Trump Has No Choice: He Has to Sell the Stuff
On Andrew Ross Sorkin's joke letter to the president-elect regarding his business holdings
Donald Trump is about to become president and immediately begin violating the constitution. The constitution explicitly prohibits the president from taking payments and gifts from foreign governments. (Can we stop using the term "emolument"? No one has used it for a hundred years. We want to be clear on what the constitution means.)
"If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century."
Donald Trump is right now and will continue to be taking payments and gifts from foreign governments in the form of benefits to his properties, unless he dumps the stuff. This is about as clear a violation of the constitutional provision imaginable, so why on earth do we have Andrew Ross Sorkin approvingly accepting Donald Trump's nonsense claim in his letter to Mr. Trump:
"You understand the conundrum. 'In theory, I don't have to do anything' to distance yourself from your business holdings, you told journalists at The New York Times last week, 'but I would like to do something -- I would like to try and formalize something.'"
This is wrong. Trump absolutely does have to do something. It's not a question of his being a nice guy. This is a constitutional provision. The constitution sets the rules on who can be president and how they conduct themselves. Just as it says the president must be at least 35 years old and must be a native born citizen, it also says the president can't take payments from foreign governments.
Perhaps even more incredible than Sorkin's misrepresentation of the constitution, his plan is just a bad joke.
"Voluntarily agree to hire what is known as a 'corporate monitor,' an independent overseer with unfettered access to your organizations who will provide regular reports to the public about any possible instances of conflicts."
Okay, let's get this one straight. Donald Trump can't keep himself from tweeting out loony claims about massive vote fraud in the middle of the night. He routinely makes personal attacks on his critics without any evidence. This guy is going to defer to a "corporate monitor" in his actions as president.
So when President Erdogan in Turkey gives favorable treatment to Trump's golf courses there, is the corporate monitor going to be able to know if this affects Donald Trump's decision to look the other way as he locks up all his political opponents? If Scotland decides to ban the wind turbines near his resort, will the corporate monitor know if this affects his attitude towards Scottish independence? And, as a practical matter, do we really believe that Trump would be constantly checking in with his corporate monitor anyhow?
Sorkin's proposal is a complete joke. If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century. (I explain how he could do this here.) If he chooses not to do this, then Trump is constitutionally unable to be president, just as if he was born in Kenya. It's that simple.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Donald Trump is about to become president and immediately begin violating the constitution. The constitution explicitly prohibits the president from taking payments and gifts from foreign governments. (Can we stop using the term "emolument"? No one has used it for a hundred years. We want to be clear on what the constitution means.)
"If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century."
Donald Trump is right now and will continue to be taking payments and gifts from foreign governments in the form of benefits to his properties, unless he dumps the stuff. This is about as clear a violation of the constitutional provision imaginable, so why on earth do we have Andrew Ross Sorkin approvingly accepting Donald Trump's nonsense claim in his letter to Mr. Trump:
"You understand the conundrum. 'In theory, I don't have to do anything' to distance yourself from your business holdings, you told journalists at The New York Times last week, 'but I would like to do something -- I would like to try and formalize something.'"
This is wrong. Trump absolutely does have to do something. It's not a question of his being a nice guy. This is a constitutional provision. The constitution sets the rules on who can be president and how they conduct themselves. Just as it says the president must be at least 35 years old and must be a native born citizen, it also says the president can't take payments from foreign governments.
Perhaps even more incredible than Sorkin's misrepresentation of the constitution, his plan is just a bad joke.
"Voluntarily agree to hire what is known as a 'corporate monitor,' an independent overseer with unfettered access to your organizations who will provide regular reports to the public about any possible instances of conflicts."
Okay, let's get this one straight. Donald Trump can't keep himself from tweeting out loony claims about massive vote fraud in the middle of the night. He routinely makes personal attacks on his critics without any evidence. This guy is going to defer to a "corporate monitor" in his actions as president.
So when President Erdogan in Turkey gives favorable treatment to Trump's golf courses there, is the corporate monitor going to be able to know if this affects Donald Trump's decision to look the other way as he locks up all his political opponents? If Scotland decides to ban the wind turbines near his resort, will the corporate monitor know if this affects his attitude towards Scottish independence? And, as a practical matter, do we really believe that Trump would be constantly checking in with his corporate monitor anyhow?
Sorkin's proposal is a complete joke. If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century. (I explain how he could do this here.) If he chooses not to do this, then Trump is constitutionally unable to be president, just as if he was born in Kenya. It's that simple.
Donald Trump is about to become president and immediately begin violating the constitution. The constitution explicitly prohibits the president from taking payments and gifts from foreign governments. (Can we stop using the term "emolument"? No one has used it for a hundred years. We want to be clear on what the constitution means.)
"If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century."
Donald Trump is right now and will continue to be taking payments and gifts from foreign governments in the form of benefits to his properties, unless he dumps the stuff. This is about as clear a violation of the constitutional provision imaginable, so why on earth do we have Andrew Ross Sorkin approvingly accepting Donald Trump's nonsense claim in his letter to Mr. Trump:
"You understand the conundrum. 'In theory, I don't have to do anything' to distance yourself from your business holdings, you told journalists at The New York Times last week, 'but I would like to do something -- I would like to try and formalize something.'"
This is wrong. Trump absolutely does have to do something. It's not a question of his being a nice guy. This is a constitutional provision. The constitution sets the rules on who can be president and how they conduct themselves. Just as it says the president must be at least 35 years old and must be a native born citizen, it also says the president can't take payments from foreign governments.
Perhaps even more incredible than Sorkin's misrepresentation of the constitution, his plan is just a bad joke.
"Voluntarily agree to hire what is known as a 'corporate monitor,' an independent overseer with unfettered access to your organizations who will provide regular reports to the public about any possible instances of conflicts."
Okay, let's get this one straight. Donald Trump can't keep himself from tweeting out loony claims about massive vote fraud in the middle of the night. He routinely makes personal attacks on his critics without any evidence. This guy is going to defer to a "corporate monitor" in his actions as president.
So when President Erdogan in Turkey gives favorable treatment to Trump's golf courses there, is the corporate monitor going to be able to know if this affects Donald Trump's decision to look the other way as he locks up all his political opponents? If Scotland decides to ban the wind turbines near his resort, will the corporate monitor know if this affects his attitude towards Scottish independence? And, as a practical matter, do we really believe that Trump would be constantly checking in with his corporate monitor anyhow?
Sorkin's proposal is a complete joke. If we give a damn about the constitution, Donald Trump has to sell off his empire and place his assets in a blind trust, just like every other president has done for the last half century. (I explain how he could do this here.) If he chooses not to do this, then Trump is constitutionally unable to be president, just as if he was born in Kenya. It's that simple.