The New Era of Corruption in America

By The RepresentUs Team
October 15, 2026

What is corruption? 

When most of us hear the word "corruption," we picture a crime drama like Narcos or The Sopranos, a criminal slipping cash to a crooked politician so they both get rich. That's part of the story, but it's not the whole thing. A lot of real-world corruption never involves an envelope of cash changing hands in a parking garage. It looks more boring, and more legal, than that. Which is exactly what makes it dangerous. 

Corruption in general is defined as someone in a position of trust abusing their power for private gain. That could mean, for example, making investments based on inside information, giving family members contracts over which you have decision-making power, or misusing money that has been entrusted to you, for example.

What is political corruption?

Political corruption encompasses a variety of ways in which officials and their allies use their power to serve private interests — their own or others’ — instead of the public interest.  Sometimes it’s illegal, and sometimes it is not. 

Corruption can directly harm people who lose out because of those decisions. And it ultimately harms all of us and our democratic system, because decisions are being driven by the interests of insiders and powerful people, instead of everybody else.

Imagine you are a public official. Some of the ways you can leverage your position to extend your influence and gains include:

  • Self-Dealing and Nepotism: Using your power or inside knowledge to help yourself or your family instead of the public you’re supposed to serve.
  • Pay-to-Play: Accepting money or other perks from private interests and making decisions that favor them. In some cases, this may legally amount to bribery.
  • Extortion or Racketeering: Forcing individuals, businesses, or other officials to pay money, give you contracts, invest in your family’s companies or take actions you want  under the threat that you’ll use your office against them. 
  • Patronage and Cronyism: Creating systems to reward your allies when awarding government contracts, public benefits or hiring for key political positions.
  • Embezzlement or Theft: political corruption can involve simply stealing tax money–that’s made easier if you weaken checks on your power.

Corruption can start with officials, or it can start with businesses and people outside the government. For example, if a person gives a judge extravagant gifts or invitations to travel to get special treatment. 

Corruption can happen directly — for example, in what is known as “quid pro quo,” where there’s an exchange of money for favors. Or it can happen indirectly, for example, with special interests using their money and influence to create intense pressure or incentives for officials to do what they want, instead of what is good for the public.

How do officials get away with corruption?

Back to our example. With enough power, you can not only engage in corruption but also get away with it. Here’s how:

Reward insiders: Buy the loyalty of the people around you with jobs, access, favorable decisions, contracts for their friends and family, or a cut of the profits. Once they’re in on it, they won’t use the law against you, because that would hurt them too.

Intimidate opponents: Threaten or punish anyone who might expose you, sue you, or investigate you. Everyone else gets the message: don’t cross you.

Rig the system: Put loyalists in charge of enforcing the law so they look the other way or cover for you. Weaken the referees meant to catch corruption, such as inspectors general, ethics offices, and independent agencies, by firing officials or cutting their funding. Or change the law itself to tilt elections or make your conduct legal. That’s easiest when the officials around you want the same protection. Once corruption is legal, there’s little pressure to ban it again unless the public demands it. 

You dress up these decisions as regular parts of governing, but the reality is, you’re rigging the system so you can continue your corruption.

What are state capture, systemic corruption, and kleptocracy?

Corruption becomes systemic when it is embedded into the system of government itself in a sustained way and continuously shapes how political actors and people around them operate.  

In the United States, systemic corruption has been a problem for decades due in large part to the influence of nearly unlimited money in politics, which has led to distorted incentives for Americans’ political representatives, who are pulled between the interests of the people and those of big donors. A related problem is “the revolving door,” which lets public officials move on from public office to cushy careers at private firms and corporations, and then move back into public office, creating influence networks that may result in biases in making policies or even incentives to favor those private firms in policymaking. 

State capture is a form of systemic corruption where a small network or group — which can include officials as well as people outside government — control the government for personal gain. 

Going back to our example, you and your cronies have neutralized or gotten rid of  accountability structures, and control important institutions in government, and use your power to rake in the rewards and entrench yourself in power indefinitely. 

State capture can also result in kleptocracy — rule by thieves. That’s a form of government where political leaders are running the government for their own personal profit.

