Just even trying to do this should be an impeachable offense!
Someone on Quora asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response: (this is not the full quote since it doesn't fit)
"...Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem... he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
... And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever....And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
...his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. .... His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness....
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
...And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.... He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down..."
Some of us don't like him either!
4
A little Trump-initiated scandal to distract us from his more profoundly nefarious misdeeds in Ukraine--the ones that are getting him impeached.
Sadly, I wonder if Trump's tragic Syrian/Kurd/Turk spontaneous decision was in his petty little mind also intended to be a distraction from things more important to him personally.
2
Camp David should always have been the choice. Secure enough for Jimmy Carter to negotiate a peace treaty. Owned by the government so there's no emoluments problem. Handy to international airports or military airports.
1
When he golfs at his own resorts, are the Secret Service rooms provided “at cost”?
@ EW
Trump properties all over the world are charging our many agencies to protect the POTUS. That is how they are raping the U. S. Treasury unabated!
2
Have it at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Tetons. The Fed has a retreat there every summer, helicopter landing pad at a nearby vista point, airport in Jackson Hole. Great view of Mt. Moran.
Of course, it's a Rockefeller company, so Trump will have to get over that.
Trump says he will start a selection process. That is an admission that there was no selection process before.
According to WH chief if staff, there was a selection process. Doral came on top (“far and away”). In that case, they just pick the facility that was ranked second.
Trump has called his own bluff.
3
Trump wins again here. He played this to his best advantage. Firstly he likes scandal and to run the new cycle. Secondly he took a risk to make a lot of money for himself. While that plan was squashed, he still gets tons of press for his struggling property. How many people will now go stay there as a sign of support? A bunch I suspect. How do we get rid of this man? It can’t happen soon enough. Impeach.
2
The bedbugs of Doral wish to express their displeasure at not being delivered the promised foreign food. Appears that our Commander of Hospitality has betrayed them, too.
3
Another Times article includes “At the end of the day,” Mr. Mulvaney said Sunday, “he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business, and he saw an opportunity to take the biggest leaders from around the world, and he wanted to put the absolute best show, the best visit that he possibly could.”
Trump "...considers himself in the hospitality business..."?! So he wants to put on a good show for 'the rest of the world'.
The same world that has watched Trump lead chants of "build a wall" at his rallies. The same world that has watched Trump separate families, and lock them up in squalor. The same world that has seen Trump separate children from parents, and then lose track of them.
Trump wants to present a 'good image' to the world? No amount of glitzy whitewash is ever going to clean up the stains that Trump has brought to the United States' international image and prestige. We will have to earn back the trust and the admiration of the rest of the world over years, one Trump lie, cruelty, ignorant slur, and idiotic policy decision at a time. Thanks, Trump! Thanks for nothing!
12
For once, I agree with Trump when he said using Trump National Doral in Miami was him doing something very good for our country. It would've accelerated his impeachment and hopefully removal from office.
But hey, he backed down from it. Such a strong president! So much winning!
Sarcasm aside, I'm flabbergasted by Republicans who still have to "consider" if this constituted a violation of the Emoluments Clause. It's as if Trump has to hold a megaphone to their faces and scream that yes, he is indeed flouting the law before they'd actually get their heads screwed on right.
A few years ago, I heard a joke that the goal of every other politician in the world is to improve the lives of the people who elected them, while the goal of US politicians is to get re-elected. Doesn't sound so much like a joke now, sadly.
13
Since when has so-called 'hostile' media prompted Trump to change his course of action? Indeed, his routine response is to double down and dig in his heels in defiance. This smells of rotten fish.
8
I am ashamed as a New Yorker that this man hails from New York...him and Guiliani. What an embarrassment. An unmitigated disgrace.
10
Only a desperate man on the edge of bankruptcy
would try a stunt like that
8
This course correction (perhaps one should say coarse correction) doesn’t change the fact that he is a boorish parvenue who is utterly incapable of providing dignified and laudable leadership for our ship of state.
10
It's good to see Christine Lagarde taking over the European Central Bank after leading the International Monetary Fund successfully for years. She brings a voice or reason and also solid leadership at a time when Trump is trying to destroy the EU and NATO and international banking and trading agreements. We need more women of her experience and caliber heading top international institutions. And fewer nut jobs in our White House.
9
If you look at the comments and replies, the glaring undercurrent is that the goal - Removal from office - has continually been in search of a way - any way - to get there.
This began the night of the election as shock turned to rage and "safe space" anxiety disorders.
There is also extreme ignorance about the emoluments clause and the historical context when it was written. (similar to the level of ignorance abetted by an activist judiciary in regards to the establishment clause)
During the early days of our nascent republic, when currencies were unstable and loyalties among the public malleable, there was fear that major enticements - land, titles etc could sway high officials away from what s best for the country. In scope, a few shekels here and there aren't even on the radar in the context of what the emoluments clause is really about.
The emoluments clause makes a nice talking point to rally around if you don't like DJT, but in its historical context this is chickenfeed we are talking about and all this gnashing of teeth belies the desperation for anything to stick to reach the so far failed goal of removal.
Gonna just have to get over it and snuggle a stuffed animal. The rest of us don't really care about the Left's collective angst.
@ Todd stultz
This President is crooked as can be. He has been that way since day 1 of his presidency. It has nothing to do with the left or the right for that matter. It’s if we are going to be a country of laws. Donald J. Trump has learned to master his powers as president that will benefit him and his family the most. He has openly violated the Constitution he swore an oath to uphold. Once a con, always a con. He has managed to con even you. It is also why he is always lying. Put your blinders on if you must. The rest of us are going to hold him and his dysfunctional administration accountable. Sleep tight!
@Todd Stultz
Hey, but weren't you one of the angst ridden, pearl clutching Right Wing who had a hissy fit about Clinton "selling" the Lincoln Bedroom and having his cronies "take" over the White House Travel office. Yeah, that's what I thought. Chicken feed is clearly in the eye of beholder.
It is your interpretation of the emoluments clause that is grossly uninformed.
If Trump opts for Camp David he can sleep in Obama's bed.
7
Are we to believe that the Organization will not be getting a commission from whichever venue is ultimately chosen? Does anyone think that Trump is unaware of the size of the favor that he is going to bestow on some lucky recipient? This story isn't over yet.
5
I am doubtful that Trumpland Doral was ever seriously considered for the G7 meeting. It's more likely that Thursday's announcement was a diversionary tactic to distract his cult from the bad news coming out of impeachment hearings. This of course badly backfired because Mulvaney told the truth for a change when he confirmed the quid pro quo regarding Ukraine. The secondary objective to publicize his failing property however was successful as we are all still talking about it.
10
@AreWeThereYet The US strongarms / coerces behavior over monetary and other aid all the time. The most telling comment by Mulvaney was the attitude many of us share - "get over it"
1
He didn’t put up much of a fight. What a loser.
6
Trump will be highly resistant to any decision to use another commercial location, since he alone should capitalize on the G7. That’s why Camp David, renamed Camp Donald, for the occasion, is now being mentioned.
3
Y’all know that G-7 meeting is in June 2020.
Also, Joe Biden not being the Democratic nominee is less likely to be the case. It’s started to appear that Biden might be a decoy, just for 45 to go after, while the real candidate will eventually materialize.
45 works so hard on getting retired early.
4
@freeasabird Interesting theory.
Well, there's always Mar-a-Lago...
6
Trump blinked over the self serving selection of the Doral. Was it guilt, shame, embarrassment? Highly unlikely given the malignancy of his narcissism. Some tin pot dictator probably called and said they preferred the lower profile hotels in Newark...and he folded.
4
Why did he flinch? Because maybe, just maybe he actually listened tonan advisor who said " Your base does understand or care about (or find on a map) Syria or Ukraine. They do understand "kickbacks" because that happens with their local politicians." ..
......Why did he use a playground analogy to explain taking troops out of Ukraine. Because he knows simplicity and rants work. ..
..Hillary and Obama are two of the smartest kids in the class. His base hates the smartest kid in the class.
9
Now that Trump will select a new location for next G7meeting, will he be asking of the new site owners a "finders fee" aka kickback?
If still the problem is unresolved, he could always organize what would be known as The New G4: Russia, North Korea, the Philippines and Turkey.
2
The announcement generated the obviously expected hullabaloo and then the retraction generated more hullabaloo, and which actual news dropped of page one for two days? Media should create a "page six" for WH distraction news (call it page fore! or something) and for front page headlines stick with things like foreign election incursions and certainly middle east wars whether or not they're intended as tale-wagging. Just refuse to follow distractions. What's a distraction? You know. Triage.
1
Shucks,
I was hoping they would hold it there and it could get hit with one of those powerful storms, fueled by warming waters. It would be pretty ironic for a G& with Climate Change not on the agenda, since our stupid government is still questioning science.
4
If I had the power, I would impeach Trump right now.
13
If this was a publicity stunt, the bad publicity from the RNC fundraiser attendees who panned the hotel rooms as smelling like mildew and the restaurant as reeking may have expedited a change of mind.
Media, Congressional, and foreign government objections were probably not even a consideration.
This administration is all about PR and photo ops.
5
Trump was afraid it would be the G1 with only himself in attendance.
10
I would think there was also quiet pushback from the G7 attendees who don’t want this summit meeting to be tainted as corrupt by enriching Trump’s wallet.
Trump is extremely disliked by international players so I think they were unhappy about the choice of the Doral.
The fact that it is hot, humid in June and has a history of bed bug infestation probably didn’t help.
14
Maybe Trump could arrange for a beauty pageant at Doral instead of the G-7. That should entice a bunch of old goats and grabbers to pony up for expensive rooms, bugs and all.
9
Trump doesn't pay anyone for anything. He owes many cities lots of money and stiffed them. Including but not limited to the cops. Ask the IRS. He's a deadbeat. ugh. We're so blessed with the "chosen one."
13
Why is he in charge of picking a location?
6
All in all, not too bad a deal. He loses on the hotel, but wins on resentful grievance, which has been his stock in trade anyway. He's got one more line for his anger show - deep state government types won't let him grace world leaders with his wonderful hotel. "Oh poor me."
7
Flamboyant president Trump equal as Louie XIV of france
2
Whatever the location, Trump has taken climate change off the agenda.
That's the scandal.
14
Just when you think things can't go lower, Trump still manages to go one step further into indecency and corruption. Nero has gone mad full throttle, the Empire is in decay and Rome is burning... All it takes is 20 brave Republican senators who love their country enough to STOP this farce ! So sad to see this great country sinking in the swamp of nepotism.
9
It is past time to end real estate self dealing, 500k speaking fees from Russian banks, 60 million dollar book and movie deals, having sons sit on the boards of corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs, stock grants, TV punditry stunts and other forms of corruption that come with ‘public service’....it should apply to Congress, the Executive and Judicial branches of government...including all staff and family members. If that form of ‘public service’ doesn’t appeal to you, perhaps you can grow peanuts in Georgia or run a charitable organization building homes for the poor.
11
Why did President Trump agree to look for a different location? Wasn’t Doral chosen after an exhaustive appraisal of numerous facilities against a defined set of criteria on the needs for a G-7 meeting? You mean it wasn’t! That the choice reflected the President using the powers of his office for his own financial gain? I’m shocked...shocked!
12
“Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer ..."
Dumb Trump. ,,,based upon,,,, For him to 'host' it there,, it is not just illegal. It is UN-Constitutional. A clear and simple violation of his Oath of Office.
What's with his guy? Can't he read? No, he can't.
8
Sigh...Putin would've preferred Florida as a venue, given how cold Moscow can get...
(there's talk the G7 will become the G8 again, with Russia being re-admitted)
4
Camp David? No way.
Could Adelman or Wynn make a donation to host the G7? Worth a shot. There's more than one way make a buck in this Presidency racket.
In fact, I think it was in a 2006 TV interview that I said were I to become president, "I'd be the first to make money at it."
And I always keep the promises I make to myself. That's the kind of guy I am.
6
Didn't Doral have a severe bed bug problem?
6
The new venue: The Trump Istanbul. A win/win for the Fake President and Erdogan.
6
I wonder what politics would be like if newspapers just didn’t mention what political party Senators or Representatives belong to when reporting on their positions or opinions. Instead we mention it every. single. time. Without exception. How does that influence polarization? We pay attention to “D” or “R” and choose to listen or dismiss, without ever even really paying attention to the content.
4
Where is bi-partisan support for a bill that would end the gravy train for Presidents, former Presidents, their families, members of their cabinet, members of their staff, members of Congress...essentially anyone appointed or elected to any position in our three branches of government...to personally profit from lobbying and speaking gigs, TV pundit, book deals, corporate boards or any other activity meant to take advantage of their public service? When you leave office, get a real job like everyone else...or retire.
7
The problem here is, he didn't wait till he left office. He is raking in the cash now. His intent all along. And before he took office conning people for money was his "real" job.
3
Ummmm, nice try Donald.
8
This article describes the sequence of events when Trump considered hosting G7 at one of his own properties. He was planning on holding the event at his golf course which would ultimately result in benefits of publicity even if it did not get any immediate monetary gain. The article notes that both Democrats and Republicans expressed that this was not appropriate and that the president needed to select another location instead. The article sticks to facts and comments made by both Democrats and Republicans and does not seem to antagonize the president aside from discussing the misconduct of the planned arrangement. The one point that does seem to have the intent of painting Trump in a bad light is the very end. Why does it note that Trump spent about a third of his time as president at one of his private properties? This article is about the G7 meeting, and while he did propose to host the meeting at one of his properties, this claim is placed oddly and comes across as critical of him in a way that does not quite fit with the tone of the rest of the article.
1
@Jen
It bears mentioning because it is part of the context in which Trump selected to enrich himself by hosting the G7 at his own resort. That is why it's relevant. Do you understand now?
8
@Jen It’s relevant because every time Trump stays there, he makes money at taxpayers’ expense. We pay the hotel to lodge (and probably feed) secret service agents, and also every aide and staff member who accompanies him. His whole entourage. And it’s also publicity for the hotel. So the article is pointing out that even without the G7 summit, Trump profits from his properties while in office and because he’s in office.
7
It is not impossible given how bereft of any ethics or scruples is the moral weakling in the White House, that he proposed the Trump National Doral near Miami just to cause controversy knowing full well it was never going to happen.
He clear lives by the gospel "there is no such thing as bad publicity". He had to have known the grotesque ethics questions but also he probably realised it was an impossible venue given nightmerish security concerns. However now he can play the victim to his lemmings who are triggered by hatred of the press. One more example of the unfair press hunting him down.
On the other hand Trump may just be extremely stupid. Or he may be both evil and stupid.
Either way he is dangerous as a solid rabid minority is ready to be triggered into action to support dear leader, their great strongman. They confuse rudeness with strength and extreme lying with extreme intelligence. A pathetic psychopath surrounded by like minded moral weaklings.
It is simply disgusting. Time to put an end to this dangerous farce.
9
What a liar Trump and his spin doctoring supporters are. (I know that's no surprise at this stage) but does he really expect anyone to think the "crazy Democrats and media" would ever cause him to change something he's doing? I mean if Republicans and right wingers and Fox News pundits were not the intense HYPOCRITES that they are, I would expect them to be severely incensed by their fearless leader backing down for that reason! But since playing victim is the only other thing they do just as well as hypocrisy, they will say Trump is so unfairly treated that the mean and crazy Democrats and liberal media made him change his super generous offer for the next G7 - boo hoo and sniff sniff. Remind me who the snowflakes are again...
6
Trump is a crook through and through. Why is he still in office? Oh right, crooks in Congress.
12
I don't understand why the NYT is referring to the Doral as a "luxury" golf club. It seems many people dispute that adjective.
6
According to Mick Mulvaney in his recent Chris Wallace interview, he said the Trump "still thinks he's in the hospitality business." Really? Did he forget that there was this election thing in 2016 where his Russian friends helped him cheat his way to victory? Did he not remember that he is being investigated for abuse of power and is running headlong into impeachment for his various crimes? How can you not remember this? That's his excuse for obvious violations of the emoluments clause of the constitution? He still thinks he's in the hospitality business?
13
What’s wrong with Trump’s resort? I hear it’s beautiful with great amenities. No better way to show the rest of the world how we do here in America than to treat them to a series of discussions hosted at the resort owned by one of the great success stories in all of America: the child prodigy that helped his dad build a great real estate empire throughout the globe, trying his hand at television only to build one of the most popular shows of its time and launching the foregoing successes into becoming the improbable President of all Americans and thereby the most powerful man in the universe! I’m feeling inspired just writing these words. Seems like a lost opportunity. Luckily Trump will make it up to us as he always does!
1
I gope for your sake that that “child prodigy,” bit was ham-handed satire.
9
@Robert
You’re right, child was in fact the teacher. Far more successful than the elder. I stand corrected.
1
@Bob This reads like paid publicity for Trump. And shows an alarming disregard for ethics and the constitution.
3
If I decide I want those boots for $250 and give myself a 5 finger discount, I'll tell the police officer, Trump doesn't obey the laws, why should I?
Wow, I can have a lot of fun with this reality.
Oh wait, I would get arrested, convicted and go to jail. I'm not privileged like our erstwhile president.
I choose to live in American society and therefore, I obey it's laws to the best of my ability.
My last speeding ticket was hideously expensive, brought my insurance cost way up and I learned my lesson. I don't speed anymore.
A basic lesson Trump never learned.
If one of his properties goes under, he stiffs the people that work for him. Right now, he thinks that's you and me.
We are picking up the tab for his exaggerated lifestyle and spending habits. His wife is the same as he.
Her "Be Best" anti-bullying campaign is just too ironic to take seriously. Honestly, was this her stab at humor or her taking a stab at him? I still don't know.
We are just little figures on a spreadsheet to Trump and he wants us to keep earning so he can keep golfing and starting wars.
The presidency is a boring game to Trump and if he can't make money off of the office, he will resign.
His total desire for becoming president was to make it the ultimate money making machine and he's done pretty well up to now.
Congrats GOP. Well done. Way to back up your mobster president.
Too bad he pushed the G7-Doral issue over the line. Appears to be the tipping point.
5
Next week he’ll announce the summit will be in Kentucky.
