We’re in charge now. Nothing to see here. Besides, we’ll be too busy investigating Hillary. Revenge and repression come first.
2 Likes
There can be no “blind trust”. Trump’s businesses precludes that as an option. Its high profile real estate and high profile name branding…there is no way he, or anybody else, cannot know what they are.
Even if Trump were to turn over the reigns to a group of attorneys and accountants, he is perfectly aware of where Trump Towers is located. And his golf courses. And all the branding deals he has all over the world. So he isn’t blind to their value.
The fact that he promoted this idea (and the media willingly went along with it) that his children would run things and he wouldn’t be involved, and then promptly made them part of the transition team is all the evidence that you need that Trump was lying his ass off and still has no intentions of giving up his businesses.
And legally, (which is the phrase that we often hear dropped on how this will be handled), he doesn’t have to. Yes,it will make actually being a President a continuous conflict of interest, but its not precluded by any law. And Trump obviously could care less about conflicts of interest. Hell, he thrives on them.
5 Likes
Giuliani said putting Trump’s business in a true blind trust would be unfair to his children. “You would be putting them out of work.”
Ten billion dollars at 5% annual ROI => $167,000,000 each for enduring the horror of being put out of work. Life’s a bitch, then you die.
5 Likes
Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, and who sets the GOP agenda, stated the other day that the era of Hillary Clinton investigations is over. Chaffetz is not the boss on this stuff, McCarthy is, so we shall see.
The GOP has more “important” things in their collective hopper, like ending Obamacare, privatizing SS and Medicare, and tax cuts for the 1%. But, they may push a major infrastructure bill through, which they did not want to do during O’s reign. Again, we shall see…
1 Like
which is why POTUS needs to issue HRC a blanket pardon before he leaves office. Actually, he should just do it right now.
Nixon hadn’t been convicted of any crimes when Ford issued him a full pardon upon taking office from Nixon. There is no reason that Obama can’t do the same for Hillary.
1 Like
Great article about Medicare.
1 Like
I agree with you on all of that.
But even accepting for the sake of argument that blind trust is possible, Giuliani’s statement was that it won’t happen because this would be unfair to Trump’s children.
So my point was to stress that Trump is not even pretending that either he or his family are willing to sacrifice anything (actually, forget sacrifice – experience any inconvenience) for the benefit of the country*. I suspect you agree with me on that.
Of course, during the campaign Conway already said that Trump’s running for presidency is a sacrifice. I
1 Like
Nonsense! How can it not be “blind” when the word “blind” is right there in the name? Why, it’s like saying Coca Cola contains no coca.
2 Likes
So Trump’s adult children don’t have the assets to start or continue their own business interests. And also they’re too disabled by their jet-setting gold-plated elephant-hunting mode of living to go out and get VP slots with wealthy influence peddlers or serve on log-rolling boards of trustees - that wouldn’t be “fair” And the thought of them trying to find a real job, with their elite education and business wardrobe and all that, in this economy? Hopeless. And so, so unfair to these delicate flowers.
If nothing else it seems the Trump Foundation could hire them as “administrators”. It’s not like real charities would see any less money from it if they were to eat all the overhead.
2 Likes
The difference being that Nixon was actually guilty of a lot of unconstitutional election-manipulating abuse-of-power shit. But I’m sure the GOP would love the equivalence, just like they did with that and impeaching Bill Clinton over his sex life.
1 Like
Two points:
- At the beginning of the general campaign I said – “I want Clinton talk about economy, world affairs and so on. But since Trump is self-destructing, it’s wise to step aside for a while and let him self-destruct.” How well did it go? I was wrong.
- Democrats don’t need to does anything. They’ll have a lot of ammunition provided by Trump’s White House in the next four years. And issues such as conflict of interest or Trump’s vulnerability to foreign financial blackmail are types of issues that can and should be raised continuously until they are addressed (which is of course not going to happen until the end of Trump’s presidency).
1 Like
Well, you can’t get much blinder than that.
I am not sure about transition team since this is still a private organization. But I am sure that all courts (even stuffed with Reagan and Bushes appointees) will invalidate NDA for administration employees. At the same time, I strongly suspect Trump will have administration officials sign NDAs.
2 Likes
McCarthy said the investigations are over. Chaffetz said “We have perjury issues that we still want the Department of Justice to look at. We have allegations of a quid-pro-quo, we don’t know where they’re [FBI] at in terms of their investigation into the Clinton Foundation, and the FBI director, we still have some questions. It’s this huge, massive mess that has to be cleaned up.” Giuliani said “You know, the FBI never completed the Foundation investigation. As far as I know, that’s still an ongoing investigation.” and suggested that a special prosecutor may be appointed.
Just another example of the inconsistent, incoherent policies being spouted by the GOP and the Trump maladministration in process.
1 Like
Administration officials routinely testify before Congress and other agencies about policy, disputes, alleged violations of law or diplomatic protocols, etc. There is no way Trump serves notice to Congress none of his Executive branch employees will ever show up to hearings, and if forced to do so they’ll be asserting their speech is restricted due to NDAs signed with Trump. Not happening.
2 Likes
When is Trump going to release his tax statements?
1 Like
Tom Cole says Trump popular with ordinary people because he knows how they live. Gwen Ifill,also,dead.
3 Likes
Well, I am really conflicted about this. On the one hand, in a country of laws Clinton would not need any protection since, after multiple investigations, we confidently know that there is no there there. On the other hand, given the composition of the Congress, the person in the White House, and people who Trump will install at all law enforcement agencies, starting with DOJ – she will probably need protection.
And she certainly deserves protection. But if Obama issues a pardon for her, it will validate the notion that Democrats ran a corrupt, criminal candidate not only for all the Trump supporters, but also for some people who opposed Trump but could not bring themselves to vote for Clinton, even for people who voted for her “holding their noses”. It will make it that much harder for Democrats to wrestle power back in 2018 and 2020.
So I am conflicted about this.
2 Likes
Whatever factor works. Maybe its not illegal, many unethical things aren’t, but it is something that people may view as corrupt. Its all about building a narrative. I know its something that mystifies Democrats, even though a dishonesty narrative created by the right just sank their presidential candidate, but they need to start doing “fruitless” things because in the long run they will help build a narrative that Trump is corrupt. Actually we already know he’s corrupt and the clock is ticking his corruption of the office. Making the rest of America aware of his Corruption will assist in exposing his Presidential Corruption.
2 Likes
Taking a slightly different tack on this: what are the rules/laws/guidelines about fulfillment or lack thereof for the presidency?
What if Donnie’s “I’ll take no salary” spiel is the basis for him to be a part time president? He goes home to Manhattan on Thursday evening, plays mogul, flies back to D.C. Tuesday a.m. am plays prez for two days. Lather, rinse, repeat.
And leaves the day-to-day to his evil minions. He basically said during the campaign that he would outsource most of the grunt work to a “CEO”…