The pig butchering news about American idealism is heartbreaking.

It’s theft at a scale so large that investigators are now calling it a mass transfer of wealth from middle-class Americans to criminal gangs. Last year, the FBI estimates, pig butchering scams stole nearly $4 billion from tens of thousands of American victims, a 53% increase from the year before.

Instead of moving up or gaining some future reward they eagerly awaited, victims are instead ruined and even committing suicide.

Their stories are a reflection on Trump constantly manipulating people, and Elon Musk too. Without fraud there would be no Tesla, as many grieving families found out too late to help prevent loas of their loved ones.

The rapid rise of scammers, domestic and foreign, who target the American middle class is symptomatic of a country that lacks necessary defenses against national security levels of fraud.