6
If he does it correctly he will choose a small city that needs economic stimulus and the event will be held at a very basic hotel. He will challenge Democrats to do more for areas needing economic improvement and will suggest that they would not be as thrifty. Where did Democrats hold the last summit they ran? Surely not an expensive hotel?
Well, he TRIED it, just like so many other criminal activities. Had he not been such an idiot, with others at least, he might have gotten away with them. This travesty, not so much. Just because one steals in plain daylight does not make the action either legal or ethical.
Trump’s M.O. is to try anything, law be damned, and if he gets away with it, so much the better. Ethics, morality, loyalty, patriotism, civic responsibility legality - he has no regard for any of them. His only goal is putting more ill-gotten gains in his pocket - in this case from OUR pockets and OUR taxes. His many tax fraud schemes which have been discovered and for which he has been fined are but the tip of the iceberg. Take Trump U. and his fake pass-through “charitable foundation” for example. He NEVER talks about those or his massive casino failures and the tanking of Trump Airlines and countless other scams.
This is YOUR fake president. Even thinking about re-electing him borders on treason.
8
one question, why did Trump decide to not have the G7, most likely with his best bud Putin as a guest, was it because of the emoluments clause, was it because of the Public Outcry, would be interesting as he doesn't care about anyone including his base, was it because of optics, was it Melania or Ivanka, was it because of the shame of bed-bugs, I would think it had more to do with World Leaders aghast at what they may be walking into and what their citizens think, Donald, you do it there we don't come, we don't give you our taxpayers money, because if we do and we come back then I guess our citizens may just protest, cause damage and you are not worth it, this sounds more like it.
2
Yeah, I was gonna rob a bank, but after all my friends criticized me, I decided not to do it. Man are my friends a bunch of jerks.
18
Trump should have sold all of the family business assets, and put the cash proceeds in a blind trust that had no direct relationship whatsoever to his immediate or extended family. I for one believe it is likely that he did not do so for reasons which American voters should have been made aware of. For instance, was he actually underwater? In that case, divesting would have forced him into bankruptcy. Would divestment have pushed his creditors, including questionable overseas individuals and governments, to demand the full repayment of his loans? Was the business so unappealing that they could not find a single credible buyer? Divestment likely would have revealed any illegal schemes.
(Congressional Republicans almost surely told him that they would not block the impeachment trial in the Senate, if he did not change the location of the meeting. Nothing to do with the enemy of the people or the crazed Democrats.)
3
He'll double his "vacations" to his own resorts, and require his "administration" to only vacation there as well. He's not going to leave office without milking us tax-payers for all he can get. He has to pay for his legal counsel somehow.
8
Apparently his net worth has dropped by over a billion since assuming office. Compare that with the Clintons and Obamas who unlike Trump have never created a thing in the business world and have instead become filthy rich on the basis of so-called public service. Doing well by doin good indeed!
1
@Bob Hmm. We haven’t seen his tax returns or much in the way of financial records, so I wonder where you’re getting this figure. Sounds made up to me, like the servers in Ukraine and the crowd size at the inauguration, and most of Trump’s pronouncements about his job performance.
7
New location? How about Burning Man? After running around naked in the desert, attendees can hop on a bus, head to Vegas and take in the Sting concert.
10
That’s the best idea I’ve heard.
4
They can stay at a budget casino hotel away from the strip.
3
1/3rd of his presidency spent at his own resorts! Aside from outright greed, it speaks of an insecure, uncurious, oaf of a man who feeds his narcissism in his small bubble of comfort.
19
@Brynniemo As I understand it, most of the other 2/3 of his illegitimate "presidency" has been spent sleeping or sitting in front of a TV, in his bath robe, watching FOX "news" until noon.
9
Poor little Donny! Mommy and Daddy said “no”.
8
Why not have it in Baltimore? They can use the exposure and the economic benefit.
9
Well, it sure grabbed a world of free advertising anyway, now didn't it! And while he asserted that it would be at 'cost' I'm sure he would have gotten allowances from his suppliers from now until forever.
4
Trump will retaliate in some manner...he never really "backs down."
3
I understand that the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, is now under consideration. Trump was heard saying "It's the best golf course in the U.S., maybe even in the world, and by far and away the best possible facility for the G7. It has 18-holes — enough so each country can have two. And if I can get Russia there, as I'd like to, they can have the remaining four holes. That's hospitality. And I know the hospitality business better than anyone in the world. Everyone says it."
7
As usual, Democrats and crazed liberal media have given Trump his next stump speech denouncing them . . . .
“You see! I try to help all the illegal immigrants working at my resort a bonus with the expectation that all those delegates from wealthy G7 countries will be fat tippers, and now all those who say I hate immigrants want to take that all away from them. Nice people.”
3
Miami, a wonderful place to visit in June if you like swamps. Yea, it may look nice, but in reality it's a swamp waiting to be wiped off the earth by global warming. It's just an awful place to be, regardless.
6
Florida is turning into a giant sink hole. Best not go there.
8
And millions of outraged bedbugs pack their bags and cast a hopeful eye towards Mar a Lago.
16
Mulvaney was sent out to the press to deliver one message about every decision TheStable Genius makes. His power as President allows him sole authority on how to run his kingdom and who he chooses to carry out his wishes. And “You better get used to it” because that’s how they intend to double down and carry on. What got Mulvaney in trouble on Doral and Ukraine was he implicated both Bill Barr and Pompeo as being complicit in the decisions.
3
Maybe Trump should consider Leavenworth, KS, for the next G-7. By next June, he may have a permanent residence close by.
12
Too bad he backed off. Holding the meeting at the Doral was clearly impeachable.
13
“I thought I was doing something very good for our country....".
No, Donny does little for the country and a lot for his well being.
Crooked Donny is already profiting from we the taxpayers in charging government employees to stay at his palaces when he spends approximately $3MM to go golf for a weekend-on our dime.
Imagine for a moment if a Democrat, say "Crooked Hillary" (no, the Clinton Foundation was found to have not engaged in "pay to play", as Trump does), or further bleating about the "corrupt" Bidens (nothing to see, move on). Yet, the savior of the radical and racist white supremacist movement, Trump, gets a pass and now blames the media for his huge error in judgement, or, more likely, he got caught, again. Yet this time he was called out for this latest ethical lapse.
No, the G6 plus one guest, the U.S. can host this gathering at a number of other locations. However, which of Trump's benefactors who will host, and profit, has yet to be decided.
Yup, Making Trump Rich is now the new battle cry of Trump, along with the "fake media" when he is caught with his pants down.
7
After the fact, I find myself wondering if Trump used Doral as a red herring in a futile attempt to deflect attention from his impending impeachment. Sure it sounds crazy -- but consider the source.
6
@Art Likely- Nope, too strategical- this guy's a moron and incapable of thinking ahead or doing anything that does not immediately stroke his ego or line his pockets. Also, he thinks he's doing nothing wrong so deflect attention from what? A big, bad, mean and unfair impeachment proceeding, thru which he will skate just like everything else he's skated through in his life. He's the elite - top of the top - he doesn't think he will ever or should ever face a consequence because he's rich and above everyone else. ( And his ignorant supporters lap it up and INEXPLICABLY think he's NOT an elite, rich, entitled egotist...for some psychotic reason or another)
3
@Art Likely I used to think every one of donald's new outrages was meant as a distraction from the outrage he committed an hour before. It's the logical thing to conclude when confronted with this lurid spectacle playing out before our eyes. However, I stopped thinking that once I realized that this imbecile couldn't plan his next move in a game of checkers. That is, if he were capable of learning how to play checkers. But he isn't.
3
Hate is a powerful word and not to be used lightly. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hate President Trump.
14
The Biltmore House in Ashville would be perfect. I understand that it was on the original list
2
And now on Fox News, Mulvaney doubles down on his previous statements, by saying that Trump is in the hospitality business. His businesses should be the least of his concern. I thought he said his sons were running his business?
I’m glad Mr Mulvaney has proven to be such a truth teller.
12
Talk about self absorbed. From a Canadian perspective President Trump reminds me of the guy playing road hockey who took his net home when he didn't get to the play the position he wanted. I call a 10 minute misconduct penalty and suspension for the rest of the season.
2
Six of the G7 leaders should be thankful Trump isn’t hosting the next summit in Doral. I love Florida but it is wicked hot and humid there in June. And don’t forget about the unofficial state bird that thrives in that kind of weather. (Of course, mosquitoes are just the poor kin of bed bugs.)
If Trump really wanted to do “something good,” he’d host the meeting in a state where the economy is not so great — like Kentucky or Alabama.
6
What about hosting the G7 at Trump's boss's place.....at the Kremlin ....OR at Putin's Palace on the Black Sea which was built with stolen Russian taxpayer dollars ?
It's the perfect spot to express complete and utter contempt for the common man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin%27s_Palace
17
This circumstance is not unique. Recently, Donald Trump has kept his ownership in a Scottish golf course barely alive by having troops stay there in layovers. How many more instances do we have of this illegal symbiosis? Donald Trump is a real loser.
9
Would someone please help this man? Donald John is in desperate need.
5
Before Trump talked about it as a potential site for G7 nobody knew about this failing business of his in Miami. Now he has gotten every news outlet in the world to talk about it for a week. Every tinpot dictator in the world who needs American help, now knows to book 50 rooms for 3 weeks. He probably has saved this failing business - and get to whine about how unfair the Democrats and the fake news media has been to him. Wherever they end up, he will get to claim that it could have been cheeper and better if the democrats hadn't blocked him.
7
What does Donald J. Trump not get? It’s not the Democrats or the media’s fault for reporting the obvious. Selecting your own private resort property for next years G-7 summit is a emoluments clause violation!
It’s against the law. Quit trying to place blame on everyone else! How ignorant can you and your red base followers be?
Obey the law, Enough!
7
"No profit ..." is a flexible term.
Best a I remember, "no profit" means anything above the basic operating expenses and costs.
The basic operating expenses are based on the square footage and length of use, incorporating the costs of utilities and maintenance and depreciation costs.
So someone would still pay the cost of his Green Card workers and the heat and cooling and internet and the food and the anti-drone coverage and ....
If Trump had said "it's all free" then it would have only been a sales pitch at the cost of taxpayers for him and the hundreds of security people on HIS property.
4
Let's not rule out the possibility that many of the guests may have been prohibited from paying Trump anything because of anti-corruption and bribery laws in their own countries. It would not surprise me if a few of them quickly let Trump know that if it was held at his property, they would have to stay somewhere else (or skip it all together).
9
I travel extensively on business, frequently staying at hotels for a much lower than normal "conference rate". The hotels still get their pound of flesh from the restaurants, bars and other services. I cannot assert that would have been the case with what Trump was proposing, but it would not surprise me in the least. And that is exclusive of the associated publicity for the venue.
1
Always seeing how much he can get away with, pushing the limits, with no shame or scruples. His very essence.
3
As you can read, according to Trump, it’s the fault of “crazed and irrational” Democrats and media that the G7 won’t happen at Doral, as opposed to his fault for even suggesting such a conflict of interests be allowed to unfold. Think about this: What if Obama would have even hinted that such a summit be held in one of America’s economically challenged urban centers, such as his old home base of the Southside of Chicago? Republicans would have been up in arms. I bring this up merely for contrast, and not to condemn our struggling urban areas.
Had Trump suggested that a meeting take place on a non-income producing property he might own, then I believe it would get a pass and his detractor’s opposition would be in vain. I just don’t get how he can’t see, that under all of the circumstances surrounding the administration at this very juncture in time, that he would even think it was in the slightest bit appropriate to being a major international summit to one of his income producing properties. The think I do get is he obviously does not care how it appears and knows he has his blindly supportive base that will continue to follow his lead. When are these folks going to realize that rational, defendable and and logical thinking are not part of their leader’s train of thought?
2
This has nothing to do with “evil” Democrats (or the Bidens/Clintons) — Trump’s decision to host the summit at his property is unethical, not to mention unconstitutional. And why is this a partisan issue?
It was yet another scheme to make money, and it showed how this president has no regard for the rule of law, unless it has to with condemning liberals.
Let’s add another amendment: no whining narcissists may be elected president.
4
The other six first world nations should vote to defer the next G7, until after Trump is either impeached or defeated at the polls. If he is the host, Trump will continue to use this venue to destabilize the Western Powers - either by requesting his buddy Putin be allowed back & make it the G8 again, or by pushing for the UK to Brexit the EU, or by doing some other preposterous stunt just to rankle the other Western Powers. None of the leaders of these nation wants to be near this American embarrassment. And we are getting tired of apologizing for him.
2
So, there’s nothing wrong with it but he won’t do it again?
3
The President has spend 308 days of his presidency at one of his own properties. Every time that has happened he has used government funds to his own personal profit. If he was concerned about people yelling about 25'th amendment he would have changed his behaviour long time ago.
3
So, Trump is susceptible to the main stream media and crazed Democrats after all. Or at least he's trying to convince his base that these two institutions swing enough power to force him to change his mind. Would he be swayed by polls that show a majority of Americans no longer trust him and seek his impeachment? Can't do that. Too much at stake. Gotta look in my mirror one more time before I put on my MAGA hat to make sure my narcissism isn't showing.
2
it will stay at Camp David. Trump wasn't interested in finding another place for this meeting to be held. He's only interested in finding a way to get more business at one of his hotels.
3
This is intended to be a bit of sarcasm. There is no intent to insult Colorado Springs, the US Air Force, US Army, NORAD, Space Command, our service men and women; or the US Air Force Academy.
FYI, Thee Broadmoor is a five star hotel and resort. It is a kind of place where formal attire is required It si certainly big, and posh, enough to hold a G7. No insult intended for this fine establish either.
So, where is he going to hold the G7? How about the Braodmoor in Colorado Springs. Perfect place for Trump, there is more MAGA, and Evangelicals per square inch in Colorado Springs, there there is in the entire state of Colorado. He will have Dog Lamborn, to welcome him and other world leaders. Mr. Lamborn makes Mitch McConnell look like Bernie Sanders in comparison.
Colorado Springs boasts two Air Force bases, the Space Command, the Air Force Academy and an Army base. He can have a military parade that salutes him, through downtown Colorado Springs and even have a military review at the Air Force Academy; complete with flyover, tanks and military equipment. His grand parade he wanted in Washington.
While our "president" is spending taxpayer money, to wine and dine world leaders, as well as honor himself,; he can explain to all the military families why all the construction, and improvements, fro the bases, and academy, in Colorado Springs, was cancelled, to build his wall.
4
Plenty of Best Westerns and Motel 6’s. Much nicer than a Trump “resort”..
7
@bobandholly Perhaps the Best Westerns would have "hamberders" for breakfast, lunch and dinner at their buffets.
2
Oh, it’s just this pesky little thing known as the Constitution,
something that Trump swore to uphold.
4
The sad thing is they are blaming the Democrats as usual, instead of apologizing for the self-dealing and greed that a sitting President would demonstrate by making the G7 take place at the President's hotel. Mulvaney's comment about "Trump in the hospitality business" is a total dodge and frankly disgusting. Of course he would make a tremendous amount of money by using his hotel for the G7. No excuse, pure insensitivity and frankly, disrespect for the law and Constitution, which knew just what a President could do if he wanted to that would be corrupt. How come this President just doesn't get it? Because he doesn't have the moral judgement a President should have. Also, it is not in a good neighbourhood and to act like this is a fitting place security wise, for the conference is nonsense.
3
According to Mick Mulvaney, a WH advance team checked out at least eight other venues. Would’nt it make sense to just pick the runner up to Doral ? Search over, job done. What about that infrastructure bill now ?
3
There’s a spacious convention hall in Atlantic City. Trump could have G7 there and show off all the failed casinos that once bore his brand.
6
@Misterbianco Trump's repossessed yacht and an aircraft painted in the colors of the failed Trump Shuttle could be displayed also to reinforce the fact that Trump is not quite the business person he would have many believe.
4
Trump is a lier. He always walks back to silence critics when he feels cornered from both parties. But I bet, after some months, and when everybody has forgotten about the topic, he will just bring it back. He did with the Military parade, and again he will do it. He don't need any money from Congress. He can take it from The Pentagon, and thanks to the Supreme Court, nobody can stop it.
1
Now world leaders of the G7 club can breathe a sigh of relief. Trump’s decision to host next year’s summit at the struggling Trump National Doral Miami golf resort created an awkward situation for them, who would have to channel government funds into Trump’s private business for attending the summit.
Diplomats gathered for a EU summit in Brussels privately confessed their misgivings about the Doral decision. But few leaders were willing to take aim publicly at his choice, knowing it would only deteriorate the Transatlantic relations further.
But they expected that the American public wouldn’t keep quiet about it, and that Trump would have to drop the idea altogether.
6
It's bad enough that Trump is our most front-facing representative. Do we have to have Florida (in June no less) and the Doral as representative of American resorts, too? I can think of at least five that would be more elegant and representative of American heritage and class such as the Greenbrier, The Colony, The Breakers, Shutters or Blackberry Farm especially in the summer. Or in Yellowstone!
Really, even the Motel 6 in Youngstown would be better than the Doral in Miami. And they take dogs, so Trump would be welcome.
14
@Brooklyn Dog Geek - How about Xanadu 2.0? We don't have high humidity or mosquitos in June like most of the country.
If Xanadu 2.0 is not quite big enough, they can spill down the street to the Bezos mansion and that should be enough. The two richest men on earth living on the same street.
1
Here's an idea for the location:
Charter one of those huge cruise ships.
They can hold 3000+ people so there's plenty of room. High end dining. Meeting spaces. No distractions or protestors. Very easy to secure and keep safe.
4
@Rocket J Squrriel
A great way to pollute the air and sea.
Thanks for the destructive idea.
1
@Socrates
No matter where you have it it 'pollute the air and sea'. Every 'leader' will fly there with legions of aides and guests. Add in all the food and rest.
Best thing would be to cancel the photo-op for good.
Maybe instead of rotating hosting, the G7 summit should be held in a truly neutral place. Perhaps Switzerland or Finland would do. Ghana, Lichtenstein, and Malta are also neutral.
2
But what about this "plan" was good for the country? If he's trying to make America great again, he should pay for it. He's supposed to be very rich, although it's hard to know for sure.
4
All parties are guilty of such behavior. The difference is that Mr Trump’s corruption and nepotism lacks the nuance under which such influence is exerted across the aisle.
