Posted on 12/01/2016 8:30:40 AM PST by BastianK
Democrats bemoan the potential of conflicts of interest for Donald Trump. Indeed could he as president not only steer law making and application in a way that would benefit his diverse business directly, he could also be influenced by entities who agree to very favorable terms in business dealings. Bloomberg for example recently reported that a bank under the control of the Chinese government was due to renegotiate its lease at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Donald Trump announced that he would not involve himself in his business anymore to avoid such conflicts, but that does not satisfy critics, who point out, that even if all assets were transferred to his children, his actions as president can still benefit his family.
But Donald Trump is not the only one, for whom there is a potential conflict of interest. The most blatant recent example is Hillary Clinton. In 2015 she gave 6 speeches for almost $ 1.5 million, while Bill Clinton gave 28 speeches for almost $ 7 million. That is more than twice the amount per speech that George W. Bush earns and one must wonder, whether the speeches are actually worth these fees or whether the money is being paid for something else. There is also the issue of donations to the Clinton foundation, where members of the Clinton family are being well compensated for their philanthropic work. Any politician, who has family, friends or shows some kind of economic activity will inevitably be faced with a conflict of interest, it is unavoidable.
Donald Trump according to Forbes already has a net worth of $ 3.7 billion and while he is obviously very conscious of his health, does not smoke or drink, at 70 years of age it is unlikely, that he will be forced to forgo any luxury for the remainder of his life after his term as president is up due to a lack of funds. Additional wealth he may acquire by cutting deals to the detriment of the nation and designed for personal enrichment will not contribute much additional utility at this point.
At the same time, he is being given the opportunity to go down in history as one of the most remarkable presidents of the United States. Starting out as the most unlikely candidate he won the nomination and the presidency against all odds: Outspent 2:1, endorsed not by a single national newspaper, overwhelmingly negative media reports, opposed by many in his own party and with a seemingly hopeless lag in the polls his election was a much bigger surprise than Ronald Reagans was in 1980. From everything we know, Donald Trump is very confident of his own abilities and it is reasonable to assume that he firmly believes, that he can make America great again, that he will succeed at this task if he puts his mind to it.
Great presidents are fondly remembered by the American people, the obvious adoration on display during the funeral of Ronald Reagan in 2004 bears testament to that. By rescuing the patient (Trump once said, America needed major surgery), which Donald Trump thinks he is capable of, he can have his name remembered for generations to come and with his inclination to imprint his name on almost everything he owns or does, that appears to be a primary objective of his.
I conclude, that Donald Trump may be more interested in having people hundreds of years from now speak of him with great reverence and appreciate his contribution to America rather than using the office of the president to simply heap up more money, that he could never spend in his life anyway.
What is this? Your personal opinion? If so, that’s a “vanity” and does not belong in “news.” If not, where’s the link?
And that has been true of every single president we have ever had. I wonder why it's suddenly become such an issue...
...
...well, of course, I DON'T wonder, because I already know.
‘BastianK’ apparently joined this morning just to make this post. I am ashamed of myself for not noticing it right away...
“Trump’s Conflict of Interest”. There, that’s better. BastainK got my attention by the grammatical error. To read.
Clinto Foundation?
Welcome to Free Republic!
Trump’s only conflict of interest is that which conflicts with the communist-inspired Democrat agenda.
What the Left wants to do now, is destroy Trump’s business.
They want him to sell his life’s work off.
Can’t have the children inheriting his businesses can we.
You know what folks, this is getting tiresome.
The man has already done more for the nation that the idiot stick we’ve got in there now.
If you want to talk ethics, let’s discuss Obama home situation.
He made $3.2 million over the last eight years. He now has multi-million dollar homes in Chicago, Hawaii, Washington D.C., and Dubai.
There were rumors about a purchase in Rancho Mirage, California too.
Resolve how the Obama’s could do all this on his income.
Get back to me about Trump after you have.
This should get folks started, if they really care.
There are 535 members of Congress that have even more power, related to this, and there is jack-crap concern from the “Fake News” about this.
