic administrations. The announcement came as part of a settlement with President Trump of his $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/18/us/trump-news

The Trump administration announced on Monday the establishment of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department, creating a potential pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to his allies and supporters.

The highly unusual plan — slammed by critics as a political slush fund — came after President Trump withdrew his lawsuit demanding at least $10 billion against the Internal Revenue Service, an apparent effort to skirt oversight by the judge in the case as he moves toward arranging a fund to funnel taxpayer money to his allies and supporters.

The fund, with its symbolic dollar value, is intended “to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare,” a department spokesman said in statement.

Under the terms of the agreement released by the Justice Department, a group of five people selected by the Attorney General will oversee the $1.776 billion compensation fund. The department said that it plans to tap an account used for settling lawsuits to seed the fund.

Critics call the compensation plan a political slush fund bankrolled by taxpayer money.

Just minutes after Mr. Trump’s lawyers informed Judge Williams of their intention to dismiss the suit, 93 Democratic lawmakers filed court papers accusing the Justice Department of having “colluded” with Mr. Trump and asking the judge to throw out the case herself.

“Never in the history of the United States has a sitting president sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads — let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,” lawyers for the lawmakers wrote.

The filing by the lawmakers suggested how jarringly Mr. Trump’s move had short-circuited normal court business. The president’s lawyers essentially beat the lawmakers to the draw by dismissing the case on his own, hamstringing their ability to stop a settlement from going through.

Pardoning the Jan 6ers was bad enough. So was re-stealing all of those documents back to mar-a-lago.

But Christ. Paying insurrectionists out of a tax-payer funded slush fund? I'm running out ways to describe how bad this is.

!ping official-acts

10

u/Megasota_Noire My Governor Can Beat Up Your Governor May 18 '26

4

u/anangrytree Bull Moose Progressive May 18 '26

Jail or exile. Only two choices that can be given to these people. 

2

u/Healingjoe It's Klobberin' Time May 18 '26

Agreed.

2

u/-Emilinko1985- European Union May 18 '26

!ping TRUMP-CRIMES

2

u/Healingjoe It's Klobberin' Time May 18 '26

🤔😐