Who wants to pay $500,000 to hear some former president speak and tell jokes for an hour? That’s wack . . .

Photo above - The intricately carved 1,300 pound "Resolute" desk, gifted to President Hayes. It was made from oak salvaged from the English ship Resolute. Per applicable law, Hayes turned it over to the American people, and it was used in the Ovall Office for more than century.

Reader alert – the WSJ link at bottom looks like a Biden hit piece. But the writers (Annie Linskey, Emily Glazer, Erich Schwartze) inadvertently shine a spotlight on why centrist voters now abhor the influence peddling in our system.

The article starts innocently enough, snarking that Biden only receives $500,000 per speech after leaving the White House. Obama evidently gets more than $1 million. You can already see where this is headed. Influence peddling and evasion of political contribution rules on a grand scale. I’m sure Biden – like both Obamas – will soon release a ghost-written White House memoir destined to be bought in bulk by PACs, unions, universities, corporate CEOS, cable news networks, and foreign potentates. Such purchases are intended to win friends and influence people.

Someone in the back row is losing his mind at this point. Jumping up and down and screaming “What about Trump?” Absolutely. Trump did the same thing after losing in 2020. And look how he leveraged that money into paying his court judgments and launch another campaign. See the problem now?

Forget about the used 747 being gifted to Trump by the Emir of Qatar. That’s hardly a danger to America. Past presidents have received millions of dollars' worth of foreign gifts and properly passed those knick-knacks on to “the American people”, typically as museum exhibits or public assets. The Qatari 747, if it arrives at all, will be refurbished (new bathrooms and kitchens) for use as Air Force One, saving the taxpayers a bundle.

The bigger problem with presidential bribery/conflict of interest are crypto, meme coins, NFTs, board seats for presidential kids, and ginormous campaign donations so that CEOs can have a seat at the table when trade and tax policies are debated.

This is the stuff that the WSJ and other right of center papers SHOULD be writing about. Instead, we get 1,000-word postscript on how Biden is dying of cancer and may not live to see his own presidential library completed, and only receives $500,000 an hour to read teleprompter notes and tell jokes.

This writer did not vote for Trump, Biden, Hillary, Obama, or Mitt Romney. They're part of the problem. A focus on self-enrichment, and evasion of basic conflict of interest principles any child would understand. But evidently not the WSJ, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the NYT, PBS, or other voices hawking unsuitable candidates.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

The Week That Derailed Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency