The Steady State's Daily Swamp

The Steady State
The Steady State
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Politics

Presented by The Steady State and hosted by former astronaut Terry Virts, The Daily Swamp shines a relentless spotlight on political corruption. Inspired by viewing global wealth disparities from space, Virts exposes backroom deals, crypto schemes, insider trading, and foreign influence. Delivering concise dispatches, the show operates under the core principle that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Each episode breaks down the real-world impact of political grift, proving that systemic corruption has no place in a functioning society.

Episodes

  1. 8h ago

    The Daily Swamp: Episode 5 - Follow the Money - Memecoins, Dark Money, and Taxpayer-Funded Ads

    From Balkan energy lobbying and memecoin volatility to Department of Homeland Security contracting disputes and taxpayer-funded television spots, this edition of The Steady State’s Daily Swamp brings together six commentary segments in which Terry Virts argues that public office and political influence are being leveraged for private and partisan gain, emphasizing transparency and public accountability: Part 25: Ambassadors at Play: Virts examines Ambassador Kimberley Guilfoyle’s push for Greek firm Aktor in Balkan gas deals alongside Aktor lobbyist Christos Marafatsos.Part 26: Melania, Melania, Melania (or A Trump-and-Dump): Virts critiques Melania Trump’s $40 million Amazon documentary deal and the steep collapse of the $MELANIA memecoin.Part 27: Kristi and Corey: Virts reviews federal scrutiny of adviser Corey Lewandowski and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s contract and spending controversies.Part 28: Unregulated AI — Super Intelligence or Super Grift?: Virts argues that Trump family AI investments and White House deregulation put financial returns ahead of public safety.Part 29: John Roberts, Citizens United, and Dark Money: Virts traces how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashed billionaire and anonymous spending in the 2026 midterms.Part 30: Trump’s "I LOVE ME" Ads: Virts contends that taxpayer-funded White House television spots amount to unconstitutional self-promotion.Connect With The Steady State Website: thesteadystate.orgSubstack & Daily Briefings: The Steady State on SubstackListen to the Podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack.Social Media Channels Bluesky: @thesteadystate.orgInstagram, Threads, X (Twitter), TikTok, Youtube: @thesteadystate1LinkedIn & Facebook: The Steady StateIf you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend, we'll see you on Wednesday in the swamp!🐊

    The Daily Swamp: Episode 5 - Follow the Money - Memecoins, Dark Money, and Taxpayer-Funded Ads

  2. 2d ago

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 4 - Gutted Agencies, Family Grifts, and Dropped Charges

    From sovereign wealth cash pipelines and vanished cross-border bribery indictments to corporate-underwritten cabinet road trips and the weaponization of federal healthcare funding, this edition of The Daily Swamp unites six deep dives exposing how public influence is traded for private profit, because sunlight is still the best disinfectant: Part 19: Jared and the Trump Boys: How Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are leveraging U.S. diplomacy to extract billions from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.Part 20: Payola from the Subcontinent: How the Justice Department quietly dropped foreign bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani following his $10 billion investment pledge.Part 21: The G-20 Grift: A look at the monetization of the presidency as Trump routes the G-20 to his Miami-Doral resort and invites indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin.Part 22: The Great American Road Trip: Uncovering the corporate pay-to-play scheme behind Secretary Sean Duffy’s reality TV show, financed by the very transportation companies his department regulates.Part 23: You’ve been DOGE’d!: How Elon Musk’s "DOGE" gutted vital agencies like the FDA and USAID while granting him unprecedented access to sensitive U.S. government data.Part 24: Medicaid Fraud in Minnesota: How the administration weaponized healthcare by freezing $2 billion in Minnesota Medicaid funding as part of a political vendetta.Connect With The Steady State Website: thesteadystate.orgSubstack & Daily Briefings: The Steady State on SubstackListen to the Podcasts: Catch The Daily Swamp and The Steady State Sentinel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack.Social Media Channels Bluesky: @thesteadystate.orgInstagram, Threads, X (Twitter), TikTok, Youtube: @thesteadystate1LinkedIn & Facebook: The Steady StateIf you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend, we'll see you on Friday in the swamp!🐊

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 4 - Gutted Agencies, Family Grifts, and Dropped Charges

  3. Nov 6

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 3 - To the Victor Belong the Spoils (and the Oil, and the Pardons)

    From fast-food lunch bags stuffed with cash and diamond-encrusted tariff carve-outs to Venezuelan oil spoils and a billion-dollar clemency marketplace, this edition of The Daily Swamp unites six deep dives exposing how modern political power is monetized because sunlight is still the best disinfectant: Part 13: When Tommy Met Susie: How an undercover FBI sting caught Tom Homan taking $50,000 in a takeout lunch bag and a defense contractor secured $40 million in government contracts through Susan Collins’ Super PAC before the public integrity units investigating them were systematically dismantled.Part 14: Tariffs: Fees for Thee, But Not for Me: Inside the opaque exemption racket where Swiss gold bars, luxury desk clocks, and diamond jewelry buy tariff relief for foreign tycoons, while domestic lawmakers quietly lobby behind closed doors for private carve-outs.Part 15: Pardon Me: The opening investigation into an unprecedented 1,700-pardon spree and the collapse of executive restraint, clearing the January 6 mob, erasing federal accountability, and testing the constitutional limits of presidential mercy.Part 16: To the Victor Belong the Oils: The extraction of Nicolás Maduro gives way to an old-fashioned spoils system: how defense contractors, repeat FCPA violators, and politically connected tycoons secured 100-year concessions outside the bounds of U.S. and Venezuelan law.Part 17: The Pardon Machine: How high-priced access peddlers turned clemency into an overt pay-to-play scheme, erasing over $1.5 billion in court-ordered restitution and leaving defrauded workers, pension funds, and first responders empty-handed.Part 18: Pardon Me?: A targeted look at the global reach and recidivism of presidential reprieves—from freeing convicted Honduran narco-president Juan Orlando Hernández ahead of the Maduro raid to shielding Binance's crypto network and pardoning repeat fraudsters in an endless cycle of impunity.Connect With The Steady State Website: thesteadystate.orgSubstack & Daily Briefings: The Steady State on SubstackListen to the Podcasts: Catch The Daily Swamp and The Steady State Sentinel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack.Social Media Channels Bluesky: @thesteadystate.orgInstagram, Threads, X (Twitter), TikTok, Youtube: @thesteadystate1LinkedIn & Facebook: The Steady StateIf you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend, we'll see you on Wednesday in the swamp!🐊

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 3 - To the Victor Belong the Spoils (and the Oil, and the Pardons)

  4. Nov 4

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 2 - Ballrooms, Crypto, and Foreign Favors

    Host: Terry Virts, Former NASA Astronaut & Col. USAF (Ret.) | Presented by: The Steady State From luxury ballrooms and foreign crypto pipelines to oligarch gifts and retail merchandise, this edition of The Daily Swamp unites six deep dives exposing how modern political power is monetized because sunlight is still the best disinfectant. Part 1: Dirty Dancing (The White House Ballroom): How an East Wing demolition pitched as a "zero-cost" private donation ballooned toward a $1 billion project funded by We the People—and the tech and crypto defense contractors buying access on the dance floor.Part 2: Crypto Part Deux (World Liberty Financial & Gulf Millions): Inside the Trump family’s stablecoin USD1, the Witkoff connection, and the UAE’s secret multi-billion-dollar investments that preceded an abrupt lift on cutting-edge AI chip export controls.Part 3: Corruption is Non-Partisan: Holding power accountable across party lines: former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s COVID fund scandal, Bob Menendez’s gold-bar Egyptian diplomacy, and the federal case against former NYC Mayor Eric Adams.Part 4: Love Island, Russia Style: A Russian oligarch with organized crime ties funds Don Jr.’s private island wedding entertainment. Former intelligence officers weigh in on an unprecedented counterintelligence nightmare.Part 5: Qatar: Money (and Planes) Can’t Buy Me Love: From the 666 Fifth Avenue bailout to a gifted $400M Boeing 747-8 that could cost taxpayers $1 billion to retrofit—what Qatar expected in return, and what happens when regional conflict strikes.Part 6: Small-Time Grift is Still Grift: Watches, bibles, sneakers, and phones: how the monetization of the presidency trickles down to main street, diverting small-dollar political donations into white-shoe legal defense funds. Connect with The Steady State Website: thesteadystate.orgSubstack & Daily Briefings: The Steady State on SubstackListen to the Podcasts: Catch The Daily Swamp and The Steady State Sentinel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Substack.Social Media Channels Bluesky: @thesteadystate.orgInstagram, Threads, X (Twitter), TikTok, Youtube: @thesteadystate1LinkedIn & Facebook: The Steady StateIf you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend, we'll see you on Friday in the swamp!🐊

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 2 - Ballrooms, Crypto, and Foreign Favors

  5. Oct 30

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 1 - $TRUMP Coin, Hunter Biden & DoD Contracts

    Host: Terry Virts, Former NASA Astronaut & Col. USAF (Ret.) | Presented by: The Steady State Former astronaut Terry Virts investigates political corruption across party lines, from crypto schemes to defense contracting and insider trading. Introduction Crypto https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reports-over-14-billion-income-crypto-ventures-2026-06-30/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/trumps-crypto-dinner-cost-1-million-seat-average-rcna207802Profiting from the Presidency https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/04/donald-trump-media-lawsuits-00812525https://knightcolumbia.org/cases/law-firms-v-trump-administrationhttps://www.npr.org/2026/01/29/nx-s1-5559293/trump-settlements-colleges-universitiesHunter Biden https://www.fara.us/a-look-back-the-billy-carter-affairhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/burismaMy Three Sons’ DoD Grift https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/05/lawmakers-call-pentagon-probe-trump-family-backed-companies/https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-vulcan-deal-white-houseInsider Trading https://www.cbsnews.com/projects/2026/trump-stock-trades/https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/trump-oil-gas-holdings-iran-war.htmlhttps://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/doj-probes-oil-prediction-markets-iran-news-rcna344135https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/24/us/how-prediction-markets-and-crypto-firms-steamrolled-a-watchdog-agency.html

    The Daily Swamp: EP. 1 - $TRUMP Coin, Hunter Biden & DoD Contracts
  • 5 Episodes

About

Presented by The Steady State and hosted by former astronaut Terry Virts, The Daily Swamp shines a relentless spotlight on political corruption. Inspired by viewing global wealth disparities from space, Virts exposes backroom deals, crypto schemes, insider trading, and foreign influence. Delivering concise dispatches, the show operates under the core principle that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Each episode breaks down the real-world impact of political grift, proving that systemic corruption has no place in a functioning society.

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