The Influence Machine Hides Behind Virtue: David Trone and the Total Wine Playbook

America keeps letting the same cycle run: profit from dependency, break the rules, rewrite the rules, then claim moral authority.

The alcohol industry is the cleanest example. Total Wine fought below-cost laws, clashed with state regulators, brushed off subpoenas, and drew antitrust scrutiny — then wrapped itself in consumer-advocacy language as if regulatory arbitrage were public service.

Once the money is made, the script flips. Philanthropy appears. Advocacy networks form. "Public-health missions" emerge. Influence gets laundered through virtue. The public sees compassion; the system registers consolidation.

The Loop

This is the loop: extract → defy → consolidate → moralize.

It rewards scale, not integrity.

The personalities don't matter. The architecture does. America doesn't suffer from addiction — it suffers from the people who monetize it, cure it, and then regulate it for their own benefit.

The Case Study: David Trone

David Trone , the owner of Total Wine & More — one of the richest men in Congress — has been vocal about his opposition to ICE's immigration enforcement operations. In a video, Trone criticized ICE's actions , stating that they are "literally executing people on the streets" across the United States. He expressed his desire to eliminate ICE's presence in Washington County, Maryland, where he is running for Congress.

DHS fired back at the claims, but Trone's comments have sparked discussions about the role of ICE and its operations in the U.S.

Make them drunk and then bring a cure — sounds like a concept out of Bootleggers and Baptists. And then with the billions made, become another elite communist and philanthropist fighting addictions. Looks like a perfect candidate for the democratic socialists: enough money to fuel the agenda, and knowledge of the inside to regulate his own company to a monopoly.

The Record

Under Trone's tenure, Total Wine lobbied against state laws that prevented the company from selling below cost, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts, where the company temporarily had its license suspended for refusing to comply with such laws.

Total Wine & More defied a federal subpoena during David Trone's time in Congress. The company is now central to federal antitrust litigation.

He must hate Trump simply because he does not drink.

The Network

If you combine his money and thinking, he may align well in the billionaire hate machine with Soros, Neville Roy Singham, and the various left-wing NGOs in the middle of all of it. The screamers for democracy.

This is the capital architecture of the machine: accumulate wealth through regulatory arbitrage, use philanthropy to sanitize reputation, use political influence to shape regulation, use ideology to mobilize defenders, and use defenders to protect the capital base.

Hate is not an emotion here. Hate is capital.