Uhhhhh

Mike Donilon, putting the service in public service:

Mike Donilon, the longtime strategist and confidant for former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., told congressional investigators Thursday that he would have received a $4 million bonus had Mr. Biden won re-election last year.

That shows how Mr. Donilon held a financial interest in Mr. Biden’s remaining in the presidential race, all while Mr. Donilon was part of a very small inner circle of aides who kept damaging information from Mr. Biden. Mr. Donilon had also warned him that his “biggest issue is the perception of age.”

The admission from Mr. Donilon, revealed by a person briefed on his testimony who also confirmed that Mr. Donilon said he was paid $4 million for his work on the campaign, came during testimony before a House Republican-led Oversight Committee investigation into Mr. Biden’s mental acuity during his term in office. It was earlier reported by Axios.

Mr. Donilon was among the Biden aides who resisted calls for him to end his re-election campaign even after a debate performance that prompted a swell of opposition from within the Democratic Party. As recently as March, well after Mr. Biden left office, Mr. Donilon told The Harvard Political Review that Mr. Biden should have remained in the race and could still serve as president. “I still think he’s the best person to be president today,” Mr. Donilon said then.

It is not uncommon for top campaign aides to be promised what is often referred to as a “win bonus” should their candidate prevail. But the amount that Mr. Donilon would have received had Mr. Biden won is a remarkable sum. The $4 million he was already paid dwarfed the salaries of other senior campaign officials for Mr. Biden — and later for Vice President Kamala Harris.

It’s nice to know Biden was getting such totally disinterested advice from his top aide.

Gee, I wonder why all those moron swing voters — and yeah they are morons but still — get the impression that America is just a giant non-stop griftathon, and “at least Trump is honest about it.”

$4 million is 9.3 times more than the 99th percentile of individual income in the US in 2024. Hey, but that’s just the wisdom of “the market” ™ amirite? Everybody knows that political consultant talent is incredibly rare, and four million is less than the median NBA player salary, to pick another similarly elite group of performers.

Yes this is fascist snipe hunt, but it would be nice if it wasn’t such a target-rich environment.