And? That doesn’t change the fact that he uses them.
If somehow he was going to be forced to cut ties to his companies and become unable to profit off the presidency, I suspect that he’d drop out in a split-second. But so long as he can golf, leave the Presidenting to someone else, and step in occasionally to abuse the position for his own material gain, there’s no strong reason for him to leave.
To the extent that anything is ever learned from history, this all may be instructive to the American electorate. It remains to be seen what will be learned from it. But this is not the only step in our learning curve. it may be a long time coming, before Americans ever again elect a black man, or nominate a woman, to the executive office. One touches the stove only once.
Liberals may learn a lesson from it. The DNC might learn a lesson from it. Those on the right… Not so much. When the PeeResident fails, they will blame Liberals for being mean to him, and/or claim that Trump wasn’t conservative enough.
You think that’s what’s going to make them look like a bunch of bozos?
I’m not talking about the short-term fallout next week. I’m talking about the election 20-30-40 years from now, when people are reminded of the Trumps and the Obamas and the Hillaries. In fact, people even amended the constitution to make sure there would never be another FDR.
Obama was an excellent president and there is no reason why Americans wouldn’t vote for another black president, and remember, Republicans have been putting forth their own black candidates for a while now. Hillary is a strange, really just bizarro case for me. Nothing wrong with her but a generation of people being taught she’s worse than Satan. Republicans are also putting forth female candidates. No problem there. We’ll have a woman president eventually.
I certainly HOPE people will continue to remember the Bushes and Trumps 40 years from now but the conservative memory is reserved for hating Hillary forever. A lot of my conservative friends who hated Bill Clinton did, after maybe 20 years, admit that Billo wasn’t that bad in hindsight. Amazing for them, although many are still following their programming and hating him, and all Democrats, forever.
Bookmakers have slashed the odds of Donald Trump being impeached
Same conflict of interest and Emoluments Clause violations in play.
The funny thing is, the actual job of being president involves so many thing he hates. Constant criticism, ridicule, being second-guessed by the entire world, taking actual responsibility for his actions, selflessness, intellectual rigor…
It is puzzling why Trump wanted to be President. He had a great life. Very little public criticism. His kids were doing great. Ivanka was greatly admired as a modern women with her own separate business interests.
The entire family now is under public attack. Ivanka’s fashion line has been pulled from stores. The Trump company has to be facing increasing losses.
It just shows you have to be crazy to even consider serving this country as President. It’s the most thankless and demoralizing job in the world.
Any business leader has to be looking at all these demands that Trump severe ties with his company. How can any large business leader ever serve as President? Do you think Mark Cuban will just close his businesses? Hell no.
It’s our loss that we foolishly exclude some of the brightest minds in the country from serving.
Trump is certainly not the brightest business person. But he will be the example other more qualified business leaders look at.
Nobody is going to destroy a business they spent their life building just to serve as President. They have to think of their employees and their families. They depend on those jobs.
Did Washington shut down his farm, Mount Vernon? How about Jefferson? Did he walk away from his livelihood to be President?
My U.S. Government teacher in high school said that people, the likes of the Founding Fathers, are too smart to get into politics. So we’re left with less than ethical representatives.
(Personally, I think it was unethical of this teacher to offer extra credit for students who voted in the June elections, but offered nothing to those of us who were not 18.)
Because it’s the ultimate WIN! It’s king of the whole mountain.
He has to see himself as a winner. And just about everyone else as losers. I think he thought all those screaming crowds at his rallies represented most people. Factual evidence has not succeeded in disabusing him off this notion. He believes he won the popular vote.
Think about it: believing he won the popular vote, and that the numbers say otherwise solely because of fraud MATTERS MORE TO HIM than winning the Presidency itself. Just ponder that for a moment. He is a sad, pathetic, dangerous man.
Who are we excluding?
Highly successful businessmen that employ hundreds of people. Have family in the company.
They can’t just divest themselves to serve as President. They have to consider the people effected. What about other businesses that rely on that relationship? You can have a domino effect of failed businesses if the larger company is just thrown into a blind trust.
There should be some common sense applied.
Turning control over to close relatives should be enough. That’s what Trump did.
We can insist that every businessman throw away the companies they built. But most successful people wouldn’t agree to do that.
I think we need these people to serve short tenures in government. Their life experiences are very valuable. Too many politicians have never done anything except run for office.
“Other more qualified business leaders” would make sure they square away protecting their life’s work with serving the country in a proper fashion. For instance: sure, hand over the company to close relatives… but then don’t sit them at the meetings with foreign officials.
I don’t like your government teacher! Is it too late to rat them out and get them fired/disciplined? I.e., are they retired/dead?
That’s a joke, but really:
- That “extra credit for voting” thing is some bullshit. Besides the underaged, that excludes noncitizens, kids who have the right to vote but can’t, and kids who just don’t want to vote from the opportunity. Easiest thing in the world to make it inclusive.
- I’m cynical as all get-out about the character of politicians, but I don’t think instilling unearned cynicism in the young is responsible. Let them figure that out on their own. We need idealists, and we’re sure not going to cultivate them among the people who’ve seen what the world is like.
- Founder-worship is also bullshit. At worst, slaveowners; at best, compromisers. I’ll put HRC up against them any day of the week in the Ethics Olympics.
At this point, I am of two minds about this -
As others have said, his ego wouldn’t let him quit outright and be viewed as a loser. And, who hasn’t started a new job and took a couple of weeks to get your bearings? What is hard and chaotic now will eventually become routine. They will work out a rhythm and figure out relationships, etc. Some of the rough edges will get sanded down.
On the other hand, this is someone who has never held a “job” with expectations and responsibilities and a boss. He has spent his life as an entrepreneur and his own boss, with nobody to answer to. Working for someone else (the public) and with someone else (congress, courts) is a huge adjustment. He’s by no means smart enough to have perceived these differences, and lacks the constitution to make adjustments to the reality of his role.
So, which weighs more heavily? Hard to say. Deep down I think he will end up removed from office, and will secretly welcome it because then he can blame others for his fate.