Russell Brand with attendees at the Turning Point summit in Tampa. Photograph: Tom Silverstone\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The panorama serves as a realisation of one of Bannon\u2019s notorious PR idioms: flooding the zone with shit<\/a>. This is the Turning Point Student Action summit<\/a>, an annual gathering targeted at gen Z conservatives, which draws thousands from across the US. It was a driving force in Trump\u2019s success<\/a> among younger male voters at the last election.<\/p>\n In the arena next to the mezzanine, a conveyor belt of Maga superstars walk out to deliver keynote speeches, accompanied by spitting-flame cannon, pounding dubstep, spinning lasers and strobe lights. Brand delivers a bizarre diatribe \u2013 part standup comedy, part evangelical sermon \u2013 about his newfound conversion to Christianity in a word salad of alliteration and non sequiturs. Unsurprisingly, he makes no mention of the multiple rape and sexual assault charges he faces in the UK (to which he has pleaded not guilty<\/a>).<\/p>\n He is immediately followed by Tom Homan<\/a>, Trump\u2019s loudmouth border tsar, who is met with cries of \u201cUSA, USA!\u201d as he refers to himself in the third person: \u201cTom Homan is running one of the biggest deportation operations this country has ever seen!\u201d It is hard to keep up with this melange of fearmongering, severity and self-congratulation. It\u2019s the epitome of Trump\u2019s America.<\/p>\n My colleague Tom Silverstone and I came here as the first stop on a journey across southern Florida. Once the quintessential swing state, it is now solidly Republican<\/a> \u2013 and home to some of the president\u2019s vast sources of personal wealth<\/a>, including his beach club, Mar-a-Lago. It is also one of the hubs of his mass\u2011deportation programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n It seems no coincidence that the fast pace at Turning Point mirrors the first six months of Trump\u2019s second term, which has lurched from scandal<\/a> to extreme policy<\/a> to blatant self-dealing at extraordinary speed \u2013 from the administration\u2019s acceptance of a $400m luxury jet from the state of Qatar<\/a> to his family\u2019s creation of a private members\u2019 club in Washington DC<\/a>, charging $500,000 (\u00a3380,000) in annual fees.<\/p>\n The apex of these brazen efforts to monetise the presidency is Trump\u2019s venture into the world of cryptocurrency. He lauched his $TRUMP memecoin three days before he was sworn into office. These digital currencies have little to no financial use<\/a> and are prone to rapid market fluctuations. Analysts estimate that the president\u2019s family has netted about $315m<\/a> since the venture launched into this volatile and speculative market and hundreds of thousands of investors have lost out. The whole episode lends itself to the argument that Trump\u2019s return to power marks the advent of a second gilded age<\/a>, last seen in the US after the civil war, when the unprecedented dominance of industry and technology led to rampant corruption and pronounced inequality.<\/p>\n In May, some of the largest $TRUMP coin investors were invited to a dinner with the president at his Virginia golf course, then on a VIP tour of the White House, which some observers described as a blatant pay-to-play<\/a>. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has said<\/a> that Trump abides by all conflict of interest laws \u201cthat are applicable to the president\u201d.<\/p>\n No one at Turning Point seems particularly concerned about any of these apparent grifts, though. Anthony Watson<\/a>, a contributor, stands in the merchandise area of the convention, where limited-edition gold Trump golf shoes are $500. He flicks away my questions about the Qatari jet with little thought.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong about accepting it?\u201d he says, after I point out it might fall under the general definition of a bribe. \u201cWell, what did they get in exchange? Until you know, it\u2019s speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n I track down Stone to ask how he thinks the founding fathers, who authored the foreign emoluments clause of the US constitution<\/a> to block corruption and limit foreign influence, might view Trump\u2019s move into memecoin. \u201cI don\u2019t think they could envisage cryptocurrency, period, or the technological age that we\u2019re in,\u201d he says, dodging the question.<\/p>\n Beyond sheer audacity, these money-making schemes also strike at a clear contradiction within the Maga movement and its America First agenda. While most remain anonymous, some of the largest investors in Trump\u2019s memecoin have been revealed as foreign nationals<\/a>, one with ties to the Chinese Communist party<\/a>. How does that tally with America First?<\/p>\n Tom Homan, Trump\u2019s border chief, takes the mic at the Turning Point summit, where cries of \u2018USA!\u2019 greeted his praise for mass deportations. Photograph: Dave Decker\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n I address this question to Bannon, who greets me with a smile and professes his love of the Guardian, despite labelling us \u201cfucking commies from England\u201d.<\/p>\n He is willing to acknowledge a degree of unease, particularly when I mention the Chinese Communist party. But he still finds a way of reconciling it, arguing that the VIP event at the White House underscored a drive for \u201centrepreneurial capitalism\u201d. \u201cI\u2019ve just got so much on my plate right now, I just don\u2019t even focus on the memecoins,\u201d he says, adding that \u201cthe crypto thing is not at that big a level\u201d.<\/p>\n It seems to mark a turn for Bannon who, in 2019<\/a>, described cryptocurrencies as having a \u201cbig future \u2026 in this global populist revolt\u201d and \u2013 according to reporting by ABC News<\/a> \u2013 partly took control of an anti-Joe-Biden memecoin in 2021, along with the Republican strategist Boris Epshteyn. He seems uneasy when I ask about this venture, named $FJB (officially Freedom Jobs Business, unofficially shorthand for Fuck Joe Biden), given allegations of missing funds<\/a>, reported failures to donate promised money to charity and a potential examination by the US justice department<\/a> (DoJ) in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I put $500,000 into it,\u201d Bannon recalls. Did he lose it all? \u201cYes. I think I lost all of it,\u201d he says. He calls reports of a DoJ probe \u201cfake news\u201d.