Partisan questions here, IMO, are not the thing that matter ultimately, what a sad statement on how extreme the US has gone in the "pay to play" nature of our government.
Not that that aspect hasn't been in the mix forever (it's human nature and unavoidable), but over the past few decades (the Citizens United decision by SCOTUS in the early 2000s being a tipping point, but it started long before then) campaign finance has absolutely gutted any kind of representative government.
Republican/Democrat/whatever, it really doesn't matter because those are, at this point, vapid distinction in label only because there is only one party: money. This is absolutely a confirmation that access to law making/executive function (and even increasingly, we are learning, judicial influence as high as SCOTUS) to favor your business objectives, box out your competitors, and/or push whatever agenda you'd like (regardless of Red/Blue/whatever) is available for purchase.
One could argue that it has now become so entrenched now that if you do not participate, you risk shirking your duty to your company by losing a seat at the table. At what point does campaign finance and such things (again, I am not making a partisan statement, this is across all parties and all candidates, because it is systemic and has been for decades) something like this more resemble "protection money" (the kinds of schemes that are illegal as organized crime) simply with a thin veneer of "politics" in front of it?
For those of us in the US who are voters, I hate to say it, collectively, we have allowed this to happen. Incrementally. We have given up control of our government to the highest bidder.
