Speaking at a Georgia rally and savaging the transparent transactional nature of President Donald Trump‘s modus operandi, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) tried to add perspective to the audacity of what he characterized as the Trump family’s grift by comparing it to the much-maligned business practices of Hunter Biden, the troubled and corrupt son of former president Joe Biden.
(NOTE: Ossoff is not exposing the President — Trump’s transactional nature is a point of pride — but trying to reframe as outlandish what has become normalized. Asked about his use of “coercion” to threaten the core business prospects of private law firms that litigated against him in the past, Trump explained: “well, the law firms all want to make deals.”)
Ossoff, the 38-year-old rising star in a critical swing state, thinks American citizens should be unhappy with the chaos and the destruction of norms pursued by the Trump administration. Chaos is bad, he asserts, but the senator is more acutely emphasizing what he openly calls the Trump “corruption.”
Ossoff: It was reported that dinner with the President is on sale for $5 million. The whole family is cashing in. Don Jr. is setting up a new business empire. Jared’s investment firm got $2 billion from the Saudi Royal Family. Like Hunter Biden should’ve been more ambitious pic.twitter.com/EC7Jpi35mE
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 22, 2025
Like other Democrats, Ossoff is betting that corruption is the line in the sand, a third rail — the one thing even rank-and-file MAGA adherents won’t tolerate. After all, MAGA’s animating force is an abiding suspicion of the “deep state” — specifically because of what they see as its inherent corruption.
“On top of the chaos, you have the corruption,” Ossoff told the crowd. “It was just reported that dinner with the President at Mar-a-Lago is on sale for just $5 million. The whole family is cashing in. Don Jr. is setting up a new business empire. Jared’s investment firm got $2 billion from the Saudi Royal family. Like, Hunter Biden should’ve been more ambitious.”