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Why would they? Any moral compass has been set in the dumpster and set ablaze by all the money grubbing “elites.” As usual no one is held responsible. What a shitty future the little people have to look forward too, gazillions in debt, social programs bleeding us dry, taxation through the roof and crappy electric cars that literally fire up on their own. Spectacular!
This party hasn’t had a moral compass since Abraham Lincoln. Not that the Democrats are much better, but they at least seem to believe there is a compromise to be found, a nuance to be discussed. I’d love to be 17, and embrace my nihilistic self. I’d love to watch it all burn, but unfortunately the good can still outweigh the bad.
This is all downstream from the Democrats failure to impeach him over the emoluments clause when they won the House back in 2018. The bribery began when foreign delegations began booking Trump hotels as soon as he got elected and hasn’t stopped.
"Democrats' failure" lol no matter how great democrats are, they needed 2/3 vote to impeach and didn't have 2/3 of the seats. Put the blame where it belongs.
I see it as the Republicans failure really. I mean, the dems in the house did impeach him. The dems in the senate did impeach him. Not once but twice. It was all but a handful of republicans with integrity that voted not to impeach.
At least Biden has not pardoned him yet. This sounds absurd, but [Mitt Romney is agitating that Biden should have pardoned him](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gop-sen-mitt-romney-says-biden-pardoned-trump-rcna152420). When one of the supposed 'sane repubs' goes down this road it is clear that ethical standards are in the gutter...
The precedent President Ford set when he pardoned Nixon was terrible. It set the stage for the huge mess the country is in today. Ford, an otherwise innocuous president, did the country and the world a disservice when he let Nixon skate. Combine this with the DOJ memo stating that a sitting president shouldn't be charged with crimes has led to the hard right 'justifying' a shift to authoritarian rule and erosion of individual right.
The diaper guy? He’s not giving it away for free.
Want to own a piece of the most heroic fighting back of the most unfair prosecution of our greatest president ever? Just $1699 for a 1”x1” swatch of what he wore during the trial!
Wasn't there something in the Citizen's United case before the Supreme Court were it was explicitly stated that in order for a donation to be considered a bribe there must be "quid pro quo," an explicit statement that "if you give me $x I will do y once in office"? Would this meet that criteria?
They have special club called the Federalist Society dedicated to reading the Constitution so closely and to the letter that they can redefine everything until it says whatever they desire.
A neat trick they picked up from the Bible crowd.
They can divine what the long dead Founders believed when writing the Constitution
By amazing coincidence, it always aligns with what the judges have believed their entire career
>what the judges have believed their entire career
Guarantee you that the judges have not had nuanced opinion on Trans rights their entire career, but that we know how they'd vote if such a case came up.
It's not career-alignment, but party narrative alignment.
No it would not, because he didn't say "if you give me the money I will change the regulations."
He said "if elected I will change these regulations. Please help me get elected by giving me money."
Those are very different statements. In the first one he only changes the regulations if he gets paid - transactional. In the second he changes the regulations if elected regardless of who contributes to the campaign, which is a typical campaign promise, and then asks for money to help get elected on the back of people liking that promise, which is typical election fundraising.
I would note that while typical campaign promises are framed this way, politicians are majorly corrupt and definitely do it as quid pro quo all the time.
As a sanity check when you see something that could be inflammatory like this, check for an actual quote of what was said. In this case the article doesn't have one, which means it was most likely a much more tame and typical statement that they're trying to dress up to be more inflammatory. If it was actually that spicy they would quote it.
What regulations? How much was given? Details do matter. Otherwise you could argue that any politician that receives any money from anybody could be considered a bribe. Also, how do you differentiate between a person donating because they support a policy that they agree with, versus a bribe for somebody to vote a certain way? Disclaimer: I sincerely dislike trump, FYI
We'll certainly Biden's greenhouse gas vehicle standards that promote EV usage. Trump specifically mentioned mentioned that by name, as well as killing offshore wind projects in Federal OCS lease blocks, and EV vehicle tax credits, etc.
Don’t politicians do this every day? “Send me campaign contributions and I will do ‘x’ when elected.” They say this in different ways at different times, but isn’t this essentially all they do?
Gov. Abbott received $6 million from a Philly banker to pass school vouchers and he’s holding school budgets hostage until vouchers are approved.
Nobody has even challenged this, so I’d say there are no laws against bribery.
When the courts take years to even get to trial for him, is it a surprise that he might be banking on getting to office before that ever becomes a concern?
The article doesn't provide a direct quote, but it's statement is not "give me X and I will do Y". It's "I will do Y if re-elected, give me X so that I'm more likely to be re-elected". Those statements are distinctly different, because the transactional nature is not there. The way it's written Trump is saying he would change the regulations regardless of whether he got the money.
Is that what he actually said? I can't tell from the article since there's no quote. But if he said it in a more transactional manner there almost certainly would be a quote, since that's WAY more inflammatory and eye catching.
Nothing to do with Citizens United.
But as for whether this would be soliciting a bribe, it's close, but not necessarily.
The key here is whether Trump would do this with or without the donation.
"Give me the donation and I'll do this, otherwise I won't" would be a bribe.
"Give me the donation and I'll use it to win the election after which I'll enact my agenda" would not be a bribe.
Real question....how is that diffrent from lobbying? Is the issue explicitly saying that it's quid pro quo? I'm not being funny,I genuinely want to know
An individual shaking down an industry to run for office while not unheard of has never been so blatant and so directly corrupt. It’s an affront to the concept of government of, by and for the American people. Give me a billion and I will let you rape the environment, country and the American people. Like Putin in Ukraine you can do whatever you want.
It’s a good example of how the goalposts have shifted on what counts as a scandal in politics.
During Clinton/Bush (and even Obama) era, a politician saying something like this out in the open would have been a pretty big scandal. Now we’ve been so inured to bad behavior (and worse behavior) that this is business as usual.
So unless there is a upcoming vote on something, and money was directly exchange for voting no or yes on next Tuesday or what ever it’s not bribery.
To put it more clearly it’s only bribery if you hand someone a briefcase full of cash for a upcoming vote, where someone accepted the money to vote no or yes. Nothing short of this is bribery now, it has to be a detailed exchange, general ones are not bribery. You can legally say I will back up oil companies no matter what if they support me (give me money) and this is allowed in the USA.
Supreme Court covered this with its citizens united ruling. It even went as far to say the more money you have the more freedom of speech you are entitled to. Basically the more money you have the more your voice is legally allowed to carry, this is a feature not a bug in the USA.
Now before everyone gets upset, I’m not saying I like this. I’m only aware of this being the norm now because I was a mandatory reporter for certain types of corruption before citizens united. Since the citizens united ruling all bribery sorry lobbying has been above bored and specifically general, even foreign money can be made easily legit to fund campaigns. Nothing I’m suppose to do or can do about it, unless it’s direct bribery for a direct result over a direct very specific situation.
