The behaviour outlined in court over the past fortnight in the trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort comes as no surprise to those who have studied the rich and powerful.
Prosecutors, who rested their case yesterday, have outlined staggering alleged crimes of fraud and at least US$16 million in tax evasion amid details of 15 offshore accounts, work for Ukrainian oligarchs and ostrich and python jackets.
The alleged deceit was both impersonal and personal. Manafort's deputy Rick Gates, who was also deputy Trump campaign chief, admitted to misdeeds on behalf of his boss while ripping him off behind his back and spending large on a long-distance affair.
According to Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, "to researchers who study wealth and power, it's dismaying but not surprising".
One study Keltner was part of six years ago involved tracking the model of every car at an intersection whose driver cut off others instead of waiting their turn. People driving expensive cars were four times more likely to ignore right-of-way laws than those in cheap cars. "It told us that there's something about wealth and privilege that makes you feel like you're above the law, that allows you to treat others like they don't exist," Keltner told the Washington Post.