It is easy, and fun to make fun of. But it speaks to an age-old problem, and, what worries me, is a harbinger for a glorification of corruption to come.
3
No surprise at all that trump's reversal of his brazen decision to host this meeting at his own failing (I had to say it) resort was done because of the "crazy" Democrats and media rather than for some other reason, for instance, that it would have been illegal to do so.
Not mentioned in this article is the fact that "climate change will not be on the agenda," according to Mulvaney. I would really like the other six countries to decline participation in the meeting unless that retrograde decision is reversed.
5
Well, there is still something that Trump can be grateful for: the "values voters" and his evangelical Christian supporters appeared to have no moral objections to the President using the G7 summit to line up his own pockets.
8
Regardless of everything else, the odiousness of self-dealing, or even the appearance of it should have been plainly evident to the Stable Genius.
That planning was undertaken and announcements made are just common sense evidence that Trump is unsuited for his office and his staff is ineffective in dealing with reality.
4
Stop letting people buy the Presidency. This is not a consumer market place it's our government. Get the money out of politics.
6
Since we taxpayers already pay for Camp David, wouldn't that be the logical choice? We all know that Trump is a showoff and he doesn't think anywhere but his own properties are good enough. And how can he make a profit from an event at Camp David? He can't. Sad.
2
Crime should not pay. Trump’s attempt to award himself a lucrative contract that would have rehabilitated his run down Doral property at taxpayer expense was an attempted robbery in broad daylight.That he would even attempt such a brazen crime makes you wonder about all the similar shady self-dealing that has been covered up.
3
The Mayor of Doral FL regrets that the event is no longer taking place in his city. Therein lies a major part of our problem. Americans would accept corruption to the detriment of the nation as long as it benefits them personally.
7
It is amazing to me that some people will give Mr. Trump credit and praise for backing off of what was a terrible decision and poor judgment in the first place.
6
@MidtownATL Isn't that his standard M.O., create a supposed crisis, claim to solve the crisis, expect adulation for solving it. Rinse and repeat!
1
“At the end of the day, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business,” Mr. Mulvaney said of the president.
Well it makes sense because he is certainly not in the Presidential Business!
13
In the continuing saga of the Keystone Kops, this was in another NYT article this morning:
“At the end of the day, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business,” Mr. Mulvaney said of the president.
I’m speechless, really.
The irony that in trying to “walk back” (that is, gaslight) his comments on Trump committing one crime (quid pro quo on Ukraine), he freely admits another (being in the hospitality business selling to foreign governments while in office, an unarguable violation of the emoluments clause).
This emperor has no clothes (and it’s ugly).
6
Only Democrats objected? I object! John Kass, a pretty hard right-leaning columnist here in our Chicago Tribune, has spent years defending Trump. But his column yesterday excoriated Trump for this move and suggested Trump’s base did, too. Read the column for his rather unique take, but I just hope maybe he’s finally seeing Trump for the corrupt con man he has always been, and some of his readers will follow him. This national nightmare has to end.
4
Write to Republican members of congress when Trump does something outrageous. And ask for a reply. Eventually his enablers will run out of excuses.
4
I agree with Minarose: it is time for the leaders of the G7 to take the moral high ground. To blockade Trump's indifference to democratic world order. We face a civil war of conscience between Trump, who is under the thumb of Putin - the central villain of the world's bloody theater - and those leaders who have risen from societies respectful of law and the rights of humanity to be served and protected by it.
The Chicago Mob is running the world. Time for the nice people to stop ducking.
@Paul R. Gurian - It appears to be the New York mob running the world. You got your Trumps, your Clintons, your Giulianis, your Cohens, your Epsteins, etc.
I read somewhere that he is demanding cancellation charges from the Treasury. Is that true? Or, is it a joke?
1
The G7 serves no purpose whatsoever. It's a meeting that has never accomplished anything at all. Just look at what was the outcome and the actual benefits of the past G7 meetings and you will be more likely to laugh at the entire concept.
i have spent hour listening to the transships of the past meetings and nothing was accomplished. Just another excuse for world leaders and the press to have fun traveling. Look at the situation in the world today and tell me how these meetings have improved anything. Just a great photo op for these so called leaders.
If only Trump's bad decisions were as easy to undo as this one.
I vote for Puerto Rico as the G7 venue.
5
Funny. He mentioned ‘Democrats’ and ‘the media’ losing their minds. Not a single reference to the Republicans who were similarly apoplectic.
4
@celia - Or the Founding Fathers who wrote the law into the constitution.
1
If it had been held at Doral in June weather , and there was a just and all powerful deity, she might have found cause to have the a/c go on the blink.
1
Unless I am really as dumb as I look to my cat, how is Trump having world leaders at Air bnb Doral, eating poor quality food, benefiting me and the US?
I was hoping they were going to stay there and then refuse to pay the bill, citing poor quality and offer to pay 30 cents on the dollar .. the same way he treats small business owners who thought dealing with him would benefit their business.
8
Dear Mr President, it’s not that the media reacted with “hostility” to your Doral G-7 proposal. It’s that your decision was—in principle—wrong. Public officials in America do not get to award government contracts to themselves. I’m grateful that you rescinded the decision. Presidents must not use public policies to direct profits to businesses they control.
1
Maybe the G7 can avoid all the controversy and hold it in France, Italy, Germany, Japan or Canada . . . Just skip the U.S. until its political crisis has passed. . .
And let NATO, in the interim, decide when it wishes to kick out Turkey, or just disband if the U.S. continues acting s a rogue state.
2
Does he really have no clue about the emoluments clause or just doesn't care? I think the latter.
3
Dear Mr. Precident.
When choosing a site please consider the loction's climate.
It's a little too hot and humid for Doral in June.
Whoops! I forgot you can't bring yourself to consider climate.
6
Sociopath defined:
Superficial charm and good intelligence.
Signs of irrational thinking.
Absence of nervousness or neurotic manifestations.
Unreliability.
Untruthfulness and insincerity.
Lack of remorse and shame.
Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior.
Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience.
Sound like anybody we know?
6
bad media and democrats.
bad, bad!
the next time trump blames everybody but his own damn self will be the first.
it'll never happen unless he's paid enough money.
and, if memory serves, he savaged camp david, didn't he?
1
My first instinct was to write our federal MP to express my displeasure about our Canadian tax dollars being spent on a blatant money grab for Trump’s property. I thought “wouldn’t it be wonderful if the rest of the G7 countries refused to attend if held there.” I expect I wasn’t the only one. I’m just amazed he backed down.
167
@Carolyn White Of course he backed down, he’s a coward.
19
@Psst I must correct our cousin from the enlightened country north of the border-it is G6 plus a crazy uncle as a guest.
24
@Carolyn White
There is another, more serious, reason why there should be a boycott of this meeting. According to Mulvaney when asked what topics would be discussed at the meeting, "climate change will not be on the agenda".
So the leaders of some of the most important countries in the world will not discuss the most serious threat to the world (other than the threat posed by the trump administration's climate myopia). I would love to learn that the six other countries (the ones not run by the "crazy uncle") declined to attend unless climate change figures prominently on the agenda. Let it be the G1 in 2020 (then hopefully back to the G7 in 2021 when an adult is in the White House).
29
Trump claims that picking Doral was doing something "good for the country." If he's truly unable, mentally and ethically, to distinguish between what benefits an entire nation and just himself, Congress should skip impeachment and move immediately to eject the president under the 25th Amendment, due to unfitness.
The only politician who has come close to matching Trump's breathtaking act of self-dealing is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Rubio said he was happy holding the summit at the Doral near Miami, Rubio's home base, because it would be good for his own state.
166
@Peggy Rogers Rubio is one of my senators. I wrote him to say how disgusted I was with him calling this brazen act of corruption "great" just because a few of his constituents would benefit in a small way. I usually don't write to Rubio, and never bother wasting time contacting the loathsome Sen. Rick Scott, but Trump steering a hefty government contract to himself in plain sight was such an in-your-face act of corruption I figured even Rubio should get it.
27
@Peggy Rogers I was as annoyed at the President's attempted blatant self-dealing as anyone, and I certainly have no love for Rubio, but this seems unfair to him. A state's senators and representatives are supposed to encourage business to come there. Rubio wasn't trying to enrich himself, but to represent his constituents, as is his job.
@M.
Please! You don't see the impropriety of Trump holding the summit on his own property? What Rubio did or did not say matters not at all. It is shamefully self-serving. It is bad optics. It is unethical.
Little Marco must think of a better more dignified way of bringing commerce to his state.
15
Oh, come on, Mr. Trump, you’re not changing the venue for the “crazy” Democrats and media. You’re changing because even your usually see-no-evil, hear-no-evil fellow Republicans couldn’t swallow Doral, not with 2020 elections looming.
210
@Barbara In another breathtaking slip into honesty, Mulvaney declared to Chris Wallace on Fox this morning that "At the end of the day, [Trump] still considers himself to be in the hospitality business."
Any question of whether Trump is intentionally violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution can now be settled based on his Chief of Staff's public testimony.
17
I’m by no means trump fan but as long as it’s on not for profit basis, the financials are handled publicly by trustworthy people out in the open - no secret bookkeeping, I don’t see a problem putting that property on the qualified list. The project should go to the lowest priced resort.
8
Except Trump’s financials are never transparent, that’s the problem.
It was also said he would bear the entire cost. If he wants to invite the world and pay for the food, lodging, services and travel to and from the airport, I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem in with it.
That said, he also could allow the Secret Service to stay at his properties for free while he receives taxpayer paid protection at those properties. He does not. In addition, it has been reported at all these rallies that he does around the country, he has not paid the security costs to the local municipalities. I remain very skeptical about him taking on the “cost” of such a meeting at a property he owns. His track record is not good.
80
@Victoria Jingle The resort is nearly empty in June because of the heat and humidity. Even if the rates were reduced to next to nothing, Trump Organization would be making money because it would full. He would also profit from any improvements that would need to be made to accommodate this event...paid by the taxpayers.
33
@Victoria Jingle - Actually, it is illegal according to the US Constitution to have any Trump property host the G& - it is an outright violation of the emoluments clause. The extent of cost or profit is immaterial to the legality. So, no, under no circumstances should any Trump property be on such a list. Similarly, none should be accepting business from foreign leaders - this includes his DC Hotel property that has become a cash cow for laundering money from those courting favor from Trump.
17
At cost? The article mentions the publicity advantage to Doral, but accepts at face value Trump’s assertion that he wouldn’t profit. What cost, and what revenue? Did Trump offer ANY accounting? Say, a CPA-certified income statement, audited, showing that only costs were covered?
Of course not. We’re supposed to take him at his word.
If Trump were smart — stay with me, here — he’d offer to host the conference free of charge, and absorb all costs. He wouldn’t be forced to open his books. He’d appear generous and untroubled about money. And his resort would get the publicity boost he’s looking for.
Absent verified accounting records, we have no reason to believe this conference was going to be held at cost, or anything Trump says about costs and profits.
210
@James K. Lowden
Trump wants to irritate people not please them. He had a beautiful tower here in Chicago , a silver affair. I believe that when he understood that people liked it he plastered TRUMP on it in order to ruin our photos.
16
@James K. Lowden Even if he offered to absorb the costs personally, there would still be required upgrades to the facilities (multiple suites would be needed, phones, etc.) that would be paid for BY THE GOVERNMENT. That he would have obtained without spending a penny. No matter which way you look at it, it's just plain WRONG.
50
@James K. Lowden my thoughts exactly except that I don't believe it is possible for him to guarantee everything at cost...... unless he decides what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner and what they will drink at the bar. besides, as you suggest I have never seen something done at cost that didn't have a little slush in the invoice.
19
Anyone who has ever been in the Miami area in June hearing Mick Mulvaney say "Doral was by far and away, far and away, the best physical facility for this meeting" was probably saying to their televisions "Yea right, ninety degrees and extremely humid, sounds like a perfect place to me."
The only thing perfect about the swamp like weather in that sweatbox during that time of year was the fact that the occupancy rate in June is around thirty percent. Whatever reasons are being given I suspect one of the reasons was the people working for the leaders of the other nations also have access to weather maps and were calling in and demanding a location with more pleasant weather.
229
@Edward Crimmins I was thinking the same thing. A meeting in southern Florida in June: Of course! Why not treat world leaders to the most uncomfortable weather the US can offer, especially when, as Mick Mulvaney explained, the subject of Climate Change would be excluded from the agenda. Bonus: the possibility of a hurricane.
Corruption aside, it was a ludicrous idea.
73
@barskin And knowing as much as we do about Trump now, if my theory about other leaders putting their foot down on the hazy, hot and humid choice had anything to do with the change, they are probably now searching for a more uncomfortable location. Perhaps resorts in Maine or New Hampshire, those black flies are really nasty up north in June.
10
@Edward Crimmins
I've experienced black flies while boating in coastal Maine in June, but not so far here in New Hampshire. Hope my luck holds!
7
I am gobsmacked by Trump's rationale for withdrawing the Doral for the G-7: “Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020.”
Does he still not understand that it is unConstitutional and violates an express clause in the document? This guy clearly has no concept of right and wrong / legality or illegality.
If the Republicans give him a Mulligan for retracting his golf course then it shows that they lack any moral compass either.
Vote straight blue in 2020.
306
@Aaron of London
The Constitution ? I'd be surprised if he's ever read it.
Anyone want to put money on that ?
30
@Aaron of London it is very well established by now that Republicans lack any moral compass.
29
@Aaron of London
Oh, he knows what's illegal; he just doesn't *care*. With all his shady business dealings, ginned up bankruptcies, hiring undocumented immigrants, stiffing the Polish illegal laborers and threatening them with deportation when they demanded their pay (last I knew, slavery was still illegal in this country), using H1B visas for cheaper foreign workers because he "couldn't find any qualified workers" in Florida, he has never had to bear any consequences. Even the fine for his "university" scam was truly paltry and I've never seen any evidence that any of those moneys have been paid out.
Of Course the Republicans have no moral compass. They are the biggest cheerleaders and enablers of this criminal. They've been accessories before, during and after the fact, at least since 2015, everything from his criminal fashion sense to facilitating war crimes against the Kurds. A few squawked a teeny, tiny bit, but they sure as Heck didn't actually do anything about it! They are just as criminal and venal as HE is.
And you are absolutely right, straight blue in 2020!
13
This makes total sense, there was no quid pro quo and there was no conflict of interest because Trump has no problem with using his office to make money or force someone to do something for him.
Trump doesn’t have any idea of civic obligation or ethics, so in his mind (how ever little that may be) he does no wrong.
230
This episode has started to convince me that the theory that Trump wants to be impeached has some merit. He's afraid he may lose the election, and can't abide the notion of being branded a loser in the history books. Likewise, he can't come up with a convincing reason to quit. But if he's impeached, he'll be able to claim persecution by the deep state and keep preaching his brand of bitterness and hate on some cable TV show. Plus, he'll still be able to have rallies with his adoring fanbase who he will forever regale with stories of how he beat the evil Hillary. That's really the only explanation for this whole G7 plan that makes any sense.
289
It's possible...it's crazy enough that trump would think it rational.
26
@censored We've known Trump was as surprised as anyone when he actually won the election. But, I've always thought he wanted to win the nomination, not the office. No one has been so ill-prepared for and unwilling to learn what the presidency requires. He came with only one bag of tricks that have served him through his checkered career, kept afloat by Daddy and dubious loans. Even he knows his thuggery, lies, exaggeration and fury don't cut it anymore. Constitutional protocols that he never bothered to respect will be taken step by frustrating step. All things being relative, he may well try uber-outrageous steps to hasten impeachment for the reasons you've stated. Am I sad that he will take his gullible supporters and family members down with him? Not really.
37
@censored That certainly is a possibility but I think a call from ol' Moscow Mitch, on top of his op ed in the Washington Post on Syria (where somehow Democrats and Obama were blamed as well), was the deciding factor.
27
As if Trump had ever cared about Democrats’ or media reactions! No, this is about political pressure which we, the voters, wield over him. Let’s keep it up.
446
@NM I agree that this administration has never cared about what anyone outside of its base says. In this case, though, I believe that it is the possible backlash faced by the leaders of the invited countries that forced the administration to take a second look. Those leaders may not have attended at all due to pressure from their own voters. Very embarrassing ....
24
@NM -- esteemed daughter,
since enabler Marco Rubio endorsed the president's decision to host the G7 Summit, perhaps Florida's voters will remember that when he's up for reelection. L'il Marco's firmly on the president's leash.
10
In the days between his election and taking office, I wrote that he should be truly precedent-setting in that he should be removed from office before taking it. People thought I was joking. I wasn't.
It was clear in the fall of 2016 that he had no intention of divesting his holdings or abiding by the Emoluments Clause. From the onset, the dangers inherent in that flagrant disregard for the Constitution and office should have raised enormous red flags.
I'm simply at a loss at this point to grasp how lax and blind this country has been about this issue. One can make the case that the Emoluments Clause is the single most important presidential safeguard founders put in place. They recognized that a president in hock to another nation is a president fatally compromised.
Here we are. There is a reason, a critically important reason, why the EC is an impeachable offense. No president is allowed to make money off the office. No president is supposed to be making backroom deals with other nations to sell out his political opponents and citizens. THIS president does it every single day.
Every decision he makes (if you can call lurching from feeling to feeling a decision) circles back to what's in it for him. Beyond being rank and deplorable, it's dangerous and illegal.
In the hottest week of his smoking hot presidency, when he is already in trouble on these very grounds, he announces that the G-7 will meet at this golf course. Really???!!!
America. Wake up. You've been had.
657
@AhBrightWings Yes. He was subject to impeachment the moment he was sworn in based on his violation of the Emoluments clause since he was even then receiving benefits from foreigners staying in the Trump hotel in D.C. for the inauguration.
76
@AhBrightWings: Yes, the other "EC", the Electoral College, didn't do its job.
46
@AhBrightWings -- Exactly correct. Why the outrage now? He's been doing it constantly since the moment of his election to the office. The current outrage reminds me of Claude Raines in Casablanca when he expresses surprised outrage that gambling was taking place at Rick's Cafe -- just as he is handed his winnings. Trump is, in essence, shooting someone in the middle of 5th Avenue every day and all we've been getting as oversight is a body count.