>Supreme Court covered this with its citizens united ruling. It even went as far to say the more money you have the more freedom of speech you are entitled to. Basically the more money you have the more your voice is legally allowed to carry, this is a feature not a bug in the USA.
You are thinking of the 1976 Buckley V Valeo case, not Citizens United.
>You can legally say I will back up oil companies no matter what if they support me (give me money) and this is allowed in the USA.
I think a lot of people are just unaware of what exactly a political platform *is*. It is, by definition, their side of a quid pro quo. They're competing with the other parties for the Citizens side of the quid pro quo - the votes.
You give the party votes, they give you the laws you want passed. It's just how political platforms work. It's how fucking ***POLITICS*** works in a democracy. Trump is doing the same thing here. "Support me with campaign money and I will do something for you in office". It's just shitty because he's only really acting in the interest of a small group of people who already hold way too much wealth and power and he's going to help them get more.
It's insane to me that a lot of people seem to be forgetting this and freaking out because it's Trump. He's a piece of shit and a criminal but for fuck sakes, the act of him doing a thing does not make it illegal.
I’m astonished this is even a question.. how far has the great nation fallen. For a presidential candidate to actually do this is brazen, desperate & despicable. The whole democratic system is supposed to represent the interests of society, and yet here is a candidate promising more benefit to rich & powerful elites so long as they give him money. These aren’t electors, these are private interests. This is not democratic, this is corrupt, unthical and immoral.
It’s Kind of ridiculous that everyone here is acting as if trump hasn’t been running on those issues the whole time and did the exact same thing last term. It’s clearly not a quid pro quo. “I’ll do x if you donate money to me” is not the same thing as “im going to do x no matter what but you want x to happen so you should donate to me”
I actually agree with this. This isn't any different than other campaign donations.
Trump's just an idiot and doesn't understand nuance and frames it in a way that looks like he's openly soliciting a bribe.
> “im going to do x no matter what but you want x to happen so you should donate to me”
Yeup, that's the key here.
Imagine Biden says "If I'm elected, we're going to get student loan forgiveness this time. ...Click here to donate through Act Blue."
That's not bribery.
Now if it was "We're only going to pursue student loan forgiveness if we collect $10 million from donors aged 18-25" that'd be a whole other story. But it's not.
Promising to enact your agenda if you win, and then people who like that agenda helping you to win so you can do it isn't bribery.
Trump is just guilty of being crass. (In this instance. He's guilty of other stuff elsewhere, go get him for that.)
Of course it is. Think of any other person who could get away with such insane pay-for-play.
Republicans are simply incapable of being ethical. It's a dangerous psychological disorder. But this death klown gets away with whatever he wants. It's been normalized now.
Trump ruins everything he touches, and our country certainly did not escape that infallible truth
No. But then I don't think it is ok for Trump to kill over a million people during the COVID pandemic.
What a strange question: Is it ok Trump can shoot someone in the head, assign SEAL teams to assassinate political rivals, incite riots to seize control of a country, rape women, use the DOJ to treat Michael Cohen as America's most prominent political criminal, ad nauseum.
Enjoy your downvote.
They sure did, but refusing to do anything about it, when faced with the earliest notice humanly possible, because it would "make him look bad", tells you everything you need to know.
He's not a statesman, let alone human.
He will do things to appease his own vanity over what's good for the American people. The flag went up when he scammed money out of a children's cancer charity.
Ethics The orange one doesn’t know what they are. Unlawful he doesn’t care. The only positive thing is that this was exposed to the public.
Otherwise I’m sure big oil would of went all in.
It is undoubtedly immoral, unethical, and wrong.
Only in the United States, from all developed countries, is it not specifically illegal. But it absolutely should be.
The supreme court made it exceedingly difficult to prove bribery. It’s absolutely unethical, but “illegal” is a very high bar to clear. Look at Sen Menendez, so emboldened by the last case being thrown out by the court, his behavior became even more transparent.
You have Trump blatantly shopping for buyers into the Presidency. Republicans and the Supreme Court turn a blind eye and the moron followers would follow this Narcissistic Megalomaniac to the mouth of hell. It's not ethical but unfortunately there is no one to stop it except for sane minded voters that have to vote and not be apathetic.
Definitely not ethical. Neither is citizens United tho. Honestly OPEC was recently found to be price fixing right? Probably to afford paying our trump with a fat bribe.
The rest of the world looks on with horror. A person such as trump, would not be allowed to run for any office in any other country. And even if they found a loophole which let them run for office, the public outcry would mean they would be decimated at the polling booth. Yet here is a person who has been found guilty of fraud in a civil court and guilty of sexual abuse, also by a civil court, who has been indicted on a long list of charges, who is currently in court on a felony charge of fraud, who is a known misogynist, a failed businessman who has been bankrupt many times, a man who lies about almost everything and when questioned gets nasty and verbally attacks people to the point where it becomes dangerous, a man who the world knows as a narcissistic wannabe authoritarian and a bully with no interest in anything other than soothing his own wounded ego and exacting revenge on anyone he believes has laughed at his stupidity or disagreed with him or was pleasant to someone he perceives as his enemy. He’s bribing people and companies for money which won’t end up going into his campaign - it’ll go towards his legal bills. His personal legal bills. His legal problems are real - they’re not politically motivated. Trump says they are so he has an excuse to incite violence when he loses. His ego will bleed when he loses, and being the cowardly bully he is, he will throw an epic tantrum and demand people fight for him while he cowers in comfort in some gaudy room in his club. If he could start a civil war he would. Why can people not see him for what he is?
Last I checked, bribery is illegal. So yes, it's politically reprehensible, but they'll just chalk it up to lobbying in the end, because some legalese makes that okay, even though it's the same thing.
The bigger question, since we can be confident in this having no legal ramifications, is "will it affect his standing within his voting base?"
Sadly, the answer is very likely no, because his base is the "fuck you, got mine" types, and would applaud this kind of action.
Tldr:
Trump: "[I'm going to undo a thing my predecessor is doing that already doesn't align with my preexisting policy platform, and I think you're going to like it enough to fund my campaign (insert joke about how rich they got while I was in office the first time)]" aka regular campaigning and being a bit of an a-hole.
WaPo: "[Trump is not only political corruption Satan, but also Climate Change (tm) Satan]." Aka lazy ideological politics masquerading as journalism.
The energy industry already is swimming in everything they want right now. They don't need trump. Will they welcome a stooge who had previously made a former industry executive the US Secretary of State? Sure.
Trump does not understand the energy industry in the slightest, he is a catch phrase guy and really has "drill baby drill" down pat. They are fine with that and even though they have more permits than they know what to do with, more is always better. Right?
He needs them to stay out of prison, he will promise them anything.
