Brave New Frontier

Trump's unlimited horizon for presidential corruption. Digby asks, "Will anyone care when Trump runs his business out of the White House?"

The foreign business, you see, is the Trump name. He cannot "divest." It's not something you can sell. And no one could buy it. You likewise cannot put it in a blind trust — it's his name on buildings and developments all over the world. He cannot literally wear blinders as president of the United States. Even if he were to tell his kids to find another line of work and simply walk away from the Trump Organization, shutting the doors and leaving it all behind, there are hundreds of deals already in place and contractual ramifications years into the future, all of which would present crippling conflicts of interest for President Trump. Trump's business interests would have had to be unwound years ago for him to be able to function properly as president. It’s literally impossible to do it now.

In case you were wondering, Trump has no legal obligation to do anything. Presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest statutes. It was decided that it would be too complicated to write such a law for an office with such expansive powers. Instead we have depended upon norms that govern the behavior of our leaders, ensuring they are seen as acting solely on behalf of the people while they hold the office. Donald Trump has exploded every norm in politics so far. If he wins this election, there's every likelihood that he'll simply tell everyone that he's not making any important decisions for the Trump Organization, and that will be that. We will have a real-life oligarch in the White House, who will likely leave a whole lot richer then when he came in, while the people will be a whole lot poorer. That's been his business model from the beginning.