70
Whatever happened to "Drain the swamp”; has it not become, "Get over it.” This week, Mulvaney finally fulling exposed the full moral depravity of Trump et al. by attempting to justify ongoing Republican malfeasance by projecting their self-dealing onto everyone else. It's time for impeachment and removal of these morally bankrupt hypocrites to proceed.
1
@RMiller : what it amounts to is “drain their swamp, the one that stands between us and reaching the high ground of an authoritarian presidency”. However, when you come up to his swamp, or perhaps even better - his moat, and one can’t seem to navigate through the mire and becomes frustrated, then the reaction is “get over it”.
He caved? Nope, just another smokescreen.
Has anyone ever seen the list of the eleven venues in addition to the Doral that Mr. Mulvaney claimed were carefully explored before the final selection?
I can still hear the gushing tones of the huckster in which Mulvaney repeatedly said that when “they” ( who was this “they”?) looked at the Doral, it suited the needs of the G7 meeting so perfectly that it appeared to have been designed specially for the needs of the G7
Does Trump really think he is PT Barnum, and that we are a nation of suckers?
@Clairette Rose - Well, he is trying to wrangle a bunch of elephants and keep them from stampeding.
1
Imagine the squabbling that must go on between all of the people controlling him? The Turks vs Saudis vs Russian vs North Koreans vs Syrians vs Philippines! He has to keep them all happy!
2
So faced with "Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility", the president backs down? This can mean only one thing to a true Trump supporter: weakness. I wonder how many of them are feeling a sense of personal betrayal.
If I want to rob a bank, pull out a gun, hand a note to the teller and demand money, and then when everyone yells you can’t do, it’s illegal, I say: “Yeah, OK, I changed my mind” I still get arrested.
How is what Trump did different?
3
Ah, the “hostility” of the US Constitution. Really just gets in the way, doesn’t it?
3
Well, he was partly successful in this little charade. He got some free publicity for his resort.
1
So no bedbugs? I was looking forward to observe the G7 members scratching themselves
2
The media is completely gullible and complicit in Trumps charade. He had no intention of hosting the meeting. He only went that route because when the topic had been broached it was met with derision and scorn. He only did this to feed that portion of his base that sees him as the victim of the media and the left. Hey, he was magnanimously doing it “at cost” maybe even for “free, if that’s allowed!” Poor, poor, put upon Donnie. The stable genius whose wisdom is beyond compare. Mark my words, his campaign will soon be putting out propaganda videos ala Putin and Kim.
Trump’s getting weaker as Republicans begin to see that America will not re-elect a criminal. Continued gaffes, threats and unethical behavior only gives Republicans more reasons to jump ship now. It is questionable if his base can even nominate him regardless of how much money he raises.
@GCAustin /. I honestly feel that the “base”, including the stalwart Republican senators, would be much better off to abandon their dictator, line up a Senate coalition that would tell the President that he will be convicted, give him an opportunity to resign, if he doesn’t move forward with trial, convict and install Pence as president. Warts and all, under Pence this nation would probably be a lot better off than under Trump. Pence has demonstrated loyalty to the man. But I haven’t seen him demonstrate blatant irrationality. I can handle the thought of an Evangelical Christian in the nation’s highest office, as opposed to this vulnerable, irrational, passive-aggressive authoritarian that sits there today. For all we know Pence may prove to be a good leader, and could even improve the Republican’s chance to hold the presidency after 2020. If I were Pence I might see a golden opportunity to oppose the boss starting now. The worst that would happen to him is that he would be removed from the 2020 ticket. But the courage of such a move might catapult his political career.
For all the right wingers arguing that Doral would have been “...at cost....”. , Camp David is much more secure and we-that is the USA- already own it. So, holding it there costs nothing.
1
Strong men don't cave when opposition arises, they stand by their convictions. Trump is such a weak, little boy.
3
Just another day in the daily barrage of where I pickup the newspaper and the headlines are focusing on a lying cheater who insults citizens daily.
I'm not getting over it, nor am I enjoying any part of being a pawn in the charade. Unfit is too kind. The impunity at which this administration operates is 100% on the Republican Party. A miserable stain on law abiding citizens.
Unforgivable.
1
The headline should read: After criticism on FOX NEWS, Trump to select new location for G7.
For Fox News to disapprove of Trump must have meant he went pretty low.
Isn't South Florida miserable in June? I thought DJT always preferred Jersey in the summer to FLA.
1
@EJ 'Nati - Miserable does not even begin to explain it. One of those popular survival shows where they drop a naked couple in the woods was done in southern Florida once. Brutal.
I used to live in Florida. Once a week you pick up the paper and read about a python coming up through someone's toilet or about a child being eaten by gators at DisneyWorld. The mosquitos will carry you away and feed you to their offspring. The pictures look great and February is awesome but June? Nothing worse than June in Florida. Except July and August.
1
The only reason he relented on the G7 meeting site is the backlash. If he could have gotten away with it, he would. What a role model for our children!
Trump's just blown up his biggest con about corruption connected to the Biden family by trying to have his resort for G7 event. No corruption there, right Trump? The capacity for delusion with this president is only matched by his base.
And this is where you've ended up America. On your head. Awash with political corruption from the man who promised to drain the swamp.
Trump had very bad timing and this particular grift of his proved too hard to sell. His universe consists of Me, Myself and I and he saw a huge payday at little cost to himself. Only because he doesn't live in the real world, he misread the mood of the country.
Even the cult wasn't able to come to his rescue.
So Trump has forfeited potential millions for the moment. That was to be HIS money.
He will find a way to make it up somewhere else.
He is a greedy and sick man
Trump is POTUS for the fame, fortune and power for HIMSELF.
He has never once considered service to a country or cause.
Just Trump.
Donnie caves, again.
1
So the ingrate blames it on the Dems and the press? Why just not blame it on the real culprit, the pesky Constitution. By doing so, he would at least be telling the truth-for once.
And this thing is our President!
1
Petulant child didn't get his way, so he whines and cries. Nothing new.
6
so according to Mick Mulvaney, it's not Trump's fault he got backlash for choosing an inappropriate venue. It's the media and the Dems hatred of him that caused the complaining and we'll find fault with any venue they choose. Yuck. Just yuck.
I am so tired of being blamed for other people's bad behavior from this White House and Republican regime. and if a grade school kid pulled this nonsense the actual adults would have some correcting to do.
2
Once again, why is Trump even able to suggest a place for the G7 to meet? DO the other 6 lack enough spine to chose for themselves or maybe take a vote?
@dee G7 member states take turns hosting the G7 summit. 2018 was in Canada. 2019 was in France. 2020 is the US’s turn.
What mid to low end cost location did Obama choose? It could not have been a fancy hotel or even something the government is paying for.
One reads here that Trump paid for Doral using $100 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank is a major money launderer for Vladimir Putin and his St. Petersberg Russian Mafia. That means Doral is probably mostly Russian owned.
Trump uses his financially opaque golf course empire to launder Putin and his oligarchs' monies worldwide. This is why this grifter doesn't want his tax returns looked at.
Hopefully, all ethical, patriotic Americans learn to boycott all of Trump's golf courses in the USA and around the world. Don't help Trump pay off his golf course loans from his Russian puppeteers.
5
Why doesn’t he just move it to Moscow or somewhere in Ohio, Alabama or Wisconsin where the folks just love him so.
4
I bet the criticism came from the foreign dignitaries after they read the online reviews of the Doral. It sounds like a dump.
2
Trump say he changed his mind about holding the Group of 7 meeting at his golf club because of media and Democrat "hostility." So, in his mind, defending constitutional law, which he has sworn to uphold, is now "hostility." No wonder he is the most impeachable president we've ever had...
3
Has Trump ever explained why he beat up Obama for wasting time golfing while he (Trump) has spent one third of his time as president golfing? Trump is clearly the master of hypocrisy.
4
“I’m going to be so busy I’ll never have time for golf.” Has spent a third of his presidency golfing.
5
These blatent violations of ethical boundaries are constant pushes to exhaust the vigilance of the public, to normalize Trump’s unethical behavior. It is a very short step from public mental numbness and disgust burnout to totalitarianism. This is the Stalin, Hitler and Putin handbook. There are obviously many in our country who would like to see Trump triumph, but they are not in any way supporters of the United States of America, which has always been a beautiful, fragile ideal, and is now endangered.
1
hostile and hate filled so i sent another 1000 to the RNC
Hate? Ever listen to trump talk?
3
What’s hostile and hate-filled? The GOP?
2
Hopefully wherever it is held provides no facilities for the media, or at least the leftist msm.
And no facilities for the communist Fox News.
1
If the G7 is any where but Camp David, I can be promise you Donald will get his vig.
White trash with money. There, I said it, it’s about time that SOMEONE is allowed to do so.
Seriously.
7
Is he going to select a different Trump property to hold the G-7 summit? I wouldn't be surprised. Otherwise, he will look for the worst possible place to screw everybody over that he can.
I think the G-7 should oust the United States for the same reasons they ousted Russia. After all, Putin IS the defacto President of the United States.
We're talking Trump here. So don't expect him to leave money on the table that could possibly go in his pocket. He'll find some way to profit from the alternative site too. Betcha.
58
@Aristotle
Trump chose Doral as a personal moneymaker.
Trump was forced to cancel Doral.
Trump's next step will be a breach of contract lawsuit demanding compensation.
3
@KJ Bedminster, NJ in January?
After making all adaptations necessary for hosting the G7 at Doral - as your article suggests - presidents might refuse to attend on moral, legal and other grounds. And that is what would be the ultimate reproach to Trump and probably what he fears the most!
37
@Minarose
He almost certainly will invite his Czar!
1
@Minarose
Better idea: Cancel it, permanently.
All it is is a huge expensive photo-op. No real negotiations take place because those happen before the crowd arrive. Besides, saves the environment.
1
Shouldn't this have to go out for bids or a request for proposals? This is a government function , not a private party Trump is throwing.
60
@Terry Dailey
He thinks it’s a party him!
@Terry Dailey
No. There are security concerns that have to be considered.
1
Why stop at Doral-Gate? The 2017 tax bill was also a violation of ethics, because it directly benefited Trump by many millions of dollars.
40
Distraction? Violation of emoluments clause?
Don't fight, people. It can be both.
28
@Jordan
No it can't be, otherwise we start the long slide into a banana republic. The constitution is the founding document of this country, it's not for Trumps or the republican party to pretend that it doesn't exist. A reckoning is coming, just as it did during the McCarthy era. The result of that poorly planned poorly executed House Committee which hunt, because that's exactly what the republicans were doing then, left the republican party 40 years as a minority party.
That' what this country needs, is an orange man in office who's personal attorney is a complete lunatic, doing some clandestine foreign lobbying, to investigate a political rival, for personal gain. Again I remind Trump supporters, if this were a democrat, an impeachment trial would've happened by now.
Trump can't debate policy because he doesn't have any, he can't debate the economy, because he destroyed not only our but the worlds economy, that's collapsing. He can't talk about the corporate tax break and the jobs that didn't happen, and that very little of that money "trickled down". Due to the 25% tariffs we the consumer are now paying for Trumps failed trade war, any tax break we received is gone.
Trump can add failed president, to his long list of business failures. Lie, betray allies, ask for a foreign interference in our elections, and more. Trump is corruption, and by extension anyone that supports this president is supporting lawlessness, something they wouldn't tolerate from a democrat.
Despite all the comments to this thread and others in other newspapers, we have all fallen witness to yet another Ninth Wonder of the World.
Donald J. Trump has admitted (in ever a so delicate way), that he was wrong about something and now has to atone for it.
After Obamacare, the Wall and the Democratic victory in the House in 2018, we don't get those often enough.
23
@Southern Bred & Black Sounded more like he blamed the Democrats for criticizing him (so unfair) than admitting to any wrongdoing or apologizing.
4
Glad to see that Democrats stepped up and introduced legislation to block the use of the Doral. Let's see the Democrats keep up this tough leadership and fight Trump at every turn. Please, no more complacency.
42
@Tom "Fight him at every turn?" This was a gross abuse of just about every protocol there is -- Many were afraid the other countries wouldn't come (they have their own ethics clauses and such, too). It is in the middle of neighborhoods and businesses, so safety of the world's leaders would have been a logistical mess, and it was simply a plain stupid, greedy idea...
Trump either didn't care about the obvious conflict of interest or thought he could get away with anything. Either way, his multiple bankruptcies attest to his poor judgement, encouraged by the fact that someone else (so far) always ended up with the consequences.
21
I think it’s a matter of adults have abandoned WH and we are left the with child doing whatever strikes his mood at the moment. Not to mention, his proclivity towards doubling down.
Trump tried to distract the public and media for a few days, and it worked.
As clueless as Trump is, I don’t think he ever intended to hold it at the Doral. He just wanted a new narrative to deflect from the Impeachment inquiry. Our POTUS has used distraction from day one.
23
@denise
Oh, I think he did. His failing resorts all over the world are being prop up with money from foreign governments and the US taxpayer. Remember the resort in Scotland. And remember, trump is the type of person who steal sugar packets out of restaurants.
3
@denise
I think you give trump far more credit. There is no strategy at all between those ears, as far as I can tell.
3
@denise
No it didn't work, the public democrats are onto him and that weak ploy. But you can't get any worse at trying to defend your admission of quid pro quo, than Mulvaney. Poor weak Mulvaney, in front of a nationally televised news briefing admits the reasons for the money being held up. Even the Fox News reporter who was interviewing Mulvaney didn't buy Mulvaney's spin, which was to say, no I didn't say what you just saw me say, and no I didn't say three things were holding up the money. Oh, okay I did say three things, but I didn't say quid pro quo. Only 8 year old kids spew that kind of garbage, but they have an excuse they are kids....oh wait......so is Trump, and his circle.
He really thought he was doing good for the country by hosting the G-7 at one of his resorts? How would that benefit the country?
18
It is being reported that Doral is down $69 million in revenue since 2015 in most every post on this subject. Also the fact that the loans for this property (which is mentioned here) came from Deutsche Bank. The revenue losses are facts that the Trump Organization reported to Miami-Dade County and therefore cannot call it “fake news.”
This is likely very embarrassing to him and he’s figured out that it will be mentioned often now until the Summit. Also, the Deutsche Bank loans are something he doesn’t want in the spotlight either, for obvious reasons. When has Trump ever cared about the law or political optics? It may be that his impulsive self figured out (a little late) that the dirty laundry will be aired and is not good for business.
27
@shebee
You actually can, if you read the article in Politico Trump routinely over values his business for the purposes of a bank loan, and under values for the tax man.
At this point it doesn't matter if Trumpsters want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend there's a deep state, (there isn't). The facts are there to see, no such thing as "alternative facts" exist. It's either a fact, or it's a lie. If the basis of an alternate fact is a lie, that makes the whole alternate fact a lie.
Camp David is the best choice.
Otherwise, Trump should listen to the Democrats and the mainstream media and pick a neutral place where Trump has no ties, where the American taxpayer will pay more than they would have if the conference were held at the Doral at cost as Trump vowed (btw: Forbes did a study on the effect of the presidency on Trump's fortune, and concludes that so far it has cost him over $350 million -- so keep those threats of impeachment over violating the Emoluments clause coming in. There are lawyers who need work. And cable networks with sagging ratings).
And the advantage of a neutral site is that Trump no longer has a psychological edge in negotiations with foreign leaders, giving them a more balance playing field. As any shrewd negotiator or MLB team would tell you, playing and bargaining with a home field advantage is always the best situation. But now we can eliminate this advantage from crazy corrupt "Art of the Deal" Trump.
Way to go, Trump Deranged!
9
@JW It was not a study, it was reporting. It was primarily Trump Tower, and it certainly had nothing to do with him being President...
2
@JW : the article in Forbes of August 14 says that Trump made this statement to his usual rally throng. Then the Forbes article stated that Trump was as usual lying. I keep wondering if JW and others are Russian operatives.
2
Doral is where all the Venezuelans with deep pockets and right wing view who left their socialist country lives. They would have been very happy to see the G7 event in their midst.
Trump is finally, for now, learning that we will not sit silently while he makes money for his hotels and golf courses under these circumstances.
10
Trump already achieved his goal. He got free publicity for Doral on the front page of dozens of newspapers and the lead on several news outlets. The master huckster does it again.
Let’s get those tax returns.
20
@Tim
Sure one could assert that he got some free publicity. But the fact is, the Doral is still losing money and has for a long time, it's not the get away for the rich he thought it would be.
Having observed Donald Trump and his self-serving behavior for the past forty years, it is no surprise to me that he could choose one of his properties WHILE claiming to serve the nation. Regular people get no benefits from Trump's actions; the spoils go to Trump's rich/famous cronies and his favorite dictator-of-the-moment.
Trump said on Saturday that he would no longer hold next year’s Group of 7 meeting at his luxury golf club near Miami, a swift reversal after two days of intense criticism over awarding his family company a major diplomatic event. That Trump would do ANYTHING to good for America is a sad joke.
“I thought I was doing something very good for our country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 leaders,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, before again promoting the resort’s amenities. “But, as usual, the hostile media & Democrat partners went CRAZY!”
4
Syria was bad PR from both sides of the aisle and from his rabid fan base. He needed a shift in media attention to something only one side cares about: his rampant corruption. Mission accomplished. Here’s the new headline and it has nothing to do with Syria (or Ukraine).
5
How about Area 51. Put Donald back on his space craft and launch him back to the cosmos.
90
@Kami Kata ....and televise it nationally, with other g7 leaders watching as they launch a rocket big enough to also carry the kushners, trump jr. mulvaney, barr, moscow mitch and many more to welcome the void’s embrace . . . But wait, they might need three or four rockets. And could they take boris johnson too?
1
Democrats. Media. Otherwise no scruples.
9
In the middle of June, South Florida is infested with June Bugs.
Millions and millions of ‘em. Like locusts
29
@New World And that ever-present humidity!
10
@New World
Don't forget mosquitoes and hurricanes.
1
He's not the Queen. He cannot invite people to his "Windsor Castle". Hello? Geez--Monarchy Fixation.
35
Trump selected a new location for G7. As far as I'm concerned its too little too late. Impeach.
38
That wretched constitution gets in the way, again.
68
Some of the 308 -odd days trump spends at his resorts or part of his "executive time" should be given over to firm instruction in the emoluments clause of the U.S. condstitution.