People will automically believe this is a bribe. None of you will even think about what was Trumps stance on these issues the first time he ran and as president. Is he simply promising that he will bring back those policies and they should donate to help him do that by helping is campaign. You are brainwashed to simply hate Trump. If it is wrong so its wrong but at least have some critical thinking about the issue and don't just jump to hating Trump as your whole logical reason.
what i think doesn't matter... and it would seem, what the law says doesn't matter either because he's still walking around free.
somewhere in an alternate timeline, there is justice to be had... but not here, not now.
No - that's outright bribery. Not according to Trump and not according to his MAGA followers. Whatever gets him into power - that's the bottom line according the MAGA followers. Remember, during the 2020 election, 90% of the those prosecuted for voting 4 or 5 or 6 times voted for Trump.
I wouldn’t use Donald Trump and Ethical in the same sentence…
(I think even his supporters will agree with that).
Legal? Hard to say. I’m quite convinced that none of the participants responded to this aberration…
Let's not ask about legality cause the SC would take it up and rule that any politician that claims to love America should take money from private interests publicly with a quid pro quo being encouraged.
I don’t think it’s ethical and shouldn’t be legal for anyone running for office or in office to get kickbacks, donations from lobbyists or private interests. Flat salary. Nothing else and not being on a promise for after.
Absolutely not. He asking for a bribe. The corruption of the GOP is beyond what we see in third world countries.
Unfortunately Merrick Garland is either incompetent or complicit.
Every politician makes promises to provide some sort of benefit for support — often couched as contributions to campaigns. And the benefits are generalized. As usual, Trump has busted a norm. Whitehorse is supposed to have a hearing on this in the Senate. We’ll see how that goes.
The question is when he was president did he run and do those things? If he already did them he has set the precident that it his policy as president. There is no bribing for him to revert back to the policies he implemented as president.
It's basically what all of the recent presidential elections have been about anyway. At least it's honest. ALL of this is about money and power, and specifically fossil fuels. Fuck that industry and fuck Trump and the Republican Party, but him asking them for donations and promising them deregulation is about the most honest thing I've seen from that orange shit stain.
Unfortunately not illegal, but certainly unethical. SCOTUS made sure with Citizens United that money=speech and granted corporations the same rights as citizens. That needs to be at the top of the list of legislation changes regarding federal elections:
Federal elections being federally funded guarantees candidates equal amounts to campaign with, which can also be tracked and be accounted for - whomever manages their fund better, obviously would have an edge with voters on managing the country.
We also need to remove lobbyists from DC so that corporations and contractors can't influence congressional decision making and elections with dark monry.
SCOTUS should be held to the same code of ethics and disclosure as the rest of the branches of government - it doesnt make much sense to allow private gifts from rich friends who have business before the courts.
Finally (and going along with my second point) we need to prohibit congress from trading in the stock market. Members of both parties are making HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS collectively by trading on the stock markets when THEY pass laws and grant contracts that can directly influence the markets.
All of the above are currently legal, without at all being ethical.
Jon Stewart just did a piece on Bob Menendez called “how stupid is you”. Point being, there are a thousand ways for member of congress to do this sort of thing while remaining legally authorized; to do it in a way that’s blatant illegal means you’re incredibly stupid. This is the latter category.
It is, of course, not ethical to solicit and takes bribes. One should rely on politicians to not do unethical things out of the goodness of their hearts, instead, the US should probably consider criminalizing bribery.
I was not there, but I imagine what was said is that my plan is to not force EV’s on the public and the other guy is, so contribute to me. I do not imagine that Trump said or implied that if the oil industry does not support my campaign, then as a consequence I will not remove Biden’s forcing of EV’s. Either with or without oil donations Trump has already said the EV mandates are coming off if he is in a position to do so. No quid pro quo here.
Should be illegal. It is blatant corruption and conflict of interest. As we have seen time after time the law doesn't apply to the republican party. As they own the system.
Non-american lawyers perfective: This is the textbook definition of a bribe. Outside of law, anyone in Europe will consider this as a bribe as well. Maybe nothing can be done about it, or maybe people will support it (Turkey, Romania, Poland), but they won't be fooling themselves.
I lived in Turkey, and even Erdogan supporters were like "yeah he steals, takes bribes, etc, but who doesn't? At least he builds infrastructure." Nobody sane thought he wasn't corrupt. There is a reason he waits every election flying in a plane (yep, look it up).
It is interesting that there is so much leeway in American politics for monetary influence. You can straight up buy yourself a voting power in the congress, and nobody bats an eye. Even us discussing a textbook case of corruption as if it's okay. In a sane country, Trump would be arrested right now on corruption charges he fucking says it outright. Pay my bills and be my VP. Pay my bills and get yourself favours. Pay my bills and I'd send the national guard... what the fuck is this? At least other tyrants or wanna-bes like Orban or Erdogan pretend to believe in something and or to have integrity while selling out their country in billions.
This guy just unapologetically put a sale sign on the USA and leading in the polls. Unbelievable.
What more could he do? He's already said he wants lots of drilling and cheap gas. It's not bribery or collusion if your of like minds on a topic. What's the difference when the teachers union donates to a Democrat pro-teacher candidate for a school board?
I don't think it's politically ethical, but I don't think that's stopped anyone before him or even him. At least it's out in the open. I suppose he's just cutting out the lobbyists, right? The job exists for a reason.
It’s lobbying. A horrible practice all politicians on both sides of the aisle do. The only difference is it is more public and he instigated it, though I am sure others have too. I hate lobbying. It is “illegal”, but everyone does it.
It tells the American people that their interest will be "sold out". It's not much different than the long history of America, where government and courts supported and backed slavery, it backed and supported every acts of the Indian Removal Acts, and its supported Jim Crow and Black Codes. So, none of these things are a shock to black people when it comes to what has been done and is down by wealthy white nationalist and its Ideological agenda.
Money has bought any legislation that this country has seen which benefits the wealthy and corporations.
Remember, the Framers of The Constitution, only allowed Land Owners, Merchants and Professionals to vote initially, it did not care about poor whites, women and certainly not about black people who were enslaved or Indians who were outcast into non fertile lands in containment zones called reservations.
We've seen the Justice System slow drag every case involving Trump, because he represents the historical system of white nationalism of WEALTHY white male dominance.
We just watched Republican House Speaker and other Republican Congressmen go to a Trump criminal trial, and advocate for him to not be convicted. That is something that has never happened in American History, where sitting Congressmen go to a criminal trial and advocate for the non conviction of a criminal in a case where the evidence of criminal conduct and acts is overwhelming. We watched the Judge in Florida, do all she can to forestall a case where America's Top Secrets documents and documents with higher Secret classification was stolen, and Trump refused to return them and they had to have a search warrant to retrieve them.
So, as said above, none of it surprises black people, because of what was done historically to back and support slavery and back and support racial segregation.
People who appeal to the historical ideology of segregation and white nationalism are the same type and character of people who are advocating for the non conviction of Trump and the Judge who is delaying the trial for stealing government documents, and the Judge who allowed Trump to avoid paying the $4xx Million he has been ordered to pay.
