"If you want policy to change, if you want this White House to take care of you, actually it's surprisingly easy. Any one of you ought to try this. Take a million dollars, donate it to the ballroom that they're building in the East Wing. Take another million dollars; I assume we all have a couple more lying around, right? Put it in the fund for that crypto company. Take another million dollars. Last time I checked, that is the entrance fee, not the membership, but just the initiation fee for a membership at Mar-a-Lago."
"Now, for those of us who don't happen to have a few million dollars lying around to be able to do something like that, then it's a problem, right? But that's what we've been reduced to."
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke at Birmingham's Carver Theatre alongside Mayor Randall Woodfin, discussing policy issues including wages, public transportation, immigration, and housing. Buttigieg criticized the Trump administration's approach to governance, characterizing it as corrupted by financial influence and fear. He specifically highlighted what he described as pay-to-play access to the White House, where substantial donations to various Trump-affiliated entities serve as entry fees for policy influence. Buttigieg contrasted this with local governance approaches that prioritize constituent service over financial contributions. The event, organized by Blueprint Alabama, drew a packed audience and featured Buttigieg fielding questions about Democratic Party direction and future strategy.
#pay-to-play-politics #trump-administration-criticism #democratic-strategy #political-corruption #local-governance
Read at Advocate.com
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