The Ezra Klein Show

The Growing Scandal of $TRUMP

28 May 2025

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Steve Bannon famously talked about using “muzzle velocity” as a strategy: doing so much so quickly that you overwhelm the ability of the media to cover it. I think what the Trump family is doing with crypto is muzzle velocity for corruption.What they’re doing isn’t necessarily illegal. It would be if these were official campaign donations; the sums involved are so large, and the buyers include foreign nationals. But the Trump family is making this money personally. And they’re doing it across so many different crypto ventures, it’s almost impossible to keep track.So that’s what I wanted to do with this episode: try to track at least some of it.The person I’ve enlisted to help me out is Zeke Faux. He’s the author of the fantastic book “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall” and an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, where he’s been covering many of these strange Trump family crypto schemes.This episode contains strong language.Mentioned:“Trump Crypto Venture Has Talked to Binance About Doing Business” by Zeke FauxBook Recommendations:A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. TuchmanNixonland by Rick PerlsteinGretel and the Great War by Adam SachsThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected] can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.htmlThis episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Marina King, Jan Kobal, Kristin Lin and Jack McCordick. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Richard Painter. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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The Ezra Klein Show

The Growing Scandal of $TRUMP

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from The Ezra Klein Show

Ian Bremmer on the Risks America Poses to the World

Does Trump Want to Lose the Midterms?

Yuval Noah Harari on the Mistake Strongmen Keep Making

I Have Some Questions for the Democrats Who Want to Run California

GLP-1s and the ‘Wild West’ of Wellness

The Book That Changed How I Think About Liberalism

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