33
With Trump, I wouldn’t be surprised if he announced tomorrow that the new venue is Bedminster, NJ.
55
This dumpster fire is just Trump...well trying to shoot someone on the street. He said it, everyone laughed, but the Repubs are letting him get away with it, day after day.
The Trumplodites out in the hinterlands are so entrenched, have so much of their personal "stock" in their adoration of him, that I can comprehend their allegiance. Its a truly psychological debt they've taken on with him. So its semi-understandable. Irrational to say the least, hypocritical to the Nth degree, but understandable...while simultaneously bumfuzzling.
But Graham, Grassley, Collins, etc...they're actions, or lack there of...? Down right confusing, and frankly disturbing. And scary.
This should have been a no-brainer. No blatant self-dealing like this should be tolerated by any one in either party. Period.
But the Repubs are so shell shocked, so beaten and scared of looking askance towards Trump, its become near impossible for them to stand with a straight and resolute spine. Unless its over an issue the Trumplodites don't care about...like those brown-skinned, funny talking, Kurds. So they step-up.
The Big Q remains...how much more self-dealing is the core of the Trumplodite base gonna tolerate? Is there a point of overload? Or are they all-in and going down with him?
23
So someone figured out that holding the G7 in the Miami area in the middle of the hot, sticky summer wasn’t the “best location”?
This is classic Trump corruption. By breaking the law and lining his own pockets, he also would also inadvertently turn the other 6 world leaders into felons by making them pay into his scam.
26
What appalls me is that either the man has no awareness of
the constitution, or is aware and considers the country is comprised of fools who accept his corruption.
Oops, perhaps he's right about the latter, given the lack of response of Republican enablers.
30
I can only shake my head. Always blame someone else for what you’ve done wrong: that’s how children and immature adults respond to justified criticism. Oh, yes, and give the finger to your critics.
37
Hold on there Donny--
You promised to hand over control of your company to your sons Eric and Donald Jr., and that “they’re not going to discuss it with me.”
But then you say, "I announced that I would be willing to [have the G7 at the Doral] at NO PROFIT "
What gives?
21
MO of the typical criminal: test the fences, or the limits of the law, see what you can get away with, then either act on your recon, or draw back. He’s calling the media and Dems crazed for defending the EM and the Constitution. If he’s willing to do this above board, in plain sight, what is he doing below board? WILL WE THE PEOPLE EVER KNOW?
24
Who will speak for the bedbugs?
24
@Don
They don't need a voice. Apparently they have free room and board at Trump Doral.
3
@Don Are the bedbugs true Americans or undocumented bedbugs? Makes a big difference.
4
DJT maybe needed revenue from National Doral to fund his upcoming impeachment defense.
18
Flood of criticism from the Democrats. Ya, right, Donald. That’s what convinced you. Nancy Pelosi called and asked you not to and you said, good point, Nancy. We’ll do it somewhere else.
30
The outrage of this one was about the appearance. Not the $$$. Appearance of a Tump resort holding conference was that he was the personal host. Totally improper.
$$$ issue was all that free publicity. Don’t buy that. I have no idea where this year’s, last year’s, or any year’s G7 conference was held. Motel 6?
4
Why is the president exempt from conflict of interest laws that every other federal employee is subject? Could it be that it was implied, and until now no elected president would have ever considered such a blatant act of corruption? And yet the great and moral trumplican toady base continues to march behind this criminal in the White House. Such character.
18
In an accompanying article today the NYT quotes Mick Mulvaney as saying of his boss that "at the end of the day, he still considers himself in the hospitality business." Well he sure as shootin' doesn't consider himself to be in the business of protecting the Constitution and the People of the United States, so thanks for that clarity, Mick.
68
@EA : Mick will walk that statement back by 5:00 PM today.
3
If the president is breaking the law, why shouldn’t we?
9
Trump blames everybody else, should have never selected his Country Club in the first place. But, this is what malignant narcissists do, it' all about themselves. And "at cost" is a joke, as "costs" would magically triple a month before the event. Look what he did to Mar-a-largo membership dues.
Trump is a flim-flam con-man, always has been, always will be.
35
Someone must have told the President that robbing the US Treasury to pay for an event at his private property would add to his list of impeachable crimes. Darn.
19
Indeed, how could Trump have possibly foreseen that yet another obvious bit of corrupt self-dealing would raise the ire of his own party in Washington? They've let him get away with it for three years, why all of a sudden is this particular bit of larceny such a big deal. Poor Trump must be very hurt and confused.
14
The fact that he would even consider such a thing tells you all you need to know.
23
Will the administration now be looking at the other Trump properties on their compiled list?
7
Surely it won't be hard to find another location. "Honest Mike" Mulvaney himself said the Doral was selected after careful review of many sites. That means they have a runner-up location, right?
16
Why not use the money for this meeting to provide emergency Civics lessons in American schools? Few people understand the constitution, three branches of government, and the concept of separation of powers; all starting with the most ignorant and corrupt current occupant of the Oval Office.
7
I wonder who got Trump to listen and withdraw the Doral as the G7 site. Was it Barr, McConnell, Trump's private lawyers, someone from the G7 or a combination of them? Trump's reversal was quick and uncharacteristic. I'm amazed that anyone had the influence to get through to him.
And poor Mulvaney, whose Thursday news conference is now a total loss of credibility for him. Apart from admitting the quid pro quo with a "get over it" flourish and a total incomprehension of a legal quid pro quo versus an illegal quid pro quo, he looks utterly foolish for having vigorously defended self-dealing that Trump gave up defending in 48 hours.
Mulvaney has once again shown that the Trump White House is where careers go to die. He should hire an excellent criminal defense attorney, carefully plot his way out of the Ukraine scandal and figure out how to salvage anything left of his reputation. Complying with all congressional subpoenas would be a good place to start.
14
I have mixed feelings. This will mean one less article of impeachment.
19
Did the G7 site or the Syrian pullout have to be put on the table just when impeachment is hanging fire, or was it an unconscious scream for help from Trump? As in, "Get me out of here!"
4
"But as usual, the hostile media & Democrat leaders went CRAZY!". Mr. President, we should all feel deeply grateful that members of the "hostile media and Democrat leaders have, as you imply, a choice, and, unlike yourself, are not consigned to a permanent mental state. We should rejoice that they can choose when to be "CRAZY".
5
Wow. Trump is sensitive to the wishes of "the hostile media & Democratic partners"? When did THAT happen?
27
I am wondering if other G-7 participants contacted the administration and told them that it would be a problem for them to attend and line his pockets due to their own anti-corruption laws?
15
A few points:
1) The Doral wasn’t “being considered” as the location for the G7 before Trump’s tweet. It had already been selected, and announced by the President’s own Acting Chief of Staff, as the location.
2) This was hardly “unprecedented,” as Trump has been having the US government spend taxpayer dollars at his properties throughout his presidency, in clear violation of the US Constitution.
3) I’ve seen infomercials that were far less flagrant advertising for their products than one Trump’s tweets sent last night was for the Doral. (Which the Times, wisely, omitted from this article). All that was missing was a line reading “Mention this tweet at check-in to receive a complimentary cocktail!”
Given all of this, I’m starting to think that electing a corrupt, amoral snake oil salesmen President of the United States may not have been the best idea after all...
15
Ohhh, people. Yes, I'm sure the decision was reversed because of pressure from: European elites being their usual dainty selves, Republicans concerned about yet another self-impeaching tactic of this president*, Democrats getting the gift of righteous airtime on this ridiculous proposal. I suspect that the actual reason this notion was ditched was because of security, and frankly, I'm a little disappointed. A very easy-to-access Florida location, close to an airport that would be almost impossible to lock down? For the G7?! What a two-fer for folks willing to show up. Hong Kong, anyone? An opportunity lost.
3
@Rusty - one on my concerns about Trump hosting guests at Doral on company time is that he is very distracted by shiny things - golf clubs, gold signs with his name on them, metallic objects strewn about his realm of all sorts. Instead of truly attending to the business at hand of a G7 event, Trump would be using all of his toys and showing off for his guests. A meeting such as G7 needs to be on more neutral grounds so that it is a constructive as possible.
4
Trump always seems to pick adjectives, such as crazy and irrational, that refer more to him than to the Democrats he seeks to denigrate. Like so much of what he walks back, this was an attempt to see what he could get away with. Fortunately, he could not get away with this, but we must ask what else is diverting attention from and simultaneously getting away from.
12
It should be hosted in Mississippi so world leaders and the international press can get a first hand look at typical conditions in Trump country.
35
If someone tries to rob a bank, or conspires to commit a felony (murder, theft, fraud, etc), they are charged with a crime.
However, Trump not only has committed almost innumerable crimes but has many more times panned to.
So how is it that everyone has their unmentionable in a twist about the impeachment proceedings only focusing on the Ukraine? This miscreant has violated his oath of office from the first day that he put his hand on the Bible and raised his right hand.
I believe that with all the crimes he has committed openly, every one of them should be included as an article of impeachment, not only to record for all eternity his failings as president, but to deter future holders of the office to even THINK about following in his footsteps. His whole life he has been able to avoid consequences for his actions. Are we going to negate the power of our government's responsibility to hold him accountable for his crimes against the American people?
Yeah, the argument is that we can punish him at the polls....but that would only show the power of politics. We need to show that we are still a law abiding nation. His wrongdoings need to be itemized in the annals of our law history, and not just in our printed history.
11
I have a hunch the security team said they could not secure the venue. Just wait. The truth will come out.
9
@S. Hardwick Thomas
Sure they could. It would probably cost millions and add value to the Doral resorts balance sheet.
All security upgrades billed to the taxpayer. Trump and crew probably figured when that shoe dropped, the criticism would just escalate.
5
He may think he's above the law, but he's truly beneath contempt.
The rest is just noise.
'Get over it.'
Vote.
12
Only someone of Trump’s obtuse, tone-deaf cluelessness would respond with surprise at the pushback to yet another dose of his reckless law-breaking. Yes, civilized people generally react with hostility, and maybe even get a little crazed, when anyone, especially the president, brazenly attempts to violate rules, ethics and morals in plain sight. And then, to add insult to injury, he wanted to stick the people he’s supposed to be protecting and defending with the bill while, for good measure, betraying his oath of office and the Constitution. If nothing else, Trump provides an endless fount of negative examples of constitutional, presidential and legal behavior.
10
Trump is easily impeachable over his blatant financial conflicts of interest that are monetizing the Oval Office for his personal gain, the Doral mess being only the latest example. So why do the Democrats focus on Russia and Ukraine, requiring closed hearings because the chief witnesses are anonymous CIA spooks and inflicting collateral damage on fading front-runner Joe Biden?
Hillary inadvertantly revealed the answer with her baseless McCarthyite smear that Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein are "Russian assets." For the leadership and the Hillary-controlled DNC, impeachment isn't about Trump so much as repelling progressives and preserving their control of the Democratic Party. They can't admit they lost 2016 because of their own incompetence and failed neoliberalism and instead push the narrative that Russia stole the election from them and that progressives are either knowing or unwitting Russian dupes. Hillary, Schumer, Biden and the rest are creatures of Wall Street -- without those donations, they'd have no political power. They thus view Bernie, Tusli and to a lesser extent Elizabeth Warren as existential threats. They'd much prefer a Trump second term to a progressive who would actually start taking the money out of politics (although they are realizing Warren can be co-opted). As Chris Hedges notes, "these party elites, consumed by greed, myopia and a deep cynicism, have a death grip on the political process. They’re not going to let it go, even if it all implodes."
1
There is no better evidence of Trump’s mental and ethical dysfunction than the purported reasons he gives for dropping Doral from consideration. He doesn’t do it because it might be unconstitutional, illegal self dealing, a clear conflict of interest or a violation of a myriad set of procurement laws. No, the stable genius bases his decision on “ both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility”. I say, if craziness and hostility from the media and democrats causes Trump to make a correct decision for a change, let us all get crazy and hostile.
7
I for one am disappointed G-7 will not now be held a Trump Doral.
When I first heard this was a plan I thought it was so blatantly criticizable – people would go so bonkers – that I laughed out loud.
But the more I thought about it the more it seemed if G-7 were held at Trump's country club the extra white-hot media scrutiny would itself guard against so-called financial self-dealing (yawn) – while more importantly at the same time raise the stature of this G-7 Summit higher than it’s ever been, at least in my memory.
The increased world-wide attention would force the G-7 “World Leaders” to get something done! It would fire up their creativity.
They’d get cracking – actually produce something to show for this suspiciously sybaritic-looking fancy pants annual conclave.
They’d compete for news, not booze!
Yep. I thought it was another surprising, outside-the-box, not-how-things-are-done, idea by Trump.
A good instinct. Worth a try. Sad it’s been snuffed out.
1
Too bad, it would have been a glorious affair. I'm sure there's a Holiday Inn nearby, Cheers!
1
The Doral Debacle was always intended as a diversion from the impeachment inquiry and a tactic that Trump hoped would allow the critics in his party to transfer their horror at Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds while capitulating to a Erdogan, Putin and Assad to something so obviously wrong it is ridiculous . He knew Doral would never host the G7 but hoped he could keep the ruse going to draw fire away from real scandals threatened not only his Presidency, but support within his party. It didn’t work...but expect further diversionary crisis to arise ....as Trump barks louder at his rabid rallies understand that is the sound of wagging the dog.
7
Well, I see a lot of trumpist trolls have discovered this comment page. Perhaps they will allow me a quick course in constitutional law: emoluments clause. Trump just saved himself from another impeachment charge by backing away from this dubious proposal, designed to rescue his sagging personal property. Think about it: "Come to the Everglades in hot, humid June in an overpriced, declining and non-secure resort that would have to be 'hardened,' rehabbed and then converted back to civilian use, all at taxpayer expense." Yeah, right.
This imperative reversal of this illegal proposal is hardly the Democrats' fault; the faults lie in Trump's ignorance of - or simply ignoring - the constitution and his glaring and totally incompetent "leadership." Fault also sits squarely on anyone who voted for him and still supports him. They should be ashamed of themselves, but obviously shame is in short supply these days.
10
Dictionaries everywhere have a cri de cœur: Please release the word "perfect" from the dungeon to which it's been consigned!
2
“We did an exhaustive search of hundreds of sites, and Doral was hands down the best venue." “We will no longer use Doral. We’ll begin an exhaustive search for another site immediately.”
Why not simply use #2 of your "exhaustive search".... there was one, right?
22
Life's been great ..
.. since I started playing Trump's rallies when on the tread in the mornings, and democratic debates for white noise by the bedside at night.
@Bhaskar
There's a reason you sleep on the couch.
4
as if we didn't need a reminder but this is what happens when you stand up and fight and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Good things can happen such as the cancellation of something that would have benefited the owners of the Doral which are his children or someone connected to Trump. When no one stands up to a bully or sets boundaries for children, they continue to rape and pillage.
4
Now put climate crisis and the environment on the agenda. At the top.
6
Running it at cost would have meant more than just free publicity. Even without a markup, it would represent cash that would not otherwise have poured into the trump/Doral coffers at a time of year when Doral is less than half filled.
trump's change of mind is no more and no less than avoiding an obvious article of impeachment that he is most afraid of.
13:15 EDT, 10/20
2
The reason Trump backed down from Doral as a site for the G-7 meeting was because the event in June 2020 would have been just four months before the 2020 election. The event would have given another example of Trump’s flagrant self-dealing for the opposition to publicize. Cooler and calculating Republican minds did not want that. So it was the bigger self-interest that prevailed not that Trump put public interest before greed. Democrats need not despair. Given Trump’s penchant for a crisis a day, he will surely come up with something equally outrageous behavior to show he loves to wallow in the swamp of corruption. A leopard never changes its spots.
40
He never intended to hold the G7 AT Doral. He announced that "decision" simply to divert attention from his abandonment of the Kurds. And his strategy worked: all the attention turned from this horrendous betrayal of an ally to his trolling of the media with his threatened scheme of self-dealing.
30
@Mary he hoped to 1) divert attention from the disasters he created in Syria; 2) if every one's attention was somewhere else, he could sneaked in to profit from this Doral deal. it was a win-win deal for him. i hope if he pulls another deal that directs profit to his own pocket, G6 countries should boycott 2020 meeting.
1
@BSY I think you may be right.
Somehow I can envision the conversation between Trump and Mulvaney:
Ok go out there and throw them some raw meat to distract them from impeachment. Upset them over using my club for the G7. Maybe it can buy us a few weeks of misdirection and give us something else to talk to the base about.
Depending on how the impeachment progresses my hunch is inviting Russia to the G7 (or G8, as it would become) will be the next distraction.
29
@SG1
That's why he's intent on framing Ukraine for the 2016 hacking. So he can drop sanctions and welcome Putin with open arms. His big promise for his first term of office; restore Russian greatness!
It objectively violates the emoluments clause. Even Trump’s sycophantic GOP saw that.
19
Nice try, Mr. President, but we see through you.
The media and Democrats are to blame for forcing this reversal? Since when has Democratic and media criticism ever moved you? No, you backed down when members of your own party balked.
As for the "at cost" claim: Even in slow seasons, like south Florida during the summer, a resort has sunk costs. Staffing, maintenance, grounds-keeping, food service, etc. all continue. But low occupancy means some of those costs aren't recovered. Had the G-7 filled the place in a slow month, those sunk costs would have been recovered - and your pockets would have benefited.
Finally, is it really that difficult for you to just admit a mistake and reverse it without blaming others? Never mind. We already know the answer to that one.
30
Mr. Trump, Please square your promise that you would not be involved in the business decisions of the Trump organization with your statement that “I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA.”
16
Not surprised that the narcissist-in-chief wanted to promote himself and his corporation by having the federal Gov pay him millions of dollars to host the most important leaders in the free world at Doral. I am surprised that more people, including in the GOP, let him even suggest it. The fact that he can't see how wrong it would be typifies his Presidency. His sense of right and wrong is not the same as most people. I don't think he actually has one. The GOP has sold its soul to a charlatan.
18
Why be President if you can't take economic advantage of the position? Trump makes money when he holds government events as his resorts. It's just good Republican ethics to get richer at the expense of the American taxpayer.
