Donald Trump’s
War on Drugs
Two Faces of a Failed Policy
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
OPINION | April 19, 2026
For years, Donald Trump thundered about a
tough war on drugs – even suggesting extreme
penalties for dealers and praising foreign
leaders who executed alleged traffickers
without trial. Yet the clemency record from
his time in the White House tells a very
different story: one in which convicted drug
traffickers and kingpins have been granted
pardons or had their sentences commuted
after being properly adjudicated in court. The
result is a striking contradiction at the heart of
American criminal-justice policy.
HOW MANY DRUG PARDONS
AND COMMUTATIONS?
According to analysis of recent clemency
data and reporting:
• Trump has pardoned or granted clemency
to at least 10 individuals convicted of
serious drug related federal crimes in his
second term alone.
The Washington Post
• During his first term, he also pardoned or
commuted the sentences of at least 13 other
convicted drug traffickers.
Portside
• Combined, that suggests at least 23
documented federal drug traffickers whose
convictions were undone or softened — not
including other clemencies for peripheral
or non-drug crimes.
Portside
These are individuals who were convicted
in courts of law and serving long federal
sentences for drug distribution, conspiracy,
or trafficking—and then were later granted
clemency by presidential fiat.
NOTABLE EXAMPLES
• Juan Orlando Hernández
Former president of Honduras, convicted
in U.S. federal court for organizing drug
trafficking that moved roughly 400 tons of
cocaine into the United States.
He was sentenced to 45 years in prison
then pardoned and released by Trump in
December 2025. Politico
• Ross Ulbricht
Founder of the Silk Road dark-web
marketplace, convicted of operating an
online platform that facilitated millions of
dollars in illegal drug sales, and serving life
plus 40 years. Trump issued a full pardon in
January 2025. VPM
• Larry Hoover
Co-founder of the Chicago Gangster
Disciples, convicted of running a vast drug
organization and sentenced to multiple
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI • WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the Creighton University School of Law.
SOURCES
Washington Post – Reporting on Trump’s second-term pardons and commutations for individuals convicted of serious federal drug offenses.
Portside – Documentation of clemencies granted during Trump’s first term, including drug-trafficking convictions undone or reduced.
Portside + additional clemency listings – Combined reporting establishing at least 23 federal drug-trafficking convictions affected by Trump clemency actions.
Politico – Coverage of the conviction, sentencing, and December 2025 presidential pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández (400-ton cocaine
trafficking conspiracy).
VPM (Virginia Public Media) – Reporting on Trump’s January 2025 full pardon of Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, convicted of facilitating large-scale online drug
trafficking.
Justice.gov – U.S. Department of Justice records regarding the federal conviction and later commutation of Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover.
Wikipedia (source summaries) – Entries documenting the convictions and clemencies of Garnett Gilbert Smith and Anabel Valenzuela (federal cocaine and
methamphetamine trafficking cases).
Portside (additional examples) – Reporting on additional high-level narcotics and conspiracy convictions receiving clemency during both Trump presidencies

THE $750 PRESIDENT WANTS
$10 BILLION FROM YOU
Trump paid less in taxes than your kid’s teacher.
Now he’s suing for a taxpayer-funded fortune.
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI • WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the Creighton University School of Law.
Opinion Editorial — Sources: New York Times tax investigation (2020), House Ways and Means Committee (2022), NBC News, NPR, Fox News (2026)
WHO Federal Taxes Paid Government Housing Government Healthcare
Donald Trump
(2016-2017) $750 / year White House  Full coverage
Average Teacher ~$7,500 / year  
Average Truck
Driver ~$6,500 / year  
Military Officer ~$8,000+ / year Limited Earned through service
Donald Trump just filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — the
agency he controls as president — because someone leaked the tax
returns he spent years hiding from you. What did those returns reveal?
That the self-proclaimed billionaire paid $750 in federal income tax-
es in 2016 and 2017. That’s not a typo. Seven hundred fifty dollars. The
price of a decent laptop. Now he wants American taxpayers to write
him a check for $10,000,000,000.
WHAT REAL AMERICANS PAY
While Trump contributed pocket change to the country he now leads,
working Americans — who receive no government housing, no gov-
ernment healthcare, no taxpayer-funded security detail — paid
their fair share:
THE SCHOOLTEACHER
Average Salary: $72,000
Federal Taxes Paid: $6,000 – $9,000 per year
Government Perks: None
She buys her own classroom supplies. She pays for her own health in-
surance. She’ll never live in a mansion maintained by taxpayers. Yet she
paid 10 times more in federal taxes than Donald Trump while earning
a fraction of his income.
THE TRUCK DRIVER
Average Salary: $60,000 – $83,000
Federal Taxes Paid: $5,000 – $8,000 per year
Government Perks: None
He’s on the road 70 hours a week. He pays for his own meals, his own
lodging, his own healthcare. No chef. No housekeeping staff. No Ma-
rine One helicopter. He paid more than 10 times what Trump paid —
and never complained.
THE MILITARY OFFICER
Average Salary: $75,000 (Captain, 6 years)
Federal Taxes Paid: Thousands per year
Government Perks: Earned through service and sacrifice
She risks her life for this country. She moves her family every few years
at the military’s command. Any housing benefit she receives, she
earned by signing up to die for her country if asked. She still paid more
in taxes than her Commander-in-Chief.
A 50-YEAR TRADITION — DESTROYED
Every president since Nixon voluntarily released their tax returns.
