MAGA vs the public interest: Harming the public for special interest profit

Many American claim they believe in an American Republic with a representative democracy, separation of powers, the constitutional rule of law, federalism and civil liberties. Whether they act like that is what they believe is a separate issue. Many don't. Regardless, for most of those believers one of their political principles or moral values is a belief in the moral superiority of government that doesn't lie to the public or act against the public interest. Obviously, what is for or against the public interest is an essentially contested concept. But at least the moral sentiment is present in most (~90% ?) average people who believe they are good people doing politics in good faith. 

A NYT article (not paywalled) reports that djt and his corrupt MAGA thugs have quashed a scientific report that drinking alcohol in any amount is a risk factor for several kinds of cancer and liver disease. The Alcohol Intake and Health Study, stated that one or more drinks per day increases the risk of liver cirrhosis, oral and esophageal cancer, and injuries. MAGA thugs running the government now refuse to submit it to Congress as originally planned. A draft of the report is at this link.

Why do MAGA thugs block the dissemination of this knowledge? For the obvious reason, money. The booze industry lobbied hard against releasing the report. Presumably showering djt and/or targeted MAGA politicians were secretly paid somehow, e.g., by buying $TRUMP meme coin, paying for the farce called the djt presidential library, etc. 

I asked Pxy to look for evidence of the corruption, but all if could find was circumstantial. But it was enough for one to conclude that our kleptocratic MAGA government served the booze industry at the expense of protecting the public interest. Caveat emptor people, this is the new normal.

Pxy's comments about the evidence, in part:

Limitations of Transparency
However, significant limitations exist in tracking influence. As CREW notes, Trump and his businesses are not required to disclose spending by groups seeking influence, making many payments untraceable. The National Academies refuses to disclose who nominated committee members, creating what experts call "a black box" compared to other government processes.

Assessment
The evidence strongly suggests this represents regulatory capture rather than evidence-based policymaking. The simultaneous suppression of an independent scientific study finding alcohol health risks while promoting an industry-influenced study concluding moderate drinking benefits follows a clear pattern of prioritizing industry profits over public health.

While "kleptocracy" and "corruption" are strong terms, the documented evidence shows systematic dismantling of oversight mechanisms, extensive conflicts of interest, and policy decisions favoring major donors and industry interests. The scale and coordination of these changes, as tracked by multiple oversight organizations, indicates this extends beyond typical political favoritism to what transparency experts characterize as institutional capture by private interests.

The public has access to significant documentation of these patterns through organizations like CREW, OpenSecrets, Just Security, and the Brennan Center, though the full extent remains obscured by the administration's unprecedented secrecy and conflict disclosure failures.

Some of Pxy's links: Conflicts of interest (Brennan Center), Just Security's corruption tracker, Kleptocracy Tracker Online (Johns Hopkins U.), CREW's presidential conflicts of interest tracker, secrecy tracker (Sunlight Foundation, now defunct with 2017-2020 data archived)[1].

Footnote:

1. The Sunlight Foundation commented: 

We’ve been tracking the Trump administration’s record on open government since Election Day 2016, when we first posed questions about what open government would mean. Although the Office of the Press Secretary never returned our inquiries, the administration’s actions have answered many of our questions. This is a secretive administration, allergic to transparency, shadowed by global conflicts of interest, hostile to the essential role journalism plays in a democracy.

• After making himself available to the press through July, Trump set a bar as the least transparent modern presidential candidate in modern history. He held no press conference until from July 2016 until January 11, 2017, released no tax returns, and made no proactive disclosures around transition or inauguration. He held his first and only solo presidential press conference on February 16, 2017.

• Ethics: Lack of disclosure of tax returns and divestment in accordance with decades of tradition set up the Trump presidency for the ongoing appearance of corruption, with an unknown number of conflicts of interest around the world. 

• Secret waivers for administration officials, followed by the Office of Management and Budgets seeking to block the Office of Government Ethics from making a data call to obtain them.