Saw this Facebook post earlier, likening Trump accepting a luxury jet as a gift "of love" from Qatar to the Trojans accepting the Trojan Horse.
To be honest here, I actually think that Americans accepting a new feudalism, as Jello Biafra put it, was the true Trojan Horse for the United States. It may have truly begun with Richard Nixon, and there are even signs that Jimmy Carter advanced the whole "deregulation" bug. However, it really got going, and was immensely popularized, by the Reagan administration and it's "trickle-down economics," which sometimes came to be known as "Reaganomics."
To me, that was truly the first Trojan Horse which entered the gates of the United States. We allowed plunderers inside of our nation to run amok. They grabbed as much money as they could, everywhere and in every way that they could. Plus, they successfully came up with a theory, or logic, which they sold to enough of the American people that their plundering not only was allowed to continue, but was actively defended and, thus, encouraged, by Americans, at least collectively.
With all of this, we saw the rise of unparalleled corruption, and it just gained momentum over the course of years and even decades. Big business, the ultrawealthy, and multinational corporations began to call the shots. The American industrial complex felt like it would systematically have a bloated budget, and would get involved in conflicts the world over, seemingly almost as hired guns.
Now, we have grown so used to this blatant corruption that all we had to do is rename it. In the marbled halls of Washington, it's known as "lobbying." Both of the two major parties benefit from it. In fact, for all of the talk of how politically divided the country is, and how allegedly different the two parties are, what troubles me, personally, is how much they agree on. Because at the base, they agree on this corruption being acceptable and increasingly out in the open. Also, they agree on keeping other potential political parties or adversaries at bay. It is the similarities between the two parties which makes me wonder if they are not one ruling political party posing as a two-party system.
So how surprising is it, really, that Trump should accept a $400 million luxury jet as a gift "of love" from Qatar, a country he once condemned as supporting terrorism? After all, King Con Don and his administration ranks easily and by far as the most transparently corrupt and decadent president we have seen, and that's really saying something!
Yes, this jet is a Trojan Horse of sorts. So is Trump, for that matter.
But to me, the real rot was something we let in many decades ago now. The sight and the smell of the decadence that it ushered in has only become increasingly apparent to us in recent years, perhaps mostly the 21st century. And let's face it: we Americans collectively are to blame for it, given our too easy desire to believe only what we want to believe, and stoking out national pride and arrogance and entitlement before the entire world.
All of this really was only a matter of time.
Below is the picture of the Facebook post (which was originally a Bluesky Social post, although I did not have success in finding it when attempted) that got me on this topic to begin with (the link to the page is available below):
Mary Gershink Facebook post, May 13, 2025:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=24258676850402063&set=a.540976349265446
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