Those Trump boys sure do get around a lot these days. Junior was in India last week, promoting the business interests of the Trump organization, and then Eric gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland. By the way, in case you have any doubts … we the taxpayers pay for 24/7 security for ‘the boys’, wherever they go and whatever they do. I would not be surprised to find that we foot the bill for at least a portion of their travel expenses as well. But despite that, ol’ Eric is not happy with those of us who pay for all his pricey perks.
Eric says we are taking away their freedom of speech! It started with Junior’s trip to India to … to … what? Some say he went there to conduct the business of the Trump organization, others say that he went there to deliver a foreign policy speech. Now, even the average Joe on the street can tell you that these two don’t mix. It is what we call a ‘conflict of interest’. And perhaps more importantly … Junior is not, at least officially, employed by the United States government, so what the heck business does he have delivering a speech on U.S. foreign policy?
First, his business purpose: to sell condos. It is reported that he sold at least $15 million-worth of real estate in a single day by offering potential buyers a dinner with Donald Jr. himself if they purchased a condominium in the new Trump Towers project in Gurgaon. People would buy a $1.5 million condo just for the chance to eat dinner with Junior and watch him slop food down his front, if he eats in the same way his father does? Wow!
Given the nature of his business trip, it seemed inappropriate to most that he would also deliver a foreign policy speech. Junior has a degree in Economics from Wharton … not in Political Science, not in Foreign Policy, and not in International Relations. Economics. Nothing in his background qualifies him as a foreign policy expert and by all rights, he should have no inside knowledge of U.S. foreign policy. His speech was to be titled “Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation”. Pretty hefty stuff for a lightweight.
And the concerns were many. Senator Robert Menendez sought assurances from the United States Embassy in Delhi that it was not helping Mr. Trump, writing to the Embassy in New Delhi …
“Given the potential to confuse Mr. Trump’s private business visit with having an official governmental purpose, I write to ensure that the U.S. Embassy presence in India will have no role in supporting Mr. Trump or the Trump Organization during his time in India, other than that necessary to provide any security support for the U.S. Secret Service.”
Joshua White, former director for South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council …
“It is not illegal, but it would muddy the waters and I think make life rather difficult for those in the United States government who are being measured about how they articulate what the administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy is and will become.”
And Marilyn L. Glynn, former general counsel at the Office of Government Ethics …
“Nothing like this — no, never. Unprecedented, unheard-of.”
And so, ultimately, Junior cancelled his speech, and likely breathed a sigh of relief, but not one he will admit to, for now the stance of the boys is that the criticism, the controversy, has robbed them of their right to freedom of speech. Awwwwwww … pobtecitos!!!
“My brother was over there. We have a bunch of buildings in India. He’s talking about how the Indian people are wonderful people and he enjoys his experience over there and everything else, and then all of a sudden you have this. These are the first people that say the First Amendment should be protected until you say something they disagree with and then they try to shred you to pieces.”
Whine, whine, whine. Grow a pair, Eric! Funny, isn’t it, that the mounds of criticism and ranting the entire Trump clan, has heaped upon the press, whose freedom of speech is also protected by the very same 1st Amendment, is somehow considered to be ‘okay’?
The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has been rudderless since the resignation of Walter Shaub last July, after he called out the Trump administration on various conflicts of interest. However, Emory A. Rounds III was recently nominated to head the office, pending Senate confirmation. I would like to see him make it his first priority to investigate the travels of both Don Junior and Eric and determine just how much is being paid for by we the taxpayers, for I suspect it is far more than it should be. And meanwhile, since we do not employ either Junior or Eric, they need to do their jobs as heads of the Trump business ventures and keep their noses, hands and mouths out of our government.
Can you imagine President Obama, or even President Bush speaking in this manner? Now, obviously this is not only poor form and poor taste, but is so beneath the dignity of the Oval Office, the office of the president, that we must ask ourselves if his advisors were even consulted. Surely John Kelly could not have condoned this idiocy?
“Thomas Jefferson was as irritated with newspaper coverage as any public figure of his era. For all the talk of media bias today, it can’t compare to the overt partisanship and personal attacks appearing in papers in our nation’s early years. But Jefferson also knew that our democracy could only flourish with a free press that would keep an eye on people in power and help protect our freedoms. He understood that press coverage comes and goes, but freedom of the press must endure.” – Ken Paulson, president of the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center
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