Every single one.
• Nixon released his
• Ford released summaries
• Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama — all released theirs
• Biden paid $148,687 in federal taxes in 2021 alone
Trump promised to release his. He lied. He claimed an audit prevented
it. That was also a lie — there’s no law stopping anyone from releasing
returns under audit. He hid them because he didn’t want you to know
the truth: he paid almost nothing.
THE ULTIMATE CON
Here’s the kicker: Trump admitted he’ll have to approve any settlement
with himself. “I am suing, and I’m the one that’s supposed to settle it,”
he told supporters. The man who paid $750 in taxes while teachers,
truckers, and soldiers funded the government now wants those same
taxpayers to hand him billions — and he gets to decide how much. The
leaker is already in prison. The contracts were canceled. The IRS apol-
ogized. This isn’t about justice. It’s about profit.
THE BOTTOM LINE
A teacher earning $72,000 paid more to America than a billion-
aire claiming hundreds of millions in income. That teacher got no
free housing. No free healthcare. No helicopter. No chef. Now that
billionaire wants HER tax dollars to make him even richer.
THE MATH DOESN’T LIE
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new website. Simply scan the QR code to visit.
The site features a dedicated space for readers to share feedback and ideas. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions
for future topics—your input helps shape this ongoing effort. The new site will also feature podcasts discussing my work.
As always, I’m deeply grateful to those who have supported this campaign through contributions. I

THE $750 PRESIDENT WANTS
$10 BILLION FROM YOU
Trump paid less in taxes than your kid’s teacher.
Now he’s suing for a taxpayer-funded fortune.
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI • WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa and the Creighton University School of Law.
Opinion Editorial — Sources: New York Times tax investigation (2020), House Ways and Means Committee (2022), NBC News, NPR, Fox News (2026)
WHO Federal Taxes Paid Government Housing Government Healthcare
Donald Trump
(2016-2017) $750 / year White House  Full coverage
Average Teacher ~$7,500 / year  
Average Truck
Driver ~$6,500 / year  
Military Officer ~$8,000+ / year Limited Earned through service
Donald Trump just filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — the
agency he controls as president — because someone leaked the tax
returns he spent years hiding from you. What did those returns reveal?
That the self-proclaimed billionaire paid $750 in federal income tax-
es in 2016 and 2017. That’s not a typo. Seven hundred fifty dollars. The
price of a decent laptop. Now he wants American taxpayers to write
him a check for $10,000,000,000.
WHAT REAL AMERICANS PAY
While Trump contributed pocket change to the country he now leads,
working Americans — who receive no government housing, no gov-
ernment healthcare, no taxpayer-funded security detail — paid
their fair share:
THE SCHOOLTEACHER
Average Salary: $72,000
Federal Taxes Paid: $6,000 – $9,000 per year
Government Perks: None
She buys her own classroom supplies. She pays for her own health in-
surance. She’ll never live in a mansion maintained by taxpayers. Yet she
paid 10 times more in federal taxes than Donald Trump while earning
a fraction of his income.
THE TRUCK DRIVER
Average Salary: $60,000 – $83,000
Federal Taxes Paid: $5,000 – $8,000 per year
Government Perks: None
He’s on the road 70 hours a week. He pays for his own meals, his own
lodging, his own healthcare. No chef. No housekeeping staff. No Ma-
rine One helicopter. He paid more than 10 times what Trump paid —
and never complained.
THE MILITARY OFFICER
Average Salary: $75,000 (Captain, 6 years)
Federal Taxes Paid: Thousands per year
Government Perks: Earned through service and sacrifice
She risks her life for this country. She moves her family every few years
at the military’s command. Any housing benefit she receives, she
earned by signing up to die for her country if asked. She still paid more
in taxes than her Commander-in-Chief.
A 50-YEAR TRADITION — DESTROYED
Every president since Nixon voluntarily released their tax returns.
Every single one.
• Nixon released his
• Ford released summaries
• Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama — all released theirs
• Biden paid $148,687 in federal taxes in 2021 alone
Trump promised to release his. He lied. He claimed an audit prevented
it. That was also a lie — there’s no law stopping anyone from releasing
returns under audit. He hid them because he didn’t want you to know
the truth: he paid almost nothing.
THE ULTIMATE CON
Here’s the kicker: Trump admitted he’ll have to approve any settlement
with himself. “I am suing, and I’m the one that’s supposed to settle it,”
he told supporters. The man who paid $750 in taxes while teachers,
truckers, and soldiers funded the government now wants those same
taxpayers to hand him billions — and he gets to decide how much. The
leaker is already in prison. The contracts were canceled. The IRS apol-
ogized. This isn’t about justice. It’s about profit.
THE BOTTOM LINE
A teacher earning $72,000 paid more to America than a billion-
aire claiming hundreds of millions in income. That teacher got no
free housing. No free healthcare. No helicopter. No chef. Now that
billionaire wants HER tax dollars to make him even richer.
THE MATH DOESN’T LIE
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new website. Simply scan the QR code to visit.
The site features a dedicated space for readers to share feedback and ideas. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions
for future topics—your input helps shape this ongoing effort. The new site will also feature podcasts discussing my work.
As always, I’m deeply grateful to those who have supported this campaign through contributions. I

.
OPINION | April 12, 2026
Soon, tens of thousands of shareholders
will gather in Omaha for the Berkshire Ha-
thaway annual meeting—the “Woodstock
of Capitalism”—we must ask: What is the
intrinsic value of a nation that allocates its
capital toward its own destruction?