23
Hubris perfected in Roy Cohn’s knee has paid dividends for Trump and others, not the country. So, he’s the press’s victim for not being allowed to exercise his role as a hospitality industry player? It’s like when Goldman Sachs’ former CEO, Lloyd Blankfein blamed “Wall Street bankers” for the 2008 economic collapse.
6
Camp David is the most appropriate location for this conference. That's what it was built for.
He should have chosen it in the first place, sparing the nation yet another controversy and essentially, caving only when it became apparent that it would constitute another article of impeachment.
Remember, you have to watch Trump like a hawk. Whatever he can get away with, sneak through, or finangle, he will. Remember how nobody ever would have known about the Ukraine call were it not for a courageous whistle-blower.
I shudder to think what else we don't know, likely stored on the secret server, away from the people who fund his government: the US taxpayers.
43
He has never been responsible to anyone before. Yes, he ran a company, but it was a family business with a sham board. People would just say "yes, sir" and work around him. He has no concept of being responsible to others. Other than his father, no one has ever said "no" to him in his life.
23
@Philip Tymon I don't think there is a board for Trump, Inc. Just him and the kids (and it's not supposed to be him now but he is still the alpha dog and we all know that).
1
I suspect the turnaround has little to do with Democrats or disapproving Republicans. Trump's usual course is to the dig deeper and dare his team to grow a spine. I suspect the other members of the G-7 communicated that, were the event held at a Trump property, their ethics rules would not permit attendance. Whereas the Saudis don't give a fig about the appearance of impropriety or outright bribery, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan must be a lot more punctilious. They are not permitted to butter Trump's biscuit.
19
@Heather Actually not likely as what you suggest would violate many tenants if diplomacy.
Far more likely: it’s so blatantly unconstitutional he had to back down. The only mater in question - and it’s a fair question as Trump is tactically brilliant despite his utter strategic stupidity (a point veterans should understand intuitively) - is: was it a distraction? If so from what in particular?
We must clean up our own mess, not even ask other to do it for us, Let alone expect i
Camp David seemed like the better and more obvious choice from the outset. Reduced US government expense, way better security.
Doral by contrast always seemed a poorer choice even leaving out the self-dealing offensiveness of it.
7
Trump can blame the media and the Democrats again because the silent Republicans won't come out and admit they see a clear conflict of interest here.
17
The decision making process in the Trump White House, if there is such a thing, is beyond my comprehension. Looking for a new venue? How about Puerto Rico? Ignored by Trump so far and still struggling after that hurricane. I can't think of anyone who would object.
9
Who told him he needed to do this? Because we know he didn’t make this decision willingly.
16
Don't think for one minute this stops Trump's self-dealing. He was perfectly willing to flout the Constitution openly if he could get away with it. The heat got too great this time and he was talked down, but he will try again and again. Try to imagine what he would do if re-elected. He should be impeached for the attempt. Impeachment was not the founder's remedy for an unpopular President, for one incapable of winning enough popular support to get re-elected. It was their Constitutional remedy for an unscrupulous, self-deal demagogue so unfit he should not be allowed anywhere near an election. Even frustrated, this naked attempt to cash in on the G7 is still pointed evidence of Trump's disregard for his oath of office and the contempt in which he holds the nation before his personal self-interest. It is also evidence of the malfeasance of every administration official who catered to our kleptocratic Putin-in-the-making, who had a hand in perpetrating the public farce of maintaining that the Doral was simply, objectively, the best place in the country to hold such a meeting, starting with Mick Mulvaney on down.
16
Someone with a decent moral compass, a grain of common sense and combined with a familiarity with the Constitution wouldn't have even considered Doral as an option.
15
The real Trump? Doral? = My place, where I'm safe and secure and insulated from the public. Camp David? My place, where I'm safe and secure and insulated from the public. Anywhere else in the USA? Not my place and less insulated from the public. My place is a safe and secure rally or personal golf club; I never appear anywhere else "in public."
2
Why are we STILL doing both sides journalism?
“Area man says the world is flat. The entire scientific community has proven such a claim as patently absurd and says that the Earth is an ellipsoid, but here as US Media Corporation we are going to treat each claim as if it has equal merit.”
Every time the news media puts two ideas, one patently false, and the other reality based fact, on the same pedestal it is gaslighting.
Trump naming the summit to his property WAS self dealing. You don’t have to frame this as Trump says vs Critics say. So stop doing it.
What you could do instead, is, here is what Trump DID, here is what the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers say. It is clear to anyone who can read and understand English that Trump was violating the law.
22
@Austin Ouellette the American press is still duped by the notion of "fair and balance" reporting. they don't have the spine and wisdom to do the REAL reporting. they have NOT learned the lessons of 2016.
3
Maybe Trump can have the G7 in Atlantic City at the abandoned and falling down derelict Trump Plaza. Sure the signs have been removed but the outline of TRUMP can still be seen on the place. Trumpies will say -- he no longer owns the property -- but, fact is, even before someone took it off of him -- it was falling apart, no updating inside or out and bleeding customers as a result. Just like Doral.
10
If holding an event for foreign leaders at Doral violates the Emoluments Clause, then so does his management of the Trump Hotels, particularly in DC where foreign governments regularly spend tens of thousands of dollars. They TELL Trump they stay at the hotel. This is so clearly corrupt that I cannot understand why the GOP Senators can’t see it.
21
Trump's desire to host the conference at his resort was more than possible profit making - even if they provided the facility at "no cost" (whatever that means), he would have received millions in free advertising. Even more important to Trump though would have been the self aggrandizement that hosting a summit at a resort with his name plastered all over the place would have brought. Once again, Trump demonstrated his complete unawareness of any sense of propriety or ethical considerations.
9
"Mr. Trump, as president, is exempt from a federal conflict-of-interest statute, his role in the matter was improper."
I would appreciate a legal mind here to explain why the president is exempt? Isn't it time for a new statute?
6
Our great wise leader now admits he is vulnerable to media, irrationality and opposing parties. We're creeping in the right direction.
3
@Silvana
That's not true in the slightest. He's not acknowledging any influence by the media and Democrats; he's using them as scapegoats. It's obvious that Team Trump persuaded him that this was a mistake. And Don will never, EVER admit a mistake. He's not even capable of admitting that his adversaries got the best of him in a fair fight.
1
@Silvana nah, the real reasons have not been revealed yet for his withdrawal. may be other G6 countries, except some, also have "emolument cause" in their constitutions forbidding to spend their taxpayers' money to personally benefit the host. if he had always mindful of his critics and Democratic politicians' warnings, USA would have been better off.
1
Since we were told they looked at a number of other venues the search for another place shouldn’t take to long, no?
7
I don't understand. Trump and Co. have already piled up multiple violations of this clause, which should have triggered impeachment years ago. I guess it's just an indication of much heat is on them.
6
Serms to me that "no profit" is highly subjective and not workable. For example, would it be appropriate to include interest on the mortgage for the duration of the G7 meeting in the cost basis for the billing?
Maybe the president should simply offer use of his property to the G7 at no charge.
@Ed
No, Ed, he shouldn't even offer the use of Doral at "no charge". We both know he would find a way to profit from the improvements, preventive maintenance, added security, and (ahem) bedbug fumigation that would be needed.
2
@Bob : Except for Angela's room, he'd leave the bedbugs there so he could say, "See, I gave you something again!" (the first time being a starburst candy he threw at her and saying, "You can't say I never gave you anything").
1
Someone finally pointed out to 45 that having this meeting at HIS property bringing HIM profits would simply be one more Article of Impeachment and a violation of the Emoluments clause, both foreign and domestic.
7
Even when Donald Trump loses, he wins. When you care only that people talk about you, and not what they say, the paydays flow freely.
The pirate president has gotten a couple of days of the most intense, sweeping and free advertising possible. And forever onward, media references to Trump's profit-dealing presidency will have to include the Doral. The new Marketing 101 lesson: The easiest path to riches is to turn your business into an international news scandal.
5
@Peggy Rogers not sure about your argument. many shun Doral and other Trump's properties because of Trump's name. in New York City alone, many building owners voted to take down his name to preserve their property value.
2
There is a quick and easy way to understand the administration's decision here. Mulvaney told us that the Doral was selected because it was the best location of all those considered. Well, okay. What were those locations and what criteria was used in the decision-making process?
The Trump/Mulvaney duo can easily explain this by simply providing the data. There certainly had to be an objective set of criteria here, right...with independent judges? Or do we have to wait for another whistle blower to come forth and say the whole thing was rigged (again)?
10
Perhaps someone persuaded trump of the near impossibility of providing adequate security at the Doral site. (Are you listening, Senator Rubio?) By contrast, the Secret Service is adept at securing Camp David. Indeed, therefore, neither Doral nor any of the other sites the White House allegedly considered make sense.
Of course, trump is not going to cite an actual reason for changing his mind when he can just blame the Democrats instead.
4
Simple solution to the problem. Just go to the venue that came in second on Trump's list of suitable sites. I'm sure it must have been nearly as good as Doral since it was so thoroughly evaluated. Right?
10
What's most disturbing to me about the Doral debacle is that this is just one very visible example of how Trump sees nothing wrong with mixing his roles of President and resort promoter. How many such "deals" have been made during his presidency? He reminds me of Dan Rostenkowski, the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who went to prison for essentially blending together the financial affairs of his Congressional offices, his campaign, and his personal life. To him it was one big pot financing overlapping conflicting interests illegally.
6
For the number of times Trump feels victimized and besieged, always blaming others, and still being supported by his "base"; I am starting to think his base is made up of co-dependents and enablers because it really seems to fit that picture (from past family experience).
4
I hadn't been paying attention to the timing of the proposed G7 meeting.
Average temperature in Miami in June: 86 degrees. In addition to 11 days of tropical rain, hurricanes are possible.
Going to a G7 in Miami wouldn't have been an invitation - but a sentence.
What a joker he is, coming up with that one.
10
Even some European leaders who would be attending said it was inappropriate for public money to be going into Trump’s pocket. Also, they were afraid the rooms were bugged (bed bugged.)
11
Trump may not be holding the G-7 Summit at the resort with his name in Miami, but look at all the free publicity he had received. He may not get monetary compensation this time around, but his business will still benefit from this story.
2
Every year the Sun Valley Resort hosts an international gathering of top business people plus many heads of state in late June. There has never been a security problem and the accommodations are first class. June is not overly busy there as most tourists don't show up until July but the snow is gone and the flowers are blooming everywhere. Wonderful birds have returned including sandhill cranes. Lots of golf courses and other sports available.
There are also resorts in Salt Lake City area that would be of equal quality. Altitude is really not a problem unless one has underlying health issues.
7
He caved because of Democrats and the media?? If that’s true, I guess he’ll be complying with all those subpeonas for the impeachment inquiry (since, of course, he has nothing to hide).
314
@David R and releasing his tax returns, of course.
12
Somewhere along the line, Republicans have come to believe committing a crime in plain sight, exoneration follows. Don’t bother responding; “…the Dems have done it, too…” The Republicans are the ones right now with a death grip on power in the White House and in the Senate, not the Democrats. So what Hillary, Bill and Barack did is irrelevant.
105
Who knew that the Constitution was so complicated, Donald ?
What a comprehensive crook America has for a so-called President.
282
@Socrates Sir, they ALL have been "Crooks!". Both sides of the Democrat and Republican "Elite".
1
Since it is the only thing that works, I promise to be crazed and irrational if the rest of you will be hostile. Kinda fun actually. I feel young again.
5
@Honest14u - Read:
https://nyti.ms/35QjfmG#permid=103200454
After letting Turkey run ravage over their land, maybe he'll let the Kurds stay there.
43
There is something deeper going on here. From the time he came down the escalator and made his "Mexicans are rapists and criminals" speech to the G-7 reversal, I have never seen him act this way. It is as if the Supreme Court had just ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes.
This is Trump's Nixon moment. The US and the world are fortunate that he does not drink. There is no James Schlesinger to babysit him 24 hours a day to make sure he does not push the button.
37
@James Ricciardi
Sadly, drinking has nothing to do with Trump pushing the button. Put Trump Guiliani, and Barr together in a room and they would gladly put their collective heads together and push it. The survivors would hear Trump gladly admit to it and then, deny it and call it fake news.
7
@James Ricciardi Sir, "personally" anyway, I hope he does push the button on the Middle-East.
@James Ricciardi
I'm right there with you James...but even the not drinking is a like. We are all so absorbed with the photos of him with the various despots of the world, that we don't notice when he takes a sip of the wine. I truly doubt they substitute grape juice, and it isn't water because those foreign countries all do proper table settings and the water glass in there as well
1
TRUMP AGREES TO STOP FIRE ARMS FROM THE USA CROSSING INTO MEXICO.
How will the IRA react to this? It will involve secret surveillance of border crossing to detect weapons. It will involve weapons manufacturers reducing sales to Mexico. Trump and Mexican president just agreed on this. Stay tuned folks.
7
@Jerry Totes --The IRA???? That organization no longer exists. Two small groups split from the IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986 and the Real IRA in 1997. Neither of them recognize the Good Friday Agreement and vow to continue to carry out paramilitary actions, but "small" is the operative word here. These offshoot organizations don't present much of a threat now. And, most of the guns supplied to the IRA came from the US, Libya, the Netherlands and later, from Russia, but Mexico? No.
No matter where they have it, if he's still president no one from the international stage will show up.
16
Even so, I don't want to hear any more Hunter Biden nonsense from the White House and Republicans. I'm guessing Mitch McConnell had more influence on Trump than Democrats and the media.
56
@Chrisinauburn the GOP is Trump’s firewall against removal and he knows it.
2
Bedbugs and cockroaches at a "steeply declining," recreational money pit, that nobody wants to go to, and that has lost 69% in the last year. Everything tRump does is CHEAP, low end (but with gold paint,) illegal, and unsupervised, whatever is the cheapest way to make a profit, unless potential guests learn the truth about this awful place, which will be even less desirable in southern Florida, in JUNE. I don't doubt that the other 6 have told him they are not coming to his loser property. Let's wait for that news...
106
ChesBay,
My father used to categorize ingenuous and mendacious folks as “it’s just a paint job.” Underneath lies all the perfidy and ingenuous emotions that they try to hide. (In Trump’s case, however he is as transparent in his crudity as they come. It is the receivers of this “transparencies” -his supporters-who have become stone deaf.)
Thank God my father is not alive; as a
WW2 veteran, the ongoing traitorous behaviors of this administrations would have surely sickened him.
6
One more opportunity to blame everyone else for his poor decision-making. Once again, Mr. Trump can fire up his followers about how he has been victimized by the Democrats and the media - for being held accountable.
79
By suggesting that the G7 summit could be held at a Trump -owned property is blatant publicity for the President's failing resort and is therefore a form of corruption and self-interest.
64
@michael Limaco
good point in that regard. It may have just been a publicity stunt at the end of the day for Doral.
Problem is... when republicans held a retreat there last year.. numerous reports stated that the place is under maintained, rooms smell moldy (a common issue for hotels to deal with in tropical locations), and that even the basement resturant stank.. of stale beer. All this points to the Trump organization not properly maintaining the property..
WHICH... brings us to Trumps "alleged willingness" to host the event at cost. Of course "cost" in this case would be millions of tax payer dollars spent to bring the property up to proper standards for a G7 summit.... because of course that would be a "cost" right? In other words.. this was a stunt by Trump to try to 1) get taxpayers to pay for rennovation of Doral. And 2) a chance for him to market the "super duper best resort on the planet" Doral (AFTER taxpayers foot the bill for rennovations).
3
Just asking, why does Trump choose the location?
Is it the United States' turn to host the event?
7
Yes, the location rotates among the nation members every year. When Obama was president, it was held at Camp David, a government owned property. This information was included in the article.
6
@Sparta480
yes. We are the host next year.
1
he's only shutting it down because he is protecting his other violations of the emoluments clause from taking heat. beyond that, please don't try to tell us that it would be done at cost. are they really going to comp everything?? a drink at the bar? an impromptu meal at the restaurant?? what is "cost"? truth is that they will not know the cost until the meeting is over and every salary that the G7 pays is one trump does not have to pay.
22
he's only shutting it down because he is protecting his other violations of the emoluments clause from taking heat. beyond that, please don't try to tell us that it would be done at cost. are they really going to comp everything?? a drink at the bar? an impromptu meal at the restaurant?? what is "cost"? truth is that they will not know the cost until the meeting is over and every salary that the G7 pays is one trump does not have to pay.
7
Oh. I see. Only after a torrent of criticism does he reverse course. Let's all criticize him back to 2015.
42
I say - Trump resigns - then OK for the meeting at Doral. I'll take that deal.
31
@Eric
I say he goes to jail along with his grifting family and co-conspirators, and right before going completely bankrupt, his company sells the failing resort to cover his legal fees and various lawsuits... then the new owners can host whatever they want.
Seems fair.
5
This president may think that he is above the law but we the people do not.
51
I guess it wouldn't have been much of a summit/party any case, with all of those invitees sending their regrets.....Face it Donald, you are the most unpopular 'kid' in the class - ever!
19
During this administration, I am becoming aware of laws that most of us weren't aware existed. For example, "emphasized that ..., as president, is exempt from a federal conflict-of-interest statute...." Isn't this an open door to corruption. Shouldn't any president be held accountable for a conflict of interest that is beneficial for him/her, yet detrimental to the country. Replies may be that there are other ways of holding a president responsible, but just having such a statute is frightening. Some of our laws are badly in need to updating and correction.
34
No, they’re not: the point of such laws is to reinforce the general Constitutional prohibitions against the Judiciary arm of the government being used for political purposes.
But something I have learned is that the Constitution has bith a domestic and a foreign emoluments clause. We don’t need to change such laws; we need a Congress with more brains than your average chicken, and more of a spine than sea slugs.
4
@Robert
We have a politicized judiciary and a Senate that is not willing to work for the American people. The forefathers created the Constitution as a living document expecting change with changing times. They knew the Constitution was not infallible and made provisions so that laws could be both changed and created.
Plain language to describe Trump’s dealings would be helpful here. Trump is taking money from the wallets of regular Americans (taxes we pay) and putting it in his own pocket. That is the unvarnished truth.
71
@MD plus money from taxpayers of other participating countries. that will be equivalent to that all these countries are "money laundering" to "bribe" Donald Trump.
