The barrage that Trump is leveling against Clinton has reached the heights of the Trump Towers. He claims that Hillary “covers up her crimes” and has called for a special prosecutor, “immediately, immediately, immediately”. In this surreal world that this election operates in, these hysterical cries, that are emanating from the self confessed “briber” Trump, are no longer bizarre. They are as commonplace as discussion at The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. One wonders if he and the Republican Party have delved into the possible outcome of his efforts. This especially as his campaign has unravelled and the only questions remaining are by how many electoral votes he will lose by and who will control the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Before analyzing the impact Trump’s new offensive might have, the fact that these accusations of ethical impropriety are gaining so much traction, particularly from the millennials, heralds a new standard of behavior that is being demanded of public officials. Legally, however, almost anything goes. The recent Supreme Court unanimous decision vacating the corruption convictions of Virginia Governor for accepting gifts, money and loans in exchange for favors has narrowed the grounds for convictions of bribery and corruption dramatically. Some commentators claim that to have a successful prosecution now one has to have witnessed evidence of cash being handed over in return for a contract to undertake the “briber’s” wishes. So what is now at stake are the ethical rather than the legal standards that politicians should be held to.
TRUMP AND ETHICS
As far as Trump is concerned he does not argue that he has bribed all his life as a matter of routine. He did so as part of doing business. His past is an unashamed unethical mess of gargantuan proportions. Four bankruptcies where small contractors and individuals by the ton got the shaft and endless stories of underpayment followed by legal muscle so not to pay a penny more than he had to. The liberal use of his name so as to con investors and purchasers that a project was his and when the investors lost their money or their deposit he was nowhere in sight. Then there is the most visible unethical con of them all in the form of the calumnies perpetrated by the for profit Trump University. Thanks to the class action suits, undertaken by Attorneys General, the scandal will explode in his face, sadly only after the election.
So much for the Trump ethical run up to the election. He argues, “believe me”, that this behavior is a recommendation to be a President, because as someone who has gyped the system he will be the best one to put a stop to it!. Now his behavior during the election campaign has been so outrageous that how he can continue with a straight face is a testimony to his psychopathy. Firstly, his proud boast that he would self fund his campaign has turned out to be just an empty boast. His alleged generosity to charity is just that - “alleged”. Even the money publicly pledged to the Veterans in a grandstanding event had to be shaken out of him months later. Investigative reports show that the bulk of his campaign funds have found their way to Trump incorporated. Even all those small donations. Millions have been payed out to family travel much of which is charged to his own airline. His campaign headquarters are in Trump Towers and guess who is the landlord? And guess how much the rental has gone up this past few months? Five hundred percent. He bought $55,000 of books he had “written” and if he took royalties on this “sale” it is against Federal Election rules and would be illegal.
Each day Fact Finders ascertain that most of his key statements are out and out lies, so it is not surprising in his mandatory financial declaration he stated his debts were only $315 million. A three month study by the NY Times shows that it is at least $635 million and Fortune claims it is a billion. Ignoring the obvious misrepresentation he countered that his debt is minimal in relation to his assets. The most damning outcome of this study is that he owes the State Bank of China, an estimated hundreds of millions. Then he rants that he is going to put China in their place. He values his assets depending for whom the valuation is geared for. It is argued that he is not worth nearly the 10 billion he claims but no one will know before the election. A biographer claims that his annual net income is less than $500,000 a year. Nor will the oft stated belief that he pays nothing in taxes become public knowledge because Trump has defied the most universally accepted ethical standard of Presidential elections that is to produce tax returns.
In short it is an oxymoron to say Trump and ethics in the same sentence.
THE CLINTONS AND THEIR FOUNDATION.
The perception has been since time immemorial that the Clintons have been crooked and as a political result they have been investigated up the ying yang. Up until the time they left the WhiteHouse and with Hillary’s sojourn in the Senate there had been no findings of wrong doing. Rather than mollify the accusers it has merely altered the libel to “the sleezes got away with it”. (Blog: Why Do They Hate Hillary?). The problems now all relate to “crooked” Hillary as Secretary of State with Benghazi and her e mails - which indicate her negligence and more recently a “pay for play” smear for donors to the Clinton Foundation. Both her and Bill have been hammered for their speaking arrangements with the not so veiled insinuation that the reason they were paid so much was because the recipients got favors of the type Donald Trump brags about getting.
Benghazi, after over ten legislative investigations that yielded zilch, is not given much play now. Neither are the State e mails where Hillary’s negligence allegedly betrayed the country’s secrets. Even the money she got for speeches to Goldman Sachs is yesterday’s news - the Republicans even though they believe she lied are not risking yet another public relations failure with yet another “investigation". (The Donald owes Goldman several million anyway). Her newest alleged ethical failure is that 84 of the over 150 personal interviews she gave as Secretary of State were to donors to The Clinton Foundation. (The Clinton camp deny these statistics and say the investigation underestimated the number of interviews by 2000). The donor interviewees included Bono, Elie Wiesel, Melinda Gates and other celebrities. The Donald alleges that the Foundation is a private hedge fund for the Clintons. To date there is not an iota of evidence that anyone received any quid pro quo from these meetings but as the Clinton detractors would argue, “That is because they are so crooked and devious that they are never caught out”. So let Jay H. Ell move on to the Foundation.