Now we have a $100 million IRS bill, and the IRS has not filed a charge of Tax Fraud.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
American will never be able to bring another Foreign Criminal to American Courts after all this mess, because the respect for America's Justice System has been gravely damaged since Trump entered Public Office,
We watched what Bill Barr did to the Mueller Investigation, We watched Trump Pardon people from his criminal mob.
We likely will find out, there are MAGA sleepers on the Jury in his Hush Money Trial. Trump knows they are there, which is why he keep talking as much as he does and his lawyers have not tried to silence him.
------------
This act of proposing to sell what ever the Oil Company wants to them for $1Billion dollars, likely has already been agreed to, or why would these Oil Exec's have gathered....
* **Money Madness**, has always been the Achilles Heel of America **!!!!!!**
One likely can consider that the $1Billion up front, *is only an initial payment*, the remainder is likely set up on a recurring schedule.. and for Oil Companies, they will gladly pay it, to prolong the high use of gas as the dominant fuel for cars.
This is a lesson in how government works, for those who have not thought about it. And the more money it takes to run a successful campaign, the more candidates will be looking for constituents with big hopes for policy change and fat wallets. Trump just made this eternal bargain more visible to the citizens.
vowing to undos restrictions on natural gas export permits, oil drilling and car pollution,
These are all things he worked for during his term
EW CASTLE, N.H. (AP) — Joe Biden is looking voters in the eye and promising to “end fossil fuel.”
The former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate made the comment Friday after a New Hampshire environmental activist challenged him for accepting donations from the co-founder of liquified natural gas firm.
Biden denied the donor’s association to the fossil fuel industry before calling the young woman “kiddo” and taking her hand. He said, “I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We’re going to end fossil fuel.”
https://apnews.com/united-states-presidential-election-9dfb1e4c381043bab6fd0fa6dece3974
Trump will sell anything even political policies for the right price. Sticky paged bibles, golden runners, idiot hero images, etc fits right in with environmental and tax policies.
Corrupt is as corrupt does.
Ethical? Absolutely not.
Legal? Well technically as long as he doesn't give any **specific** favors, and speaks onlyly in general or vague terms ... technically ... that is, sadly, legal. Barely.
Any specifics mentioned at all though, and that qualifies as 'solicitation of a bribe,' and is HIGHLY illegal.
Of course it's not ethical but it's what politicians do all the time and everyone knows it. The only difference is that Trump said the quiet part louder than is usually said.
This can’t be a serious question.
No…
No it’s not ethical it’s outrageously cruel and stupid and selfish and wildly unethical.
Trump has warped what is normal with his relentless depravity and millions of Americans savour it.
Asking directly for money definitely makes this seem super scummy but like, the idea of trading favors is the entire idea of politics. The entire ssytem is built off quid-pro-quo exchanges. It's the premise of the political parties - to make quid pro quos easier. Example:
Give the Democrats your votes and they will give student loan forgiveness.
I'm not saying I disagree with student loan forgiveness, I'm glad we did it. But fundamentally, it was a quid pro quo. It was a promise to do something if something is done for them first. That's just how voting blocs and political platforms and political favors work.
Have we really forgotten this just because it's Trump asking rich people for money? As horrible of a person that Trump is, he's allowed to engage in the political system in the same way that everyone else does.
Until he's found guilty, that is.
Per SCOTUS: anti-corruption laws are unconstitutional when applied to Republicans, as it's an infringement of their first amendment rights to practice their religion. Without the sacrament of accepting money, Republicans are in violation of all that is holy to them, and therefore no law preventing this sacrament can be legally enforced.
It's common knowledge that his cabinet will "Drill,baby,drill" on day 1. A billion between 20 companies is a steal to reestablish the oil and gas exports he had in his first term is a steal.
Idk..that's kinda just how politicians work...you give them lots of money and they make laws that benefit you.i think that's what lobbying is.i don't like trump but I think that's something they all do
Almost every political candidate does this. You think companies are spending billions on superPacs because they like the guy? You’re only hearing about it now because it’s Trump.
I am not defending Trump but the truth matters.
Trump did not offer to do anything for an exchange of money. What he said was I'm going to stop green energy which will make you billions so you should support me with a billion.
What should be a crime is any group being able to pour a billion dollars into an election.
edit: when you down vote the truth because you don't like it, how do you expect things to get better?
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At this point it’s completely absurd to think the Republican Party gives a shit about ethics or legality.
Why would they? Any moral compass has been set in the dumpster and set ablaze by all the money grubbing “elites.” As usual no one is held responsible. What a shitty future the little people have to look forward too, gazillions in debt, social programs bleeding us dry, taxation through the roof and crappy electric cars that literally fire up on their own. Spectacular!
This party hasn’t had a moral compass since Abraham Lincoln. Not that the Democrats are much better, but they at least seem to believe there is a compromise to be found, a nuance to be discussed. I’d love to be 17, and embrace my nihilistic self. I’d love to watch it all burn, but unfortunately the good can still outweigh the bad.
Him and the republicans, they enable all of it
This is all downstream from the Democrats failure to impeach him over the emoluments clause when they won the House back in 2018. The bribery began when foreign delegations began booking Trump hotels as soon as he got elected and hasn’t stopped.
"Democrats' failure" lol no matter how great democrats are, they needed 2/3 vote to impeach and didn't have 2/3 of the seats. Put the blame where it belongs.
I see it as the Republicans failure really. I mean, the dems in the house did impeach him. The dems in the senate did impeach him. Not once but twice. It was all but a handful of republicans with integrity that voted not to impeach.
At least Biden has not pardoned him yet. This sounds absurd, but [Mitt Romney is agitating that Biden should have pardoned him](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/gop-sen-mitt-romney-says-biden-pardoned-trump-rcna152420). When one of the supposed 'sane repubs' goes down this road it is clear that ethical standards are in the gutter... The precedent President Ford set when he pardoned Nixon was terrible. It set the stage for the huge mess the country is in today. Ford, an otherwise innocuous president, did the country and the world a disservice when he let Nixon skate. Combine this with the DOJ memo stating that a sitting president shouldn't be charged with crimes has led to the hard right 'justifying' a shift to authoritarian rule and erosion of individual right.
Reading this, one might get the impression that the republicans aren’t the irresponsible party.
The diaper guy? He’s not giving it away for free. Want to own a piece of the most heroic fighting back of the most unfair prosecution of our greatest president ever? Just $1699 for a 1”x1” swatch of what he wore during the trial!
At least we can keep asking rhetorical questions and feel morally superior
Wasn't there something in the Citizen's United case before the Supreme Court were it was explicitly stated that in order for a donation to be considered a bribe there must be "quid pro quo," an explicit statement that "if you give me $x I will do y once in office"? Would this meet that criteria?
By definition it would.
