Don’t be duped by The Donald – Trump is about to get paid as president

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

Dear misguided Trump supporters: You will be sorely disappointed only a few days, or maybe a few weeks or months, into the Trump presidency, once the euphoria wears off and you are forced to come to terms with reality.

Don’t let the president-elect’s latest con — that he won’t take a salary once he’s sworn in — fool you, either. This is another in a long line of Trump sleight of hands.

Somebody’s getting paid in a Trump administration, and it won’t be you. As president, Trump will use his influence as the most powerful man in the world to benefit his business interests, which could put millions more in his pocket.  If this man is able to make it work — and the circumstances do not suggest otherwise — he will make it happen. And what do you get? A tacky red cap that says “Make America Great Again.”

The president-elect is a walking conflict of interests who believes he can do anything and get away with it.  And as the commander-in-chief, his corruption will be unlike anything we’ve seen.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist, sounded the alarm when he warned Americans to “stay alert.”

“We’re about to enter, or may already have entered, an era of corrupt governance unprecedented in U.S. history. What does it mean?” Krugman tweeted. The First Family may skim $10 billion off the top, which is relatively minor, he noted. “What matters much more is the distortion of policy in directions that can be monetized. Gratuitous private investors in infrastructure is just the start. Expect to see lots of privatization and a general shift from transparent to murky so that favors can be traded.”

And while democratic governments in Europe are barred from offering “de facto personal bribes to the U.S. president,” expect Russia and China to “send huge business to the profiteer-in-chief,” tilting American foreign policy towards authoritarian, tyrannical regimes, he said.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed he would hand off his businesses to his children in a blind trust, which he has not yet done. So, what does he do instead? Of course, blame the media:

Meanwhile, the Trump children are involved in his business dealings and all the government stuff.

Consider what has taken place already, as the website, Donald Trump is Corrupt AF points out. His daughter Ivanka — who, according to the president-elect, will run his businesses while he is destroying the country from the White House — was present for his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. And she also spoke with the president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri. When Macri called Trump to congratulate him, by the way, the Donald repoertedly asked him about building permits for his office building project in Buenos Aires.

Right on schedule, both Macri and Trump later denied this conversation took place.

But there’s much more. During the 2016 campaign, he registered eight companies in Saudi Arabia in connection with a possible hotel deal. One week, after winning the election, Trump met with business partners from India. And he leases the building for his Washington hotel from the federal government, which government officials are not allowed to do. Already, foreign diplomats are staying at Trump hotels in order to get in good with the president-elect.

The Philippine president appointed as special trade envoy to the U.S. a man who is building Trump Tower Manila. In addition, when Trump recently met with British politician Nigel Farange, he urged the Brexit supporter to oppose offshore wind farms that would disturb the “pristine view” from one of his two golf courses in Scotland.

Yet, you knew this man was a con artist. We all knew Trump University was a scam and the money from Trump Foundation benefited Donald Trump.

This week, we learned that the president-elect is peddling $150 Christmas ornaments that say “Make America Great Again.”

The translation? Donald Trump is not doing any of this for anyone other than himself.

Meanwhile, what will the president give you? He will take away overtime pay, sick leave and minimum wage hikes, not to mention appointing judges who will destroy labor unions and worker protections. He will privatize public education and Medicare and cut Social Security and Medicaid. And that will leave you with your gun, your Bible, and the satisfaction of knowing that black folks, Latinos and Muslims will face even more devastation than you.

Using his position as president to make that money, Trump will become the biggest pimp in the history of America. Because he’ll pimp you, the American people, in the process. Sadly, the only way he can get away with it is if he is a true dictator.

Follow David A. Love on Twitter @davidalove