Two interrelated phenomena are emerging. First, we have multiple reports of Trump already using his election to advance his business interests, including from Trump himself in his meeting with New York Times editors and writers. Second, as Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo points out, other business benefits are beginning accrue to him as a matter of course, as if he were the luckiest man in the world and things were working out for him, as foreign actors seek to curry favor with the president-elect.
I think it's fair to say that in any previous election, this activity would have been broadly perceived and condemned as shameful profiteering from public office, whether or not it was technically illegal. But I keep coming back to a more basic point - isn't what Trump doing an act of fundamental disrespect to this office and the job he's been entrusted with? In this light, another of Trump's responses at the NYT sit-down grabbed my attention: "But in theory I could run my business perfectly, and then run the country perfectly. And there’s never been a case like this where somebody’s had, like, if you look at other people of wealth, they didn’t have this kind of asset and this kind of wealth, frankly. It’s just a different thing." Who in their right mind would think they could be president and head of a successful company?
Donald Trump can't seem to fully acknowledge or comprehend the fact that he has a new full-time job now. What does it matter that he says he's looking to "formalize something" around running his business? Up to now, he's remained involved, and apart from the conflicts of interest this presents (whether or not he believes they're real), it's clear that he's got no problem using the presidency to cash in. What are Americans thinking right now? Have we so fully accepted cronyism in our economy that it's no big deal if even the president uses his position to make a buck? That it's not big deal to use the presidency for personal gain? Aren't the problems with this obvious, that it lures the president into confusing his interests with the people's interests? Are people just in disbelief, thinking he can't be serious? Is it just being underreported? Are we in a post-truth universe, where half the population isn't going to believe this even if they read it, because it didn't come from approved right-wing news sources? How is this not corruption of the highest order?
I know that there's a lot of other horrible stuff going on as Trump puts together his administration, from neo-Nazi enabler Steve Bannon to anti-civil rights icon Jeff Sessions, from a hard-right national security line-up to the proposed phaseout of Medicare waiting in the wings. But Trump's use of his office to promote his business disturbs me the most right now, because in one blow the president-elect plays us all for chumps, revealing his con for all to see, without apparent fear of repercussions. It's almost like he's privatizing the presidency, taking something that's always been all of ours, and making it only his own. This is all bad enough. What's most disturbing to me, though, is if we let him.