Donald Trump - First President Of The Banana Republic Of America

For my regular readers, there will be no Natural Weekends segment today because there is nothing natural about what is happening in our country right now. Donald J. Trump is not really the 45th President of the United States. He is also the First President of the (Banana) Republic of the America. Trump is already in violation of the Constitution of the United States through the payments he is receiving from foreigners both here in America and overseas as well when the spend money in a Trump Hotel or apartment building. He is also in violation of a lease agreement with the United States Government. He is using the White House website to hawk products that his family owns and operates. He and his family still control businesses that will undoubtedly profit from his presidency. None of this should ever be considered normal. In fact, it is no different than any other banana republic where the family and friends of the ruling power get richer and richer by taking advantage of the power of their positions to loot the country. Wikipedia describes the characteristics of a banana republic as having a "large, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy of business, political, and military elites. This politico-economic oligarchy controls the primary-sector productions to exploit the country's economy." That certainly seems like a perfect description of Trump, his cabinet, and the oligarchic business elites of this country today.

The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution is located in Article 1, Section 9 and says (emphasis mine), "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state."  Trump can surely pay a lawyer to say that a hotel booking is not a present but that will never pass Constitutional muster, especially when foreigners are openly expressing the fact that the reason they booked at a Trump hotel was to influence the President. Additionally, sending the profits from those foreign expenditures to the US Treasury simply reduces the amount of the gift Trump is receiving, nothing more, And this violation of the Emoluments Clause does not just involve his hotel in DC. It applies to any property he owns, anywhere in the world, where a foreign national spends money that goes to the Trump Organization. His transfer of control to his sons does nothing to remove Trump's ownership in the Trump Organization and therefore it does absolutely nothing to relieve Trump of the Emoluments Clause and this massive conflict of interest.

Heck, in typical Trump fashion, (which means lying), as of his inauguration yesterday, Trump had still not ceded control of the Trump organization to his sons. ProPublica reports that the required documents to do that need to be filed in the states of Florida, Delaware, and New York. None of the necessary documents have been filed in Delaware and New York and it is unclear whether any have been filed in Florida due to lag time in posting those kinds of documents. In his press conference, both Trump and the attorney he paid to produce the useless agreement to cede control of the companies to his sons promised that it would be done before his inauguration. It has not happened. We should not be surprised.

The Trump Hotel is housed in the Old Post Office which is still owned by the government. The Trump Organization signed a lease with the government's representative, in this case, the General Services Administration (GSA). Specifically, that lease says "No ... elected official of the Government of the United States ... shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom." Again, by maintaining his ownership stake in the Trump Organization, Trump is in violation of this lease. The question will be whether the GSA, which is now essentially headed by Trump as President, will pursue this violation of contract and law. Ig the GSA won't pursue it, other groups will certainly try to force them to. Already, the government watchdog group CREW has filed a lawsuit in the matter.

Although the offending section has been subsequently pulled after the initial backlash, the new White House website that came online with Donald Trump's inauguration had a plug for Melania Trump's jewelry line. As part of her bio, the website wrote, "Melania is also a successful entrepreneur. In April 2010, Melania Trump launched her own jewelry collection, ‘Melania™ Timepieces & Jewelry,’ on QVC". As with everything Trump, this too turned out to be a lie as a QVC spokesman said, "At this time, QVC does not have an active relationship with the [Melania] brand".

I'll give them a pass on this one as it was probably just a part of a typical bio that was copied onto the website. But it highlights two important issues with Trump. First is that there is apparently no attention to detail when it comes to everything Trump. Just like most rich and powerful people, they are above dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s because they know they can get away with it. It is the same thing with Trump's promise to cede control of the Trump Organization to his sons. More importantly, it shows just how much the business interests of the family are entangled with the President and, by extension, the presidency. The family will be profiting handsomely by leveraging their closeness to the President for the next four or, God forbid, eight years.

Yesterday, Trump swore an oath on Lincoln's bible to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". He is already in violation of that oath. He, his family, and the Trump Organization will benefit greatly from his ownership stake in that company while he is President. Unlike advance banana republics, Trump and his family will not be able to personally loot our country. There are members of his cabinet who may be able to do a far better job of that than Trump. But, by accepting Trump's violation of the Constitution and the law and allowing it to stand, we are letting him to set a precedent going forward. As the First President of the Banana Republic of America, Trump may turn out to just be a two-bit thief. But he will pave the way for others who may be far more adept then he is.