Corruption is so simple to see, it’s frightening to know that many don’t care. A Presidential candidate working with another country to undermine their political opponent is unprecedented in American history. Sadly, conservatives are listening to Trump and Fox News, who say that this is a witch hunt.
On July 11, 2017, Donald Trump Jr. sent out a tweet that showed the emails between he and music promoter Rob Goldstone. All conservatives have to do is take two minutes to read the emails (good luck with that) to see that the Trump campaign was working with the government of Russia.
In part of an email Rob Goldstone to Donald Trump Jr. reads: “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and it’s government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
I swear you could show that to conservatives, and they would just say “so.” The reality is that conservatives don’t care that Trump is corrupt, why would they? He’s cut taxes and environmental regulations, he’s got a good chance of getting rid of Roe vs Wade, he’s at war with illegal immigrants (So were Bush and Obama but not at this level of vitriol), and he’s pissing liberals off (he’s pissing me off but maybe I’m being unrealistic to hate a white-supremacist moron).
The Founding Fathers wrote in the Constitution (people and words conservatives like Mark Levine will bring up) an Emoluments (anti-bribery) Clause that prohibits United States officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments. As Forbes writes “the largest American office of China’s largest bank sits on the 20th floor of Trump Tower.” They also write “Trump Tower officially lists the tenant as the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, but make no mistake who’s paying the rent: the Chinese government, which owns a majority of the company.”
Forbes notes that Trump’s hotels have made $268,000 from the Saudi government, and $5 million from the Trump Organization billing governments and tycoons who use Trump’s name.
According to Forbes, those profits are “small potatoes” compared to tenants like the Chinese bank. “Forbes estimates that these tenants pay a collective $175 million a year or so to the president.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) reported in January of 2018 “Political groups spent more than $1.2 million at Trump properties during the president’s first year in office. Prior to President Trump’s 2016 campaign, annual spending by political committees at Trump properties had never exceeded $100,000 in any given year going back to at least 2002.”
Oh, and Trump selected a Judge who essentially said a President can't get in trouble may get to make a ruling on the Russian probe. No obvious reason he was selected here...
The corruption is obvious, but the right has made a deal with the Devil… Just look away...
Emails between Don Jr. and Rob Goldstone: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/donald-trump-jr-emails-full-text-russia-rob-goldstone
Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/02/13/trump-conflicts-of-interest-tenants-donald-business-organization-real-estate-assets-pay/#5072e18948f9
CREW: https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-releases-report-profiting-presidency-years-worth-president-trumps-conflicts-interest/
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