Reason # 98; Et cetera:
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
As we get to the end of 100 reasons not to vote for Donald Trump, we need to cover some miscellaneous reasons.
Emoluments: Let’s start with Donald Trump’s willful and flagrant violation of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the constitution.
“Black’s Law Dictionary defines an “emolument” as an “advantage, profit, or gain received as a result of one’s employment or one’s holding of office.””
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/if/if11086
Why ban emoluments from foreign countries?
“The purpose of the Foreign Emoluments Clause is to prevent corruption and limit foreign influence on federal officers.”
All previous presidents have provided the American public with recent federal tax returns. We at least knew that the man we were voting for was not so corrupt that he couldn’t cover up his tracks. Trump refused, for obvious reasons, making it difficult to monitor his compliance with the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution (art. I, § 9, cl. 8): which demands that.
“[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
Prince? What about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? After his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner left Trump administration positions, they quickly scored a two-billion-dollar deal with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Does that name ring any bells? It should; he stands accused of having ordered the grisly murder and dismemberment of a reporter in 2018.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/jamal-khashoggi-murder-us-intelligence-report/index.html
What will the Kushners do with the cash? Jared and Ivanka are currently In negotiations to build a billion dollars’ worth of “Trump Villas” on a pristine island in Albania, using Saudi backer funding.
Would a reasonable person have concern that $2 billion will influence our president, if Trump is reelected? Does a bear go potty in the forest?
What about emoluments from ‘foreign states”? Let’s consider Russia. Forbes magazine reports in depth on Trump’s dealings with Russians to build or brand hotels both in Moscow and NYC (Trump SoHo). The Russians included convicted felon Felix Sater and the deal “had Putin fingerprints all over it.” Putin has also been publicly accused of ordering murders.
The Forbes article includes a complex diagram illustrating all the Russian oligarchs, crooks and pols involved in the Moscow hotel schemes.
The Steele dossier and Meuller reports also shared concerns that Russian spy agencies would have bugged Donald Trump’s hotel rooms during his multiple visits there and obtained “kompromat”. More specifically, they cited chat that Trump had stayed in room 1101, “the Presidential Suite” of the Moscow Ritz-Carleton Hotel and hired prostitutes to urinate on the bed where President Barack Obama and his wife Michele had slept during a state visit to Russia. This report remains unsubstantiated. If true, such a ”peepee tape” would provide an obvious source for a Russian spy agency to blackmail POTUS.
What about domestic emoluments? Trump clearly cashed in on his presidency. Those who wished to ingratiate him could pay exorbitant rates to stay at his Washington D.C. Hotel or Mar a Lago or play on his golf courses.
Trump made out like a bandit, spending your tax dollars to house the Secret Service at his hotels – at extortionist prices.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/18/trump-hotel-secret-service-overcharging/
Didn’t he just want to be kind to secret service agents guarding him? If so, why were agents guarding Ivanka and Jared not allowed to use their bathroom and have to visit the Obama home nearby to use their bathroom? Taxpayers ultimately paid $3,000 a month so that secret service agents had a place to pee. You just can’t make this stuff up!
Trump had signed over control of his many businesses to the princes uncharming, Don Jr. and Eric. Would Junior and Eric be ethical upgrades on their dad? New York Arthur Engoron recently fined each brother $4 million for fraudulent business practices and banned them from holding an executive business position in New York for two years. Chips off the old block.
The youngest Trump son, Baron, is just a freshman in college but has already been reported to be implicated in a very dicey cryptocurrency venture with sleezy, ex-con, white-collar criminal Martin Shkreli.
https://www.newsweek.com/crypto-djt-barron-trump-martin-shkreli-1915147
These emolument clause violations are just the tip of an iceberg, but the Supreme Court has already provided a free “Get out of Jail” card, so let’s move on.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/emoluments-supreme-court-donald-trump-case/index.html
Dynasty:
Oligarchs and dictators with imperial aspirations not only seek to solidify their political power, they also seek to pass it on within their families. His daughter Ivanka was appointed as an unpaid White House adviser. Her husband, Jared Kushner was an unpaid senior adviser. Jared’s dad also benefited, pardoned by Donald Trump to expunge his conviction for hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law.
https://people.com/politics/trump-pardons-jared-kushners-dad-manafort-stone/
Donald Jr. and Eric Trump got the Trump Organization and many other business entities. Their ladies have also been empowered. Eric’s spouse Lara is co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Kimberly Gilfoyle, Junior’s girlfriend, served as “an advisor and led the fundraising division of Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Guilfoyle
Barron was all set to be an official RNC Convention delegate until mom put the kibosh on it.
This litany of family favoritism shrieks out “nepotism”. Nepotism, isn’t that illegal? 5 U.S. Code § 3110 – Employment of relatives; restrictions, clearly states that it is.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3110
Sleaze, scandal, corruption, nepotism, poisoning, dismemberment; sounds like the plot of a B-movie. It might play, long-run, on the big screen, if you vote for Donald Trump.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
To date, I have written 98 reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump . They are archived at my Facebook page
“100 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump”.
Please visit the page and share the URL with your friends and colleagues.
Please click on the URL link below.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565843924438
You will be prompted in an on-screen box to “See More on Facebook”.
You can view the page even If you are not a registered Facebook user. Simply click on the X in the upper right corner of the pop up box and you will be able to view the site and all of its contents.
Because some have problems with Facebook, I have also opened a web page at
https://www.TRUMP100TIMESNO.COM
And started to add the 100 reasons there. It is a work in progress.
Why have I committed to posting 100 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump? Because I do not have time to post 10,000.
Fred Grannis
October 22, 2024