David Frum: The President Is a Crook

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/the-president-is-a-crook/568123/

The President Is a Crook
The country now faces a choice between the Trump presidency and the rule of law.
David Frum
9:18 AM ET


So now it’s confirmed, as a matter of legal record, that President Donald Trump organized a scheme to violate federal election laws. He directed his longtime personal attorney to pay at least one woman for silence. That attorney got the money by lying to a bank to get a home-equity line of credit.

It’s a matter of legal record, too, that Trump’s campaign chair was a huge-scale crook. Despite his desperate financial straits, he volunteered to work for Trump for free—and Trump accepted.

These two cases complete the beginnings of the story. They are not the story in full. The Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort cases are like the first rocky outcroppings a ship passes as it makes landfall. They are examples of the kind of people willing to work for Trump—and the way that those people carried on their business. They indicate why one of Trump’s sons would write “I love it” when offered stolen information about the Hillary Clinton campaign by a purported representative of the Russian government, how so much doubtful money flowed into the Trump Organization after 2006, and why Trump dares not publish his tax returns.

snip//

Can Trump’s own affairs survive the scrutiny applied to Cohen’s and Manafort’s? Can his company’s? Can his family’s?

Before Trump entered politics, nobody ever bothered to look very hard into Trump’s affairs. Now they are looking. Trump imagined that holding the usual powers of the presidency would safeguard him. He has learned his mistake. In November 2017, he complained to a friendly radio interviewer:

The saddest thing is that because I’m the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I am not supposed to be involved with the FBI.

Not supposed to be—but what if he concludes he has to be? As Trump comprehends his danger, will he really meekly submit?

Trump’s whole philosophy of life is of a kill-or-be-killed competition. It’s an old question: Is Trump an authoritarian, or a crook? The answer is shaping up. Trump must be an authoritarian precisely because he is a crook. The country can have the rule of law, or it can keep the Trump presidency. Facing that choice, who doubts what Trump’s answer, or the answer of his supporters, will be?

[onecaliberal]

1. The republicans have chosen the crook because he's a Republican.

[Mr.Bill]

10. They've chosen a crook because they are all crooks, too.

[onecaliberal]

17. Yes the congress, but the poor people who vote for them are mostly stupid, not crooks.

[Mr.Bill]

19. Yes, that's what I meant.

A pretty good percentage of them are bigoted assholes, though.

[onecaliberal]

20. Yeah they're all bigoted. No question about that.

[Solly Mack]

2. Not really a choice when you only pay lip service to the rule of law.

And we know which the GOP will choose.

As they hold the reins - it's all on them right now.

Trump doesn't believe laws/rules apply to him. He's liable to do anything to prevent anyone from shattering his delusions.

[Totally Tunsie]

3. It's truly amazing.

One filthy, lying scum deals with other filthy, lying scums and they're all dumb enough to trust that they'll all have each other's backs. Must be the adage of "honor among thieves".

The classic proverb holds that, "There is honor among thieves.”

The meaning, of course, is the concept of "professional courtesy," that even the disreputable and unethical do - particularly among themselves - adhere to various sorts of moral codes of conduct.

[link:https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/44388/is-there-honour-among-thieves-or-not|

[Mr.Bill]

11. I think the applicable mob rule here is:

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

[DeminPennswoods]

4. A crook who conspired to defraud the US of a fair election

Trump isn't just a crook. He and Cohen conspired to influence the 2016 election in Trump's favor by paying hush money to at least 2 women whose stories would have buttressed the Access Hollywood audio and dented Trump's election chances.

[Progressive2020]

5. Donald Trump Is A Criminal

I think that it is more accurate to say that Trump is a Criminal. "Crook" is too informal a term.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. What kind of Billionaire can't come up with $130,000????

Seriously? He had his lawyer borrow, from the lawyer's equity, to pay her off?

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. The broke kind? Or, won't come up with it when he can use OPM.

[meadowlander]

14. The kind who's trying to hide the source of the payment

because he is conscious of his guilt.

Alternately, the kind who's trying to hide the source of the payment because he's a cheapskate and is using laundered money instead of his own.

Excuse me while I make some popcorn...

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. The kind who wants no payments on the books at a suspicious time

Stormy wanted the $130k before the election. Arranging a direct payment from the campaign wasn't possible - that would be audited. The Trump Organisation could have done it, but there's the danger that someone in it might have had an attack of conscience (or see an opportunity for blackmail) at that amount going out right before an election to a dubious shell company. So Cohen paid it with a loan, and agreed to be reimbursed by the Trump Org for $420,000 (he added in another $50,000 for 'tech services', which he allegedly paid to a mysterious 3rd party; and they grossed it up to allow him to pay taxes on it, and gave him a "bonus&quot in installments as bogus "legal services" in 2017 at $35K per month. That was thought to look like credible payments to a lawyer Trump had used before.

In a Trump Org internal email, someone was asked to pay this "from the Trust". This raises the question of whether a Trump Foundation, supposedly charitable, was abused for this. What else would the Trump Org call "the Trust" with a capital T?

[bucolic_frolic]

18. Thanks for the details

It gets deeper every month ... but those who don't follow politics or this case closely - the general public or hopefully some Trumpers - begin with "how could Trump not have $130k if he's so rich?" So the details will be an important way to guide their thinking.

[Toorich]

7. "Winning.....

..... we're going to win so much - you're going to get tired of winning!"

Are we there yet?

[appalachiablue]

8. There ought to be a law.. Nov. 17, 1973

[Totally Tunsie]

12. Oops...I think there is.

[appalachiablue]

13. Yes, how about that. Twice in a lifetime, is um...

[zentrum]

15. Where the hell were the NYC and

...NYS and New Jersey AG offices all these years with his corrupt bank and real estate deals? How did this all get this far? New Yorkers have spoken of tRump as a crook for years. It's a known thing.