Red, You and Blue: The Scam that is Killing America

I speak as a Dussellian, drawing from the legacy of Enrique Dussel, the Argentine Mexican philosopher whose work in the philosophy of liberation challenged the privileged, the powerful, and the complacent. Dussel argued that those who live on the margins, who are excluded by systems of power, demand not only to be seen, but to hold the powerful accountable. To follow his lead is to refuse comfortable narratives, to interrogate both sides, and to demand transparency and justice no matter which flag is waved. In that spirit I stand on my soapbox to call out the hypocrisy of both red and blue, and to demand that we stop choosing loyalties over truth.

On one side stands Donald Trump’s newly announced ballroom at the White House. This 90,000 square foot addition sits where the East Wing once stood and is designed for state dinners and grand events (The Guardian, 2025). Trump claims it is funded entirely with private money: “many generous patriots, great American companies, and yours truly,” he boasted (Associated Press, 2025). He touts it as proof that he can deliver big projects without burdening taxpayers.

Privately raising funds might sound efficient, but the donor list reads like a corporate directory, Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Lockheed Martin, and Coinbase among them (Time, 2025). Ethics experts have already warned that when companies with massive federal contracts contribute to a president’s pet project, influence follows. One watchdog put it plainly: the key issue isn’t the architecture, but what contributors expect in return (FactCheck.org, 2025). Private money, after all, is rarely free.

Now contrast that with Governor Gavin Newsom’s taxpayer-funded renovation of the California State Capitol Annex in Sacramento. Originally projected around $500 million, it has now ballooned toward $1.3 billion and climbing all paid by the public (Newsweek, 2024). At the same time, Newsom has criticized Trump’s White House ballroom as excess and vanity, while his own project bleeds taxpayer dollars. To make matters worse, more than 2,000 workers and consultants reportedly signed nondisclosure agreements, blocking transparency on a publicly financed build (Diya TV USA, 2024).

Here’s the hypocrisy: mainstream outlets roast Trump’s privately funded ballroom as self-indulgent, but few give equal outrage to a taxpayer-funded state project that costs double or triple its estimate. Both deserve scrutiny. The difference is who pays, and who benefits, yet both stories expose how money and influence orbit power regardless of party.

I get it: Trump’s ballroom is ostentatious, almost cinematic. But optics shouldn’t distract us from deeper failures in Sacramento and, by extension, in Washington and right here in our local governments like Ukiah where graft and waste keep multiplying. Whether the dollars are private or public, the disease is the same: cozy contracts, broken promises, and the public left holding the bag. We are fed slogans and half-truths, told to vilify opponents and deify our own.

As an equal opportunity hater, I’m not impressed by either camp. Trump’s “private” donors aren’t altruists; they’re investors in influence (Time, 2025). Newsom’s “public stewardship” looks like administrative carelessness disguised as progress (Newsweek, 2024). Both lead to the same place, a widening gap between rhetoric and responsibility.

And here’s where the hypocrisy metastasizes: not just in the halls of government, but in the hearts of the governed. You, the public, choose sides. You cheer your color: red or blue, left or right. You defend “your” leader’s corruption while crucifying the other’s. You repost headlines that validate your bias and scroll past anything that contradicts it. You tell yourself you’re informed because you read, watch, or listen, but it’s all curated comfort food.

Every time you defend “your” side’s waste while condemning the other’s, you prove how well the system works. The outrage machine doesn’t need truth, it only needs loyalty. When Trump’s donors pour private money into a federal monument, his base applauds “business acumen.” When Newsom’s contractors siphon taxpayer funds into a billion dollar renovation, his supporters call it “investing in infrastructure.” Both sides are blind by design.

There will be a reckoning. Nationally, statewide, locally, it’s coming. It will not be an explosion but an erosion, the slow collapse of trust that happens when citizens stop demanding honesty from their own team. Washington’s graft will keep metastasizing until even cynicism feels naïve. Sacramento’s arrogance will keep expanding until the taxpayer revolt begins anew. And right here in Mendocino County, where budgets vanish and projects stall, the same story repeats: promises, half-truths, comfortable rhetoric, and a public that shrugs as bankruptcy looms.

Red or blue, you are both bad for America, not because your intentions are evil, but because your loyalty blinds you. The flag you wave has become a brand logo, and the party you defend is a corporation selling outrage as identity. You’ve been trained to fight your neighbor instead of your government, to share memes instead of demanding audits, to treat truth as relative and accountability as optional. The system doesn’t fear rebellion it fears awareness.

The game is ubiquitous assimilation: “trust us,” say our leaders, “we’ll take care of it.” Meanwhile, the media amplifies whichever narrative keeps the ratings high. You either cheer for the private project as proof of entrepreneurial genius or rage against the public one as bureaucratic waste but you never notice that both are mechanisms of extraction. Money goes in, accountability disappears, headlines fade.

Standing on my soapbox may not wake anyone, but I keep trying. Because until citizens start demanding accountability, private or public, the graft, waste, and hollow promises will continue to be the bane of our country, our state, and our counties. Private money isn’t inherently virtuous; public funding isn’t inherently evil. What matters is transparency, integrity, and results. A privately built ballroom backed by billion dollar corporations may be just as compromised as a public project run by consultants billing triple. If we don’t demand clarity on both, we’ll keep applauding the very systems draining us.

So, ask the real questions: Who pays? Who profits? Who’s watching? If the answer is no one, then the fault isn’t just with Trump or Newsom—it’s with us for settling into our comfortable narratives while the same machine hums on. And yes, I’ll keep climbing up on this Dussellian soapbox until we finally listen.

References

Associated Press. (2025, October 25). Trump says White House ballroom funded privately. AP News.

Diya TV USA. (2024, October 24). Newsom criticized over Capitol Annex project secrecy. Diya TV USA.

FactCheck.org. (2025, October 25). Trump’s White House ballroom raises ethical questions. FactCheck.org.

Newsweek. (2024, October 22). Newsom’s California renovation under scrutiny amid Trump White House jibes. Newsweek.

The Guardian. (2025, October 25). What is the White House East Wing and why has it been torn down? The Guardian.

Time. (2025, October 25). Who’s funding Trump’s White House ballroom? A look at corporate donors. Time Magazine.