With Trump, even if he seems to backtrack, or cave, if it's something that remains on his wish list, it never goes away.
So, just wait for the next episode of "G7: Destination Trump"
I do feel a bit sorry for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in Hollywood, Florida, an easy drive from Doral, where they had about 60 hours to celebrate what they anticipated would be a record-breaking 3-7 days for them as all of those world leaders, staffers and press bolted from the boredom of Doral at night and took their limousines over to the Hard Rock to party and gamble. And, the restaurants and clubs on South Beach. They would have benefitted.
Only kidding. I don't feel sorry for anyone.
But, as I said, Trump does not give up. There will be another episode.
20
Since the team looked at multiple properties, and rated them all. (Sure they did, wink, wink.) Trump should be able to release the number two property that made the list today. Correct?
71
Couldn’t agree more! Why must they “look at other properties”? They presumably already had!
Such liars.
48
@J Jones
Exactly.
But I think most people with the ability to actually assess his actions objectively.. know full well.. there are no other properties vetted before choosing Doral.
1
What probably motivated Trump's reversal was the fact that countries would not show up if it was hosted at his resort. Germany suggested they would not participate.
44
Even if our nation has lost allies, I’m grateful the European allies back up the people. Thank you Germany for upholding our Constitution when the president cannot.
7
@doug, that may have been a factor, but the abject illegality and unconstitutional nature of this specious move should have made it instantaneously DOA.
5
@CP
France and Canada too? UK and Italy...yes. The Japanese would be too polite to refuse to attend.
1
Perhaps Trump knew he would never get away with hosting the G7 at his property, but knew he would get away with getting the property a lot of free press over the last few days. He continually referred to the property by it’s full name. I suspect he would have been happy to host the G7 there, but is nonetheless happy with all the talk about it over the last few days.
21
@Sarah
But all the talk is about bedbugs....
3
This was a smoke screen to distract the public from the very serious impeachment.
Nothing more, nothing less.
They knew this was d.o.a. and a huge prank played on those that believed it was for real.
The emoluments case is that the president is enriching himself by having spent more than 300 days at trump branded properties. All on the American dime, complete with lodgings and travel for staff and security is the real scandal.
How about a FOIA on those numbers please?
How can that not break a billion dollars?
46
@Lawrence
Maybe you know something we don’t know. But this wasn’t a distraction unless you include it on top of the pile of all the other distractions – so much going on that we can’t remember what was the most recent outrage. He counts on that confusion. And it seems to work.
But believe it: he hoped he could get the money. Imagine it: all no-bid, with upgrades to the property at the government’s expense.
________________________
Be sure to register and be sure to vote in 2020.
1
Not going there removes only one part of the removal from office argument for this money-chasing enemy of Kurds, allies, decency, and democracy.
11
Well, if we’ve learned one thing over the past three years, Democrats can’t tolerate successful Republicans.
Maybe we could hold the meeting on Martha’s Vineyard at the Obama’s new digs. They seem to have translated their political career into some real wealth.
5
@EGD where is trumps fully funded wall money? Where is trumps better cheaper health care for all Americans? The Republicans had control of both chambers of Congress for two of his first years, not one Democrat vote needed. You might be talking about an individuals success, but didnt all of these fine people get into office for us. The rules are there for reasons, not for an indiviuals profit.
5
@EGD where is trumps fully funded wall money? Where is trumps better cheaper health care for all Americans? The Republicans had control of both chambers of Congress for two of his first years, not one Democrat vote needed. You might be talking about an individuals success, but didnt all of these fine people get into office for us. The rules are there for reasons, not for an indiviuals profit.
1
@EGD Obamas are private citizens now, their business what their real estate arrangements are. They didn't steal their money from the public purse - or anywhere else for that matter.
And if you think that Trump is an example of success, hey - maybe you should go and sell this to the unfortunate civilians caught in the cross fire in Syria, to the other unfortunates that found themselves and their children in cages, to the contractors he stiffed, and so on.
7
One of these days we should get the back story. Assuming, based on past experience, that neither Trump nor his closest advisers (nor Democrats or the media) were the prime movers for this reversal, who was? GOP leaders in Congress? Or did any G7 invitees drop a diplomatic hint that they would prefer not to attend a meeting of global partners at a place emblazoned with his name?
12
Why wouldn't Camp David be fine? When did it become expected that politicians get to expect royal treatment? Let them sleep in bunk beds, for all I care. Maybe their interminable meetings would become shorter and less frequent and more effective.
23
I think he was genuinely surprised at the reaction. He just has no clue. The whole ethical dimension is utterly unknown to him.
26
I wonder if this was the plan all along. Just a distraction and a reason to blame his opponents.
12
@Andrew Trump announced at the end of the most recent Summit that he was thinking of inviting the group to hold its next gathering at the Doral. I wondered at the time why nobody was complaining about it, or telling him it wasn’t supposed to be done. It has been in the works for awhile.
4
A watchdog group revealed in 2017 that Fossil fuel interests,
pro-gun groups, foreign delegations are visiting the Trump International Hotel in Washington to cozy up to the administration.
Not only has Trump profited off the Presidency, he does so openly.
The constitution is clear regarding the President profiting off the job.
"...and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them"
It is clear this Presidency reeks of high crimes and misdemeanors.
26
I remember how many foreign countries and special interests were donating huge amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation when it was apparent that she would win. After Clinton lost those “donations “ dropped to near zero. I wonder why.
1
@PeaceLove
A few numbers to back you up as provided by Citizens for Ethnic and Responsibility in Washington...
-Total number of conflicts of interest to date: 2310
-Political events held at trump properties: 63
-Visits by trump to trump businesses at taxpayer expense: 362
-Events held by special interest groups at trump properties: 82
-Foreign trademarks granted to trump businesses while in office: 59
- Members of Congress that visited trump properties: 90
- Foreign officials that stayed at trump properties: 111
-Number of executive branch officials that stayed at trump properties: 250
-Number of times aforementioned officials stayed at aforementioned properties: 630
-Number of countries whose officials have stayed at trump properties: 57
This is just a portion of the totals... I do t feel like including everything as it’s tiresome and depressing.
5
Trump is already guilty of violating the emolument clause. This case has only high lighted this standing violation.
20
Hmmm? Does this mean Trump will have to be more subtle? Not his strong suit. But he doubtless can benefit a big donor who can demo his/her reciprocity.
5
It would be really nice if he said they were backing down because the Constitution forbids it, instead of blaming his troubles on the media and Democrats. What does he have against following the law?
33
@Athena Morris trump has already told us by his actions of the past almost 3 years he has all the powers, laws or constitution mean nothing to him.
4
@Athena Morris
Just everything... it’s like garlic and holy water to a vampire.
2
Ok, I'll ask the question. With all the comings and goings between Doral and the White House has anyone checked the White House for bedbugs?
236
@G Wise,
Bedbugs! Chuckling here, thanks for adding levity to a hellish political week (but one of many since Trump's inauguration). I am picturing the Donald with tiny red bites in various bodily places (most of which I care not to imagine). A satisfying notion - I keep waiting for his karma to catch up with him.
9
I've heard that, too. And mice in the kitchen. FDA inspectors should investigate.
7
@G Wise ... or stolen silverware?
4
Regardless of where the G7 is held, I suspect by the time that party rolls around, we'll all be singing the lyrics to "Miss Otis Regrets".
24
I'm sure the most perfect place for G7 in the whole USA would have needed major renovations to host such an event. Enter stage left, taxpayers.
206
@Loud and Clear you nailed it..... it would seem impossible that his property would be ready for so many high value targets.
30
About time that for once his self-dealing and self enrichment was stopped.
116
This POTUS just doesn't get it! If a person is planning to commit an armed robbery, we tell him the nature of the crime and he acknowledges. Trump is cited the LAW and it's the media and the Democrats who are attacking him. This is the man we want to continue being the POTUS????? The same man who received his battlefield position at his doctors in his late teens. The same man who has caused many deaths by his mistaken position on removing our troops from Syria. The same troops that now have to be placed into Iran. Removal from Office is the only plan that will save the USA as we know it. Liberals, Conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents must come to this conclusion to save the USA from eventual destruction.
38
Any psychiatrists out there looking at the Donald's capitalization fetish? The one about Doral has a bunch -- Media, Crazed, Irrational, Hostility, Host and Site.
Crazed and Irrational would be a good title for a biography.
56
Wanna bet he will now want to have Camp David gold plated to make it more his style and will want to rename it after Ivanka!
23
@Barbara Murphy
He hates our allies so it serves them right to stuff them in to a camp up in the hills. He won't stay there.
5
@Barbara Murphy Camp Princess Sparklepony doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
7
Among the domestic joys of the Trump era: watching Trump say something appallingly stupid, bluster for a while to defend it, and then fold like the cheap suit he is.
Unfortunately, this innocent pastime is a lot less enjoyable when it comes to his foreign, “policy,” as the Kurds continue to find out.
96
Good. Now, if only the withdrawal of our troops from Syria could be undone. Sadly, that decision will make problems for us for decades. However there is a slight mitigation in the fact that it's going to go down in history as one of the dumbest if not THE dumbest decision any president of the United States has ever made.
49
It's very disappointing that he refused to stand up for his corruption, bigly.
24
Thankfully, my neighbor has finally seen the light and removed the Trump banner from the front of his home. I will have to ask if it was the decimation of our farmers, the treatment of the Kurds, or this latest fiasco that brought him to the light. If this can happen in rural Arkansas, Trump will not be re-elected. Trump is such a gross and despicable man - I'm sorry his original racism and misogyny wasn't enough to keep him from being elected.
391
@Ruth Anne "I will have to ask" I hope is rhetorical, otherwise he/she might reinstall the banner. Count it as a silent victory and it could spread.
35
@Ruth Anne
If Trump and the GOP see that he will not be re-elected, he will just cancel the election with the GOP’s support. Call it an emergency. His SCOTUS and Senate will support him.
20
Bravo for your neighbour. It takes strength and honesty to change one’s mind and make it public. It speaks to you neighbour’s convictions. It also inspires hope.
40
Drumph might have done some good if he let everyone stay for free. Can you imagine that?
8
There were many complaints that the military was staying at a Trump owned property in the UK. Strangely the discussion ended when it was disclosed that the deal cost less than alternatives and was negotiated during the Obama Administration. Why did the complaints end? Trump still profits from the deal Obama approved.
Bad decision Donald. You should have kept the 2020 G7 meeting at your resort and given up your Oval Office. (But it’s not too late to change your mind yet again).
29
Who was able to take a sledge hammer to trump's skull and make him see how wrong and greedy his choice of his property to host the G7?
As if the democrats or the people meant anything to him; some big-shot donors or ardent trumpite must have told him it was another impeachable offense.
Poor G7 will just have to make do with Camp David. Poor things. What a bunch.
23
The icing on the cake is that no one bothered to notify the mayor of Doral that the thing was off. Typical of the very meticulous—and classy—way this administration does things.
54
“I thought I was doing something very good for our country...”
The refrain of all corrupt dictators.
120
Two descriptions of the accommodations at Trump Doral Golf Resort:
"We call them bungalows." — Trump
"We call them home." — Bedbugs
124
@Hugh Briss -- Does Prez charge them Bedbugs for staying there?
2
Too late, Trump. This G7 outrage is now part of the ballooning litany of ignorant, spiteful, self-serving, and unpatriotic behavior that defines this administration.
154
Mr. President, why not just unilaterally award a federal contract for cafeteria catering services to Trump Burgers, Inc.? Or the contract for mi!itary apparel to Trump Textiles, LLC? How about new construction of affordable housing to Trump Real Estate Development, LLC?
27
States where Trump has moved Federal Employees from Washington DC would be a great option for the G7.
15
Doral is not in the appropriate condition to host foreign dignitaries. It would need many, many tens of thousands of dollars worth of sprucing up to be an acceptable venue. trump knows that. Remember when he said he would host the G-7 at cost? He failed to mention the cost of maintenance, repairs and upgrades to make it the appropriate showcase. trump loves him some US taxpayer dollars. trump covets everyone else's money to prop up what he can't make profitable. Who wants to bet this one and Scotland both go belly up once he is no longer president? Once he's out of power he will be radioactive. He has shown the whole world what a creep he is.
111
@Chris I don't think another building with Trumps name on the side of it will ever come out of the ground in this country anyway
16
@carmel In this country or anywhere else, for that matter.
4
Trump blaming the media for blowback over Doral is like Mulvaney blaming the media for criticism of a quid pro quo foreign policy. The media acts as a mirror, reflecting back what it sees - and that happens to be corruption.
101
@NM It's all about greed and keeping his base, NM. It is all about making fake news their paradigm of reality. He is feeding his supporters what they want to hear. And sadly for their own purposes which are not unlike his, they gobble down his lies and spins.
10
If the hostile media and crazed Democrats had the type of influence Donald ascribes to them in this sordid attempt to line his own pockets, he would have resigned by now. No, the only thing that brought this about face were some not so subtle messages that he was about to lose his true “great, beautiful wall” in the Senate. Mitch and his band of spineless sycophants are the only thing standing between Donald and jail and even the Dotard, as his lover calls him, understands that. Even the spineless wonders in the Senate understood that Doral was a resort too far.
49
How sad, even pathetic, that the Republicans in Congress were far more likely to vote and convict in favor of impeachment on the basis of presidential self-dealing and enrichment from his rental income from his own country club than from his overt and provable attempt to enlist the aid of a foreign government to interfere in our election by seeking dirt on the Bidens, while holding back promised funds for the military defense of that country against a Russian invasion.
24
Democrats and the media, The people wh are cocerned with Trump's endless corruptions and misuse of power. The real question why don't the GOP care. I can recall them endlessly complaining about Obama's expenses
America should thank the media and Democrats for caring and complaining about Trump's endless indifference to corruption and lawlessness.
Thank god for Americans with backbones. They will remove the spineless Trump enablers from Washington.
33
Trumps refusal to divest himself from his businesses, the flagrant use of his properties from D.C.to Scotland, etc., the constant plugs and asides from himself and his staff... all this and we still have to use phrases like "...could violate."
Everybody knows how businesses and marketing of said businesses goes and everybody knows Trump properties (i.e. Trump) would profit from the G7 Doral visit.
20
Gee! Now he won’t have the opportunity to show off his gaudy toy/palace to other world leaders. Maybe he thought that, “This will show them! I’m a rich guy and I can afford to build these over the top palaces and I know you envy me and think I am great!”
Too bad! And, of course it’s the fault of the Dems the Media!
15
Just opens the process to consider all the Trump properties, Perhaps in Turkey?
13
As we well know by now, “loyalty” for the narcissistic Fake President is a one way interstate. He keeps putting Republican legislators, particularly Senators, in impossible positions, having to defend the indefensible. The Doral reversal by him was probably caused by a fed-up and furious McConnell phone call to the White House. Trump will only continue to impulsively act only in his own perceived interest, as his support amongst those he now needs the most will erode. Nixon redux on display.
17
Wow not even close to an acknowledgement by the malignant narcissist that this was just morally wrong and even illegal!
Why am i not surprised? He’ll choose another one of his half baked overpriced ‘resorts’ to prop up with tax $
Aka corporate welfare/ hitting the tax payer funded expense account ...
18
So Trump only changed his mind because of “Democrats and the Media”. Does that mean all the republicans thought it was a great idea? I don’t think so!
20
"I thought I was doing something good for the country." Ah, you are such a humanitarian. The fact that your action was blatantly unconstitutional is simply a side issue.
Please, Trump supporters, review the domestic section of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Some clauses in the Constitution allow for some wiggle room. This one absolutely does not. It simply states that the only thing that a President can receive from the Federal government or any state government is his/her salary. That's it. No exceptions, no is he making a profit clause. For the President to award himself a government contract would be a impeachable offense all by itself.
The fact that some Republicans and Trump tried to defend this unconstitutional act shows how corrupt this administration is. The only thing that stopped Trump was the bad PR. He was perfectly fine with reading the Constitution and spitting on it. And no doubt he will try again. Laws, norms and standards are for losers in Trump world.
25
@KJ Peters The only thing I disagree with in your comment is your suggestion that Trump has read the Constitution. He hasn't.
16
@RMS
You are correct but there is a chance that Melanie provided a poster board presentation to explain it to him.
2
@RMS
Not only hasn’t TRump read the Constitution or our other founding documents, he couldn’t find them with a headlamp and a flashlight. He has no idea where to even look for them.
2
Hostile reactions? How about because it was against the law?
83
Shucks. Someone must have told Trump that if the G7 were held at Doral, he would likely be impeached again, assuming he’s still in office at that point.
14
Trump knew very well that this is a direct violation of the emoluments clause, for which is being sued. His goal was partly to stuff his pockets one last time, but also to force Republicans to take a stand that they would support him over the Constitution.
Republicans who thought they could reel him in if he got out of hand are fools. Any crime boss knows that you make your subordinates complicit in everything you do. If you're going down, you make sure they come with you.
In Trump's case, the more brazen he is, the more complicit Republicans are in his crimes. He wants them to go to the mat for him. He wants them to prove their loyalty. At the very least, he needs to know how far they'll go so he can plan his exit strategy.
40
A side issue, reflective of the stranger cyber world that shadows us even as we use our phones & computers to stay abreast of the news:
—As I was reading this article on my phone, the accompanying advertisements appearing within the article were a series of showcases for high-end real estate properties!
Irony—or the “new normal” in Internet targeting? Is this happen simply because I typed the word “emoluments” into my search engine??
6
"...and so what if I make a profit to? Isn't that what America is about?
3
Apparently it is only “crazed” democrats who care if Trump lines his pockets with government contracts.
His comments say a lot about our Republican sheep. This isn’t the party of Reagan.
For those of you who remember Republican complaints from years ago about government contracts. Trump would be the first in line selling $1000 toilet seats to our military saying they got them at “cost”.
19
There is no certainty, considering his imminent impeachment, that Trump will still be in office by the time the G7 meet in June, 2019.
8
Oh well. Would have made impeachment do much easier. Soon they will be saying they were only kidding about the whole thing.
4
"I thought I was doing something very good FOR OUR COUNTRY by using Trump Doral..."
On what planet in what universe does this guy live?
