69th Weak of The Kleptocrocy

The writing was on the wall during the 2016 campaign, when the Trump Organization quintupled the rent it was charging the Trump Campaign as soon as donors started picking up the tab. And on the same day in 2016 that Trump cut a fundraising agreement with the RNC, “the campaign made payments to three Trump properties” totaling around $200 grand.

This has continued since the election. As Walter Shaub, a former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, wrote for The Washington Post this week, “we taxpayers are paying tens of millions for [Trump] to spend almost a third of his days in office visiting his properties. Some of the money goes into his pocket. We learned last fall that the Secret Service had paid him over $150,000 in golf cart rental fees for the privilege of guarding his life while he golfs. Last month, Public Citizen issued a report finding that Trump’s businesses had billed $15.1 million to campaign, political committee and federal government sources since he first launched his presidential campaign.”

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May 7, 2018

The “Southern White House” is a nearly perfect symbol of the Trump administration’s ethical failings


We learned last fall that the Secret Service had paid him over $150,000 in golf cart rental fees for the privilege of guarding his life while he golfs. Last month, Public Citizen issued a report finding that Trump’s businesses had billed $15.1 million to campaign, political committee and federal government sources since he first launched his presidential campaign.


This profiteering sets a bad tone from the top. It tells the 2.8 million civilian federal employees who work for him that the man at the top doesn’t care about government ethics. This departure from our government’s norms creates a pressure that the government ethics program may not be able to withstand indefinitely, especially if Trump’s successor engages in similar behavior.

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After spending Mother’s Day golfing, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to talk about his recent violation of the Iran nuclear treaty.

“Remember how badly Iran was behaving with the Iran Deal in place. They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!” he wrote.

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The comments set the president up for a disaster. If Iran does exactly what Trump says will never happen, it would result in hefty culpability.

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Every night the phone rings for Fox News host Sean Hannity from the White House. While the first lady is in her own bedroom down the hall of the executive residence, the bromance between the two men is glowing through the phone as they gush over the president’s latest coverage on the network.

A shocking expose in New York Magazine revealed Sunday the many sources that are intimately aware of the relationship the two men share and how it has crafted the communications strategy for the White House.

“White House staff are aware that the calls happen, thanks to the president entering a room and announcing, ‘I just hung up with Hannity,’ or referring to what Hannity said during their conversations, or even ringing Hannity up from his desk in their presence,” the report outlined.

Early on in the Trump presidency, the morning was spent flipping from cable news shows like MSNBC’s Morning Joe to CNN’s New Day, which ultimately lead to rage tweeting and an entire day’s plans thrown out onto the White House lawn.

“It got to the point that they were just like, ‘We need to get him off these channels and onto Fox & Friends or else we’re going to be chasing down this crazy-train bullshit from MSNBC and CNN all day,’” one former White House official told New York Magazine.

“Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet,” another White House official told New York Magazine.

“Sean Hannity understands the basic issues of economic nationalism and ‘America First’ foreign policy at a deeper level than the august staff of Jonathan Chait and the f*ckin’ clowns at New York Magazine,” Bannon replied.

A White House official explained it as the influence of administration officials are essentially equal to Fox News.

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Blue said:

Its strange to think that an elected world leader needs to have their access to TV parentally regulated by their staff to stop them throwing childish temper tantrums.

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JackLuis said:

What Fresh Hell? Trump’s kleptocracy comes into sharper focus



If that depresses you, try this to lighten the mood.

New Rule: Married to the Mob

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Blue said:

Its strange to think that an elected world leader needs to have their access to TV parentally regulated by their staff to stop them throwing childish temper tantrums.

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Carnal_Flower said:

I shouldn't be surprised, but it is quite dismaying to see the steady creep of total batshit lunacy in Trumpsters. The more they cling to Trump, the more they begin to adopt his warped view of reality.

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BotanyBoy said:

LOL says the dingbat who thinks we had 8 years of peace and prosperity under the Obama regime.

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Turkey has blamed Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem for the “massacre” today, which marked the most highest Palestinian death toll since the 2014 Gaza War.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said: “We curse the massacre carried out by Israeli security forces, encouraged by this step, on the Palestinians participating in peaceful demonstrations.”

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim later added: Unfortunately, the U.S. has arrogantly stood by the Israeli administration which kills civilians and has partnered in this crime against humanity.

