Don Trump and the world of slimy favours
I wouldn’t be the first person to point out how Trump runs his administration like a Mafia crime family: the importance of personal loyalty above all else; open threats against political opponents; the purely transactional nature of everything, to name a few of his tendencies.
It is fascinating to see how Trump’s team is trying to defend accepting a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar. The specifics of the gift are that it will be available for Trump to use as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office. We are told that ownership will then be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation.
The jet is apparently absurdly opulent with an estimated value of around $400 million and called by some “the palace in the sky.” Besides the optics of an American president flying around in such a thing, there is that little detail about how it appears to contravene the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
As one source describes the clause:
Also known as the Title of Nobility Clause, Article I, Section 9 , Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits any person holding a government office from accepting any present, emolument , office, or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State ,” without congressional consent. This clause is meant to prevent external influence and corruption of American officers by foreign States.
To get around this, the plane is actually being given to the U.S. Air Force, so not directly to an individual. And the fact that it will eventually be given to the Trump Presidential Library, according to an analysis by Trump’s own team, makes everything hunky dory. That Trump gets to use this thing should, the argument goes, be in no way construed as a personal favour that might require some sort of corrupt reciprocity. Got it?
My favourite part is Attorney General Pam Bondi’s statement that the gift should not be considered bribery because it is not conditional on any specific act. Okay, so here’s where we get back to the Mafia thing.
In the movie The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, is sitting down with Amerigo Bonasera, played by Salvatore Corsitto. Bonasera’s daughter has been assaulted by two men and Boasera wants retribution. Corleone agrees to help.
In return, Corleone asks nothing, but famously says,
Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.
See? No bribery.
In the case of Trump’s gaudy airplane, it is the royal family of Qatar who may come knocking, but the general idea is the same. Trump inhabits a world where a wink and a nod is all that is needed to cover for what would be considered despicable behaviour under any other circumstances.
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