Decoding the D.C. Democrat Establishment

January 29, 2025 by Rajan Laad

The Washington Free Beacon recently reported that during its final weeks, the Biden administration's Department of Energy (DoE) earmarked billions of dollars in green energy loans to utility companies in Biden's Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm's home state of Michigan. This violated the DoE Inspector General's directive to the Biden administration to suspend the loan program amid conflict-of-interest concerns.

Now for the details.

Generous last-minute loans were provided to Granholm's largest campaign donors during her Michigan gubernatorial campaigns. The DoE's Loan Programs Office awarded $22.9 billion in loan guarantees for utility companies to develop green energy projects across 12 states. More than $14 billion was awarded to DTE Energy and Consumers Energy. Both firms have ties to Granholm.

State Records show DTE Energy's political action committee contributed over $34,000 to Granholm's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. Then-DTE Energy CEO Stephen Ewing, whom Granholm appointed to serve on the state's Early Childhood Investment Corporation Executive Committee, donated another $3,400 to Granholm's campaign in 2004. State records also show that, during that time, Consumers Energy's political action committee donated $25,000to Granholm's gubernatorial campaign.

Brandon Hofmeister, a top official at Consumers Energy, served as Granholm's energy and climate policy adviser and deputy legal counsel when she was governor.

CNBC reported on Granholm's financial ties to DTE and Consumers Energy in 2020 when Biden nominated her for his energy secretary. Despite this potential conflict of interest, Granholm was approved by 64 senators, including 14 Republicans. Mitch McConnell was one of them. This proves how meaningless the confirmation process has become.

This lame-duck spending benefiting Michigan raises questions about the integrity of Biden's Loan Programs Office. Since the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act reactivated the office, it doled out an astounding $107.4 billion in green loans, the vast majority following President Trump's victory in November.

This occurred despite the inspector general report in December urging the DoE to suspend the program due to violation of conflict-of-interest rules and significant risk of fraud.

This isn't the first time such blatant acts of corruption have occurred.

The Loan Programs Office director, Jigar Shah, held a financial stake in Plug Power through his green investment firm before joining the Biden administration, raising conflict-of-interest concerns. The Loan Programs Office finalized a $1.7 billion loan for Plug Power last week.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Chris Wright, Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Energy, said that he was aware of the inspector general report and would immediately address the program if confirmed.

So, what does one make of all this?

This reveals the workings of the self-serving, self-promoting, corrupt, and nepotistic cabal of the Washington Democrat Establishment. This club exists to facilitate quid pro quo deals to enrich its members. The goal is to legalize corruption and cronyism.

The Establishment facilitates the funding of political campaigns for elected officials. Upon being elected, the official acts to benefit their cronies. The cycle continues. The cronies present lucrative deals to the officials once they retire from politics. There could also be deals of enrichment for relatives during the elected official's tenure.

During such times, the media and government agencies are supposed to function as watchdogs, and Congress is expected to pass laws to prevent these acts of corruption.

Alas, these groups have been co-opted by the establishment with promises of lucrative deals. The watchdogs in the media and agencies have become lapdogs.

Congress may pass laws that sound as if they are meant to prevent such acts of corruption, but when one reads the finer print, there are easy ways to circumvent these rules.

So what happens after Biden's Energy Secretary Granholm's favored loans and other deals for her former donor?

Since she wasn't born in the U.S., she won't be able to run for President, or else they would fund her campaign, which is another easy way to facilitate enrichment. Remember Kamala Harris's 107-day campaign that spent $1 billion.

Granholm has also served two terms as governor, so that is out of the question.

Maybe she will run for the Senate.

Maybe she will receive lucrative fees for speaking assignments or serve on the board of big corporations that benefited from her actions during the final weeks of the Biden administration. Perhaps her relatives or children will be offered cushy jobs.

Perhaps to conceal their fraud, lucrative deals will not be struck with loan recipients but rather with their subsidiaries or clients.

If Company A receives the green loans, Company B, which is a subsidiary of Company A, or Company C, which is a client of Company A, will offer lucrative deals.

In general, when these government officials pontificate about the Green New Deal or Ukraine or vaccines, etc., they aren't doing so as true believers of the cause but instead for pecuniary gains via cronies.

The Green New Deal is not about the environment; it's a deal between politicians and their cronies aimed at enrichment. The word 'green' is meant to deceive voters into thinking that the deal is beneficial to them.

It is just a means to benefit their cronies which benefits them eventually.

Citizens may not comprehend why Washington dedicated $183 billion to the defense and welfare of Ukraine. They wonder why Biden says he will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and why a former congressman has "Slava Ukraini," a Ukrainian phrase that translates to "Glory to Ukraine!" in his Twitter handle name.

They also wonder why D.C. cares for a faraway foreign nation while the U.S. is struggling on many fronts with crippling inflation and crumbling infrastructure.

They are curious as to why California state officials donated their firefighting supplies to Ukraine while defunding its firefighting capabilities by $100 million. The funds earmarked for Ukraine reach their target via crony corporations, and the corporations then find legal ways to repay those who voted for aid to Ukraine.

D.C. is particularly keen to dispatch foreign aid because the funds are almost untraceable once they leave U.S. shores.

This is why they despise Trump. If he ends wars, there is no need to dispatch aid, which is a source of considerable enrichment.

Whenever you read about reckless spending or unaccounted funds concerning your government, you can be certain that these are purposeful acts of corruption.

These establishment members are no different from thieves who steal for a living.

When the corruption of individuals such as former Senator Bob Menendez is exposed, it's probably because he didn't share his loot with others and not because of the fraudulence.

The welfare of the citizens is often the last thing on the minds of these individuals. If any good comes from their actions, it is unintentional and coincidental.

Politics is a field that allows the mediocre, such as Biden, Harris, Granholm, etc., to retire as multi-millionaires.

The citizenry has every right to be enraged that their employees in government are focused on everything but their duties.