Well no. Trump is running the US like dictdators in what we used to call,
"third world countries", have done. We looked down at these people who had
family members in top offices and were obviously looting their national
treasuries. Our country has always been much more subtle and has always had the
good manners to appear to be adhering to the law.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2017 12:10 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Empire Expands: Not the US One, but Trump's
As I've said before, national boundaries are fast becoming obsolete.
Corporate States are the future. Trump is just ahead of the curve, which is
where any corporate CEO wants to be.
All hail the American Corporate Empire...a division of Trump Industries.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/2/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Empire Expands: Not the US One, but Trump's Tuesday, May 02, 2017
By Nomi Prins, TomDispatch | Op-Ed President Donald Trump prepares to
speak at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
in Washington, Feb. 21, 2017. At right is Ivanka Trump. (Photo: Doug
Mills / The New York Times)
President Trump, his children and their spouses, aren't just using the
Oval Office to augment their political legacy or secure future riches.
Okay, they certainly are doing that, but that's not the most useful
way to think about what's happening at the moment. Everything will
make more sense if you reimagine the White House as simply the newest
branch of the Trump family business empire, its latest outpost.
It turns out that the voters who cast their ballots for Donald Trump,
the patriarch, got a package deal for his whole clan. That would
include, of course, first daughter Ivanka who, along with her husband,
Jared Kushner, is now a key political adviser to the president of the
United States. Both now have offices in the White House close to him.
They have multiple security clearances, access to high-level leaders
whenever they visit the Oval Office or Mar-a-Lago, and the perfect
formula for the sort of brand-enhancement that now seems to come with
such eminence. President Trump may have an exceedingly "flexible"
attitude toward policymaking generally, but in one area count on him
to be stalwart and immobile: his urge to run the White House like a
business, a family business.
The ways that Jared, "senior adviser to the president," and Ivanka,
"assistant to the president," have already benefited from their links
to "Dad" in the first 100 days of his presidency stagger the imagination.
Ivanka's company, for instance, won three new trademarks for its
products from China on the very day she dined with President Xi
Jinping at her father's Palm Beach club.
In a similar fashion, thanks to her chance to socialize with Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, her company could be better positioned for
deal negotiations in his country. One of those perks of family power
includes nearing a licensing agreement with Japanese apparel giant
Sanei International, whose parent company's largest stakeholder is the
Development Bank of Japan -- an entity owned by the Japanese
government. We are supposed to buy the notion that the concurrent
private viewing of Ivanka's products in Tokyo was a coincidence of the
scheduling fairy. Yet since her father became president, you won't be
surprised to learn that global sales of her merchandise have more or
less gone through the roof.
Here's where things get tricky. We can't pinpoint the exact gains
generated from any one meeting of the next generation Trump. They rely
on the idea that, because their brand was so huge to begin with,
profits and deals would have come anyway. That's why we won't ever see
their books or tax returns.
Conflicts of interest? They now permeate the halls of 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, but none of this will affect or change one thing
President Trump holds dear -- and believe it or not, it's not the
wishes of his base in the American heartland. It's advancing his flesh
and blood, and their flesh-and-blood-once-removed spouses and relatives.
Federal Regulations and Trump Family Interpretations
The Trumps and Kushners will behave in ways that will benefit their
global businesses. There's just one catch. They have to get away with
it, legally speaking. So the first law of family business in the Oval
Office turns out to be: get stellar legal counsel. And they've done
that. Their lawyers have by now successfully created trusts that
theoretically -- but only theoretically -- separate Ivanka from her
businesses and deflect any accusations over activities that may, now
or in the future, violate federal rules. And there are two of those in
particular to consider.
The Code of Federal Regulations is a set of rules published by the
executive departments and agencies of the government. Title 18 section
208 of that code deals with "acts affecting a personal financial
interest." This criminal conflict of interest statute states "an
officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States
Government" can't have a "financial interest" in the result of their
duties. What that should mean, legally speaking, for a family
occupying the executive office is: Ivanka could not have dinner with
the president of China while her business was applying for and
receiving provisional approval of pending trademarks from his country,
if one of those acts might impact the other. To an outsider, the
connection between those acts seems obvious enough and it's bound to
be typical of what's to come.
Meanwhile, there are real penalties for being convicted of violating
this rule. These include fines or imprisonment or both as set forth in
section
216 of Title 18.
Certain lawyers have argued that Ivanka's and Jared's appointments
don't violate Rule 208 or other nepotism statutes because they are not
paid advisers to the president. In other words, because Ivanka doesn't
get a salary for her service to her... uh, country... conflicts
automatically vanish. She's already done her Trumptilian best to
demonstrate her affinity for ethical behavior by cordoning herself off
from her business responsibilities (sort of). According to The New
York Times, "Ivanka has transferred her brand's assets into a trust
overseen by her brother-in-law, Josh Kushner, and sister-in-law,
Nicole Meyer." Phew, no family connections there! Or maybe she just doesn't
care for her siblings-in-law.
