Andrew C. McCarthy:
I’m not sure what is worse: Donald Trump bragging about paying off politicians, or the cheering by Republican-debate audiences when Donald Trump brags about paying off politicians. See, when I worked for the Justice Department, we didn’t just indict the slimy pols — from both parties — on the receiving end. We also indicted the deep-pocketed cronies who greased their palms, expecting top-shelf service in return.
Even if you’re not the queasy type, how nauseating to watch a crowd of people, many of whom would tell you they’re strong law-and-order conservatives, giddily applauding as a guy confesses that he’s the corrupter who makes the corruption work.
“I was a businessman,” Trump smarmed at a debate earlier this year. He was being pressed about the piles of dough he has deposited in Democratic coffers through the years — for his pals the Clintons (including the Clinton Ca-ching Foundation), Schumer, Reid, Pelosi, Cuomo, Rahm, and the rest of the gang.
“I give to everybody. When they call, I give.” Yup, although more to the progressives, to implement the very policies he now complains are destroying the country.
And why? Trump’s allocution continued:
“You know what? When I need something from them, two years later, three years later, I call them, and they are there for me. . . . And that’s a broken system.”
Well, yeah, when you spend years breaking something, it tends to get broken.
Diagnosing the break might be thought the occasion for an apology, not a curtain call. But Trump gets the curtain call. And being Trump, he knows he’s on a roll and doubles down.
Rival Rand Paul needled, “You’ve donated to several Democratic candidates. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related affairs. And you said recently, quote, ‘When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.’”
This is the point where the guy suspected of bribery, if he can afford a lawyer (or a million lawyers!), takes the Fifth . . . or at least whines, “You’re taking my words out of context!”
Not The Donald. He grins and squeals, “You better believe it.”
And the crowd eats it up. Just as they did in Iowa recently when he brayed, “I’ve got to give to them, because when I want something, I get it. When I call, they kiss my ass.”
Have you read the corruption indictment the Justice Department filed against Senator Robert Menendez (D., N.J.)? If you had, the first thing you might have noticed is that he’s not the only defendant charged. The senator has a co-defendant, Solomon Melgen, a.k.a. the guy who was paying off the pol.
Trump is right. He is in the real estate business, where cooperative politicians – particularly at the local level, is critical. The system is broken in that these pols will act according to how much money you have given them vs how much your competitors have given to your campaign. It’s a simple fact.
Campaign finance is completely broken, and it will not be fixed as long as PACs (which serve to hide donors) and other indirect campaigning is banned. I don’t mind if Coca-Cola or Apple endorse a candidate and even if they pay for ads – but it should say “paid for by Coca Cola”, not “American Democracy Council” or some other meaningless, anonymous PAC.
Until then, it is hardly fair to bash Trump for making legal donations into a legal system developed for politicians for the benefit of politicians selling favors – LEGALLY.
And this is why it is so critical to support an Article 5 Constitutional Convention – the Politicians at the federal level will never change the system – it must be changed for them.
When 22 writers for the National Review weighed in Against Trump, Andrew C McCarthy’s contribution was this:
Sheesh,
Me, too!
But I know I’m against them!
So, now it is that Donald Trump makes contributions to politicians on both sides?
According to OpenSecrets The Donald gives 90% to Republicans and 10% to Dems.
What has he done with Real Estate here and abroad?
Take a look:
http://www.trump.com/real-estate-portfolio/
Think you have had a hard time getting a variance for a tall fence without a pool?
Imagine these things.
Trump, like any other businessman, has to compete. If he sits on a high horse and tells politicians to go shove their demands, he knows someone else will gladly step up and make the payments and soon, he’s out of business. True, it’s a broken system. Just as true, it has gone on forever and it is no different in a socialist system that a capitalistic system… worse, in fact.
If he’s doing business in New York, yeah, he’s donating to Democrats.
And that’s PRIVATE money… look at how Obama treats citizens that do not bend to his will. Does anyone remember the shuttle going to New York instead of to NASA in Houston because Obama hated Perry? It ain’t HIS shuttle.