Capitalism is the most powerful engine
of prosperity ever devised. But it requires
the free flow of trade, goods, and informa-
tion. It requires a free press to hold power
accountable. It requires stable democracy
with long-term policy clarity—on climate,
public health, and international rela-
tions—so entrepreneurs can compound
value over decades, not merely survive the
next tariff announcement. Remove these
pillars and the system collapses.
Some allocations of capital are not merely
inefficient—they are ruinous. Bombs are
not assets. Wars are not investments. To-
bacco kills half a million Americans yearly
and does not compound. Liquor destroys
intrinsic value one family at a time. Pour-
ing capital into industries accelerating
global warming is a leveraged bet against
the survival of the planet. Buffett taught us
to calculate intrinsic value with cold-eyed
honesty. By that measure, every dollar
spent on human destruction earns a nega-
tive return no discount rate can justify.
Smart diplomacy—phone calls, fair trade
agreements, genuine alliances—has al-
ways yielded higher returns than tanks and
temper tariffs. The Marshall Plan rebuilt
Europe for a fraction of what the war cost.
NATO kept peace for seventy-five years.
Yet U.S. defense spending stands at $839
billion, with proposals pushing $1.5 trillion
for FY2027. America accounts for 62% of
NATO expenditures—nearly $980 billion.
Every billion on missiles is a billion not
invested in schools, infrastructure, or the
human capital that drives growth. Phone
calls are cheaper than aircraft carriers.
Trade agreements generate revenue; tariff
wars destroy it.
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new website. Simply scan the QR code to visit. The site features a
dedicated space for readers to share feedback and ideas. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions for future
topics—your input helps shape this ongoing effort. The new site will also feature podcasts discussing my work.
As always, I’m deeply grateful to those who have supported this campaign through contributions.
If you’d like to get involved, please visit www.honest-politics.com to learn how you can help.
Disclosure — Honest Reporting by Brent Lambi:
The author, Brent Lambi of Honesty Reporting, currently has a personal
lawsuit pending against Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. over what Mr. Lambi
believes is misconduct directly related to government misconduct.
Mr. Lambi considers Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to have been
wrongfully misled, and further considers the interests of those parties to be
more aligned with his own than opposed. This editorial is in no way intend-
ed to pressure or gain any favor—directly or indirectly—from that litigation.
While Mr. Lambi is not in a position to provide legal counsel to Berkshire
Hathaway, he strongly urges that they seek compensation from the parties
whose actions caused this defamation matter to arise in the first place.
He is confident that the honest culture of Berkshire Hathaway—celebrated
throughout this editorial—will once again prove to be the right long-term
strategy for all parties. Mr. Lambi also holds a very small personal interest in
Berkshire Hathaway stock, and therefore has no enthusiasm for an outcome
that harms the company or its shareholders.
WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
That is the fundamental truth: Human
capital is the engine. Not oil, not gold, not
algorithms. People. The biggest economic
driver of this nation has always been those
who came here with nothing and pursued
the American Dream.
Before Ellis Island opened in 1892—be-
fore visas, green cards, or quotas—im-
migrants built the companies that define
American capitalism. Levi Strauss arrived
from Bavaria and created the blue jean.
Du Pont emigrated from France and
founded a chemical empire. Andrew
Carnegie came from Scotland penniless
and forged U.S. Steel. Alexander Graham
Bell gave us the telephone and AT&T.;
Marcus Goldman founded Goldman
Sachs. John Jacob Astor became Amer-
ica’s first multimillionaire. Nothing was
required to enter this country—just the
courage to show up.
That tradition continues. Today, 46% of
Fortune 500 companies—231 of 500—
were founded by immigrants or their
children: Apple, Google, Amazon, NVIDIA,
Tesla, Costco. These firms generated $8.6
trillion in revenue in 2024 and employed
15.4 million people worldwide—collec-
tively the third-largest economy on Earth.
Immigrants represent 23.6% of all U.S.
entrepreneurs despite being 14% of the
population. This is not a footnote in the
American story. It is the American story.
Yet we are spending unprecedented
sums to remove these people. ICE’s bud-
get exploded from $6 billion a decade ago
to roughly $30 billion for FY2026, fueled
by $75 billion in supplemental funding.
ICE now commands $85 billion over four
years—exceeding the FBI, Bureau of
Prisons, Marshals, DEA, and ATF com-
bined. Total immigration enforcement
approaches $170 billion—more than the
combined police budgets of all fifty states.
The return is catastrophic. The CBO
estimated recent immigration would boost
GDP by $9 trillion and reduce deficits by
$900 billion over a decade. The Dallas Fed
finds restrictions cut GDP growth by up to
a full percentage point. Without immigra-
tion, America’s working-age population
would have begun shrinking in 2012. By
2033, deaths exceed births—without im-
migrants, the population declines. Social
Security’s actuary confirms immigration
improves trust fund solvency; deportation
accelerates insolvency. Immigrants paid
$383 billion in federal taxes in 2022. We are
spending hundreds of billions to remove
the people who sustain GDP, fund Social
Security, and start businesses—while
inflating the deficit everyone claims
to care about.
History is unambiguous. Every great
empire that turned from commerce to
conquest has fallen. Rome collapsed
from overreach and corruption, not open
borders. France’s revolution erupted when
rulers bankrupted the nation on wars.