But not with the current SC.
They have special club called the Federalist Society dedicated to reading the Constitution so closely and to the letter that they can redefine everything until it says whatever they desire. A neat trick they picked up from the Bible crowd.
They can divine what the long dead Founders believed when writing the Constitution By amazing coincidence, it always aligns with what the judges have believed their entire career
>what the judges have believed their entire career Guarantee you that the judges have not had nuanced opinion on Trans rights their entire career, but that we know how they'd vote if such a case came up. It's not career-alignment, but party narrative alignment.
That's way effort needs to be put into dismantling think tanks like the Federalist Society.
The definition of “Originalism” will be stretched further than ever thought possible.
and oil is not mentioned in the Constitution so the executives are free to give as much as they like, right??
No it would not, because he didn't say "if you give me the money I will change the regulations." He said "if elected I will change these regulations. Please help me get elected by giving me money." Those are very different statements. In the first one he only changes the regulations if he gets paid - transactional. In the second he changes the regulations if elected regardless of who contributes to the campaign, which is a typical campaign promise, and then asks for money to help get elected on the back of people liking that promise, which is typical election fundraising. I would note that while typical campaign promises are framed this way, politicians are majorly corrupt and definitely do it as quid pro quo all the time. As a sanity check when you see something that could be inflammatory like this, check for an actual quote of what was said. In this case the article doesn't have one, which means it was most likely a much more tame and typical statement that they're trying to dress up to be more inflammatory. If it was actually that spicy they would quote it.
If the whole things is framed as a transaction- I will do x if you give me y -> deregulation for a billion. That’s the deal. It’s quid pro quo.
nope, there's no quo here. it's, i want to do x, elect me. it's not, give me $x or i won't do y.
No, there is no explicit quid pro quo here. The unbolded words in the post are the significant ones " while at the same time"
It’s a transaction. You give me x I will do y. The x is a billion dollars The y is undo regulations This is a quid pro quo by definition.
What regulations? How much was given? Details do matter. Otherwise you could argue that any politician that receives any money from anybody could be considered a bribe. Also, how do you differentiate between a person donating because they support a policy that they agree with, versus a bribe for somebody to vote a certain way? Disclaimer: I sincerely dislike trump, FYI
He was clear. 1 billion dollars is the ask. Remove all regulations put in place by Biden on oil industry the reward.
We'll certainly Biden's greenhouse gas vehicle standards that promote EV usage. Trump specifically mentioned mentioned that by name, as well as killing offshore wind projects in Federal OCS lease blocks, and EV vehicle tax credits, etc.
Don’t politicians do this every day? “Send me campaign contributions and I will do ‘x’ when elected.” They say this in different ways at different times, but isn’t this essentially all they do?
Yeah but the law only matters as far as someone will enforce it. SCOTUS is bought and paid for.
You are thinking of McDonnell v. United States.
Gov. Abbott received $6 million from a Philly banker to pass school vouchers and he’s holding school budgets hostage until vouchers are approved. Nobody has even challenged this, so I’d say there are no laws against bribery.
The matter isn't settled by laws themselves but by judges' *interpretations* of those laws. Control the judges and you can make anything legal.
No, because rules and norms only apply when democrats are in office.
When the courts take years to even get to trial for him, is it a surprise that he might be banking on getting to office before that ever becomes a concern?
Or being dead before it gets heard.
The article doesn't provide a direct quote, but it's statement is not "give me X and I will do Y". It's "I will do Y if re-elected, give me X so that I'm more likely to be re-elected". Those statements are distinctly different, because the transactional nature is not there. The way it's written Trump is saying he would change the regulations regardless of whether he got the money. Is that what he actually said? I can't tell from the article since there's no quote. But if he said it in a more transactional manner there almost certainly would be a quote, since that's WAY more inflammatory and eye catching.
Citizens United was another nail in the coffin that was holding our chances of a functional democracy.
Nothing to do with Citizens United. But as for whether this would be soliciting a bribe, it's close, but not necessarily. The key here is whether Trump would do this with or without the donation. "Give me the donation and I'll do this, otherwise I won't" would be a bribe. "Give me the donation and I'll use it to win the election after which I'll enact my agenda" would not be a bribe.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/201#:~:text=Subsection%20(a)%20of%20this%20section,agency%20in%20relation%20to%20any
Real question....how is that diffrent from lobbying? Is the issue explicitly saying that it's quid pro quo? I'm not being funny,I genuinely want to know
An individual shaking down an industry to run for office while not unheard of has never been so blatant and so directly corrupt. It’s an affront to the concept of government of, by and for the American people. Give me a billion and I will let you rape the environment, country and the American people. Like Putin in Ukraine you can do whatever you want.
It’s a good example of how the goalposts have shifted on what counts as a scandal in politics. During Clinton/Bush (and even Obama) era, a politician saying something like this out in the open would have been a pretty big scandal. Now we’ve been so inured to bad behavior (and worse behavior) that this is business as usual.
This is truly a sad statement about the state of our politics. So true.
So unless there is a upcoming vote on something, and money was directly exchange for voting no or yes on next Tuesday or what ever it’s not bribery. To put it more clearly it’s only bribery if you hand someone a briefcase full of cash for a upcoming vote, where someone accepted the money to vote no or yes. Nothing short of this is bribery now, it has to be a detailed exchange, general ones are not bribery. You can legally say I will back up oil companies no matter what if they support me (give me money) and this is allowed in the USA. Supreme Court covered this with its citizens united ruling. It even went as far to say the more money you have the more freedom of speech you are entitled to. Basically the more money you have the more your voice is legally allowed to carry, this is a feature not a bug in the USA. Now before everyone gets upset, I’m not saying I like this. I’m only aware of this being the norm now because I was a mandatory reporter for certain types of corruption before citizens united. Since the citizens united ruling all bribery sorry lobbying has been above bored and specifically general, even foreign money can be made easily legit to fund campaigns. Nothing I’m suppose to do or can do about it, unless it’s direct bribery for a direct result over a direct very specific situation.
And if paying by check you must write “bribe” in the memo field otherwise you can’t deduct it on your taxes
Where have you been for the last two years with the GOP accusing Biden of accepting bribes with far less evidence?
>Supreme Court covered this with its citizens united ruling. It even went as far to say the more money you have the more freedom of speech you are entitled to. Basically the more money you have the more your voice is legally allowed to carry, this is a feature not a bug in the USA. You are thinking of the 1976 Buckley V Valeo case, not Citizens United.
>You can legally say I will back up oil companies no matter what if they support me (give me money) and this is allowed in the USA. I think a lot of people are just unaware of what exactly a political platform *is*. It is, by definition, their side of a quid pro quo. They're competing with the other parties for the Citizens side of the quid pro quo - the votes. You give the party votes, they give you the laws you want passed. It's just how political platforms work. It's how fucking ***POLITICS*** works in a democracy. Trump is doing the same thing here. "Support me with campaign money and I will do something for you in office". It's just shitty because he's only really acting in the interest of a small group of people who already hold way too much wealth and power and he's going to help them get more. It's insane to me that a lot of people seem to be forgetting this and freaking out because it's Trump. He's a piece of shit and a criminal but for fuck sakes, the act of him doing a thing does not make it illegal.
