Monday, November 20, 2017

White House: Trump Empire, Inc. Annex for 4-8 Years (Up to Voters)

“Ours, All Ours — Deal With It” /s/ DJT
(CEO and Chairman of the Board)


Astonishing and excellent story here from a Daily Beast examination of public records.

It reveals that there are at least 20 families, joined by either blood or marriage, in which multiple members hold some Trump Federal post or key appointment.

They include the families of some of Trump’s most prominent campaign supporters and agency officials, including one cabinet officer. The posts range from senior White House staff to more ceremonial and advisory positions.

A few of the most prominent cases:

* In recent weeks Eric Trump’s brother-in-law was hired to be Chief of Staff at the DOE.

*  The nomination of Brett Talley to a Federal judgeship in Alabama.

(Noteworthy: In paperwork filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Talley failed to disclose that his wife is the chief of staff to the White House senior counsel Don McGahn — presenting a potential conflict of interest if the administration ever argues a case in Talley’s court).

* Additionally, McGahn also has a direct relation in the administration. His wife, Sharron McGahn, was hired in May as a policy adviser to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

*  In March, Trump tapped former Ford Motor Company lawyer Jim Carroll to join McGahn’s team. Carroll has since moved over to OMB where he serves as general counsel, but before he did, the White House hired his son, James Carroll III — whose previous professional experience consisted of a stint as the sports editor of his college newspaper — as a staff assistant.

Now, such staffing choices of family members (blood or marriage) aren’t necessarily novel for this administration. Historically-speaking, from President John Adams to John F. Kennedy, presidents and their teams have drawn on families for high-level staffing (e.g., Bobby Kennedy as AG).

A lack of comprehensive records for previous administrations makes it difficult to gauge whether the Trump administration is staffed by more families than his predecessors did. However, Trump’s administration is, more than any since perhaps Kennedy’s, defined by blood relations, with daughter Ivanka Trump-Kushner and son-in-law Jared Kushner occupying senior posts.

Son Don Jr. and son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara Trump, serve as prominent public faces of the president’s political and business arms. And the degree to which other families supply the administration with top talent only further illustrates the insularity of the current group controlling the levers of power in Washington, D.C.

This story is extensive and continues here.

My Analysis is Simple: The Trump family is in government to make money, world contacts, and expand their empire either while in office or after.

They are running government like a business acquisition with Trump at the head of the board and CEO.

That is painfully obvious.

Trump talks about “America First” or make us “Great Again.” Yet he makes meals on foreign trips to import more foreign product (made off-shore I presume).


When President Trump returned this week from a 12-day, five-nation swing through Asia, he gave himself high marks for the “tremendous success of this trip.”

But experts say that while he avoided major blunders during his stops in Japan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, the president missed more than one opportunity to offer his administration's strategic vision for the region — the world's largest, most populous and fastest growing.

“It was all fluff," says David Shambaugh, a professor of political science and international affairs at the Elliott School at George Washington University, adding; 

“Nothing came out of it except Trump flying in and being treated well himself.” 

He points to the lavish dinners, honor guards at nearly every stop and the tea to which the president was treated in Beijing's Forbidden City as “symbols that the Chinese and in fact, most Asian leaders, have figured out Trump” — by flattering his ego.

This is classic Trump: seek and stay in the spotlight anyway possible to promote himself and family and Trump Empire, Inc.

How long will this last? Who knows? Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.

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