Don’t believe a word Donald Trump says about getting money out of politics — he’s part of the problem, and his apparent bribe of Republican Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi highlights it.
Although this scandal has been overshadowed by all the drama surrounding Hillary Clinton having the flu, her emails, the Clinton Foundation, etc. — it’s actually a really big deal.
Here’s the gist of what happened: Back in 2013, Bondi was thinking of joining a massive lawsuit against Trump University, which was accused of ripping off thousands of students.
Shortly after receiving a $25,000 campaign check from the Donald J. Trump foundation, however, Bondi decided not to join that lawsuit.
Bondi, of course, denies any wrongdoing, but no one in Florida is buying her excuses.
All three major Sunshine State newspapers — the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times — have now called for a federal investigation into an incident that certainly looks like a classic case of quid-pro-quo corruption.
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
The Tampa Bay Times was especially tough in its call for a federal probe, arguing that since “The appearance of something more than a coincidence is too serious — and the unresolved questions are too numerous — to accept blanket denials by Bondi and Trump without more digging and an independent review.”
Now, under normal circumstances, a scandal of this magnitude would be all over the news.
If Clinton, for example, were involved in anything like this, we’d never hear the end of it.
But because it’s Trump, the whole story has slipped down the memory hole.
And that’s despite the fact that the campaign donation that set off this scandal was itself illegal and worthy of a $2,500 fine for Trump breaking the law!
So what’s going on here?
How is Trump able to weather a pay-to-play scandal that would probably doom another candidate?
The answer is simpler than you might think: Trump can survive this kind of scandal because being involved in this kind of scandal is a huge part of his appeal.
You see, unlike Bernie Sanders, who approached money in politics as an outside reformer, Trump approaches the issue as an insider, as someone who actively participates in the kind of wheel-greasing that’s turned our republic into the best democracy money can buy.
He’s even gone so far as to crack jokes about how much he loves bribing people.
This is a weird strategy, but it makes sense from a certain point of view.
By admitting his own corruption, Trump makes himself out to be the only honest guy in the room.
He’s trying to point our that the emperor has no clothes by taking off all his clothes himself.
This is why the Bondi story hasn’t hurt Trump as much as it would hurt another candidate — it just proves his point that the system is corrupt.
But can someone like Trump actually FIX our broken political system?
That’s the real question, and the answer is no, he can’t.
Trump might be “honest” in his own grotesque sort of way about pay-to-play politics in the US, but that kind of honesty doesn’t translate into good governance.
Quite the opposite, actually.
Trump is someone who’s made billions by hustles and bribes, and he’s not going to suddenly change once he becomes president.
He’ll still be the same privileged bully he’s always been.
If he brings his corrupt deal-making skills to the White House, expect him and his buddies to get rich and US workers to get the shaft.
That’s the way it’s always been with Trump the businessman; it’s the way it’ll be with Trump the politician.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
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