Trump Revenge: Fake Honesty & Transparency

Some international figures and MAGA commentators have bizarrely hailed Donald Trump as the “most transparent” U.S. president in history.

I beg to differ, but hey, if ‘transparency’ means live-streaming the destruction of democracy, then sure, he’s a pioneer—and a winner, making the citizens of the United States of America the losers.

Trump’s version of honesty rests on Trumpisms: a blur of rambling, incoherent rants carefully designed to mask deceit with the appearance of chaos. It’s not disorganization—it’s deception disguised as spontaneity and the media and MAGA fan base lap it up, begging for more.

Trump ‘honesty’ is just polished used car salesman talk—slick, full of bluster, and designed to sell you something you’ll regret buying.

At 78, Trump is now the oldest U.S. president in history, and when he performs before the camera, his narcissism and arrogance bleed through—on full display in his chaotic rhetoric, wild asides, and bold-faced lies. This isn’t just decline; it’s decline amplified by delusion of invincibility. Yet his handlers don’t flinch. To them, the arrogance isn’t a liability—it’s fuel. The chaos, the defiance, the contempt for facts: it’s not out of control, it’s by design and the majority Republican Congress and MAGA fan base love it.

Scratch the surface of Trump’s transparency myth, and all you find is spin and retribution.

Trump Transparency Claims

This narrative has been pushed by personalities like Tucker Carlson, who during his visit to the White House in 2024, spoke about federal “corruption” while propagating Trump’s dismantling of government oversight as “transparency.” Similarly, outlets such as The Epoch Times and commentators like Maria Bartiromo have echoed the myth that Trump’s attacks on civil servants and federal agencies represent a cleansing of a “deep state,” rather than what they truly are: a systematic effort to erase accountability, silence dissent, and consolidate personal power.

Available information found in the public domain confirms that under Trump dictates, his administration has moved aggressively to eliminate collective bargaining, purge career officials, and block public access to government data—actions that are the antithesis of transparency.

Trump’s America: A Nation Rebranded as a Family Business

It is my view that he is systematically dismantling the federal government—not to keep campaign promises or serve the public good, but to hollow out the three branches of government and replace it with Trump Authoritarian Populism fused with Crony Capitalism and personal loyalty networks where our government’s bureaucracy exists not to serve itself and members of Congress as it has for the past few decades, but to protect and empower him and his family’s domestic and foreign business interests while in office and for decades after — further disenfranchising what little influence Americans have left with their own government.

• Purging civil servants and replacing them with loyalists, often unqualified, under the guise of “draining the swamp.”
• Weaponizing federal agencies (DOJ, IRS, DHS) against political opponents, journalists, and former officials.
• Trump’s mini-me enforcers have turned White House briefings into propaganda sessions, aggressively shutting down journalists by demeaning them or speaking over them, effectively drowning out his or her voice if they dare ask tough questions—a clear assault on press freedom..
• Shielding allies (like himself and his appointees) from legal accountability while targeting dissenters.
• Using executive power aggressively to bypass Congress and the courts, especially after judicial rulings block his orders.
• Appointing billionaires and political loyalists (e.g., Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy) to oversee major government functions—effectively outsourcing governance to un-elected unaccountable wealthy elites.
• *Unlike his predecessor, who refrained from preemptive family pardons, Trump is expected to go further than any president before him—potentially shielding himself, his children, and allies in an unprecedented wave of self-serving clemency.

The Perfect Storm

Trump was elected with major support from both union members—particularly white, working-class voters in key industrial states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—and deeply religious conservatives, especially white evangelical Christians. Traditional union leadership largely opposed him, while many rank-and-file workers, disillusioned by decades of economic decline in manufacturing and mining communities, saw Trump as a disruptor who promised to bring back jobs and challenge a political establishment they believed had left them behind.

Evangelical and religious right voters backed him in overwhelming numbers, not because of his personal conduct, but because of his pledges to appoint conservative judges, restrict abortion, and advance a cultural agenda aligned with their values.

This coalition of economically anxious workers and socially-conservative believers formed the bedrock of his 2016 victory—and his reelection in 2024—despite his long standing anti-union business practices and personal history far removed from traditional religious morality. Their support was not an endorsement of Trump rather a vote for the transformation of the American political and judicial landscape he promised to deliver. Another con-job in the long history of US presidential elections.

Trump and Unions

Trump has deliberately avoided working with unions throughout his career. With few exceptions, notably his Palm Beach property, he used nonunion labor in his construction projects, refused to pay contractors, and as president, moved aggressively to dismantle federal employee collective bargaining rights. His administration and appointments reflected a systematic opposition to organized labor. Trump and Undocumented Workers

• Donald Trump’s construction projects: Trump predominantly chose nonunion labor for his developments, with over 60% of his projects outside New York City and Atlantic City built nonunion, rising to nearly 80% when excluding projects with required union agreements. His only known union-built property is his private home in Palm Beach, while other projects bearing his name used nonunion labor.
• Legal and financial disputes with contractors: Trump and his companies faced over 200 mechanic’s liens for nonpayment, 60 lawsuits for unpaid bills, and 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Former contractors and even his own lawyers sued him for nonpayment, and he was known for imposing a “Trump discount,” paying only a fraction of agreed-upon amounts.
• Treatment of federal workers and unions: As president, Trump issued executive orders to end collective bargaining for over a million federal employees across numerous agencies, citing national security. This included agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, significantly expanding the use of national security exemptions in labor law.
• Appointments and policy actions against labor: Trump stacked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with union-busting corporate lawyers and appointed Eugene Scalia as Labor Secretary, both known for anti-union stances. He rescinded the persuader rule, opposed minimum wage increases, derailed overtime protections, and nominated anti-union figures like Crystal Carey for NLRB general counsel.
• Judicial and legislative impact: Trump appointed judges who ruled against worker protections, and his administration pushed policies undermining unions, including slashing the Department of Labor’s budget by 21% and weakening the fiduciary rule, which could cost workers over a quarter of their retirement savings. He also supported “right to work” laws and signed a trade deal with South Korea lacking strong labor protections.
• Recent executive actions and legal challenges: In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order exempting multiple federal agencies from collective bargaining, which unions challenged in court. A federal judge blocked the order in June 2025, ruling it retaliatory and invalid, noting the unprecedented expansion of the national security justification. Despite this, the administration halted union dues deductions, severely impacting union funding.