Here's the stupidity of this statement. All the hand-wringers assume that these two are mutually exclusive. Either Trump does deals to help the USA and impoverish his companies, or he does deals that help his companies and hurt the USA. What they fail to grasp is that good business IS good for the USA. And a strong economy is good for his business. What will help the country will undoubtedly help large (and small) companies, including his. And that's a good thing, because that's the engine that drives economic success, not the government.
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Bkmk
Thanks for the insight
I think all bets are off until December 15th
when President Elect Donald J. Trump will give a news conference on this issue.
In typical Trumpian style
expect the unexpected.
This ain’t news or activism. If you want to post your pointless vanity do it in general chat or something
You joined today to post this????
first post is a professer irwin corey vanity where it doesn’t belong ?
welcome to Free Republic.
I’m in an ongoing debate with a liberal family member who believes Trump is just more of the same old same old. She recently asked me a question to which I offered what I believe to be a reasonable answer.
QUESTION: “It’s a Goldman Reunion in Trump’s White House. Is that what you voted for?”
ANSWER:
WE voted for COMPETENCE in government, a commodity SORELY and CONSPICUOUSLY absent from the obozo/jarrett junta! I LIKE Bannon and nearly all his ideas. We’ll have to wait to see about the others. But more f**king Marxist community organizers would have taken us over the edge into a bottomless pit from which it would require a civil war to return.
Where do we get people who understand the currently f**ked up, Marxist central bank , fiat currency financial system? Sadly, from the ranks of those who have mucked about in it in the PRIVATE SECTOR.
That said, should any of those folks, once installed and operating, be found to be committing fraud, enriching themselves, their cronies and friends – as was the MO for the Democrat candidate – trust me when I tell you that IF the same folks who put Trump in office and are now screaming for Hillary’s scalp find themselves being F**KED OVER AGAIN, they will turn on Trump and HIS crew before you can say “pitchforks, tar and feathers”.
And, unlike obozo’s mendacious and malevolent minions, Jeff Sessions would NOT allow himself to be “Lynched” (in BOTH meanings of that word) for turning a blind eye to that corruption.
What does concern me, however, is that the departing crew of criminals, understanding that obozo’s and his criminal associates’ skin color immunized them from closer scrutiny or removal for CLEAR ACTS OF TREASON, were so brazen and in our faces that it may take us some time to see it among the new guys!
But should it come to that, WE WILL ULTIMATELY SEE IT AND ACT IF NECESSARY!
I’m in an ongoing debate with a liberal family member who believes Trump is just more of the same old same old. She recently asked me a question to which I offered what I believe to be a reasonable answer.
QUESTION: “It’s a Goldman Reunion in Trump’s White House. Is that what you voted for?”
ANSWER:
WE voted for COMPETENCE in government, a commodity SORELY and CONSPICUOUSLY absent from the obozo/jarrett junta! I LIKE Bannon and nearly all his ideas. We’ll have to wait to see about the others. But more f**king Marxist community organizers would have taken us over the edge into a bottomless pit from which it would require a civil war to return.
Where do we get people who understand the currently f**ked up, Marxist central bank , fiat currency financial system? Sadly, from the ranks of those who have mucked about in it in the PRIVATE SECTOR.
That said, should any of those folks, once installed and operating, be found to be committing fraud, enriching themselves, their cronies and friends – as was the MO for the Democrat candidate – trust me when I tell you that IF the same folks who put Trump in office and are now screaming for Hillary’s scalp find themselves being F**KED OVER AGAIN, they will turn on Trump and HIS crew before you can say “pitchforks, tar and feathers”.
And, unlike obozo’s mendacious and malevolent minions, Jeff Sessions would NOT allow himself to be “Lynched” (in BOTH meanings of that word) for turning a blind eye to that corruption.
What does concern me, however, is that the departing crew of criminals, understanding that obozo’s and his criminal associates’ skin color immunized them from closer scrutiny or removal for CLEAR ACTS OF TREASON, were so brazen and in our faces that it may take us some time to see it among the new guys!
But should it come to that, WE WILL ULTIMATELY SEE IT AND ACT IF NECESSARY!
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