Spain’s golden age ended when it expelled
the populations whose enterprise built
its wealth. The Ottoman Empire declined
when it turned from trade inward. Empires
fall because governments pursue the
foolish misallocation of capital toward
war—the worst investment strategy in
human history.
Finally, the unspeakable. Nuclear
arsenals are expanding for the first time
in forty years. Nuclear war would not be a
recession or depression. It would be game
over—for the world, the markets, and the
human race. Every stock, bond, and pen-
sion rendered meaningless. There is no
intrinsic value calculation for extinction.
No margin of safety against annihilation.
The most rational investment is preventing
it; the most irrational is pursuing policies
that make it more likely.
The Oracle of Omaha
always said to be greedy
when others are fearful.
Perhaps the greatest act of
courage left to this nation is
to invest in its own people—
all of them—and choose the
hard, patient, compounding
work of diplomacy and
democracy over the cata-
strophic short-selling of the
human race. Before the tick-
er tape falls silent for good.

The Retribution Presidency: Will They Come for You Next?
OPINION | April 8, 2026
My name is Brent Lambi. I am 65 years old,
a lifelong Independent voter who has support-
ed both Republicans and Democrats, a person
on Social Security and a small-time investor in
Omaha, Nebraska. In March, out of the clear
blue sky, I received an IRS notice for nearly
$1.776 Million ($1,775,400 to be exact). No au-
dit trail. No warning. No prior correspondence.
The number reads like a sick joke — $1.776 Mil-
lion — as if someone wanted to remind me what
year this Republic was founded while they work
to dismantle it.
I recently wrote a scathing editorial about a
President worth billions who paid just $750 in
federal income taxes. Seven hundred and fif-
ty dollars. Less than a schoolteacher, a nurse,
or a truck driver. Last year, I also filed a feder-
al lawsuit in the Western District of Missouri
against the DEA and the Justice Department for
fraudulent government reporting I personally
observed. Shortly after, a $1,775,400 IRS notice
lands on my desk.
The President pays $750. Brent
Lambi owes $1,775,400. You do the
math on that coincidence.
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
To make matters worse, I still owe my full
2025 federal income taxes—all due by April
15. I believe this is an intentional act designed
to drain every resource I have, to financially
destroy me, and to silence me from exercising
my First Amendment rights. If this IRS action
stands, my resources will be completely ex-
hausted. I will have nothing left—no means
to hire an attorney, no means to publish, no
means to fight back. That is the point. That is
how you silence a citizen in America without
ever putting a hand over his mouth. You take
everything he has until he cannot afford to
speak. Shut up. Or we will take everything you
have.
Donald Trump promised “I am your ret-
ribution.” By late 2025, Reuters counted 470
targets. He attacked six law firms in six weeks.
He ordered criminal probes into former offi-
cials, calling one “guilty of treason.” He directed
the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
He extracted $1.2 billion in settlements. Me-
dia Matters was buried under lawsuits until it
considered shutting down. Senators Wyden,
Schumer, and Warren have warned that the IRS
is being weaponized with target lists of political
opponents — in direct violation of federal law
passed after Nixon’s Watergate abuses.
The MAGA appetite for retribution does not
seek to win arguments — it seeks to eliminate
the people making them. I am not a Democrat.
I am not a Republican. I am a lifelong Indepen-
dent who has voted for candidates in both par-
ties. And still they came for me. Ask Liz Cheney.
Ask John Bolton. Ask the judges receiving death
threats. You do not have to belong to any party.
You only have to disagree.
I may be silenced. The $1,775,400 — com-
bined with my 2025 taxes still due April 15 —
will exhaust every resource I have. I will not be
able to afford to continue writing these edito-
rials, hiring attorneys or fighting back. And I
believe that is exactly the intention. But as long
as I still draw breath, I would rather face a wea-
ponized government than live on my knees in
a silent Republic.
First they came for the lawyers.
Then the journalists. Then the professors.
Then they came for a 65-year-old
Independent voter on Social Security
in Omaha who dared to ask why a
billionaire pays $750 in taxes and who
sued the DEA forfraudulent reporting.
Will anyone speak for you when they come
for you?
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
— Pastor Martin Niemöller

The Straight Jacket of Hormuz
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI PO BOX 241028 OMAHA, NE 68124
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern
Iowa and the Creighton University School of Law.
OPINION | April 8, 2026
In October 1973, OPEC turned off the
spigot. Gasoline lines stretched around city
blocks, the economy convulsed, and every
serious person in America understood that
Middle Eastern oil was an existential threat
to the Republic. That was fifty-three years
ago. What followed was not energy inde-
pendence. Not a national ethanol program.
Not a wind buildout. Not a serious solar
mandate. What followed was five decades
of choosing the oil lobby’s quarterly earn-
ings over the national interest. Every con-
sequence America now faces — every war,
every soldier dead, every trillion borrowed,
every child breathing carcinogenic exhaust
— was foreseeable in 1973. The warning
was given. It was ignored. That is not a poli-
cy failure. It is a moral one.
The Strait of Hormuz — twenty-one miles
wide between Iran and Oman — carries
twenty percent of the world’s oil supply
daily. Britain, France, and Germany are not
on board with American military escala-
tion toward Iran. They carry war memory
that Washington’s political class apparently
does not — and they understand that a Hor-
muz closure collapses the global economy,
triggers cascading recessions on every con-
tinent, and creates the precise conditions
under which world wars ignite. Any leader
confronting Iran while blocking wind, solar,
and ethanol is either serving interests that
are not America’s, or has learned nothing
from a half century of catastrophic, entirely
preventable evidence.
