To: ggersh who wrote (164477 ) 10/29/2020 9:40:35 PM From: Gib Bogle 5 RecommendationsRecommended By
Read Replies (1) | Respond to Sorry:Paul Waldman Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center warns that the president is doing the work of our foreign adversaries by undermining the legitimacy of the U.S. election. (Video: Joy Sharon Yi, Kate Woodsome, Danielle Kunitz/Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/The Washington Post) Miles Taylor: At Homeland Security, I saw firsthand how dangerous Trump is for America Personal self-dealing . As The Post reports , Trump has shown a remarkable commitment to using his properties to direct taxpayer money into his own pocket. He has visited those properties more than 280 times as president, each visit an opportunity to bill the government for food, lodging and facilities, in amounts running into the millions of dollars. No opportunity to grab some taxpayer cash is too small, down to the $3 per glass of water charged for a meeting with the prime minister of Japan.Using government resources to promote his reelection . House Democrats have released documents on a $250 million ad campaign the Department of Health and Human Services had been planning to run to “defeat despair” during the coronavirus pandemic, bolstering one of Trump’s core reelection messages, that the pandemic is nothing to worry about.Poisoning federal agencies with far-right ideology . The New York Times reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has seen a crackdown on scientists and public servants who accept the truth about climate change. When the agency’s acting chief scientist asked political appointees to acknowledge the agency’s scientific integrity policy, he was immediately removed. Climate deniers are being installed in top positions, and the department will now require that internal and external communications be reviewed in advance by political appointees to make sure they align “with the overarching guidance from the White House and Department.”Purging civil servants. The White House has waged what Post reporters describe as “an unwavering four-year war on the civil servants who have operated as the backbone of the federal government for more than a century.”issued an executive order to strip civil service protections from tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of workers, allowing them to be fired if they are deemed insufficiently loyal to him. Many in senior roles throughout the government, including scientists, lawyers, regulators and health experts, could lose due process rights and even union representation. One high-ranking official resigned in protest , lamenting this effort to “replace apolitical expertise with political obeisance.”Twisting government functions to his own personal ends . The Times scoops that a criminal case against a state-owned Turkish bank, one involving fraud and violation of sanctions on Iran, became the subject of personal lobbying from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Attorney General William P. Barr, and Trump himself. All of them pressured the high-level prosecutor on the case to essentially let Halkbank off with a slap on the wrist; that prosecutor was eventually fired.many others where Trump and Barr have successfully turned the Justice Department into Trump’s personal law firm.Our Democracy in Peril: A series on the damage Trump has caused — and the danger he would pose in a second term cheated on his taxes , stiffed his vendors , ran out on his debts and scammed people out of their life savings . But it was possible to tell yourself that despite all that, he might not run the presidency like one more grift, with the American people as the marks.
