WSJ Calls on Trump to Liquidate His Holdings (Ongoing Conflict of Interest Thread)

[tintinisahottie]

Wait, this terrible businessman now has a powerful business empire? Make up your damn minds

 

[sailordeac]

One of Trump's greatest strengths for his voters was that he appeared to be beholden to no one and seemed to finance his campaign mostly from his own pocket. If Trump places his businesses in a blind trust, then will he be able to self finance again or will he become beholden to rich donors?

 

[Deacfreak07]

One of Trump's greatest strengths for his voters was that he appeared to be beholden to no one and seemed to finance his campaign mostly from his own pocket. If Trump places his businesses in a blind trust, then will he be able to self finance again or will he become beholden to rich donors?

You realize much of these concerns are about debts he currently has to foreign entities, right?

 

[sailordeac]

I am not making an argument either for or against. I am merely drawing attention to an interesting aspect of the situation.

 

[Jamison2Carter]

I am not making an argument either for or against. I am merely drawing attention to an interesting aspect of the situation.

Trump depended plenty on rich donors. He did use millions of his own, and was advantaged by a lot of free coverage, but he still depended on campaign contributions like any other candidate.

 

[sailordeac]

Trump depended plenty on rich donors. He did use millions of his own, and was advantaged by a lot of free coverage, but he still depended on campaign contributions like any other candidate.

yeah, this is the question, to what extent is he dependent on wealthy donors? I think a lot less than others, and that appears to make him different from previous presidents, even more important, how will this new situation of relative independence influence his policies, I think none of us can know just yet

 

[Liquid Karma]

I certainly see the potential for conflict of interest, but I also think it's impractical to expect him to liquidate all of his holdings. We are treading on new ground here, and some of the rules are going to have to be made up as we go along.

The White House Counsel is going to be verrrry busy the next 4 years.

 

[ONW]

I certainly see the potential for conflict of interest, but I also think it's impractical to expect him to liquidate all of his holdings. We are treading on new ground here, and some of the rules are going to have to be made up as we go along.

The White House Counsel is going to be verrrry busy the next 4 years.

+1

 

[ONW]

"The US federal government recognizes the "Qualified blind trust" (QBT), as defined by the Ethics in Government Act and Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, §2634.401 - 414.[1] In order for a blind trust to be a QBT, the trustee must not be affiliated with, associated with, related to, or subject to the control or influence of the grantor (the political official). The trustee should not be a current or former investment advisor, partner, accountant, attorney, or relative."

 

[P4nthers11]

One of Trump's greatest strengths for his voters was that he appeared to be beholden to no one and seemed to finance his campaign mostly from his own pocket. If Trump places his businesses in a blind trust, then will he be able to self finance again or will he become beholden to rich donors?

I don't follow. He isn't giving the money away. An independent trustee is just managing it for him so as to avoid the conflict of interest in him seeking to profit from his office. I am no expert on blind trusts, but I'd imagine that as beneficiary he can still spend the money freely on re-election or funding other campaigns.

 

[P4nthers11]

I certainly see the potential for conflict of interest, but I also think it's impractical to expect him to liquidate all of his holdings. We are treading on new ground here, and some of the rules are going to have to be made up as we go along.

The White House Counsel is going to be verrrry busy the next 4 years.

Agree to disagree. I believe that Trump still thinks he is moonlighting as president and enjoying the title while he goes on with his life like before all of this. I think the office of the president should be treated with the utmost seriousness and respect considering there are 300 million people counting on you, and that means liquidate it all and put it in a blind trust. Anything else is putting self over country. If doing that is a non-starter for candidates going forward, then all the better in that we got to weed out unworthy candidates.

 

[DEACisGO]

Agree to disagree. I believe that Trump still thinks he is moonlighting as president and enjoying the title while he goes on with his life like before all of this. I think the office of the president should be treated with the utmost seriousness and respect considering there are 300 million people counting on you, and that means liquidate it all and put it in a blind trust. Anything else is putting self over country. If doing that is a non-starter for candidates going forward, then all the better in that we got to weed out unworthy candidates.

one does not simply liquidate mordor

 

[ImTheCaptain]

one does not simply liquidate mordor

must. spread. rep.

 

[avalon]

One of Trump's greatest strengths for his voters was that he appeared to be beholden to no one and seemed to finance his campaign mostly from his own pocket. If Trump places his businesses in a blind trust, then will he be able to self finance again or will he become beholden to rich donors?

yeah, this is the question, to what extent is he dependent on wealthy donors? I think a lot less than others, and that appears to make him different from previous presidents, even more important, how will this new situation of relative independence influence his policies, I think none of us can know just yet

Important point, especially since his own contributions only accounted for a fraction of his campaign spending. He's managed appearances well though!

 

[sailordeac]

I don't have the numbers for his campaign finances but I'm pretty certain that he is less, probably far less, beholden to big money special interests than any other president of recent times. And that will probably be an interesting factor in his presidency.

 

[Demonwolverine]

I don't have the numbers for his campaign finances but I'm pretty certain that he is less, probably far less, beholden to big money special interests than any other president of recent times. And that will probably be an interesting factor in his presidency.

If only there were a way we could get those numbers returned to us...

 

[TownieDeac]

I don't have the numbers for his campaign finances but I'm pretty certain that he is less, probably far less, beholden to big money special interests than any other president of recent times. And that will probably be an interesting factor in his presidency.

He's quite literally hundreds of millions of dollars "beholden" to Goldman Sachs and a major Chinese bank.

 

[RJKarl]

I put the O/U of 6.5 White House Counsels. Every time a WHC tells Trump he is wrong, the WHC will be gone.

Trump is beholden to Putin, Duetche Bank, Russian oligarchs and lots of other people. If you don't think Putin is going to call in his favors, you live in a dream world.

 

[Deacfreak07]

WSJ Calls on Trump to Liquidate His Holdings

Agree to disagree. I believe that Trump still thinks he is moonlighting as president and enjoying the title while he goes on with his life like before all of this. I think the office of the president should be treated with the utmost seriousness and respect considering there are 300 million people counting on you, and that means liquidate it all and put it in a blind trust. Anything else is putting self over country. If doing that is a non-starter for candidates going forward, then all the better in that we got to weed out unworthy candidates.

This is a good post.

 

[ChrisL68]

Its amazing that the same people who claimed Clinton was the most corrupt person in the world for supposed pay for play donations to a charitable foundation are now totally comfortable with Trump pushing his private business interests in official calls with heads of state.