Emoluments schmoluments

Trump sounded like a kid whose parents wouldn't let him host a party at the house, after Republicans met with Mick Mulvaney over the weekend and told him to get the White House in order.  Mulvaney has the thankless job of being the interim Chief of Staff.

No one has versed the president on the emoluments clause of the Constitution, or any other part of it, so that left it up to Anderson Cooper to school him.  Throughout the telecast of Trump's speech during a cabinet meeting, CNN was fact checking the president, who ran rough shot over the Constitution.  As Cooper pointed out, he acts as if he is still in full control of his properties, which is a direct violation of the emoluments clause.

Of course, when you leave the estate to Donnie Jr. and Eric, it is easy to understand why Trump would be concerned.  Income at his world famous Doral Club has dropped 69% over the last two years, and it was badly in need of a lift.  Little wonder this club popped first into Trump's head when he learned it was the United States' turn to host the G7 Conference next year.

Throughout his administration, Trump and his staff have been promoting his properties.  He golfs regularly at his clubs in Virginia and Florida, stayed at Turnberry when visiting the UK earlier this year, and has his staff and military frequent his resorts when on travel.  Mike Pence infamously stayed 180 miles out of his way at a Trump resort in Ireland when visiting the country recently.  Pence claimed he had family relations near there.  Trump has also had the military stop for refueling at Prestwick Airport near his Turnberry resort in Scotland, largely to keep the airport open as Scotland has considered shutting it down due to lack of use.  Seems not too many people are flying in to play at his golf course.  All these are flagrant violations of the emoluments clause, which Trump so blithely dismisses as "phony."

On the scale of "high crimes and misdemeanors," surely these abuses must rate as misdemeanors, but so far Congress has looked the other way.  It was only when he grossly overstepped his bounds and offered to host the G7 conference at one of his golf clubs that Congress finally spoke out.  Not just Democrats, but Republicans as well, who sat down Mick at Camp David to go over what the President can and cannot do while in the White House.

Trump was forced to back down, but as usual foisted the blame on the pesky Democrats for foiling his best laid plans.  Whether or not he would have hosted the event for free, as he claims, it still would have been a blatant promotion of one of his properties.

He dismissed this by trying to claim Obama signed book and movie deals while still in the White House, and going so far as to claim George Washington had both a presidential desk and a business desk before lamenting how much being president has cost him.   It's doubtful he even had 2 to 5 billion to his name before assuming office.

It's been outlined repeatedly how much he and his children have gained from his roughly three years in office, and it is considerable.  During the campaign alone, he frequently spent campaign money on his properties.  In itself a no-no, but again was overlooked.  The constant plugging of his resorts hasn't hurt either.  We know that foreign dignitaries are frequent visitors at his hotels and resorts in Washington, New York and Florida.  In his infamous phone call with the Ukrainian prime minister, Zelensky mentioned staying at one of his hotels.  Saudi officials are regular visitors at his Washington Hotel.

It's all part of Trump's "pay to play" philosophy, which he likes to claim is the norm in politics.  He once boasted of paying the Clintons to attend his wedding with Melania by contributing to their Global Foundation.  Those were the halcyon days when the Trumps and Clintons frequently brushed shoulders in New York and Ivanka and Chelsea were BFF's.  Yet, somehow he managed to turn even this against Hillary by claiming that attending his lavish wedding was the least she could do for having personally underwritten her jet-set ways.  Hillary was the US Senator from New York at the time with presidential aspirations of her own.

We were led to believe by Trump during the campaign that had Hillary been elected we would have seen the most egregious abuse of office by any President.  She would have not only given her husband Bill a high level position, but probably Chelsea as well.  Many people voted against this sense of entitlement only to have Trump abuse the Oval Office beyond all imagination.  Not only has he elevated Jared and Ivanka to high level White House positions, but frequently has his sons hosting foreign dignitaries at his hotels and resorts.  The four are regular contributors to Fox News and other conservative outlets, promoting his policies and properties.  Eric's wife, Lara, also figures heavily in his re-election campaign, and Donnie Jr's new squeeze, Kimberly Guilfoyle, is a former Fox news celebrity and is also working on Daddy Warbucks' 2020 campaign.  Trump voters have to ask themselves in 2020 the same question they asked themselves in 2016.

It was never imagined we would have such a corrupt president in office.  The Founding Fathers outlined what they considered to be abuses of offices and appropriate actions to be taken in the Constitution, but at the same time gave the president full immunity from prosecutorial charges.  This left it up to Congress to hold the president accountable.

For his first two years, he could rest assured a Republican Congress would not act on his many malfeasances.  In fact, Representatives Nunes, Jordan and others did their best to sweep these indiscretions under the rug.  The burden of all the abuses became so big by November 2018 that the people voted the Republicans out of the House and for the first time we are seeing a true accounting of Trump's virtually constant abuse of office since day one.  He has had staffers lie for him at every step of the way until Nancy Pelosi could no longer hold off the cries for impeachment, and a formal inquiry was launched.

Republicans still refuse to accept the impeachment charges brought against Trump despite his own admissions and those of others, most recently Mick Mulvaney.  It's not like the White House has made any attempt to conceal its dubious actions, which is why Republican Congressional leaders organized this intervention at Camp David.

It didn't seem to do any good, as Trump showed virtually no contrition the next day, defending his actions as he always does, and trying to claim that others abused the office far more than he did, even George Washington, possibly the only other president with a personal wealth comparable to him.

Trump's inability to see his many faults is what is proving to be his undoing.  He considers himself a good guy.  One who has been tarred and feathered by the Democrats and the liberal media, he laments.  But, his latest actions have alienated many Republican senators, even Lindsey Graham, who now seems to be actively considering impeachment.  After all, it's their jobs that are on the line as well.  Graham and 21 other Republican Senators are up for re-election in 2020, and they have to consider Trump a major liability at this point.

There will no doubt be more attempts to rein in Trump.  He is still popular among the Republican base, and no Republican wants to be "primaried," which Trump has threatened to do if they don't stick with him.  However, support among his base also appears to be eroding if we are to believe the latest words of Evangelical ministers like Pat Robertson.  Even if the Republicans are somehow able to hold the White House together over the next year, the damage is far reaching.  One only has to look at Trump's abysmal approval ratings to see that Republicans have lost the middle ground.

I don't know how you turn the page on this one, but stranger things have happened.