“The 1973 embargo was the warning.
$8 trillion borrowed, 7,000 Americans
dead, 50,000 wounded, and poisoned air
in every city was the price of ignoring it.”
THE ETHANOL SOLUTION: CLEANER,
DOMESTIC, READY NOW
The antidote is growing in Iowa, Nebras-
ka, Kansas, and Indiana right now. Brazil
stopped being strangled by oil markets
decades ago — its fleet runs on E27 or
higher as a national standard. Ford, GM,
and Chrysler once built E85 flex-fuel vehi-
cles at scale. Millions remain on American
roads today. A pump modification costs a
few thousand dollars. Washington let that
infrastructure atrophy and chose Big Oil’s
margin over national leverage. Mandate
E20 immediately. Bind E30 into law with-
in 36 months. Restore E85 nationwide.
The infrastructure exists. The farmers are
ready. The only thing missing is the will.
And ethanol is not merely a strategic sub-
stitute for oil — it is a cleaner one by every
measurable standard.
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH: WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new website. Simply scan the QR code to visit. The site features a dedicated space for readers to share feed-
back and ideas. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions for future topics—your input helps shape this ongoing effort.
The new site will also feature podcasts discussing my work.
As always, I’m deeply grateful to those who have supported this campaign through contributions. If you’d
like to get involved, please visit www.honest-politics.com to learn how you can help.
Corn ethanol reduces lifecycle greenhouse
gas emissions 40 to 50 percent versus
gasoline. Cellulosic ethanol cuts them by
up to 90 percent. At the tailpipe, carbon
monoxide drops 30 percent. Particulate
matter — the microscopic soot that pen-
etrates lung tissue and drives asthma,
cardiovascular disease, and early death
— falls sharply. Most critically, ethanol
eliminates the BTEX compounds entire-
ly: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and
xylene, the carcinogenic fingerprint of
petroleum combustion. Benzene is an EPA
and WHO Group 1 human carcinogen —
no safe exposure threshold, a direct cause
of leukemia — released by every gallon of
straight gasoline burned near every school,
playground, and hospital in this country.
Ethanol contains none of them. Moving
from E10 to E30 is not just energy policy.
It is the largest preventable public health
intervention available to this government.
Period. Full stop. No asterisk.
THE COST OF FIFTY YEARS OF
WRONG DECISIONS
Every wind turbine built and every ethanol
blend point gained is a direct, permanent
reduction in the leverage Iran, Russia, and
OPEC hold over American decisions. No
foreign regime can embargo Nebraska
wind. No cartel can price Iowa corn. No
tanker through Hormuz carries Ameri-
can sunlight. These are not green talking
points. They are geopolitical facts — and
the American people have been paying in
blood and borrowed money for the refus-
al to act on them since 1973. The United
States has spent a conservatively estimated
$8 trillion on Middle East military oper-
ations since 1990. The Gulf War. Afghan-
istan. Iraq. Carrier strike groups perma-
nently stationed in the Persian Gulf at
$10 billion per group per year. More than
7,000 American service members killed in
post-9/11 wars. More than 50,000 wound-
ed — limbs gone, traumatic brain injuries,
PTSD that never fully heals. Every one of
those dollars was borrowed. Every one of
those deaths was preventable. The corn
that could have powered American cars
sat at below-breakeven prices in Midwest
bins. The wind that could have lit Amer-
ican cities blew unharnessed across the
Great Plains. Good decisions in 1973 — an
E30 standard, a wind buildout, a serious
solar program — would have made most
of those deployments unnecessary. The
failure was not ignorance. It was a choice,
made repeatedly, by politicians collecting
oil money in the morning and sending
young Americans to the Middle East in the
evening.
“Middle East oil is America’s financial
demise and physical health demise.
Both were entirely preventable. Both
were chosen. It is time to collect the
accounting that was never given.”
THE STRAIGHT JACKET IS SELF-IM-
POSED. IT HAS BEEN SINCE 1973.
Middle Eastern oil is the financial demise
and physical health demise of the Ameri-
can people — inflicted with full foreknowl-
edge for over fifty years. The $8 trillion in
military debt, the 7,000 dead, the 50,000
wounded, the benzene in the lungs of
American children, the asthma rates, the
leukemia clusters near highways, the trade
deficits enriching the regimes that fund our
adversaries: this is the invoice for choosing
oil. Mandate E20 now. Bind E30 into law.
Build wind.
Fund solar. For the health of this coun-
try’s children, for the finances of its working
people, and for every military family that
will not receive that knock on the door be-
cause America finally stopped fighting oil
wars it never had to fight. The 1973 warning
was explicit. The politicians who ignored it
owe an accounting that has never been giv-
en. It is long past time to collect it.
2.8 M+
U.S Jobs
Already in
Wind & Solar
400K+
Corn Ethanol
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Omaha WOrld-herald Sunday, april 5, 2026 | A9A8 | Sunday, april 5, 2026 Omaha WOrld-herald
PAID ADVERTISEMENT PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
What Washington Could
Learn From One Man on
Farnam Street
The Berkshire Hathaway culture stands as a
rebuke to everything our leaders have become.
In a nation drowning in self-promotion
and broken promises, there lives a man in
Omaha, Nebraska who still eats breakfast
at McDonald’s and drives himself to work.
