Weekly civic intelligence report ยท v2.2
Trump's 'gold card' program went live, offering US visas starting at $1 million per person. This represents a new immigration pathway tied to financial investment.
A-score (25.0): Policy creates explicit wealth-based immigration pathway. Rule_of_law (3): Establishes pay-to-play immigration system undermining merit/humanitarian principles. Civil_rights (3): Creates two-tier system favoring wealthy, discriminates by economic class. Capture (4): Direct monetization of immigration policy, converts sovereign function into purchasable commodity. Corruption (3): Structural corruption through explicit price-for-access. Election (2): Signals policy priorities, affects immigration debate. Separation (2): Executive unilateral policy without legislative framework. Severity multipliers: durability 1.1 (policy can persist), reversibility 0.95 (administratively reversible), precedent 1.15 (normalizes commodification of citizenship pathways). Mechanism modifier 1.15 for policy_change with direct implementation. Scope 1.2 for federal immigration authority. B-score (27.4): Layer1 (15.4/28): High meme_ability (8) - 'gold card' branding is viral, outrage_bait (7) - wealth inequality angle, media_friendliness (7) - simple narrative, novelty (6) - new branded program. Layer2 (11.0/22.5): Pattern_match (7) - fits Trump wealth/immigration narratives, mismatch (6) - distracts from constitutional concerns with spectacle, timing (5) - early administration momentum, narrative_pivot (4) - shifts immigration debate to wealth axis. Intentionality (8/15): Branded 'gold card' naming, $1M threshold creates clear optics, shifts immigration narrative. Intent_weight 0.53. D-score: -2.4. Both scores exceed 25, but B slightly higher with negative D-score indicates List B classification.
Monitor implementation details: actual visa terms, legal authority basis, relationship to existing EB-5 program, revenue disposition, and whether this becomes template for other policy commodification. Track judicial challenges on equal protection grounds and congressional response to executive immigration monetization.