Juggling Dynamite

For lawyers and those who understand the essential paramounce of the Constitution in a democracy, the idea that Trump can be President while his kids run the business under his name is ludicrous.  This principle designed to avoid conflicts of interest, is enshrined in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which bars office holders from accepting “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.”  For obvious reasons this provision was specifically created to prevent the President, most of all, from being corrupted by foreign influences.  This is not a partisan debate or matter of opinion, it’s the law of the land.  See: Electoral College must reject Trump unless he sells his business, top lawyers for Bush and Obama agree:

Members of the Electoral College should not make Donald Trump the next president unless he sells his companies and puts the proceeds in a blind trust, according to the top ethics lawyers for the last two presidents.

Richard Painter, Chief Ethics Counsel for George W. Bush, and Norman Eisen, Chief Ethics Counsel for Barack Obama, believe that if Trump continues to retain ownership over his sprawling business interests by the time the electors meet on December 19, they should reject Trump.

Electors should insist that Trump set up a blind trust as a condition of their vote, Eisen said. “I don’t think the electoral college can vote for someone to become president if he’s going to be in violation of the Constitution on day one and hasn’t assured us he’s not in violation,” Painter said.  Here is a direct video link.

Caught this 2015 documentary co-directed by Monty Python’s Terry Jones on Netflix yesterday.  An interesting cast of characters woven through with entertaining art and humor; it offers valuable perspective on the history of human behavior and policies in driving regularly recurring boom and bust cycles.  Hint: it is happening again today in real estate and financial markets.  And those warning about the obvious and foreseeable risks, are being marginalized and ignored as usual in favor of the very popular ‘this time is different’ prophets.

Of course, understanding all of this intellectually, is different from maintaining the emotional and operational discipline to avoid repeating classic errors–a constant but absolutely crucial battle.  Here is a direct video link to the trailer.

It’s ironic, and should be unacceptable to the American people, that their new President-elect–who ran on promises to drain government of self-dealing and conflicts of interest–comes in as the most financially conflicted President in history. Trump owns stock in some 500 different companies including oil and pipelines. See: Donald Trump’s stock in oil pipeline company raises concern:

“You have climate (change) deniers, industry lobbyists and energy conglomerates involved in that process…The pipeline companies are gleeful. This is pay-to-play at its rawest.”

Centuries of human experience, revolution and jurisprudence have long established that high ethics and integrity demand more than “trust me”.  They must be demonstrated through full disclosure, transparency and arm’s length dealings. Democracy requires fiduciary duty of appointed leaders who represent the public trust. Full stop.

Editorial Board Member Joe Rago on more evidence that the president-elect should liquidate his assets to avoid conflicts of interest. Here is a direct video link.