His name is Warren Buffett. His com-
pany, Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the
most admired institutions in the history of
American capitalism — built on honesty,
frugality, and a bone-deep contempt for
the appearance of impropriety. These are
values our nation’s leaders have not mere-
ly forgotten. They have made a spectacle
of abandoning them.
HONESTY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
When Salomon Brothers was caught in
a Treasury bond scandal in 1991, Buffett
did not spin or delay. He walked into
the Senate chamber and told regulators:
report to me anything that smells wrong.
Then he cleaned house — publicly and
decisively — because he understood that
the cover-up is always worse than the
crime. Berkshire employees receive no
thick compliance manual. They receive
a one-page letter from Buffett that says,
in plain English: do nothing you would
be ashamed to see on the front page of a
newspaper. Avoid even the appearance of
impropriety.
Washington operates on the opposite
principle. Lawmakers trade stocks in in-
dustries they regulate. Committee assign-
ments follow donor money. And “I wasn’t
aware of that” has become the universal
absolution of the powerful. Berkshire does
not permit the appearance of impropriety.
Washington runs on it.
“Never wrestle with pigs. You both
get dirty and the pig likes it.” — Charlie
Munger. Washington has not merely
wrestled with the pig. Washington
has become the pig.
UNDER-PROMISE. OVER-DELIVER.
Buffett’s annual shareholder letters are
famous for their candor — he names his
mistakes, declines to forecast what he
cannot see, and has built one of the great
fortunes in history by making investors
feel safe through the radical act of telling
the truth. Washington does the opposite.
Our leaders promise wars that will end by
Christmas, foreign interventions that will
spread democracy in ninety days, and fis-
cal programs that will pay for themselves.
They rarely keep their word on any of it —
and the American people, and too often
American soldiers, pay the price.
TRANSPARENCY AND THE
COWARDICE OF CONCEALMENT
Warren Buffett has not only made his
taxes public — he has argued publicly that
he pays too little, using his own return to
illustrate the absurdity of a system that
taxes capital gains at a lower rate than the
wages of a schoolteacher. He did this vol-
untarily, without a court order, without
an army of lawyers. Donald Trump sued
the United States government to keep his
returns private, fighting all the way to the
Supreme Court. Whatever those returns
contain, the years-long war to conceal
them told us everything about the man’s
relationship with accountability. A public
servant who cannot bear public scrutiny is
not a servant. He is a master who has for-
gotten his place.
FIDUCIARY DUTY AND
THE PUBLIC TRUST
Berkshire’s principle is simple: when
you hold power over the interests of oth-
ers, those interests come first. Not yours.
Theirs. Buffett draws a nominal sala-
ry, lives in the same house he bought in
1958 for $31,500, and does not self-deal.
His returns for ordinary shareholders —
teachers, retirees, small investors — are
the envy of Wall Street. Now consider the
modern political class: senators who en-
ter office on a government salary and exit
as multi-millionaires, defense contractors
whose boards are stocked with former
Secretaries of Defense, and lobbyists who
help write the very laws they profit from.
This is not fiduciary duty. It is fiduciary be-
trayal on a generational scale.
LEGACY WITHOUT
THE NAMEPLATE
Warren Buffett has given away more than
$50 billion — quietly, without naming a
hospital wing or summoning cameras to
record the moment. He calls his fortune
the product of the “ovarian lottery” — the
accident of being born with certain gifts in
a certain country at a certain time — and
believes that luck carries an obligation.
Meanwhile, Washington mistakes self-pro-
motion for leadership and branding for
governance, and we have leaders who
plaster their names on buildings they did
not fund and victories they did not earn.
The measure of a
leader is not the size of his
monument — it is the size of
the trust he leaves behind.
WHAT AMERICA COULD BE
Imagine a government run on Berkshire
Hathaway principles: honest budgets with
candid price tags; military force reserved
for genuine threats, clearly defined and
disciplined; public servants whose com-
pensation aligned with the outcomes
of those they served. Leaders who un-
der-promised and over-delivered. Who
corrected their mistakes in public. Who
gave generously and anonymously, un-
derstanding that the gift is diminished the
moment it becomes a performance.
This is not a fantasy. It is a business mod-
el. It has worked for sixty years, through re-
cessions, panics, and crises of every kind. It
works because it is grounded in something
that cannot be faked indefinitely: charac-
ter. Warren Buffett will not be president.
But his life’s work is a standing indictment
of the ethical poverty that passes for lead-
ership in Washington — and in capitals
around the world. America deserves Berk-
shire Hathaway values. The gap between
those values and what it keeps electing is
the precise measure of our national crisis.
A Pattern That
Demands Answers
Why My Federal Case Raises Serious Questions
About Transparency and Power
OPINION | April 5, 2026
In In a constitutional republic, the most
powerful institutions are supposed to
answer to the people. That principle de-
pends on transparency, accountability,
and a willingness to confront uncomfort-
able facts. When those systems appear to
break down, it is not just a personal matter
— it becomes a public one.
I believe that is where we are today.
Over the past several years, I have filed
formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests with multiple federal agencies,
including the Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration (DEA), the Department of Justice
(DOJ), and the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). I have also pursued claims
under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)
and filed a federal civil rights lawsuit now
pending in the U.S. District Court for Ne-
braska (Case No. 8:26-cv-00101-SMB-
RCC).
