The American Presidency: Another Donald Trump Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

When the founding fathers authored the U.S. Constitution, they were concerned that a future president might be corrupted by a lust for unlimited power or an insatiable desire for wealth.  The checks and balances provided by our three branches of government were intended to mitigate the power hungry. The Emoluments Clause was established to prevent greed from enabling a president to use that office for personal financial gain.

The systems worked for almost 250 years, but then came Donald Trump.

Bringing life to Edmund Burke’s words “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” the U.S. Senate looked the other way, or applauded,  as Trump decimated cabinet departments, stacked the courts and destroyed decades of progress preserving the environment, enhancing civil rights and healthcare, and strengthening international relations.  Today he threatens not to leave the Oval Office even if NOT re-elected. 

That is the power-hungry aspect, now for the greed, or “The Grift that keeps on Grifting.”

According to records accessed by David Farenthold, over $970,000 in taxpayer dollars (yours and mine) has been paid to Trump owned hotels where he insists his entourage be housed during his frequent travels, even when they are far from convenient.  Over just a few days, Farenthold documented 43 payments totaling $380,000 pumped from campaign funds to Trump personal accounts. (@Farenthold, 7/17/20)

When he entered the presidential race for 2016, Trump loudly boasted that he would personally fund his campaign and seek no contributions. “I’m using my own money…I’m so rich I don’t need anybody’s money…I’m self-funding, it’s much easier.”

His actions soon disavowed those statements (he loaned his campaign money) and this time around “he is no longer hiding behind the pretense of self-funding, but moving millions from the campaign to his private businesses.  To date, almost $7,000,000 in a combination of individual donations, the Trump campaign and the republican national committee funds have been deposited into his private businesses. (Forbes magazine, 7/21/20).  

While the funneling of public and donor dollars to personal and business accounts is most certainly unethical and most likely a violation of the Emoluments Clause, Trump takes it one step further. In February of 2018 he asked British ambassador, Woodie Johnson (a major Trump donor) to approach someone in the British government about steering the famed British Open Golf Tournament to the Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland. 

Against the advice of career diplomats, Johnson brought this request to Scotland Secretary of State David Mundell. This has since been reported to the Inspector General by deputy ambassador Lewis Lukens. Now both Lukens and the complaint seem to have disappeared.

Trumps actions fly in the face of laws stating that an American president cannot use the power of that office to financially enrich him/herself. If congress will not act, WE MUST!

What Will Joe Biden’s America Look Like?

Learn about Biden’s policy positions here: https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/