"There are not many Trump scandals," writes Adam Serwer. "There is one Trump scandal."
"Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability."
You can find Trump trying to "shield that corruption," by having his lawyers cite the government shutdown as a reason to delay a court case that claims Trump illegally profiting from business his Washington hotel does with foreign countries," as reported by Politico.
The governments of Maryland and Washington D.C. have filed a suit claiming Donald Trump violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
Justice Department attorneys who represent Trump, "asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., to put the appeal on ice until the shutdown ends."
According to Politico, "a short time after the government filed the request, the court agreed to put the case on hold indefinitely."
The order by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court, "means lawyers for Maryland and D.C. had to shelve, for now, plans to use subpoenas to demand information about foreign officials’ use of the Trump International Hotel in Washington."
In other words, Donald Trump is trying to delay what we already know: his corruption.
The simplest place to look is at his Washington D.C. hotel, and Mar-a-Lago.
The organization Public Citizen, "has documented (press release here) 64 instances of trade groups, companies, religious groups, charities, foreign governments, interest groups, and political candidates staying in Trump properties or having events there."
This Public Citizen's report was published January 16, 2018.
Let's fast forward to the end of 2018. That despite the Federal government being shutdown, taxpayers are still paying for trips and events at Mar-a-Lago.
While Trump stays in D.C. (for the time being), two senior White House officials went to Mar-a-Lago for Christmas. The two officials were Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump.
"Nothing to see here, tweeted Public Citizen. "Just two senior White House officials making promotional appearances at a business that the president still profits from."
As noted by the Daily Mail, Jared and Ivanka, "are buying another property in a New Jersey beach town where developers can get big tax breaks thanks to a new federal program pushed by Jared and Ivanka."
Real estate developers are able to get a tax cut if they build in locations known as Opportunity Zones, and as the Daily Mail points out, this would be the fourth time Jared and Ivanka bought a property in an Opportunity Zone.
The corruption is not subtle, but it's not the only one regarding Mar-a-Lago during this holiday season.
Trump may be in Washington D.C. for the moment, but taxpayers are going to paying for a chunk of New Year's Ever party at Trump's Mar-a-Lago.
"Though Trump’s decision to shut down the government may keep him in Washington for the holidays," writes Rolling Stone. "It won’t keep taxpayers from footing a heavy portion of the bill for Mar-a-Lago’s New Year’s Eve party."
It's good to see that in a government shutdown Trump has his priorities straight: preventing a court case being filed against him, and taxpayers flipping the bill for his New Year's Eve party.
But as Rolling Stone points out, taxpayers paying for rich people to host a party at their resort won't be the first time, but instead, the second.
The only difference that instead of the Secret Service paying roughly $26,000 as it did in 2017, for this years party, the Secret Service paid for $54,0202.
Not on the Secret Service, but shit like party tents. (Just draining the swamp folks).
Former Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Walter Schaub, on American taxpayers helping Trump make money while the government is shutdown:
Although I cannot argue against Schaub that this is "shameless," but unfortunately, this is just but a taste of Trump and his administration's corruption.
As noted by Adam Serwer, Trump tried, "to aid the Chinese telecom company ZTE, mere hours after the Chinese government approved funding for a project in the vicinity of a Trump property in Indonesia.
"Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, also the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, urged banks to pay off politicians in an effort to weaken the CFPB’s powers legislatively," writes Serwer.
"Since taking the helm of CFPB, Mulvaney has dropped a number of cases against payday lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates, after taking thousands from the industry as a congressman."
All that, and that's not even discussing Michael Cohen, former head of the EPA Scott Pruitt, or secretary of the Department of Interior Ryan Zinke.
"The corruption and shady financial dealings that landed much of Trumpworld in legal hot water are so vast and all-encompassing that virtually no aspect of Donald Trump’s presidency can escape untouched," writes Matthew Yglesias. "And American policy toward Syria is no exception."
As Yglesias points out, there are a lot of competing factions involved in the Syrian civil war, in which they, "compete for influence on the ground but also inside Washington."
With Trump, the competing factions "play a more personal game."
This is because, "they host real estate businesses that the president is involved with, have the ability to directly funnel cash into the president’s wallet through his US businesses, or both."
Yglesias lays some the examples of different competing factions trying to make person deals with Trump:
Earlier this month, Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. were in the United Arab Emirates to promote the family’s golf resort in Dubai. The UAE is supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the umbrella organization led by Syria’s Kurdish separatists.
George Nader, who once served as a key influence peddler on behalf of the UAE, is now a cooperating witness working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Trump also has a major real estate venture in Turkey. Turkey backs some opposition groups in Syria, but its main current interest in the war is blocking the SDF and Kurdish separatists from controlling too much territory.
Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at Trump’s hotel. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia loudly support military action against Assad, and the Saudis in particular have at times been key financial backers of anti-Assad rebels. Kuwait is less vocal about its position.
Trump tries to say that pulling troops out of Syria is based on the idea that we shouldn't be there, should have never been there, and we should bring our men and women back home.
With other Presidents you could buy it, but with Trump, you have to look at what happens and who he's doing business with.
The UAE backs the Kurds in Syria, and Donald Trump has a golf course in Dubai:
Turkey and Kurds don't get along: "Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has vowed to dislodge the Kurdish militia," reported by The Guardian.
Trump does business with the UAE, Trump does business with Turkey:
Last year, the American-Turkish council held it's annual conference at Trump's D.C. Hotel.
If you have actually read to this point, you and I both know there is no point of going any furthermore.
You get the point. Trump is corrupt.
And you knew that already....
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