As Trump seems to be winning tax payers money into his coffers, maybe he feels he is ‘top of the world’ which the character in the famous crime movie shouted:
James Cagney in White HeatWhite Heat (1949), directed by Raoul Walsh, starred James Cagney in one of his most combustible roles, as gangster Cody Jarrett. The film features the iconic line, “Top of the world, Ma!”
White HeatJames Cagney (left) and Edmond O’Brien in White Heat (1949), directed by Raoul Walsh.
Cody Jarrett (played by Cagney) is a cold-blooded killer who has an uncomfortable oedipal relationship with his domineering mother (Margaret Wycherly). When Jarrett learns of her murder while he is in prison, he virtually wrecks the mess hall in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Soon after, he and several other inmates—one of whom is actually an undercover agent (Edmond O’Brien)—escape from prison. After Jarrett’s gang decides to rob a chemical factory, the agent alerts the police to their plans. In the ensuing gunfight, Jarrett becomes cornered atop an oil-refinery tank. He screams, “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” as he unloads his gun into the tank, and he dies in the resulting inferno
ByNathan Goldman,Contributor. Nathan Goldman is a tax prof. at NC State Univ.Follow Author
May 20, 2026, 03:36am EDT
Like any other taxpayer, the United States President must file their tax return and pay taxes on their income. However, the outcome of Trump’s recently settled lawsuit may put that into question for Trump and his family. According to CNBC, the lawsuit settlement contains a provision that Trump and his family’s past tax returns cannot be prosecuted, meaning that whatever was paid cannot be challenged by the IRS. This provision puts a select few people in a rare category of individuals who are immune to taxation.
Donors to the president’s campaign are also not barred from applying for taxpayer money from the newly created fund open to people who claim to be victims of government “weaponization,” Blanche said Tuesday.
“Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victims,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee as he seeks to justify a Justice Department budget that slashes funding for domestic violence survivors.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hasn’t ruled out January 6 rioters and Donald Trump’s donors from receiving taxpayer funds from what critics have called a $1.7 billion ‘slush fund’ for the president’s allies (Getty Images)
Blanche would not say whether a rioter pardoned by Trump who was later found guilty of five counts related to sex crimes against children would be eligible for a payout.
“You can’t tell us today that this individual would not be eligible for a payout from this fund,” Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen told him.
“I find that obscene,” he said.
Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, is overseeing the nation’s top law enforcement agency after the president ousted Pam Bondi following her 14 months on the job. The DOJ announced the fund on Monday as part of a settlement after Trump abandoned his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said Monday.
The fund opens a “lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” he said.
A five-member commission — with members appointed by Blanche — will manage the fund.
Trump told reporters on Monday that who gets paid will be “dependent on a committee” made up of “very talented people, very highly respected people.”
The administration’s announcement offered few details about how the fund would disburse money to eligible victims, or who would even be eligible.
But the list of recipients will remain “confidential,” Blanche told senators Tuesday.
The proposal has alarmed critics and watchdog groups who fear the Trump administration is effectively handing American taxpayers’ dollars to the president’s allies after an unprecedented series of pardons and commutations for his supporters.
“The record is crystal clear. You are still acting as the president’s personal lawyer,” Van Hollen told Blanche Tuesday. “It’s hard to justify giving you any funds.”
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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