If you're confused about why something is happening in America, just ask who's making money from it. This of course applies to the presidency of Donald Trump, our fearless leader and an indubitable—if unfortunate—projection of the American id. The Rogue Outsider Tycoon Man Who Makes Business Deals might have lost $1 billion of other people's money while branding himself a business genius, but he's relentlessly monetizing his office now thanks to a complete disregard for ethics or conflict-of-interest concerns. He likes the attention and the power, sure, but he really likes the money.

More than that, though, his presidency persists despite the eruptions of public insanity and the felonies in office and the obvious corruption and the authoritarian onslaught against the institutions of our democracy because other people are making money. The market has mostly been strong, so Wall Street and Big Business have been happy, and then you throw in his trillion-dollar tax-cut giveaway to rich people and corporations. (What constitutional crisis? I'm on a yacht!) The lobbyists and special interests are thriving in the New Swamp—now headquartered at the Trump International Hotel, a beacon of the most brazen corruption—and must surely be enjoying this more direct model of crony capitalism.

There's nothing like a televangelist to remind you this is a nation of salesmen.

Grifters from all over have greased into his Cabinet and administration, either to live high on the hog on the taxpayer dime or do some favors for industry so they'll get handed a sack of cash when they head through the Revolving Door. Fox News and conservative media and right-wing youth groups are all feeding The Base of aging Caucasians a steady diet of resentment and fear of a changing world in exchange for advertising revenue and donor cash.

And of course, the Evangelical leaders who backed Trump without regard for any discernible Christian principle are having a grand old time. There's nothing like a televangelist to remind you this is a nation of salesmen, and that more often than not, they're peddling snake oil. The latest example comes to us via the Jim Bakker Show, and an intriguing chap who goes by Dr. Lance Wallnau.

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For $45, Lance Wallnau and Jim Bakker will sell you a Trump/Cyrus coin that you can use as a "point of contact" between you and God as you pray for Trump's re-election in 2020. pic.twitter.com/EwKgGL7sNp — Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 14, 2019

That's right: this man says The Lord—the Almighty God who created the Universe, and who exists in the realm beyond space and time—told him this coin is the "point of contact" between people praying for President Trump's success. And it's only $45! And, as luck would have it, the same guy who spoke to God Himself about this coin is also selling the coin, right now!

"Every day, when you see it, remember: God put something in your hand that you have a role in," says Doctor Lance. If you'd like it in your hand, God accepts major credit cards. The chyron very charitably calls this a "donation."

"That's why we've got to pray," Doctor Lance continued, attempting to establish an in-group mentality where The American Way of Life is under siege, and the only way to save it is to pray while holding this 45-dollar coin. "Because they think we're crazy. But we're actually the sane ones."

Donald Trump, Man of God, prays with Evangelical leaders. Alex Wong Getty Images

This truly is the Golden Age of Grifting, and the nation's Evangelical leaders have not passed up the opportunity. The "White Evangelical Christian" designation has always been a proxy for traditionalists who believe America's rightful social order is the racial and gender hierarchy of approximately 1956. Donald Trump has merely laid this bare by earning their support despite being the most comically heathen man to ever step foot in the White House. What principles of Jesus Christ does the president embody? The better question might be which of the Seven Deadly Sins—pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth—does he not represent? It's all part of the Great Unvarnishing, as the acidity of Trump's public persona has worn on the top coat of paint many people have applied to themselves, gradually exposing what lies beneath. It's not about Christian Values, it's about money and power. Unless it's about something else.

The Wall Street financiers and C-suite lords-of-the-universe have made a Faustian bargain of their own, simply accepting that the President of the United States will have regular bouts of public insanity and upend the post-World War II geopolitical order because the Dow is up and taxes are down. This will not end well for them or for the Evangelicals, because everyone who gets in bed with Donald Trump ends up debased and disgraced. Often, he convinces them to do it to themselves.

Somebody get these guys some coins! Mark Wilson Getty Images

More worrying still, if he succeeds in his campaign to destroy the Constitution's separation of powers and to delegitimize the free press, thus sliding us towards autocracy, it will be too late for these savvy chess players to rescue the piece. They will be vassals to him and his cronies just as all of Russia is to Vladimir Putin and his. As it stands, kleptocracy is our future—if not our present. Eventually, the market will go down and the rollercoaster won't be so fun to ride. People may tire of living through four presidential scandals a day. But if we allow the destruction of the mechanisms that undergird our republic, none of us will be able to get off the ride. We'll no longer owe allegiance to the Constitution, but to The Leader. How much will the coins cost then?

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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