Trump's conflicts are a constitutional crisis, corrosive to U.S. policy, and a threat to world peace

Rss@dailykos.com (mark Sumner) · Tuesday, December 13, 2016, 11:37 am

Donald Trump has his name on more than 500 corporations including numerous limited liability companies whose connections, ownership, and obligations are all but invisible to regulators. Trump’s business relationships are so hidden that we’re learning about his call with the Argentinian president only because it leaked to an Argentinian journalist. We’re learning about his deal to leverage the presidency at his properties in India from Indian newspapers. And worst of all, for most of the calls he makes, we’re not learning. Trump’s organization is like an iceberg. In the fog. In the dark. We may occasionally get a glimpse, but the great bulk of it is invisible.

And the damage it could do is immeasurable.

Donald Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet, but he is already making decisions and issuing statements to world leaders that radically depart from American foreign policy, all to the benefit of his family’s corporate empire. Because of this, the next president of the United States is already vulnerable to undue influence by other nations, including through bribery and even blackmail.

The nature of Trump’s business, in which the biggest asset isn’t even the buildings that have his name emblazoned in gold letters 20 feet high but the name itself, makes it impossible for Trump to free himself from entanglements through the kind of weak not-at-all-blind trust he has suggested.

Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses [sic] before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office.

That’s not blind. It’s not a trust. And it’s a long way from being adequate to protect America’s national interests.

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