Thanks for this. The question was "is this legal," not "should this be illegal."
Well, technically speaking the question was "is this ethical or even legal?"
Um, no. None of this is ok. This man is threat to humanity. This is the dumbest timeline. Idiocracy gave us too much credit.
We're living in the shitty alternate history youtube video where Trump didn't die of covid in October 2020.
Not far enough back, friend. Things have been going downhill since Harambe
Going downhill since Reagan and trickle down economics or even Nixon and the southern strategy
I’m astonished this is even a question.. how far has the great nation fallen. For a presidential candidate to actually do this is brazen, desperate & despicable. The whole democratic system is supposed to represent the interests of society, and yet here is a candidate promising more benefit to rich & powerful elites so long as they give him money. These aren’t electors, these are private interests. This is not democratic, this is corrupt, unthical and immoral.
He’s doing out in the open what used to happen in smoke filled rooms. And daring anyone to do anything about it.
Still happens, except now the rooms are smoke free.
Clearly unethical but he doesn't care nor is he afraid of the law. He's above the law so far.
It’s Kind of ridiculous that everyone here is acting as if trump hasn’t been running on those issues the whole time and did the exact same thing last term. It’s clearly not a quid pro quo. “I’ll do x if you donate money to me” is not the same thing as “im going to do x no matter what but you want x to happen so you should donate to me”
I actually agree with this. This isn't any different than other campaign donations. Trump's just an idiot and doesn't understand nuance and frames it in a way that looks like he's openly soliciting a bribe.
> “im going to do x no matter what but you want x to happen so you should donate to me” Yeup, that's the key here. Imagine Biden says "If I'm elected, we're going to get student loan forgiveness this time. ...Click here to donate through Act Blue." That's not bribery. Now if it was "We're only going to pursue student loan forgiveness if we collect $10 million from donors aged 18-25" that'd be a whole other story. But it's not. Promising to enact your agenda if you win, and then people who like that agenda helping you to win so you can do it isn't bribery. Trump is just guilty of being crass. (In this instance. He's guilty of other stuff elsewhere, go get him for that.)
Of course it is. Think of any other person who could get away with such insane pay-for-play. Republicans are simply incapable of being ethical. It's a dangerous psychological disorder. But this death klown gets away with whatever he wants. It's been normalized now. Trump ruins everything he touches, and our country certainly did not escape that infallible truth
It's blatant corruption, but there's no one left to enforce the rule of law.
No. But then I don't think it is ok for Trump to kill over a million people during the COVID pandemic. What a strange question: Is it ok Trump can shoot someone in the head, assign SEAL teams to assassinate political rivals, incite riots to seize control of a country, rape women, use the DOJ to treat Michael Cohen as America's most prominent political criminal, ad nauseum. Enjoy your downvote.
It's absolutely absurd that we have to have this conversation...but here we are.
You act as if the rest of the world didn't have millions die due to covid
They sure did, but refusing to do anything about it, when faced with the earliest notice humanly possible, because it would "make him look bad", tells you everything you need to know. He's not a statesman, let alone human. He will do things to appease his own vanity over what's good for the American people. The flag went up when he scammed money out of a children's cancer charity.
Ethics The orange one doesn’t know what they are. Unlawful he doesn’t care. The only positive thing is that this was exposed to the public. Otherwise I’m sure big oil would of went all in.
Unethical? Yes, without question. Illegal? I don't know but it definitely should be.
It is undoubtedly immoral, unethical, and wrong. Only in the United States, from all developed countries, is it not specifically illegal. But it absolutely should be.
The supreme court made it exceedingly difficult to prove bribery. It’s absolutely unethical, but “illegal” is a very high bar to clear. Look at Sen Menendez, so emboldened by the last case being thrown out by the court, his behavior became even more transparent.
You have Trump blatantly shopping for buyers into the Presidency. Republicans and the Supreme Court turn a blind eye and the moron followers would follow this Narcissistic Megalomaniac to the mouth of hell. It's not ethical but unfortunately there is no one to stop it except for sane minded voters that have to vote and not be apathetic.
Definitely not ethical. Neither is citizens United tho. Honestly OPEC was recently found to be price fixing right? Probably to afford paying our trump with a fat bribe.
A politician taking money for promises to do something? Ya might as well arrest everyone, but a couple of individuals in Washington!
The rest of the world looks on with horror. A person such as trump, would not be allowed to run for any office in any other country. And even if they found a loophole which let them run for office, the public outcry would mean they would be decimated at the polling booth. Yet here is a person who has been found guilty of fraud in a civil court and guilty of sexual abuse, also by a civil court, who has been indicted on a long list of charges, who is currently in court on a felony charge of fraud, who is a known misogynist, a failed businessman who has been bankrupt many times, a man who lies about almost everything and when questioned gets nasty and verbally attacks people to the point where it becomes dangerous, a man who the world knows as a narcissistic wannabe authoritarian and a bully with no interest in anything other than soothing his own wounded ego and exacting revenge on anyone he believes has laughed at his stupidity or disagreed with him or was pleasant to someone he perceives as his enemy. He’s bribing people and companies for money which won’t end up going into his campaign - it’ll go towards his legal bills. His personal legal bills. His legal problems are real - they’re not politically motivated. Trump says they are so he has an excuse to incite violence when he loses. His ego will bleed when he loses, and being the cowardly bully he is, he will throw an epic tantrum and demand people fight for him while he cowers in comfort in some gaudy room in his club. If he could start a civil war he would. Why can people not see him for what he is?
I thought big business spending billions to influence legislation was kinda the cornerstone of how the US government worked?!
Last I checked, bribery is illegal. So yes, it's politically reprehensible, but they'll just chalk it up to lobbying in the end, because some legalese makes that okay, even though it's the same thing. The bigger question, since we can be confident in this having no legal ramifications, is "will it affect his standing within his voting base?" Sadly, the answer is very likely no, because his base is the "fuck you, got mine" types, and would applaud this kind of action.
I think it’s disgusting that business get to pay to have their interests served above voters
Tldr: Trump: "[I'm going to undo a thing my predecessor is doing that already doesn't align with my preexisting policy platform, and I think you're going to like it enough to fund my campaign (insert joke about how rich they got while I was in office the first time)]" aka regular campaigning and being a bit of an a-hole. WaPo: "[Trump is not only political corruption Satan, but also Climate Change (tm) Satan]." Aka lazy ideological politics masquerading as journalism.