The Clinton Foundation has now several divisions and is a 2 billion dollar project. It is most highly rated by Charity Watch, the agency that evaluates the integrity and performances of charities. They awarded it an A rating and considered it “exemplary.” The Foundation spends a record 88% of its donations on programs and has one of the lowest overhead costs in the charity world. Their cost to raise a $100 is $2, a figure that is the envy of similar operations. None of the Clintons have a drawn a salary for the work of the Foundation. Their results have been spectacular. It is been estimated that they have saved nearly 12 million lives. One of their projects was the widespread introduction of AIDS antivirals in Africa. The Clintons, together with Bono and Mandela pressured the drug companies to provide the drugs at cost. The rumor was that they threatened to get Indian companies to pirate the drugs if they didn’t play ball. Education, women’s initiatives, Haiti, Home Ownership in Detroit and on and on are the projects.
There is no evidence of Foundation money laundering or individual gain just like there was no evidence of the donors getting any “pay for play” from Hillary. So the newest smear is one big crock and the facile media are going along with it. The media are not elaborating on the Foundation’s achievements and it’s ethical rating rather they are maintaining that Hillary has a “big problem”. Their priority is to keep this horse race going.
Incidentally the Clintons have released 15 years of tax records. The 2015 returns shows them paying tax in the highest bracket and donating 10% of their income to charity. They are really such a “wily hateful evil pair”.
Where the Clintons have gone wrong, in Jay H. Ell’s opinion, is that Hillary should not have delivered highly payed speeches when she obviously knew she was going to be a Presidential candidate. Bill, for his part, having accepted nearly $18 million dollars for punting a for profit educational institution is inexcusable even though it is the University with the least opprobrium. In addition he also has been panned for his highly paid speeches.
MORAL AND ETHICAL EQUIVALENCY
The media’s mantra is that the only candidate Hillary could beat for Presidency is The Donald and the only Democrat Trump could triumph over was Clinton. How neat. How trite. How smug. How untrue. How unethical. One cannot compare a meeting with, an ally, the Sultan of Bahrain with being in hock for hundreds of millions to a Chinese State bank or cozying up to Putin when he has business interests in Russia. Nor is there an equivalency between outright profiteering on your own campaign versus using your position to collect money for charity. Likewise how does misleading investors that you are involved in a project that results in debilitating financial loss for compare to earning money from giving speeches?
Donald J. Trump has no morality or ethics whatsoever and will do whatever it takes to become President. In this Presidential endeavor he has no peer nor is there anyone else now or from the past one can compare his behavior to. If the media haven’t got it yet they have failed in their responsibility to society.
IMPACT OF TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON CLINTON
By smearing Hillary, Trump is solidifying his base as if it needs anymore solidifying. He cannot win over any of Hillary’s base. If he is successful at limiting this fight to the two candidates’ bases he would lose as it has been shown again and again that his core is smaller than Hillary’s. However, if he persuaded those suburban Republicans and Independents that are flocking to Clinton in their droves to stay home rather than vote for her, Jay H. Ell believes he will contribute to handing the legislatures over to the Democrats. You see the big money donors have cried off Trump and all their money is going to the down ballot races. However, if these GOP Hillarycrats and Independents stay at home rather than come out and vote for Hillary they can’t vote for the GOP down ballot Senators and Congressmen either.
So this latest crude attack coupled with his two new senior campaign appointments are indicative of panic and an amateur attempt to cover all his bases. His new campaign manager is a middle of the road Republican and the new CEO is a fringe right wing operator. Both appointed in the transparent hope to appeal to the whole spectrum of the Republican Party. Then his insulting appeal to minorities to vote for him is yet another act of desperation. The final non sequitur is his backtracking on Latino deportation, the central pillar of his bigoted campaign. This is what Trump now really believes, “Believe me”.
As for ethics, Hillary and Bill really should set a different standard especially if they want Hillary to be a two term President. Their post WhiteHouse period with its massive legal bills are paid so the fees for speeches that are worth that amount of money should be donated to the Foundation. One does hope and pray that The Clinton Foundation does not become a casualty of Trump’s destruction and the media’s game playing.
As for The Donald he is guaranteed to make money off his run. He can open a new media company with Roger Ailes at it’s head. His imprimatur has to be worth so much more now that he has received the most votes ever in a Republican Primary. Think of the deals he can now do in Moscow? Presumably he will go back to his old ethical standard and bribe whomever he likes, whenever he likes, in whatever country he likes. One fact is for certain the world will never be the same after the Trump hurricane has swept through it. Jay H. Ell hopes that the USA never sees the likes of a Trump again.
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