Whitefish Energy, with two full-time employees, received a $300 Million contract to fix Puerto Rico’s power grid.

Energy company from East Butthole, Montana, with two full-time employees at Maria's landfall, received a $300 Million contract to fix Puerto Rico’s power grid.

Gee, I wonder why. Let's see if we can figure it out.

"The deal—reached through private discussions rather than a formal bidding process—was agreed upon six days after Maria."

Unusual, but that doesn't really tell us anything. Oh, wait, here's a clue:

The company "is primarily financed by a firm run by a major Trump donor who has connections to several members of his administration."

-----

This is not a Trump thing. That's the way things always work. The only real difference between the USA and the truly corrupt countries like Russia, Nigeria, Indonesia and Mexico is that we are hypocrites. We simply call them "campaign contributions" instead of "bribes." The thin legal line between the two is easily navigated. The contributor and recipient are safe as long as there is no specific quid pro quo. Smart, experienced operators know how to avoid crossing that line. Contributors just have to treat campaign contributions as an investment (usually with an extremely high return), with the expected results unspoken as a condition of the contribution, but probably discussed sooner or later at lunch, not as a condition, but simply as a hoped-for result based upon some logic, specious or otherwise. (Clumsy guys can get caught crossing the line, but the slick ones stay within the law. That's why experienced "lobbyists" are in such great demand.) The recipient doesn't need to agree to do what the donor wants. He simply understands that if the donor is pleased, many more contributions will follow. That's the way the game is played.