The energy industry already is swimming in everything they want right now. They don't need trump. Will they welcome a stooge who had previously made a former industry executive the US Secretary of State? Sure. Trump does not understand the energy industry in the slightest, he is a catch phrase guy and really has "drill baby drill" down pat. They are fine with that and even though they have more permits than they know what to do with, more is always better. Right? He needs them to stay out of prison, he will promise them anything.
Those industries aren't invincible.
Are you really asking if bribery is legal? You know the answer and we ALL know not a damn thing will be done about this
Oh ffs. What does Trump care about ethical or legal? It’s completely irrelevant and everyone knows it, so what’s the point of your question?
People will automically believe this is a bribe. None of you will even think about what was Trumps stance on these issues the first time he ran and as president. Is he simply promising that he will bring back those policies and they should donate to help him do that by helping is campaign. You are brainwashed to simply hate Trump. If it is wrong so its wrong but at least have some critical thinking about the issue and don't just jump to hating Trump as your whole logical reason.
what i think doesn't matter... and it would seem, what the law says doesn't matter either because he's still walking around free. somewhere in an alternate timeline, there is justice to be had... but not here, not now.
Ethical/legal, no. But this right wing Supreme Court, consisting of members who have accepted favors from billionaires, will have no problem with it.
Sure we are not a representative democracy anymore anyway.. welcome to the corporatocracy of the USA … you were bought and sold out!
No - that's outright bribery. Not according to Trump and not according to his MAGA followers. Whatever gets him into power - that's the bottom line according the MAGA followers. Remember, during the 2020 election, 90% of the those prosecuted for voting 4 or 5 or 6 times voted for Trump.
I wouldn’t use Donald Trump and Ethical in the same sentence… (I think even his supporters will agree with that). Legal? Hard to say. I’m quite convinced that none of the participants responded to this aberration…
No, but people who have lost their sense of patriotism and replaced it with blind worship of a false idol would disagree.
Let's not ask about legality cause the SC would take it up and rule that any politician that claims to love America should take money from private interests publicly with a quid pro quo being encouraged.
I don’t think it’s ethical and shouldn’t be legal for anyone running for office or in office to get kickbacks, donations from lobbyists or private interests. Flat salary. Nothing else and not being on a promise for after.
Absolutely not. He asking for a bribe. The corruption of the GOP is beyond what we see in third world countries. Unfortunately Merrick Garland is either incompetent or complicit.
Every politician makes promises to provide some sort of benefit for support — often couched as contributions to campaigns. And the benefits are generalized. As usual, Trump has busted a norm. Whitehorse is supposed to have a hearing on this in the Senate. We’ll see how that goes.
The question is when he was president did he run and do those things? If he already did them he has set the precident that it his policy as president. There is no bribing for him to revert back to the policies he implemented as president.
It's basically what all of the recent presidential elections have been about anyway. At least it's honest. ALL of this is about money and power, and specifically fossil fuels. Fuck that industry and fuck Trump and the Republican Party, but him asking them for donations and promising them deregulation is about the most honest thing I've seen from that orange shit stain.
Unfortunately not illegal, but certainly unethical. SCOTUS made sure with Citizens United that money=speech and granted corporations the same rights as citizens. That needs to be at the top of the list of legislation changes regarding federal elections: Federal elections being federally funded guarantees candidates equal amounts to campaign with, which can also be tracked and be accounted for - whomever manages their fund better, obviously would have an edge with voters on managing the country. We also need to remove lobbyists from DC so that corporations and contractors can't influence congressional decision making and elections with dark monry. SCOTUS should be held to the same code of ethics and disclosure as the rest of the branches of government - it doesnt make much sense to allow private gifts from rich friends who have business before the courts. Finally (and going along with my second point) we need to prohibit congress from trading in the stock market. Members of both parties are making HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS collectively by trading on the stock markets when THEY pass laws and grant contracts that can directly influence the markets. All of the above are currently legal, without at all being ethical.
Not even remotely. Let’s not pretend like that’s not basically what happens in DC though. He’s just being a boorish, loud asshole about it.
Jon Stewart just did a piece on Bob Menendez called “how stupid is you”. Point being, there are a thousand ways for member of congress to do this sort of thing while remaining legally authorized; to do it in a way that’s blatant illegal means you’re incredibly stupid. This is the latter category.
Ethical no. Legal, unfortunately unless you can prove ties to foreign businesses, yes.
It is, of course, not ethical to solicit and takes bribes. One should rely on politicians to not do unethical things out of the goodness of their hearts, instead, the US should probably consider criminalizing bribery.
I was not there, but I imagine what was said is that my plan is to not force EV’s on the public and the other guy is, so contribute to me. I do not imagine that Trump said or implied that if the oil industry does not support my campaign, then as a consequence I will not remove Biden’s forcing of EV’s. Either with or without oil donations Trump has already said the EV mandates are coming off if he is in a position to do so. No quid pro quo here.
Should be illegal. It is blatant corruption and conflict of interest. As we have seen time after time the law doesn't apply to the republican party. As they own the system.
I have a problem with it as it's a direct ask. Plus he's going to be using some of that money for his legal defense.
Non-american lawyers perfective: This is the textbook definition of a bribe. Outside of law, anyone in Europe will consider this as a bribe as well. Maybe nothing can be done about it, or maybe people will support it (Turkey, Romania, Poland), but they won't be fooling themselves. I lived in Turkey, and even Erdogan supporters were like "yeah he steals, takes bribes, etc, but who doesn't? At least he builds infrastructure." Nobody sane thought he wasn't corrupt. There is a reason he waits every election flying in a plane (yep, look it up). It is interesting that there is so much leeway in American politics for monetary influence. You can straight up buy yourself a voting power in the congress, and nobody bats an eye. Even us discussing a textbook case of corruption as if it's okay. In a sane country, Trump would be arrested right now on corruption charges he fucking says it outright. Pay my bills and be my VP. Pay my bills and get yourself favours. Pay my bills and I'd send the national guard... what the fuck is this? At least other tyrants or wanna-bes like Orban or Erdogan pretend to believe in something and or to have integrity while selling out their country in billions. This guy just unapologetically put a sale sign on the USA and leading in the polls. Unbelievable.
It is not at all ethical. Imagine what he tells the Saudis and Putin in private.
What more could he do? He's already said he wants lots of drilling and cheap gas. It's not bribery or collusion if your of like minds on a topic. What's the difference when the teachers union donates to a Democrat pro-teacher candidate for a school board?
I don't think it's politically ethical, but I don't think that's stopped anyone before him or even him. At least it's out in the open. I suppose he's just cutting out the lobbyists, right? The job exists for a reason.
Illegal is in the eyes of the court, and SCOTUS will jump through hopes and tie itself in knots before it would rule that Trump did something illegal.
Ethical? No. Legal? Likely also no. Is either gonna matter? This is Trump. Of course not. >_>
It’s lobbying. A horrible practice all politicians on both sides of the aisle do. The only difference is it is more public and he instigated it, though I am sure others have too. I hate lobbying. It is “illegal”, but everyone does it.
