Photograph: HBO
In two HBO documentaries, the acclaimed film-maker shines a light on corrupt political spending in America
When the Rev Robert Schenck saw Donald Trump secure the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016, he turned to a fellow evangelical and asked: “Are we really going to do this? We’re going to choose this man who’s inimical to everything we believe?” The Christian leader looked at Schenck and replied: “I don’t care how bad he is. He’s going to get us the court we need.’”
This anecdote about the devil’s bargain struck between Trump and the religious right is told in The Dark Money Game, director Alex Gibney’s new diptych of documentaries investigating how untraceable political spending has corrupted America’s highest court, corroded its democracy and put oligarchs in charge.
Part I, Ohio Confidential, examines a vast bribery scandal in Ohio involving the lobbyist Neil Clark and the alleged manipulation of political outcomes through secret funds.
Part II, Wealth of the Wicked, analyses the supreme court’s role in opening the floodgates to corporate influence in politics and the subsequent weakening of democratic institutions. The overturn of Roe v. Wade.
“It’s like Japanese bunraku theatre, which has nearly life-size puppets, and behind the puppets are these men in black who move the puppets. You actually see them but they sort of disappear into the background.”
“They needed a very powerful emotional issue and that was abortion and so they join forces, in a way, with anti-abortion activists and over time engineer a takeover of the supreme court by utilising both money and that religious fervour.”