These filings — which are matters of pub-
lic record — raise serious questions about
how federal agencies respond when con-
fronted with allegations of misconduct.
WHEN THE SYSTEM
DOESN’T RESPOND
In my experience, the process has not
worked the way the law intends.
FOIA exists to ensure transparency. Yet
in multiple instances, I contend that my
requests were delayed, denied, or left un-
resolved beyond statutory timelines. Es-
calations through formal channels did not
produce the clarity the law is designed to
provide.
When I raised these concerns with elect-
ed officials and oversight offices, I did not
receive the substantive engagement I had
hoped for. That absence of response is not
proof of wrongdoing — but it does raise a
broader question:
What happens when the mechanisms
designed to ensure accountability fail
to function as expected?
THE WEIGHT OF LEGAL PRESSURE
At the same time, I have faced legal ac-
tions that I believe are unjustified and
deeply concerning.
Disclosure — Honest Reporting by Brent Lambi:
The author, Brent Lambi of Honesty Reporting, currently has a personal
lawsuit pending against Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. over what Mr. Lambi be-
lieves is misconduct directly related to government misconduct.
Mr. Lambi considers Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to have been
wrongfully misled, and further considers the interests of those parties to
be more aligned with his own than opposed. This editorial is in no way
intended to pressure or gain any favor — directly or indirectly — from that
litigation. While Mr. Lambi is not in a position to provide legal counsel to
Berkshire Hathaway, he strongly urges that they seek compensation from
the parties whose actions caused this defamation matter to arise in the
first place.
He is confident that the honest culture of Berkshire Hathaway — celebrat-
ed throughout this editorial — will once again prove to be the right long-
term strategy for all parties. Mr. Lambi also holds a very small personal
interest in Berkshire Hathaway stock, and therefore has no enthusiasm for
an outcome that harms the company or its shareholders.
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI
PO BOX 241028 OMAHA, NE 68124
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa
and the Creighton University School of Law.
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH: WWW.HONEST-POLITICS.COM
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new website. Simply scan the QR code to visit.
The site features a dedicated space for readers to share feedback and ideas. I welcome your thoughts
and suggestions for future topics—your input helps shape this ongoing effort. The new site will also
feature podcasts discussing my work.
As always, I’m deeply grateful to those who have supported this campaign through contributions. If you’d
like to get involved, please visit www.honest-politics.com to learn how you can help.honest-politics.com
I want to be clear: I am not asking the
public to accept my conclusions without
question. My claims are being present-
ed through the appropriate legal process,
where evidence will be evaluated and ar-
guments tested.
But I can say this: the cumulative effect
of these proceedings has been significant
— financially, professionally, and person-
ally. Anyone who has been involved in ex-
tended federal litigation understands that
the process itself can be overwhelming,
regardless of the ultimate outcome.
That reality raises another question
worth public consideration:
Can legal processes, even when
lawful on their face, be used in
ways that effectively silence or
discourage scrutiny?
A BROADER CONCERN — NOT
JUST A PERSONAL ONE
This is not just about me.
History shows that moments of tension
between government power and individ-
ual rights are not new. From the Pentagon
Papers to Watergate, accountability has
often depended on individuals willing to
challenge institutions — and on institu-
tions willing to respond transparently.
I am not claiming those historical paral-
lels are identical to my situation. But they
illustrate a principle that remains relevant:
Public trust depends on
openness, not silence.
When legitimate questions are raised,
the answer should not be avoidance. It
should be clarity.
WHAT I AM ASKING FOR
My position is straightforward:
• Full and timely responses to lawful
FOIA requests
• Transparent accounting of agency ac-
tions where concerns have been raised
• Fair and impartial evaluation of claims
within the judicial system
• Public accountability from elected of-
ficials tasked with oversight
These are not partisan demands. They
are foundational expectations in a func-
tioning democracy.
LET THE RECORD SPEAK
I have continued to document my con-
cerns through formal legal channels and
public reporting. The filings exist. The re-
quests exist. The case is ongoing.
I encourage anyone interested to review
the public record and reach their own
conclusions.
In the end, this is not about rhetoric. It is
about process. It is about whether our in-
stitutions operate as intended — not just
in theory, but in practice.
Because if the system works, it should
withstand scrutiny.
And if it doesn’t, the public deserves to

Omaha WOrld-herald Thursday, april 2, 2026 | A5
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
What Washington Could
Learn From One Man on
Farnam Street
The Berkshire Hathaway culture stands as a
rebuke to everything our leaders have become.
PAID FOR BY BRENT LAMBI PO BOX 241028 OMAHA, NE 68124
Brent Lambi is a graduate of the University of Northern
Iowa and the Creighton University School of Law.
As always, I want to thank all of the readers who
have sent messages of support and financial
assistance. Please visit my Go Fund Me if you’d
like to help me keep this column going.
GoFund.me/79eb26b20
Dear Readers: Want to take a deeper dive
into my content? Please scan the QR code to
listen to this week’s corresponding podcast.
I do hope you enjoy this new weekly feature
as there are many more to come!
GoFundMe Podcast
OPINION | March 8, 2026
In a nation drowning in self-promotion
and broken promises, there lives a man in
Omaha, Nebraska who still eats breakfast
at McDonald’s and drives himself to work.
His name is Warren Buffett. His com-
pany, Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the
most admired institutions in the history of
American capitalism — built on honesty,
frugality, and a bone-deep contempt for
the appearance of impropriety. These are
values our nation’s leaders have not mere-
ly forgotten. They have made a spectacle
of abandoning them.