But not all assets, it turns out, are created equal. So the
daughter-in-chief will, it seems, keep her stake in the Trump
International Hotel, a 15-minute stroll from the White House, which
just happens to boast "the Ivanka Trump Suite" and "The Spa by Ivanka
Trump." ("The Spa by Ivanka Trump™ and Fitness Center transitions
guests from the Technogym setting of the Fitness Center to the
tranquil spa haven that is calming, balancing, purifying,
revitalizing, and healing...") There, many a foreign diplomat or
special interest mogul can "calm, energize, [and] restore" himself or
herself, while angling for an "in" with the family. We don't know
precisely the nature of what the Trump family stands to gain from the
hotel because its books aren't made public, but it's reasonable to
assume that we're not talking losses. Besides this other DC domain,
Ivanka and Jared will remain the beneficiaries of their mutual
business empires now valued at about three quarters of a billion dollars,
according to White House ethics filings.
But wait. There's an even more explicit rule against using public
office (like, say, the White House) for private gain: Title 5 section
2635.702. On that subject, the section states that "an employee shall
not use his public office for his own private gain, for the
endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise, or for the private
gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is
affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity."
Okay, that's wordy. And though the rule doesn't apply to the president
or vice president -- we have Nelson Rockefeller to thank for that, but
more on him later -- for any other executive office position, the rule
explains that "status as an employee is unaffected by pay or leave
status." That means that you can't say someone is not an employee just
because she isn't drawing a paycheck, which means she isn't, in fact,
exempt just because she can't show a W-2 form.
The second rule of family business is undoubtedly: control the means
of enforcement. And President Trump just got his man onto the Supreme
Court, so even if ethical charges rose to the highest court in the
land, the family has at least a little insurance.
Bankers and Presidents: A Walk Through History
The idea of powerful bloodlines collaborating is nothing new in either
business or politics. At the turn of the twentieth century, mogul
families routinely intermarried to spawn yet more powerful and
profitable business empires. And when it comes to Oval Office
politics, American history is littered with multi-generational public
servants with blood ties to presidents. Abraham Lincoln's oldest son,
Robert, a Republican, served as secretary of war in the
administrations of Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur, and
finally as U.S. minister to Great Britain during President Benjamin
Harrison's administration. Dwight D. Eisenhower's son, John, became a
decorated brigadier-general, served as assistant staff secretary in
the White House while his father was in office and was later appointed
ambassador to Belgium under President Richard Nixon (once his father's
vice-president). But neither of them inflated the coffers of the family
business in the process.
Whether family business connections might influence prominent figures
in the White House isn't a subject new to the Trump era either. In
1974, when Gerald Ford, who took over the presidency after Richard
Nixon's impeachment, nominated Nelson Rockefeller to be his vice
president, Nelson's brother David ran the Chase Manhattan Bank (now
JPMorgan Chase). Questions naturally arose about the notorious wealth
and political reach of the Rockefeller family. Nelson, the grandson of
oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, had even worked at the bank and had
been on the boards of multiple oil companies.
That same year, the Department of Justice conveniently concluded that
conflict of interest laws did not apply to the office of the vice
president
-- but not before Democratic Senator Robert Byrd asked, "Can't we at
least agree... that the influence is there, that it is a tremendous
influence, that it is more influence than any president or vice president
ever had?"
And yet, as fabulously wealthy and linked in as Nelson Rockefeller
was, his situation doesn't even compare to the family business tangle
in the Trump White House.
There have been other family members than the Trumps and Jared Kushner
in positions of significance in the White House. When, for instance,
Woodrow Wilson fell gravely ill in 1919, his second wife, Edith,
stepped in to act on his behalf, essentially running the government in
a blanket of secrecy from his bedside. Her intention, however, was
never to make hay with a family business, but to ensure that her
husband's policies prevailed. The two Bush presidents, with a business
and banking legacy that snaked back a century, were elected, not
handed power. And though Bill Clinton's reign in the Oval Office
enabled wife Hillary to garner enough public recognition (and banking
connections) to successfully run for senator in New York State, become
secretary of state under President Obama, and launch two ultimately
unsuccessful presidential bids, the Clintons only became super-wealthy
after Bill's time in office. Though their charity foundation's ties to
foreign governments remain suspect, they never had a private business
while Bill was in the White House.
What can't be found in the historical record is someone's child, wife,
or relations holding court in the West Wing while expanding a family
business, no less a network of them. The present situation, in other
words, is unique in the annals of American history. Only 100 days into
Donald Trump's presidency, he already has something of the look of the
authoritarian kleptocrats elsewhere on the planet who siphon state
wealth into their own bank accounts and businesses.
