Welcome to The Trump Family Swamp

[yallerdawg]

Source: WaPo, by Eugene Robinson

The presidency was never meant to be a profit center for a nepotistic, money-grubbing family. But that was before the Trumps moved in.

This scandal is lying in plain sight, overlooked because of the constant stream of missteps, outrages and distractions that come and go at an exhausting pace. While everyone watches his Twitter feed, President Trump is using the White House like a marketing agency for his family brand. This is not normal or acceptable — and it surely isn’t what laid-off factory workers and coal miners had in mind when they jumped on the “populist” Trump train.

Consider this sequence of events: Trump is elected president in November 2016. The membership initiation fee at his Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, doubles to $200,000 in January 2017. Following his inauguration, Trump spends 34 days thus far — fully one-tenth of his presidency — at Mar-a-Lago, mixing freely with members in a setting hidden from the prying eyes of the news media.

If you had a corporate or private cause to plead with the president of the United States, and you had ample resources, might you consider a $200,000 Mar-a-Lago membership a promising investment? I think you might.

But the presidency isn’t supposed to be a matter of pluses and minuses on a balance sheet. The president campaigned on a pledge to clean up Washington. Instead, he has created a huge new federally protected wetland — the Trump Family Swamp Inc.

Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/welcome-to-the-trump-family-swamp/2017/12/18/01ad0adc-e42e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html


"They are people just like me!" - Trump voter

[Irish_Dem]

1. Kind of interesting that they seem to be going for the Marie Antoinette look

and the Place of Versailles.

[yallerdawg]

3. Never been more sure:

"Not my president."

Crooks, grifters and traitors.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Well the American people didn't elect him so he really is not

the legit president of anyone.

Yes there are many words in my head to describe the TrumpWad family.

[Angry Dragon]

2. "They are people just like me!"..........I guess if the voter is an idiot and a con man

[gratuitous]

5. Remember when the Republicans investigated Socks the Cat during the Clinton administration?

Socks was the Clinton family's cat, who went along with the family when Bill was elected president. As a kid-friendly portal, Socks had a little club for kids, talking about living in the White House from a cat's point of view, dropping historical tidbits in a little newsletter that went out to kids who subscribed, and generally just being a fun kid thing about the nation's capitol.

Then, Socks sent out Christmas cards. (Cue ominous organ music here.) Well! This had to be investigated, according to the freshly-minted Republican majority in Congress, led by Dan Burton. Were public funds being used, were White House staff members getting paid on the public dime, was the stationery from government-purchased stock being used, for this heinous propaganda and brainwashing of our nation's children? Imagine the depravity of getting children - children! - interested in government and civics and good citizenship and stuff. These monsters had to be stopped!

Now? Heck, the Republicans are just fine with the Trump family turning the White House and the presidency into their own private piggy bank.