Why is corruption bad for regular people?

In democratic systems, power belongs to the people. Corruption is a direct attack on that principle, because it means public decisions are being driven by the interests of certain powerful individuals or networks, instead of the public interest. 

Over time, those in charge continuously skew the economy and policies in favor of themselves, in ways that can harm everybody else. For example, a political leader whose family is invested in defense contracts may be quick to support a war that would be profitable for them but opposed by most citizens. Administration officials whose cronies or relatives are invested in a certain industry may choose to deregulate it and rake in more profits, even if the lack of regulation leads to job losses or scams that hurt everyday people.

How does corruption hurt democracy?

State capture and kleptocracy are often tied to authoritarianism, as those in charge continuously find ways to hold on to their power. For example, they may seek to undermine free and fair elections, censor the press, arbitrarily arrest or prosecute civil society activists who call them out, or even kill their opposition. 

By the time this process runs its course, a small circle of people has amassed enormous wealth and power — much of it on the taxpayer's dime — and democracy has been sold out from under the people it's supposed to serve. In the game of corruption, the insiders win and the public loses. Democracy becomes a hollow formality rather than a reality.

This might sound like the plot of a movie set in a country run by a dictator or a cartel. It isn't. This is a real and growing problem in the United States.

How has corruption been playing out in America over the last 20 years?

Over the past 20 years, under both major political parties, America’s systems of accountability have eroded, opening the door to systemic corruption.

The US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling unleashed dark money in elections. It gave wealthy interests an outsized sway over who wins and gave politicians reasons to serve those interests. 

Meanwhile, the Court has narrowed the definition of bribery, and the president and vice president remain exempt from federal conflict-of-interest laws. Rampant gerrymandering and weaker voter protections have made all of this worse by making it harder for Americans to have their voices heard.

How is corruption playing out in the US today?

Today, the Trump administration has added a second layer of corruption. It increasingly operates like a mafia, concentrating power while insiders profit and protect themselves from accountability.

Trump made an estimated $2.2 billion in 2025, much of it through deals that exploit the presidency. Officials and advisors like Howard Lutnick, Steven Witkoff, and David Sacks have also positioned themselves or their families to profit. Outsiders can buy in, too. A UAE royal made a $500 million investment in the Trump and Witkoff families’ crypto firm, and soon after, the UAE got AI chips that the US had long withheld.

Meanwhile, critics face retaliation, and the administration has gutted checks on its power, like the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. That extends to elections: gerrymandering, loyalists in key election posts, and efforts to sow doubt about results.

This is a very brief summary of the ways in which corruption–whether legal or not–is increasingly taking hold of our system of government.    

Can corruption be fixed? Good news: it can.

Other democracies have clawed back from serious corruption, and so has the United States, more than once.  

It begins with people coming together and saying “No, we won’t stand for this.” After Watergate, Americans demanded change, and Congress delivered: campaign finance limits and disclosure, financial disclosure for officials, independent inspectors general, and a new Justice Department unit dedicated to prosecuting public corruption. In April 2026, record voter turnout, driven by frustration with rampant corruption, ousted Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, and the new government quickly moved to investigate and adopt accountability measures.

To fix today’s corruption crisis and to build a government that answers to us, not just the powerful, we need to pursue two core goals: accountability and reform.

What Can I Do to Push Back on Corruption?

History shows that sustained public pressure changes outcomes, and we already have. As citizens, we're the ones with the standing to hold the people we elected accountable and that only works if we use it. 

Regardless of political stripe, every American can agree that public officials engaging in self-dealing, pay-to-play, shameless cronyism, and using our tax dollars to enrich themselves and their families are engaging in unethical behavior. These behaviors — which should be illegal — cost Americans their tax dollars, threaten economic stability, undermine national security, and the integrity of the Constitution. This level of corruption in America is beyond the pale and must end.  

Here are ways you can push back on corruption today:

Join RepresentUs and the movement for accountable government. Together, we’ll make change happen.

 

RepresentUs is America’s leading anti-corruption organization working city-by-city, state-by-state to fix our broken political system.