''FDR was a gifted and facile liar,''

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/13/books/manipulative-secret...

I would expect much of the same from a glance at any politician. Politics is a field that rewards deception.

The perverse incentives of democracy have been illustrated from Plato through to Hans Hermann Hoppe.

The new way is obvious, shameless, blatant, and unapologetic. "We run this bitch, what are YOU going to do about it". No?

I grew up in Ukraine in the most corrupt post-Soviet era. Even then corruption was done with finesse. A lush mansion is hidden from the view, and you really need to go looking for it.

Not the Steve Mnuchin level of "we are going to take a private jet to Fort Knox, watch the Solar eclipse on top of a pile of gold, and put it on Instagram" kind.

From my view it is more of a wink into the camera. A whiff of self-irony and an acknowledgement of the farce. Shamelessly reveling in the spectacle while calling out the closeted prudes as hypocrites. Parodying stilted, cliched performances.

All of us are more aware of what comes up when someone googles us, that we will be judged based on what's out there.

Or perhaps it's just the money. One does not have to be a good citizen if you are loaded. Social contracts and norms are for losers. And, since Trump assembled the richest cabinet in U.S. history, it only makes sense.