What’s the Difference Between Grift and Graft?

Trump era begs the question

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Here’s one question that comes up often during the Trump era: is that grift, or graft?

According to Merriam-Webster, grift is to obtain (money or property) illicitly (as in a confidence game). Dictionary.com says it’s a group of methods for obtaining money falsely through the use of swindles, frauds, dishonest gambling, etc. And the Cambridge Dictionary (the Oxford English isn’t available for free, I guess) says it’s ways of getting money dishonestly that involve tricking someone. This word has the added feature that it can be used as a noun. So someone engaged in grift is a grifter.

Graft, on the other hand, is the acquisition of gain (such as money) in dishonest or questionable ways, according to Merriam-Webster. Dictionary.com describes it as the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one’s position or influence in politics, business, etc. Aha! The Cambridge agrees, defining graft as the act of getting money or advantage through the dishonest use of political power and influence.

I see it mostly as a matter of scale. If you are, for example, touting use of an unproven drug to fight the coronavirus and your family trusts and Republican donor friends have investments in…