22 October 2019

Constitutional Clown

Faced with excoriating criticisms from his own party members in Congress, Donald Trump has dumped plans to host the G7 summit at his Miami-based hotel resort next year.

Even after cancelling the plan because they were a very bad idea, Trump yesterday insisted to reporters that it was a very good idea (details here) He then blamed Democrats and the media for making him cancel the event, which of course is a flat-out lie.

And then he made a shocking statement to reporters: "You people with this phony emoluments clause."

The emoluments clause is not phony. It's spelled out in the Constitution. Was Trump just babbling here or did he slip and reveal his contempt for the founding document that restrains him?

At differing times, Trump claimed US taxpayers would pay "at cost" for use of the resort and at other times he said it would be "free." Those two are not the same thing, but we all know accuracy and truth are alien concepts for Trump.

"At cost" can be a scam if it's being done by an unscrupulous, unethical individual like Trump. Indeed, New York magazine published a piece yesterday (link here) about how Trump would make out like a bandit whilst billing taxpayers "at cost" for use of his facility.

This dustup also reveals that Trump has no sense of ethics. Holding an important international event at your own hotel, even if you never billed for it, would still generate millions of extra revenue in future months and years because the summit itself would act like a gigantic free advertisement.

Trump sees nothing wrong with self-enrichment whilst President. And for that reason alone, he should not be President.

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