A long, long time ago..I can still remember..I embarrassed myself on this blog by misquoting Shakespeare, for I asserted that someone was hung by his own petard, when he should have been hoist by his own petard, whatever a petard happens to be. Today I risk misusing a word again, for is irony the right word in this context? Anyway, I’m going with this title.
Today we learn this about the guy who claims (without evidence, of course) that Joe Biden was corruptly trying to help his son when he demanded that the Ukraine get rid of a corrupt prosecutor:
President Trump has awarded the 2020 Group of Seven summit of world leaders to his private company, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump Doral golf resort outside Miami, the White House announced Thursday.
That decision is without precedent in modern American history: The president used his public office to direct a massive contract to himself. The G-7 summit draws hundreds of diplomats, journalists and security personnel and provides a worldwide spotlight.
…
Eric Trump, the president’s son and the day-to-day leader of Trump’s businesses, did not immediately respond to questions about how much the president’s company would charge the U.S. or foreign governments during the event. He also did not immediately respond to questions about whether the Trump Organization would ask taxpayers to pay for upgrades to the site. One obvious concern for next year: There will be at least eight world leaders coming to this event, but at present Doral has just two “presidential suites.”
That would be the Eric Trump who complained that there was a double standard at work and he could never get away with the level of corruption in which the Biden’s didn’t engage. The irony will be lost on a nation whose media has long since put these things aside as merely Trump being Trump. It will be forgotten by tomorrow. Come with me now to an imaginary world where Obama did such a thing, a year has passed, and it is still talked about.
Trump is steering foreign money his way. Here’s what the constitution has to say about that:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
According to the DC court of appeals, it’s up to Congress to put flesh on the bones of this clause. Thinking like a lawyer, I can imagine his defense might be that the money isn’t a present, since he’s forcing them to pay. Thinking like a judge, I wouldn’t buy it. Thinking like a Congressman, I’d add it to the bill of particulars in the impeachment. It is probably the most corrupt act ever committed by an American president, and that’s saying something, since Trump has been president for almost three years.
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