"This provocation will only worsen the problems in the region and cause a deeper mark in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, and will make peace in the region more difficult."

Egypt has also hit out at Israel, warning of “negative repercussions” after the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) opened fire on Palestinians protesting at the Gaza border wall.

Health officials in Gaza said at least 52 Palestinians have been killed and 900 injured - about 450 from live bullets.

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BotanyBoy said:

LOL says the dingbat who thinks we had 8 years of peace and prosperity under the Obama regime.

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Hypoxia said:

During the Obama years, I didn't feel a need to obsess over news. Obama didn't act like he was going to blow up the world or cause major crises affecting the US. I pretty much ignored right-wing criticisms because their bullshit was obvious by the stink, while lib criticism seemed relatively trivial after what Dubya's gang put us through. No recurrent shitstorms, and America rebuilding -- that was Obama's legacy.

Tromp promised he'd break stuff up. He is, just not in all the expected ways. He breaks stuff by gut-instinct rather than rational strategy. Breaking stuff has consequences. Chips are flying. Protections are vanishing. The 99% are not being served.

So yeah, now I obsess over news. It's scary, I keep expecting some disaster. Yow.

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JawnKarTurr said:

You're able to ignore the scandals of the Obama administration and are obsessed with finding fault with the current president. You're irrational and while you feel the need to constantly post you can't even be bothered to vote or give money to those you support. Keep it up and I promise you the President will win another term.

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JawnKarTurr said:

Did he spend more the President Obama who was regularly in Hawaii or has actually broken any laws. It is hilarious to hear that liberals are suddenly concerned with government spending.

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Hypoxia said:

During the Obama years, I didn't feel a need to obsess over news. Obama didn't act like he was going to blow up the world or cause major crises affecting the US. I pretty much ignored right-wing criticisms because their bullshit was obvious by the stink, while lib criticism seemed relatively trivial after what Dubya's gang put us through. No recurrent shitstorms, and America rebuilding -- that was Obama's legacy.

Tromp promised he'd break stuff up. He is, just not in all the expected ways. He breaks stuff by gut-instinct rather than rational strategy. Breaking stuff has consequences. Chips are flying. Protections are vanishing. The 99% are not being served.

So yeah, now I obsess over news. It's scary, I keep expecting some disaster. Yow.

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ThatsTheGuy said:

It happened long before Trump became POTUS.

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While the world is occupied with primary elections and Israeli violence against Palestinians, the Stormy Daniels beat quietly continues on.

Today is a major deadline for Donald Trump and this legal team, who must either disclose the debts Donald Trump owed his attorney Michael Cohen for his agreement with Stormy Daniels and any other similar hush-money pay-outs or double-down on a dicey legal strategy. The Ethics in Government Act establishes May 15 as the deadline for reporting any “liabilities that exceeded $10,000 at any time during calendar year 2017.”

That would include the $130,000 owed to Michael Cohen, who paid off Daniels in October 2016.

Does Trump now disclose the Daniels payout and any others, or risk a full-blown investigation into the money by a federal agency?

“The answer should be easy, but the president is in a difficult position. He left out the Daniels-related debt in the financial disclosure report he filed on June 14, 2017. Disclosing it now means acknowledging that he should have disclosed it last year,” they write. “Disclosure may also lead to damaging revelations if he omitted other liabilities from any past financial disclosure reports or incurred new ones since June.”

Essentially, Trump has to admit it was a campaign expense that he previously failed to disclose or set himself up for an investigation by the Federal Election Commission.

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Top American allies in Europe are reportedly upset that President Donald Trump tore up the Iran nuclear agreement without even engaging with their concerns about taking such actions.

The Washington Post reports that the United Kingdom, France and Germany had spent the past several months trying to negotiate with the U.S. State Department about a restructured version of the Iran nuclear deal that would address some of Trump’s stated concerns about the agreement.

Even though the sides were reportedly close to an agreement in April, Trump decided to tear up the pact anyway, much to European leaders’ annoyance.

“When Macron, Merkel and Johnson traveled to Washington in the days and weeks before Trump’s announcement, all came away with the feeling Trump had not read the five-page document they had prepared and perhaps was even unaware of the effort,” the publication reports. “In Brussels, where the E.U. is headquartered, many are skeptical that any further discussion is possible with the United States.”

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