Another Day In Trump World - Trump Stiffs More Contractors; Don, Jr. Sets Government Policy

Becoming President still isn't keeping Donald Trump from stiffing the contractors who work on his hotels. A company that did all the plumbing, mechanical, and HVAC work on Trump's new DC hotel has sued the Trump Organization and the hotel's construction manager, Lendlease US, for nearly $3 million of work it has done over the last two years. Reflecting a bit of ambivalence that many Trump voters are feeling, the owner of the firm admitted he had voted for Trump but was concerned that Trump, in a bid to reduce at least some of his conflicts of interests, will transfer ownership of the hotel before his bill gets paid. A smaller firm has also sued for nearly $80,000 for work done in the immediate run-up to the hotel's opening. In addition, Trump was scheduled to be deposed today in his $10 million breach of contract suit against a restaurant that was originally supposed to open within that hotel. The owners of the Spanish-themed restaurant pulled out after Trump's racist comments against Mexicans during the campaign.

Meanwhile, Republicans have had enough of President Obama using the Antiquities Act to designate land as national monuments only through executive order. This is part of the general GOP strategy to either turn over federal land to the states, who can then sell if off to private interests, or simply take the direct route and sell it to their cronies directly. Unfortunately, that strategy is opposed by Trump, specifically Donald Trump, Jr. Donnie, an avid hunter like his brother Eric, told Oregon Public Broadcasting during the campaign, "This is where we’ve probably broken away from a lot of the traditional conservative dogma on the issue, in that we do want federal lands to remain federal." It's nice to know we have a royal family in the Trumps and that the Trump children are now driving policy decisions. That is when they're not running the Trump Organization for dad.