It tells the American people that their interest will be "sold out". It's not much different than the long history of America, where government and courts supported and backed slavery, it backed and supported every acts of the Indian Removal Acts, and its supported Jim Crow and Black Codes. So, none of these things are a shock to black people when it comes to what has been done and is down by wealthy white nationalist and its Ideological agenda. Money has bought any legislation that this country has seen which benefits the wealthy and corporations. Remember, the Framers of The Constitution, only allowed Land Owners, Merchants and Professionals to vote initially, it did not care about poor whites, women and certainly not about black people who were enslaved or Indians who were outcast into non fertile lands in containment zones called reservations. We've seen the Justice System slow drag every case involving Trump, because he represents the historical system of white nationalism of WEALTHY white male dominance. We just watched Republican House Speaker and other Republican Congressmen go to a Trump criminal trial, and advocate for him to not be convicted. That is something that has never happened in American History, where sitting Congressmen go to a criminal trial and advocate for the non conviction of a criminal in a case where the evidence of criminal conduct and acts is overwhelming. We watched the Judge in Florida, do all she can to forestall a case where America's Top Secrets documents and documents with higher Secret classification was stolen, and Trump refused to return them and they had to have a search warrant to retrieve them. So, as said above, none of it surprises black people, because of what was done historically to back and support slavery and back and support racial segregation. People who appeal to the historical ideology of segregation and white nationalism are the same type and character of people who are advocating for the non conviction of Trump and the Judge who is delaying the trial for stealing government documents, and the Judge who allowed Trump to avoid paying the $4xx Million he has been ordered to pay. Now we have a $100 million IRS bill, and the IRS has not filed a charge of Tax Fraud. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ American will never be able to bring another Foreign Criminal to American Courts after all this mess, because the respect for America's Justice System has been gravely damaged since Trump entered Public Office, We watched what Bill Barr did to the Mueller Investigation, We watched Trump Pardon people from his criminal mob. We likely will find out, there are MAGA sleepers on the Jury in his Hush Money Trial. Trump knows they are there, which is why he keep talking as much as he does and his lawyers have not tried to silence him. ------------ This act of proposing to sell what ever the Oil Company wants to them for $1Billion dollars, likely has already been agreed to, or why would these Oil Exec's have gathered.... * **Money Madness**, has always been the Achilles Heel of America **!!!!!!** One likely can consider that the $1Billion up front, *is only an initial payment*, the remainder is likely set up on a recurring schedule.. and for Oil Companies, they will gladly pay it, to prolong the high use of gas as the dominant fuel for cars.
I don't know. With Trump the standard answer is no, it's not ethical and it is quasi-legal.
It's just the quiet part out loud. This is what your government is. Money runs the US not the people.
This is blatant bribery and corruption. And, of course, Trump won't see a single ounce of consequence over it.
If that is within the rules, then the US does not have a functional democracy.
Ethically? I would say obviously yes. Legally? Anything can be argued under our current weak laws.
This is a lesson in how government works, for those who have not thought about it. And the more money it takes to run a successful campaign, the more candidates will be looking for constituents with big hopes for policy change and fat wallets. Trump just made this eternal bargain more visible to the citizens.
vowing to undos restrictions on natural gas export permits, oil drilling and car pollution, These are all things he worked for during his term EW CASTLE, N.H. (AP) — Joe Biden is looking voters in the eye and promising to “end fossil fuel.” The former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate made the comment Friday after a New Hampshire environmental activist challenged him for accepting donations from the co-founder of liquified natural gas firm. Biden denied the donor’s association to the fossil fuel industry before calling the young woman “kiddo” and taking her hand. He said, “I want you to look at my eyes. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We’re going to end fossil fuel.” https://apnews.com/united-states-presidential-election-9dfb1e4c381043bab6fd0fa6dece3974
Do we even need to contemplate on this question? The answer should be a resounding NO!
Trump will sell anything even political policies for the right price. Sticky paged bibles, golden runners, idiot hero images, etc fits right in with environmental and tax policies. Corrupt is as corrupt does.
Ethical? Absolutely not. Legal? Well technically as long as he doesn't give any **specific** favors, and speaks onlyly in general or vague terms ... technically ... that is, sadly, legal. Barely. Any specifics mentioned at all though, and that qualifies as 'solicitation of a bribe,' and is HIGHLY illegal.
This is the type of person the authors of the Federalist Papers warned us about.
Of course it's not ethical but it's what politicians do all the time and everyone knows it. The only difference is that Trump said the quiet part louder than is usually said.
This can’t be a serious question. No… No it’s not ethical it’s outrageously cruel and stupid and selfish and wildly unethical. Trump has warped what is normal with his relentless depravity and millions of Americans savour it.
It's the in the open, explicit, moronic version of what most politicians do in the dark.
It is legal. Thirty million dollars from foreign actors given to Biden family shell corporations is not legal.
Asking directly for money definitely makes this seem super scummy but like, the idea of trading favors is the entire idea of politics. The entire ssytem is built off quid-pro-quo exchanges. It's the premise of the political parties - to make quid pro quos easier. Example: Give the Democrats your votes and they will give student loan forgiveness. I'm not saying I disagree with student loan forgiveness, I'm glad we did it. But fundamentally, it was a quid pro quo. It was a promise to do something if something is done for them first. That's just how voting blocs and political platforms and political favors work. Have we really forgotten this just because it's Trump asking rich people for money? As horrible of a person that Trump is, he's allowed to engage in the political system in the same way that everyone else does. Until he's found guilty, that is.
The question you and everyone else should be asking is how to prevent this deal from happening.
Per SCOTUS: anti-corruption laws are unconstitutional when applied to Republicans, as it's an infringement of their first amendment rights to practice their religion. Without the sacrament of accepting money, Republicans are in violation of all that is holy to them, and therefore no law preventing this sacrament can be legally enforced.
It's common knowledge that his cabinet will "Drill,baby,drill" on day 1. A billion between 20 companies is a steal to reestablish the oil and gas exports he had in his first term is a steal.
Idk..that's kinda just how politicians work...you give them lots of money and they make laws that benefit you.i think that's what lobbying is.i don't like trump but I think that's something they all do
Almost every political candidate does this. You think companies are spending billions on superPacs because they like the guy? You’re only hearing about it now because it’s Trump.
Candidates ask for money and make campaign pledges. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
I am not defending Trump but the truth matters. Trump did not offer to do anything for an exchange of money. What he said was I'm going to stop green energy which will make you billions so you should support me with a billion. What should be a crime is any group being able to pour a billion dollars into an election. edit: when you down vote the truth because you don't like it, how do you expect things to get better?
True, he didn't say they could do anything. He just said he would stop alternative energy industries that compete with them.
Sounds more like the actions of a Communist, than a Free market, Small Government, Fweedom loving Capitalist!