Tag Archives: G7 summit

International news

G7 going to meet at Camp David after all … imagine that

How about that? Donald Trump once sought to bring the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations to his glitzy resort in south Florida, only to run into a firestorm of criticism from those who accused him of seeking to profit personally from the presidency.

He withdrew the suggestion that the G7 summit occur at Doral Country Club.

So, where did he agree to play host to the summit? Camp David, Md., where presidents have taken foreign leaders for decades.

It’s a publicly owned place in the Catoctin Mountains near Washington, D.C. It’s known to possess a sort of quaint elegance quality. There’s plenty of room for the heads of these nations and their staffs to stay. Camp David has plenty of meeting-room space. Heads of state and government can get away to confer privately if they wish.

So, why didn’t the president settle on Camp David in the first place? He instead decided to make an issue out of being the host for the annual summit of the world’s wealthiest nations. Remember how he said that Doral was the best place in the entire United States to host this event? Of course it was a ludicrous assertion.

He has decided to welcome the G7 nations to a perfectly fine location. Camp David already has seen plenty of newsworthy events during its time as the official presidential retreat. Let there be more news to be made when the G7 nations’ leaders gather next year.

national news

Memo to Mick: POTUS is no longer in the ‘hospitality’ business

Mick Mulvaney shoved both feet into his pie hole while appearing on “Fox News Sunday.”

The show’s host, Chris Wallace, was questioning the acting White House chief of staff about Donald Trump’s lame-brain notion of bringing the G7 summit of industrialized nations to his Trump Doral National Country Club.

Mulvaney then sought to persuade Wallace that Trump “still sees himself as being in the hospitality business.” Wallace replied that Trump is “the president of the United States.”

Mulvaney answered that is Trump’s “background.”

Holy cow, man! In what world is Trump’s chief shill, the chief of staff, living?

Donald Trump sought for a brief period of time to violate openly the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, the Article I provision that prevents presidents from profiting during their time in office. Trump would have profited handsomely by hosting the G7 summit. He got a huge amount of resistance from Congress; then he backed away from his idiotic notion.

Trump’s idiocy has nothing to do with his believing he is still in the “hospitality” business. It has everything to do with his ignorance of the office to which he was elected.

Mick Mulvaney mirrors his boss’s ignorance. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about .

national news

Where are the ‘strict constructionists’?

I am bewildered.

Donald Trump took time today to belittle the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution, contained in the very first article of our nation’s governing document. He called it “phony.”

By bewilderment rests with the shocking non-response, the stone-cold silence among the president’s staunchest defenders  who in other arguments have argued on behalf of what they say should be a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. They are the “strict constructionists” who accept the founders’ work as the law of the land. There can be little if any deviation from what they wrote, these Trump defenders would contend.

Why, though, are they silent on the president’s denigrating of the founders’ words? The Emoluments Clause was written to prevent presidents from profiting during their time in office. They should accept no gifts or favors from “kings, princes or foreign governments.”

Yet there was the president, granting his own business — Trump Doral National Country Club — an expensive government contract to play host to the 2020 G7 summit of industrialized nations. Would he have profited from this event? Well … yeah. Bigly!

OK, he pulled it back after Republicans and Democrats alike condemned the decision to bring the G7 to Doral.

But then the president today blamed the media and Democrats for the pushback that erupted. That’s when he called the Emoluments Clause “phony.”

I have been waiting all day to hear from leading conservative politicians in Congress condemn the president in stark terms for his denigration of the constitutional provision. It is no phony document. It is real. It is vital. It is intended to prevent presidential corruption — although that last item clearly has taken deep and serious root in our executive branch of government.

The only “phony” aspect of this entire discussion, in my view, is linked to the idiocy that continues to pour out of the mouth of the president.

This individual is a disgrace.

national news

Mr. POTUS, there’s nothing ‘phony’ about the Emoluments Clause

Pay attention to me, please, Mr. President.

Your White House rant today about the “phony Emoluments Clause” compels to defend what the nation’s founders had in mind when they wrote that item into the U.S. Constitution.

They intended to prohibit the president from profiting during his time in office. Your initial decision to host the G7 summit of industrialized nations at your glitzy Trump Doral National Country Club was in direct violation of the Emoluments Clause.

You see, you cannot award yourself a government contract, which is what you sought to do. You cannot direct government business onto your privately owned, for-profit property, where foreign governments are going to pour millions of dollars into your pocket.

Good grief, Mr. President! There can be no clearer violation of the Emoluments Clause than that.

And yet your blaming of the media and Democrats and your insistence that President Obama somehow profited from a book deal while he was in office steers the discussion away from your own responsibility to do right by the office you occupy. While I’m at it, I need to wonder out loud whether you’ll ever get over your “hate affair” with your immediate predecessor.

And just to be clear, Barack Obama signed his book deal after he left office. It’s a non-starter, Mr. President.

We have a big country out there, Mr. President. It is endowed richly with many fine resorts to play host to the G7 summit. None of them has a single thing to do with your business interests.

Why in the name of presidential due diligence can’t you get your “fine-tuned” White House staff to find a spot that would serve as a fitting venue for this event next year? Moreover, why can’t you just do the right thing without making a mess out of it?

The Emoluments Clause isn’t “phony,” Mr. President. It is real and it is a legitimate hedge against presidential corruption … which I am certain is why you’re in such trouble at this moment.

Donald Trump, national news

Trump shows his ignorance one more astonishing time

Wow! That was a wild 72 hours in the world of Donald J. “King of Hospitality” Trump.

He announced plans, via Twitter, to play host to the G7 summit of industrialized nations at his Doral Country Club in south Florida, a decision that clearly violates the Emoluments Clause in the U.S. Constitution.

Then he announces, again via Twitter, that he’s changed his mind. He won’t host the summit there. He’ll look for another suitable location.

Does that make it all better now? Is the president clear of impeachable offenses? Uhh, no. He’s not.

The Emoluments Clause bans the president from benefiting from his public office. Hosting the G7 summit at Doral would have lined his pockets considerably, given that he never divested himself of his many business interests after becoming president. There are the other matters still to be considered, though, regarding probable impeachment by the House of Representatives. We’ll get to those another time.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney went on Fox News this morning to say Trump was “surprised” at the pushback. No surprise there. Trump’s ignorance of constitutional matters is well-known and well-chronicled.

Mulvaney said Trump still considers himself in the “hospitality business” and wants to put on the best show possible for the foreign dignitaries. But he’s the president of the United States, “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace reminded him. Mulvaney said hospitality is part of Trump’s “background.” Yeah. Let’s move on.

The United States of America is full of resorts that could play host to this event. Here’s a thought: How about Camp David, the official presidential retreat tucked in the Maryland mountains not far from the D.C. hustle and bustle? Sure, Trump has said he considers Camp David to be a dump. However, it has been the site of many important gatherings.

What’s more, it is a publicly owned site reserved for presidents to relax and, yes, to welcome foreign dignitaries. It also has not a single thing to do with Donald Trump’s business empire.

Trump got the pushback he deserved when he made his initial Doral decision. No, it wasn’t, as he said on Twitter, the result of what he described as “Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility.”

It was based on Donald Trump’s utter incompetence and his expressed belief that he can do whatever the hell he wants, even if it flouts the U.S. Constitution.