Trump Wants Us To Pay Him Millions

Trump wants the American people to pay him $230 million. “A breathtaking act of self dealing, he wants American taxpayers to pay him and place it in his personal bank account as payment for his personal grievances.” The NY Times Opinion Board Editorial goes on, “Trump claims he is owed $230 million from the Justice Department as compensation for previous federal investigations of him, The Times reported on Tuesday. Those investigations looked into his refusal to turn over classified government documents he had taken from the White House and the contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russian operatives.”

“I’m the one that makes the decision, and that decision would have to go across my desk, and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” Trump said.

No sense of shame seems likely to stop his demand for payback and his Justice Department just might do it. The Times Board writes, “He should not be using his power as president to award himself damages. Ordinary citizens can rarely obtain damages from the government even when they have been treated unfairly. And the Constitution bars the president from receiving any compensation from the United States other than salary and modest expenses. Having his appointees rubber-stamp a compensation claim is essentially giving him a blank Treasury check to sign.”

Finally: “Trump should not profit from his presidency. He should pay a political price for his brazen corruption. Instead, he is telling American taxpayers to pay a price, directly to him.”

Trump keeps doing illegal things and no one is stopping him. Judges are trying, but it has become like wack-a-mole with his actions, suspensions and then countersuits. Trump is tearing down parts of the People’s House without American’s approval. Trump is murdering people in boats whom he says are drug dealers, with no due process. Trump is detaining Amerians—sometimes only temporarily— whom he says are undocumented immigrants who are brown and Black in our cities, with no proof.

When will Congressional Republicans wake up and stop this madness? That’s all it will take if for them to turn against Trump and check his now unfettered power. Democrats are doing what they can, some more than others.

Senator Chris Murphy said yesterday on Talking Points Memo,

“We are not living in a functional democracy any longer. It’s not too late to save it, but it is just important to acknowledge that we aren’t on the precipice of losing our democracy. We are losing it every single day. We are not a functional nation with a rule of law any longer, and those toppled walls in the East Wing are a pretty stark reminder of that.”

Trump called off sending ICE to San Francisco because his wealthy tech buddies asked him not to. In a social media post, he said, “friends of mine who live in the area” had asked him to reconsider. I’m all for not sending troops into a city, but the transparency of this duplicity is amazing.

Thanks for being here, everybody. Soon will be sending a bonus post about my day with students yesterday.

I hope your Thursday is going okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.