3 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Republican Sleaze, Democratic Slump
I want to attempt a sort of bird's-eye view of both parties as we enter the first summer of the Trump administration. For the Republicans, the headline is moving forward on various Trump policies (immigration, trade, budget) that, in the aggregate, have sparked neither widespread support nor overwhelming alarm. It's all wait and see. The fate of the budget bill will seriously impact the president's standing—'Magic Man pulled it off,' or 'Whoa, he lost and is hobbled.'
Underlying all this is an air of unusual corruption. I don't know of any precedent. Charges of influence peddling, access peddling—$TRUMP coins, real-estate deals in foreign countries, cash for dinners with the president, a pardon process involving big fees for access to those in the president's orbit, $28 million for the first lady to participate in a biographical documentary, the Trump sons' plan to open a private club in Washington with a reported $500,000 membership fee—those are only some of the items currently known.
The Journal this week reported major donors to the inauguration benefiting from early government actions. In April the administration put enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on hold, pulling back on cases involving charges of foreign bribery, public corruption, and money laundering. 'In some cases the administration is effectively redefining what business conduct constitutes a crime,' the Journal noted.
All this is establishing the character of the administration in a way Americans simply won't respect over the long term. It will no doubt continue, grow more garish with time, and become a major national scandal.