<\/p>\n We leave Turning Point shortly after Bannon\u2019s keynote address, which includes a flurry of praise for the immigration crackdown and receives a large round of applause. \u201cMass deportations now. Amnesty never,\u201d he says. We drive about four hours south of Tampa to the centre of the Everglades, where a single\u2011lane highway is surrounded by cypress trees and mangroves.<\/p>\n The administration\u2019s immigration enforcement efforts are, in some ways, as brash and open as the Trump family\u2019s presidential profit-making. Half a mile out, a large, newly installed bright-blue road sign announces we are approaching \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d, a hastily constructed tent-like detention centre, surrounded by mosquito-infested swampland, about 50 miles outside Miami.<\/p>\n An aerial view of the Everglades, the wetland that surrounds \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 in Florida. Photograph: Marco Bello\/Reuters<\/p>\n In a calculated display of draconian showmanship, Trump toured the facility in July, seeming to revel in its harsh conditions<\/a>. It has become a symbol of this era of removals. Of the 57,000 people detained<\/a> by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 70% have no criminal record.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n This morning, a small congregation of protesters stand by the roadside looking on in dismay. \u201cThis place is shameful,\u201d reads one sign.<\/p>\n \u2018This place is shameful\u2019 \u2026 protesters gather outside the Alligator Alcatraz detention centre in Florida. Photograph: Dave Decker\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n I explain where we have come from in Tampa and ask how they think the centre they are protesting against is connected to my conversations about Trump\u2019s self-enrichment at the convention.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the same thing,\u201d says one older female protester. \u201cFor Trump, it\u2019s about power and money. He\u2019s doing everything he can to make money while he\u2019s president. But he knows he has to be in power to maintain that, and this is all about power,\u201d she says, gesturing towards the detention centre. \u201cPower and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Trump, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, tour \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n A few minutes later, a white SUV emerges from a roadway leading to the centre. The car pulls over to a grassy embankment and a family emerges. They had tried to gain access to a relative named Martin Sanchez. They were blocked from entering.<\/p>\n Sanchez, they tell me, has lived in the US without paperwork for the past 25 years, since coming from Mexico. He has two young children and no criminal record; he pays his taxes and works as a landscaper in the city of Palm Beach. He was arrested there four days earlier while on his way to work, mowing lawns.<\/p>\n \u201cHe calls me a lot,\u201d says his cousin Janet Garcia. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t showered. They treat him like a prisoner. He got caught for working and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n She stares back towards the detention centre in the piercing sunlight. \u201cWithout immigrants, this country is gonna go down,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have a felon in the White House, but the people they\u2019ve got in here don\u2019t even have a [traffic] ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n There is something stark about the location of Martin\u2019s arrest. Palm Beach county, on Florida\u2019s eastern coast, is the location of some of the most pronounced and expanding income disparities in the state<\/a>. Average house prices here exceed the median income by six times. Known as the \u201cWall Street of the south<\/a>\u201d, its corporation-tax-friendly climate has drawn many of the world\u2019s biggest finance groups<\/a> and it is home to at least 67 billionaires<\/a>. The highest profile of these is, of course, Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago club is situated on a tree-lined street by the sea. A year ago, it raised its annual membership fees to $1m<\/a>.<\/p>\n We drive to a food pantry a short distance from Trump\u2019s club, where a line of about 20 people are waiting for the doors to open. A laminated sign on the wall warns that immigration officials will need a valid warrant to enter the premises and that the pantry, run by a local non-profit group<\/a>, continues to serve people regardless of their legal status.<\/p>\n The county has a significant population of people from Haiti, many of whom are under threat of deportation after Trump moved to end their temporary immigration protections<\/a>, despite the security crisis in the country. \u201cSome of them are afraid to come,\u201d says a volunteer minister. \u201cIt\u2019s hard, you can imagine. You have no food, but, because of your immigration status, you stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n The programme\u2019s director, Ruth Mageria, shows me the large stockpiles of food in the fridges and tells me the pantry has seen a 71% increase in use over the past five years. Things are expected to get worse, as a spending bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by Trump will cut basic food-assistance benefits for an estimated<\/a> 22.3 million families across the country, while securing a host of tax cuts for the wealthy<\/a>. The pantry has started preparing to ration its reserves.<\/p>\n With a thunderstorm rolling in over the Atlantic and dark clouds forming like a tidal wave on the horizon, we seek out Mar-a-Lago. We stand on a bridge, on the newly renamed President Donald J Trump Boulevard, and look out over billionaires row. I\u2019m reminded that this community was founded during the US\u2019s first gilded age<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is an inauspicious end to this 400-mile journey across the state. The roads have emptied, but a small crew of landscapers, already drenched, are trimming the tall palms outside the club.<\/p>\n Oliver Laughland is the Guardian\u2019s US southern bureau chief<\/p>\n Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our<\/strong> letters<\/a><\/strong> section, please <\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mezzanine floor of the Tampa Convention Center buzzes chaotically with rightwing chatter: conspiracy theories, grievance politics and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-321641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114980042980493115","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Trump\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754456111_230_1920.jpg\")
Trump\u2019s new gilded age: fearmongering, mass deportations and self-enrichment \u2013 video<\/p>\n