The way Trump tells it, Hillary is a kind of entrepreneurial Benedict Arnold, personally raking in millions along with her famous husband under the guise of philanthropy. Trump insists that she shouldn’t be running for president: she should be making muffins in the same cell once used by Martha Stewart to refine her skills of insider-baking.
But when it comes to corruption -- best defined as having complete contempt for the Constitution -- Mr. Trump has no equals:
For starters, the deepest form of corruption for someone seeking the presidency is to propose measures that violate the constitution. By that measure, Trump himself is dangerously corrupt. It is against the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion. Trump has proposed that in one form or another many times over.
In a country with First Amendment protections, it is unconstitutional to ban the press from covering a public event. In black-balling the Washington Post, the Guardian, and Buzzfeed from some of his events, Trump has done just that.
It is illegal under the U.S. Constitution (as well as domestic and international law), to practice torture. Trump has endorsed water-boarding and promised “worse”, despite the fact that any such presidential order issued to either military or intelligence personnel would be illegal.
And, on the subject of corruption, consider the two men who are rumored to be at the top of the list as Trump's running mates -- Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie:
Christie has more baggage than a caravan of overloaded camels. First there was Bridgegate, that incredible act of political vengeance that saw Christie’s office touch off a massive traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge in 2013 just to get even with a political rival who refused to throw his political support to the governor. Three Christie staffers, Bill Baroni, Bridget Anne Kelly, and David Wildstein were indicted for this caper.
Although Christie himself was never charged, and manfully blamed the whole thing on rogue staffers, U.S. National Public Radio is now reporting that investigators never saw Chris Christie’s personal email account that he used during the bridge shutdown in 2013. Nor did they have access to a cellphone he used to contact the man who controlled the George Washington Bridge, the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson.
And then there is Gingrich:
True, he was once Speaker of the House of Representatives. But that career ended when the House Ethics Committee hit him with a $300,000 fine for the use of nonprofits for partisan political gains. The Ethics Committee arrived at their action after looking into 84 ethics complaints against the former Speaker.
Some of the other highlights on Newt’s resumé include being on the wrong side of the House banking scandal, and criticizing mortgage lender Freddie Mac while quietly collecting $1.6 million as a consultant to it. He is also the sensitive husband who insisted on discussing the terms of his divorce from his first wife, Jackie, while she was in bed recovering from her third cancer surgery.
What a team! Hillary has her problems. But the Donald turns swimming pools into cesspools.
Image: uglyhousephotos.com
2 comments:
It a turd election Owen
I agree that neither choice is very exciting, Steve.
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