27
Trump's statement is the epitome of lunacy. He changed his mind. And he claims he is not weak, and claims he has infinite wisdom. But then blames Democrats for the reversal. This is a half-measured confession, correction, combined with blame of others for his reversal. This sounds cowardly and wishy-washy to me.
In reality, critics are only asking that he obey the constitution and avoid corruption.
The sad part is he is too obtuse or greedy to understand or care that what he proposed in the first place was moral wrong.
16
And, shaming Trump, who has no shame, to do the right thing should not be considered a win!
8
We might as well just throw the constitution in the garbage at this point. Trump is turning the country into a dictatorship, where he’s above the law and ignores congress, senate, and the courts; not to mention a free press.
10
The capitulations, first releasing the Ukraine transcript, then Mulvaney's famous two-step, and now this (and really all shiny object maneuvers) convince me these idiotic antics by Trump and his minion are intentional distractions to keep us from digging deeper into the issue of who he owes money to. As Pelosi said, for him all roads lead to Putin and like Br'er Rabbit he is begging us not to throw him in the briar patch, sic impeachment for campaign violations. He knows the Senate Republicans will not convict him for this Ukrainian affair as it stands now, but if it could proved he is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vladimir Putin they would have no other choice to oust him. Follow the money.
18
As usual.... Every day this comes into tighter focus: we must ALL VOTE!!!!
13
The global community thanks you for not putting them up in an empty, failing Trump property in the off-season (e.g., sweltering Florida in the summer).
11
@JP
At the onset of hurricane season!
1
The fact that this was even considered shows that Trump does not understand the importance of separating his personal business affairs form his official responsibilities.
8
Law bidding citizens of the US need to keep up the pressure and hold this president accountable when he flaunts the law.
We need to make sure we contact our representatives in Congress and the media to demonstrate our outrage at a president who does not follow the rule of law in our country.
7
Well, by the time the G7 happened, the press would have obtained the other sites under consideration and all the bid documents, showing that Doral was not the best choice AND the price was being padded.
The longer term political cost would have been even greater than Trump having to sell Doral...which I predict will happen this summer.
11
Reviews and photos of the resort on Google Maps are worth a look. Poor service and food at the 1-star end. Lots of gold. Complaints about plane and traffic noise. Photos like the 80's never left.
22
Although Mr. Trump’s Twitter response explaining his withdrawal from the plan to host the meeting at Doral sounds like his usual bluster (“hostile media and Democrats”), it is a change. When has he ever changed course in the face of such criticism in the past? Also, by refusing to even acknowledge that the offer of Doral could appear to some to be wrong, he gave up the one way he could have helped himself coming out of this. He is unable to show deference or to admit that he learns.
5
This is why the voice of the people matters so much. With a groundswell strong enough we can make anything happen. Now we need to rise up in overwhelming numbers to demand the eviction of this unwanted tenant at 1600 Penn.
12
Isn't that the place that had to pay a settlement because of a bedbugs infestation?
20
Trump never stopped doing something because of the media or democrats. Must’ve been a closed door session with republicans. I sure hope they speak to him the way I imagine.
6
I wonder how it feels to Mr. Trump when he learns
not a single person out there believes a single word
he says?
for example
* best location
* at cost
* saving the us money
13
Trump tweeted, “I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA.” Wait a minute: Didn’t Trump supposedly give up control of his businesses when his term of office began?
20
I think Mar-A-Lago might be available.
4
I'm surprised the Times has not looked into Doral's revenue during past couple of summers. With the heat and humidity, it almost certainly has been losing money. Even at cost, Trump would have been benefiting.
6
@Michael They have. Rachel Maddow has a segment on the failing Doral.
1
Let us not forget the Doral bedbug lawsuit. Nothing brings international leaders together like being bitten by bedbugs at a Trump property.
15
Highlighting how Trump would enrich himself off the G7 at Doral is akin to holding Martha Stewart out as what is wrong in Wall Street. Specifically, Martha was the tip of a huge iceberg that regulators still are not going after, just like Doral is the tip of the iceberg in Trump enriching himself using the Oval Office. You have to ask yourself, whenever you see corruption in DJT, you have to ask yourself, "OK, what else is he up to?" because he is up to a lot more.
7
Okay, G7's gonna be somewhere else.
But that doesn't change the problem a bit.
The resort's advertising has already been done.
We now know: (i) that the resort exists; (ii) that it is wonderful (Trump's words); (iii) that it is perfect for big events (Mulvaney's words).
Such an advertising message would cost millions of dollars.
But for Trump (who always acts pro domo sua) it is enough to use the White House microphone.
Isn't this a clear conflict of interest?
14
@Alfredo yes, so we should continue the advertising by disclosing the $125M loan from Deutsche Bank, the occupancy rate, and other pertinent financial information that may be available and not under trump's control. I am sure this place is an open wounding trump's bottom line.
@Alfredo yes, so we should continue the advertising by disclosing the $125M loan from Deutsche Bank, the occupancy rate, and other pertinent financial information that may be available and not under trump's control. I am sure this place is an open wounding trump's bottom line.
1
The pertinent question here is this: why did Trump want the G7 meeting at his resort? I don’t think his real motivation was financial gain.
The real reason is that he envisioned himself playing host, calling the shots, and having the world leaders admire him for his fancy resort.
This is really at the heart of why Trump is so unfit for office. He has no interest in the enormous responsibilities of the office. We have put a man with an enormous ego and a deep inferiority complex in charge of our nation. All his efforts are about manipulating how people see him, getting admiration, hurting those who oppose him or see him for what he is, etc. etc.
Everyone in the world sees this. The Republicans, for whatever reasons, are in denial and enabling him.
The true tragedy is that our system of checks and balances is broken. A man who is only able to be interested in his own image is permitted to take the world on his personal roller coaster.
10
Just the latest Trump PR stunt. Did you know about Trump National Doral before this? I certainly didn't, but now I do. Classical Trumpian move. If allowed, great, tons of money made. Not allowed? Great, just backpedal after two days nonstop chatter about Trump National Doral. No harm done. Honestly, Democrats should have already figured out by now that the proper way to deal with Trump is to let him do, wait until here is deep into it, and then prosecute/impeach for what are obvious crimes.
6
The past few years have shown just how easy it is to slip into total tyranny. We live under a dictator; fortunately, our system is just strong enough so far to keep it from becoming a full dictatorship, yet Trump is wearing away at that strength.
9
Hold it in Puerto Rico—they could use the boost to their economy.
20
@Joe The protests would be enormous.
So the reason is because of criticism by the media and democrats.
Why isn’t the reason because this sort of government expenditure would have required a competitive bidding process? Or that it violated rules about officials taking money from foreign governments?
And the lies are ghastly! Suggesting that the services would be done “at cost” doesn’t mean that trump wouldn’t benefit. And how is that cost determined? If it “cost” $1 million to operate the hotel vacant and it takes in $1 million to cover the “cost” that would be a loss trump wouldn’t have to suffer. Isn’t reduced loss beneficial?
The endless corruption is something that should be halted right now!
The abuse of power needs to be concluded.
I’m ready to vote against trump and his henchmen in November 2020, but if our congress acts now, maybe we will have qualified candidates to pick from instead of a criminal, a mobster chief, a dishonest actor portraying a president.
8
Kinda disappointed that he was forced to retreat from a violation of the domestic and foreign violations of the Emoluments clauses.
It would have prima facia added another article of impeachment to the House inquiry.
5
He hasn't changed it site because he has realized that it presents an ethical issue for him, but because once again, he has been victimized. Our "Victim in Chief" constantly feels sorry for himself and pouts when he can't get his way. Never mind the millions he's made over the past three years from the foreign leaders, diplomats, trade representatives and others who have stayed in Trump hotels and played golf at his resorts. They know the first step to curry favor with the American King is to pay homage by paying for luxury suites in his properties. But, that's not enough. It's never enough. He wanted more, and to even pretend that he was "doing something very good" for the country by making even more millions for the 2020 G7 is preposterous, even for King Trump.
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Not to mention, why would anyone believe that the conman would do it at cost?
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If Trump cares about Democrats’ criticism, then he should release his tax returns.
Trump cares about his voters’ opinions. At last, voters’ opinions have begun to shift.
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Both the Doral selection and the Ukraine admission, both later walked back, were timed create the maximum hysteria as a diversion to the week's depositions by State Department officials. As the Impeachment process continues, and more egregious behavior is uncovered, expect the outrageous gestures to become more frequent. For example, expect a government shut down and more love fests with Putin and Kim just to be in-your-face.
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“Democrats immediately portrayed the plan as a blatant act of self-dealing corruption, and ethics lawyers said payments from the visiting delegations could violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which forbids the president from accepting gifts and funding from foreign governments.”
You may not know this, but sentence works better if you cut everything before “Ethics lawyers”. Because this is not a partisan disagreement. It’s an objective statement.
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Comforting to know that Trump and his staff consistently demonstrate good judgment such as choosing the Doral, delivering Syria to Russia and the Kurds to Turkey and that Ukraine thing . . .
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The Emperor is displeased. Trump is simply not bothering to 'get' it that he, in the Presidency of the largest and most powerful nation in the world, and, the putative leader of the free world, has to act within certain moral and legal codes and standards of behavior. Let's throw this dangerously incompetent snake-oil salesman out of office and get our Democracy back on track with a leader who actually cares about leadership on national and global issues. We deserve better and the planet deserves better.
9
Trumps surprise at the blowback from all sides regarding emolument violating and blatant self-dealing underscores a White House and Administration with no ethics, no self-discipline and no idea of the difference between right and wrong.
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Mulvaney said the event could be held "at cost"
There would be no way to determine whether the price charged represented "cost" as the accounting records would not be available to determine what cost actually was. In any event a money losing venture like Doral would have fixed costs for which the incremental revenue would be applied to.
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@EarlyMorningRain The "at cost' for security, alone, would be astronomical.
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@EarlyMorningRain Any Federal employee that directed contracts to his business commits a crime punishable with up to 5 years in prison, law doesn't have exception for doing it at "cost".
Trump seems to believe that because sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, means that they are above the law. Self-dealing is clearly a crime and Trump can be impeached for it, and prosecuted once he leaves office.
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@EarlyMorningRain with an achin' in my heart and my pockets full of sand.....
The rapid capitulation is great, but it was still a crime.
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@Steve
The bedbugs are rejoicing.
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@Steve Someone in the WH must have explained the Emoluments Clause to t in kindergarten terms to get him to back down.
5
“At cost?” So all the rooms that were going to be empty would have been paid for. That is called making money. These people are so full of it. Lies upon lies as far as the eye can see.
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@TvdV
Wonder if Trump now hits up the taxpayers for cancellation fees. I wouldn't put it past him.
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@TvdV
And what does "at cost" even mean? Trump Inc. decides what the "costs" are. The President and Mick Mulvaney also said that Doral was far and away the best choice. Compared to what? Compared to some run-down conference center next to a strip mall and fast food joints? Sure, it's much better than that, but because the administration hasn't released the list of all the other sites considered, we don't know what made the cut.
Lies of commission and lies of omission.
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@TvdV
If you want to know how Trump calculates cost, check the story of Fred Trump's creation of All County Building and Maintenance, a shell company that charged inflated prices on furnaces etc for Trump real estate properties, and passed the extra on to the Trump kids, bypassing gift taxes.
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The president thought that he was doing something good alright, not for the country but for himself. He caved in only because of Republican outrage at his brazen attempt to cash in on his presidency. He's plundered and looted America's sacred office for personal gain.
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@silver vibes
Nice to see you, friend! Indeed, every aspect of the presidency has been coopted into a branch of Trump’s enterprise.
Thanks for what you wrote. Take care.
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@silver vibes Trump truly believes that anything that is good for him is good for the country, and of course vice versa. There is no distinction in his mind.
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“I thought I was doing something very good for our country...” Once again for those who see with open eyes and think with clear and untainted minds, the proverbial emperor has shed his clothes. Lies, lies, lies. Only his MAGA supporters do not understand that greed - the root of all sin - motivates and indeed consumes that other part of an ego-driven being. But if we go below the surface of this latest change of what heart he has, Trump is scared and is finally listening to any sane voice that remains in his darkened White House. Speaker Pelosi, Adam Schiff et al., take your time but please hurry up.
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Of course, it would never occur to Trump that it might be a violation of the U.S. Constitution which Trump neither respects or likely has ever even read.
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@Ken McBride -- trump always liked to brag about the little pamphlet he kept at his bedside.
No, don't be silly, not the Constitution.
Mein Kampf -- My Story, by Adolph Hitler.
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This is pulling money from Trump’s pocket. He knew this plan would draw fire. He did not back out unless he felt it might be injurious to him in impeachment hearings. He is counting on the Senate to save his bacon. Therefore all his calculations for beating impeachment have the Senate as the linch pin. His advisors are telling him not to aggravate that house of Congress.
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"Democrats immediately portrayed the plan as a blatant act of self-dealing corruption..."
Subtle both-siderism. Trump planned this large, expensive event paid for with taxpayer money at a venue he personally owns. Democrats are not "portraying" anything by objecting to this; it speaks for itself and could not be clearer.
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@Pat "Personally owes"? He had to borrow $125 million from a German bank to buy it. No mention if he has made any payments. No bank in the USA would loan him a dime. HMMMMM.. BTW, the republicans were just as miffed as the democrats by his rash proposition.
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@Pat
Thank you for that. I would say the both-siderism isn't that subtle. It's a rigid frame, a procrustean bed for the Times's reporting on politics.
It's as the Times were to report that "critics of the Yankees have claimed they lost" last night to the Astros.
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@Pat
I was in the hotel business. Everyone seems to forget that the most important thing about a hotel is a “good nights sleep”. Hoteliers invest thousands in their mattresses - replacing them regularly. The best hotels may be located near a highway, but never on, particularly for more than overnight stays.
No one wants to meet or sleep next to a major airport, unless they are “one nighter” just trying to save a morning commute to catch an early plane!
Let alone have their meetings interrupted by jet overflights!
Trump’s comments at the G7 that they would love being close to their airport are absurd, unless of course he was advertising to pick up a few short stays from overnight guests? After all, the G7 guests all have access to helicopters...
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Sure, he changed his mind--reluctantly--but it's also classic bait and switch. He knew what he was doing: building up the family name brand.
No Republican has questioned his obliviousness to the ethical standards to which the presidency was once held. This is conduct that they would never have tolerated in a president with a "D" behind his (or her) name.
Additionally, the president has "surgically implanted" a micro-chip into the DNA of the G7 participants. They know that the offer was made--and will always be there. It's the subtlety in Donald Trump's evil plans that matter. No one holds him accountable and his almost daily devastations of presidential norms has normalized his egregious conduct to the point of boredom. There's worse to come and we just accept.
America has become his punching bag. And, apparently, is helpless to do anything about.
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@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Trump sure succeeded in getting free publicity for Doral, come what may with the G7...
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@NM: Esteemed daughter of the Cairene scholar: Advertising for his properties was the entire point. He’s got two towers in Istanbul and anyone who doesn’t think that factored into his surrender to President Erdogan is a naive innocent. Donald Trump is baldly leveraging his office for personal gain. Some Republicans may have objected but have not held a fully-blown press conference to denounce it. They so fear his wrath and poisonous bite that, like a horse on the trail, frightened by the rattler alongside it, bolts for the comfort and safety of silence. The empty rooms and beds at Mar-a-Lago will be written off as a loss by Trump’s accountants and passed along to us. And to that, Republicans won’t say “boo.” They would have if it had been, say, Barack Obama, no? It would have been Trey Gowdy and the Benghazi Inquisition all over again, and in spades (no pun intended, but, of course, the Right would smirk).
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@NM :
I'm currently in the market for a country club to join. I wasn't aware of this Doral place until just now. I think I'll give it a look.
Wow!...if it wasn't for all this hubbub I probably wouldn't have heard of this place!
2
I still don’t think Trump gets it, but that’s fine: Doral is not hosting. Ethics finally scores a point against this administration.
This idea was blatantly unconstitutional. Trump will now have to find another way to prop up his struggling resort and try to make a personal profit to boot.
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I suggest a large Ramada Inn or Motel 6 for the summit. The beds are good, the rooms are clean, and the participants can order out meals by using Uber Eats. If they need a large meeting space they can rent out a park or school gymnasium. When Democrats take over the Presidency, they can provide even more thrifty places and ways to hold the event.
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@Richard Wright ,The issue wasn't "thrift" it was Trump's abuse of the office, once again, using his office for self enrichment. Honesty and ethics do not exist in this man.Doing it right doesn't mean doing motel 6...but leave the light on.
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@Richard Wright Maybe just hold an event in a place not at odds with the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. Surely you cannot be that obtuse.
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Well, it probably won’t be long. Doubtless you’ll have a ton of opportunities to bewail their imbecelic violations of the emoluments clauses at home and abroad, after Hillary hosts the UN at her sprawling, failing golf course in Little Rock, and Chelsea gets that $600 mil loan from Kuwait to bail out her failing real estate biz.
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This ploy was meant simply as a diversion. It got the media off the impeachment witnesses. Whenever we hear that Trump is "considering" something, it is done specifically to gauge the reaction. If the reaction is bad, he drops it. Otherwise, he runs with it. In this case, the reaction from within the GOP was very negative, for it was seen for what it was: a self-serving money grab on an international scale.
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@HawkeyeDJ
I would argue that with Mick Mulvaney's press conference to announce Doral as being chosen as the G-7 Summit location put the focus squarely on the impeachment process when Mick confirmed the quid-pro quo.
9
I think the Democrat partisans made a tactical error by their intense criticism of Trump's pick of the Doral for the G-7 meeting. If they had kept mum until after the meeting occurred, they would have had another perfect impeachment count, an easily proven violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution...and this payoff to Trump personally would have been engineered by Trump himself, not the foreign payer as it usually is at his Washington DC hotel.
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@Errol Oh, come on -- there was no way at all that anyone (and it was hardly just "Democrat partisans" who criticized) could stealthily pretend that everything was OK with Trump awarding a lucrative government contract to himself in order to spring an impeachment article on him unawares. If you're going to talk tactics, then you need to ground the discussion in the realm of actual available actions.
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You might be surprised to know that some people were opposed to this not because of politics but because it is illegal.
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@Jeezum H. Crowbar not only that, but event not to happen for months and months. We cannot wait that long!
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