HONESTY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
When Salomon Brothers was caught in
a Treasury bond scandal in 1991, Buffett
did not spin or delay. He walked into
the Senate chamber and told regulators:
report to me anything that smells wrong.
Then he cleaned house — publicly and
decisively — because he understood that
the cover-up is always worse than the
crime. Berkshire employees receive no
thick compliance manual. They receive
a one-page letter from Buffett that says,
in plain English: do nothing you would
be ashamed to see on the front page of a
newspaper. Avoid even the appearance of
impropriety.
Washington operates on the opposite
principle. Lawmakers trade stocks in in-
dustries they regulate. Committee assign-
ments follow donor money. And “I wasn’t
aware of that” has become the universal
absolution of the powerful. Berkshire does
not permit the appearance of impropriety.
Washington runs on it.
“Never wrestle with pigs. You both
get dirty and the pig likes it.” — Charlie
Munger. Washington has not merely
wrestled with the pig. Washington
has become the pig.
Honest
Politics
By Brent Lambi
UNDER-PROMISE. OVER-DELIVER.
Buffett’s annual shareholder letters are
famous for their candor — he names his
mistakes, declines to forecast what he
cannot see, and has built one of the great
fortunes in history by making investors
feel safe through the radical act of telling
the truth. Washington does the opposite.
Our leaders promise wars that will end by
Christmas, foreign interventions that will
spread democracy in ninety days, and fis-
cal programs that will pay for themselves.
They rarely keep their word on any of it —
and the American people, and too often
American soldiers, pay the price.
TRANSPARENCY AND THE
COWARDICE OF CONCEALMENT
Warren Buffett has not only made his
taxes public — he has argued publicly that
he pays too little, using his own return to
illustrate the absurdity of a system that
taxes capital gains at a lower rate than the
wages of a schoolteacher. He did this vol-
untarily, without a court order, without
an army of lawyers. Donald Trump sued
the United States government to keep his
returns private, fighting all the way to the
Supreme Court. Whatever those returns
contain, the years-long war to conceal
them told us everything about the man’s
relationship with accountability. A public
servant who cannot bear public scrutiny is
not a servant. He is a master who has for-
gotten his place.
FIDUCIARY DUTY
AND THE PUBLIC TRUST
Berkshire’s principle is simple: when
you hold power over the interests of oth-
ers, those interests come first. Not yours.
Theirs. Buffett draws a nominal sala-
ry, lives in the same house he bought in
1958 for $31,500, and does not self-deal.
His returns for ordinary shareholders —
teachers, retirees, small investors — are
the envy of Wall Street. Now consider the
modern political class: senators who en-
ter office on a government salary and exit
as multi-millionaires, defense contractors
whose boards are stocked with former
Secretaries of Defense, and lobbyists who
help write the very laws they profit from.
This is not fiduciary duty. It is fiduciary be-
trayal on a generational scale.
LEGACY WITHOUT
THE NAMEPLATE
Warren Buffett has given away more than
$50 billion — quietly, without naming a
hospital wing or summoning cameras to
record the moment. He calls his fortune
the product of the “ovarian lottery” — the
accident of being born with certain gifts in
a certain country at a certain time — and
believes that luck carries an obligation.
Meanwhile, Washington mistakes self-pro-
motion for leadership and branding for
governance, and we have leaders who
plaster their names on buildings they did
not fund and victories they did not earn.
The measure of a
leader is not the size of his
monument — it is the size of
the trust he leaves behind.
WHAT AMERICA COULD BE
Imagine a government run on Berkshire
Hathaway principles: honest budgets with
candid price tags; military force reserved
for genuine threats, clearly defined and
disciplined; public servants whose com-
pensation aligned with the outcomes
of those they served. Leaders who un-
der-promised and over-delivered. Who
corrected their mistakes in public. Who
gave generously and anonymously, un-
derstanding that the gift is diminished the
moment it becomes a performance.
This is not a fantasy. It is a business mod-
el. It has worked for sixty years, through re-
cessions, panics, and crises of every kind. It
works because it is grounded in something
that cannot be faked indefinitely: charac-
ter. Warren Buffett will not be president.
But his life’s work is a standing indictment
of the ethical poverty that passes for lead-
ership in Washington — and in capitals
around the world. America deserves Berk-
shire Hathaway values. The gap between
those values and what it keeps electing is
the precise measure of our national crisis.
Disclosure — Honest Reporting by Brent Lambi:
The author, Brent Lambi of Honesty Reporting, currently has a personal lawsuit pending against Berkshire Hathaway,
Inc. over what Mr. Lambi believes is misconduct directly related to government misconduct.
Mr. Lambi considers Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices to have been wrongfully misled, and further considers the in-
terests of those parties to be more aligned with his own than opposed. This editorial is in no way intended to pressure
or gain any favor — directly or indirectly — from that litigation. While Mr. Lambi is not in a position to provide legal
counsel to Berkshire Hathaway, he strongly urges that they seek compensation from the parties whose actions caused
this defamation matter to arise in the first place.
He is confident that the honest culture of Berkshire Hathaway — celebrated throughout this editorial — will once
again prove to be the right long-term strategy for all parties. Mr. Lambi also holds a very small personal interest in
Berkshire Hathaway stock, and therefore has no enthusiasm for an outcome that harms the company or its shareholders.
April 2, 2026