Republicans: Election proves America wants to let Trump & family enrich themselves through power.
There are many countries in the world that are governed by men who use their office to enrich themselves and their families. Before now, or at least for the last 200 years (since Andrew Jackson secretly profited off his own land grabs) the United States of America has not been a country like this. The modern American tradition has required political leaders to renounce any financial interest that might bias their decision. Donald Trump has abruptly demolished this tradition. And the Republican Party is happy to oblige.
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Trump himself seems to be gravitating toward this “I’m rich, get over it” defense. Trump owns stock in the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, and has endorsed completion of the project. Trump’s official explanation is that his support for the pipeline “has nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans.” It is probably true that, in this case, Trump’s agenda happens to line up with his personal financial interest. But consider the breadth of this defense. Trump is claiming the right to make decisions in office that enrich himself, and simply insisting that he would have made those decisions regardless because he is incorruptible by definition.
A straightforward bribe involves a quid pro quo transaction between public officials and a private interest. Since Trump refuses to disclose his tax returns, the public cannot know the quid. And his administration insists that any decision he makes must have the public’s best interest in mind, which could rationalize any quo. There is literally no mechanism whatsoever standing between Trump and massive Putinesque corruption.
Perhaps the most chilling defense is one by Gingrich that goes beyond even asserting an unlimited right to undisclosed presidential self-dealing. “The American people,” he tells Samuelson, “knowingly voted for a businessman whose name is inextricably tied to his fortune. In reality, of course, “the American people” voted for Hillary Clinton. Trump was chosen by the Electoral College. What’s striking here is the notion that Trump’s victory inherently moots any concerns about his conduct in office. Accountability is not an ongoing process but a matter settled once and for all in November. Any restraint on his abuse of power is inapplicable, since the election is presumed to have handed Trump the right to use his power as he sees fit. If Trump can so quickly demolish decades of precedent against presidential self-enrichment, what other norms will he destroy?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/12/how-republicans-justify-unlimited-trump-corruption.html
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