Open your wallet. Trump demands tribute.
Source: Washington Post
Open your wallet. Trump demands tribute.
By Paul Waldman
Opinion writer
September 3 at 1:03 PM
“Hundreds of guys depended on Paulie, and he got a piece of everything they made. It was tribute, just like the old country, except they were doing it in America.”
That line comes from “Goodfellas,” a description of how all the mobsters in the movie had to kick up part of their earnings to the boss. It’s also how the president of the United States operates.
Like Paulie, President Trump doesn’t have to issue demands and orders. He tells you how it’s going to be — and most of the time he doesn’t even have to say it out loud — and how it’s going to be is that you’re going to put cash in his pocket.
That accomplishes two of Trump’s goals. It gives him the thing he values above all else — money — and it also shows him how much you’re willing to grovel before him.
Last week, we learned that Attorney General William P. Barr has booked Trump’s hotel in Washington for a 200-person holiday party, likely spending $30,000 of his own money for Trump’s benefit. You might think that unseemly for the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, but in the GOP it has become almost mandatory to hold events at Trump properties so the boss can dip his beak. Republican campaigns and organizations have spent nearly $5 million at Trump properties since he took office.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/03/open-your-wallet-trump-demands-tribute/
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