And remember, the Trump empire is also the Kushner empire. Jared's
family business depends on global investors hailing from countries
that just happen to be in his White House portfolio. He, for example,
led the efforts to prepare for the state visit to Mar-a-Lago of the
Chinese president (while the Kushner business was engaged in
high-level talks with a major Chinese financial conglomerate). A
Russian state-owned bank under U.S. sanctions whose chairman met with
Jared in December referred to him as the head of Kushner Companies,
though he was already visibly if not yet officially a Trump adviser.
He is similarly the administration's point man for Middle East "peace,"
even
though his family has financial relationships with Israel. Meanwhile,
in his role as head of the newly formed White House Office of American
Innovation, the potential opportunities to fuse government and private
business opportunities are likely to prove endless.
Nepotism on Parade
Faced with the dynasty-crushing possibility of selling his business or
even placing it in a blind trust, Donald Trump chose instead to let
his two older sons, Eric and Donald Jr., manage it. Talk about smoke
and mirrors. While speaking with Forbes in March, Eric indicated that
he would provide his father with updates on the Trump Organization
"quarterly" -- but who truly believes that father and sons won't
discuss the family empire far more frequently than that?
The family has already racked up a laundry list of global conflicts of
interest that suggest ways in which the White House is likely to
become a moneymaking vehicle for the Trump line. There's Turkey, for
instance, where the Trump Organization already has a substantial
investment, and where President Trump recently called President Recip
Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on his power-grabbing,
anti-democratic victory in a disputed election to change the country's
constitution. Given Trump business interests globally, you could
multiply that call by the world.
Meanwhile, Ivanka's brand isn't just doing business as usual, it's
killing it. Since 2017, according to the Associated Press, "global
sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise have surged." As a sign of that, the
brand's imports, mostly from China, have more than doubled over the
previous year. As for her husband, he remained the CEO of Kushner
Companies through January, only then abdicating his management role in
that real-estate outfit and 58 other businesses, though remaining the
sole primary beneficiary of most of the associated family trusts. His
and Ivanka's children are secondary beneficiaries. That means any
policy decision he promotes could, for better or worse, affect the
family business and it doesn't take a genius to know which of those
options he's likely to choose.
Kleptocrats, Inc.
Despite an already mind-boggling set of existing conflicts of
interest, ranging from business affiliations with oligarchs connected
to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to the Secret Service and the
Pentagon leasing space in Trump Tower (for at least $3 million per
year), the Trump family business is now looking to the glorious, long
haul. The family is already scouting for a second hotel in Washington.
Trump has reportedly used nearly $500,000 from early campaign money
raised for his own 2020 presidential bid to bolster the biz. It's
evidently been poured into "Trump-owned restaurants, hotels and golf
clubs," as well as rent at Trump Tower in New York City.
According to the latest polls, the majority of registered voters
believe that the installation of Ivanka and Jared in the White House
is inappropriate. But that could matter less to Donald Trump. Ask
Stephen Bannon or Chris Christie what happens when Ivanka or Jared don't like
you.
That's the family version of mob-style power.
Ivanka noted in her book, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and
Life, that "in business, as in life, nothing is ever handed to you."
Except, of course, when your father is president and he hands you the
keys to grow the family business on a silver platter.
Four decades ago, at a Senate hearing on his potential conflicts of
interest, Vice President Rockefeller was asked, "Can you separate the
interests of big business from the national interest when they differ?"
It's
a question some senator should pose to Ivanka and Jared, replacing
"big business" with "big family business."
Making the future yet murkier, the family may be on the precipice of
major problems. The most striking of them: Kushner's marquee building,
666 Fifth Ave (an 80-story, ultra-luxury Manhattan skyscraper) has a
greater than 25% vacancy rate. It hasn't made enough money to even
cover its interest payments for several years, and in two years it
will have to pay principal as well on its $1.2 billion mortgage.
That's going to hurt if foreign companies don't step in to staunch the
flow of dollars out of the firm and that, undoubtedly, could require a quid
pro quo or two.
In our era, it's no secret that presidents leave office with the
promise of quickly growing exponentially wealthier. But for the first
family to gain such wealth while still in the White House would be a
first. Yet the process that could make that possible already seems to
be well underway. All this, as Donald Trump, his children, and his
son-in-law continue to carve out an unprecedented role for themselves
as America's business-managers-in-chief, presiding not so much over
the country as over their own expanding imperial domains.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It
may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from
the source.
Nomi Prins
Nomi Prins is a journalist and senior fellow at Demos. Her last book
was Black Tuesday, a novel about corruption and romance surrounding
the 1929 stock market crash. Before that she wrote the hard-hitting,
It Takes a
Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts and Backroom Deals from
Washington to Wall Street (Wiley, September 2009). She is also the
author of Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (The
New Press, October 2004), a devastating exposé into corporate
corruption, political collusion and Wall Street deception, chosen as a
Best Book of 2004 by The Economist, Barron's and The Library Journal,
and Jacked: How "Conservatives" Are Picking Your Pocket (Whether You
Voted for Them or Not) (Polipoint Press, Sept. 2006).
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