Saagar Enjeti on Who’s Profiting From Trump’s New America of Gambling, OnlyFans, and Drugs

Leaked documents reportedly show Leonid Rudvinsky, owner of OnlyFans, was AIPAC's largest donor and pledged $11 million.

Miriam Adelson, a major Trump donor and casino empire beneficiary, has wielded immense power within the administration, allegedly directing DOJ hires.

Ben Shapiro advocates for U.S. military action against Iran and seamlessly pitches Kalshi, a gambling company where he is a partner.

Neoconservatives who push wars also promote gambling, pornography, and drugs that exploit Americans for profit, treating the population like livestock.

Online gambling is now America's most popular entertainment, eclipsing all other media revenue, and functions as legalized theft with abysmal odds. Online gambling is linked to rising bankruptcy, domestic violence, and the highest suicide rate of any addiction.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are functionally gambling despite financialized language, with over 80% of volume on sports. Prediction markets create perverse incentives, evidenced by insider betting on military operations and manipulation of real-world events.

The Trump administration's CFTC has issued emergency authority to protect Kalshi from state regulation, effectively legalizing prediction markets nationwide. Trump's son has ties to Kalshi and Polymarket, and the administration defends these platforms in court.

Trump rescheduled marijuana at the behest of industry donors to access banking, not for medical research, which he claims lacks scientific support. Marijuana legalization has led to increased DUIs, mental illness, and a new teenage affliction, constituting a public health disaster.

The Trump Treasury Department issued guidance urging banks not to discriminate against vice industries, specifically naming pornography, to facilitate banking for companies like OnlyFans. The pornography industry is deeply tied to human trafficking, and a new majority stake buyer has ties to Clearview AI facial recognition software.

Gambling hijacks the dopamine-driven risk-reward system evolved for hunting, particularly affecting young men. Gambling replaces traditional sports talk with betting parlance and is conducted in isolation, exacerbating male loneliness.

America has shifted its definition of freedom from freedom from sin to freedom to sin, enabling the promotion of addictive vices. Addicted and indebted people are enslaved, not free, and society needs a cultural revolution of shame against these behaviors.

DSA candidates like Abdul El-Sayed are shedding social liberalism for America First, anti-war, and quality-of-life messaging to appeal to working-class voters.

This strategy mirrors Trumpian promises and could win key races like Michigan.

The best-case scenario for AI is as a workplace productivity tool, but it introduces friction, enables mass surveillance, and mirrors the credit card industry's creation of debt.

The AI vision sacrifices human leisure and privacy for corporate profit.

A potential Democratic wave in the midterms is driven by high gas prices, inflation, and backlash against the Iran war, with Trump not on the ballot. Structural advantages could lead to an '08-style Senate takeover, with Texas and Alaska potentially flipping.