Is President Trump Corrupt? Three Stories.

[ThatRobGuy]

Is President Trump Corrupt?

Is he in politics?

If the the answer to that question is "Yes", then my answer is "probably, at least to some degree"

 

[Hans Blaster]

Is he in politics?

If the the answer to that question is "Yes", then my answer is "probably, at least to some degree"

There are specific examples given in this thread. There is not need to go to (the cynical) "all politicians are at least a little corrupt" narrative to sort out the question for Trump. The question that remains for any reader is "do you find those actions to be corrupt? Certainly they do for many posters.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

There are specific examples given in this thread. There is not need to go to (the cynical) "all politicians are at least a little corrupt" narrative to sort out the question for Trump. The question that remains for any reader is "do you find those actions to be corrupt? Certainly they do for many posters.

Well, if it's a loaded question being asked, why not give a loaded answer? lol

If you want to be a major player in US politics, you gotta kiss someone's rear-end and promise favors in return for campaign donations.

Not sure why that's controversial to point out.


Oh...wait?... is this one of those times where we're supposed pretend that Trump is uniquely bad in some regard?

Whoops...I missed the queue. Sorry about that. I'll fall in line and be a good boy.

Allow me to bend a knee and worship at the alter of Philosophy 101 professors:
Orange man bad... He's orange and bad and a man who's also orange and a man who's bad and orange and bad...not to mention a man and bad who's also orange...not to mention racist transphobic and bad, please tax me at 40%.


Phew, that was close...

I almost fell into the grips of the KKK until someone set me on the right path and made me see the light, and convinced that Trump is the worst human in the history of humans who's uniquely bad in every way.

 

[calicocat]

I never heard of Qatar except when labeling middle-eastern maps in school geography and in the past year it's everywhere...

 

[Dale]

Well, if it's a loaded question being asked, why not give a loaded answer? lol

If you want to be a major player in US politics, you gotta kiss someone's rear-end and promise favors in return for campaign donations.

Not sure why that's controversial to point out.


Oh...wait?... is this one of those times where we're supposed pretend that Trump is uniquely bad in some regard?

Whoops...I missed the queue. Sorry about that. I'll fall in line and be a good boy.

Allow me to bend a knee and worship at the alter of Philosophy 101 professors:
Orange man bad... He's orange and bad and a man who's also orange and a man who's bad and orange and bad...not to mention a man and bad who's also orange...not to mention racist transphobic and bad, please tax me at 40%.


Phew, that was close...

I almost fell into the grips of the KKK until someone set me on the right path and made me see the light, and convinced that Trump is the worst human in the history of humans who's uniquely bad in every way.

The problem is, when you say that all politicians are corrupt you just encourage politicians to live down to their reputation.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

The problem is, when you say that all politicians are corrupt you just encourage politicians to live down to their reputation.

I'm pretty sure the "money for favors" arrangement and lobbying system is what encourages them to partake in that.

In the entire legislature (house and senate)

There's what? Maybe 5 or 6 that don't take big corporate PAC money or dark money contributions?


Congressmen and House Reps make $174,000 per year. If you had to venture a guess at how many are multi-millionaires, what would your guess be?

Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index)

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

ballotpedia.org

https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4165&context=faculty_scholarship

Speaking as someone who has an income that's not wildly off of that $174k number... how are so many of them tripling and quadrupling their net worth in a period of 10 years? I have a good salary, my home was just recently paid off, and I'm in a "Dual income-no kids" situation, I don't have enough left over that I'd be able to pad my net worth by millions of dollars over the next 8-10 years.

 

[Dale]

I'm pretty sure the "money for favors" arrangement and lobbying system is what encourages them to partake in that.

In the entire legislature (house and senate)

There's what? Maybe 5 or 6 that don't take big corporate PAC money or dark money contributions?

Where I live in Florida, the state Cabinet just approved a land deal that was very shady, obviously corrupt. The outgoing Speaker of the House strongly and publicly disagreed. The State Cabinet, including the Governor, and the Speaker are all Republicans. Some politicians do have values besides grab, grab, grab.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Where I live in Florida, the state Cabinet just approved a land deal that was very shady, obviously corrupt. The outgoing Speaker of the House strongly and publicly disagreed. The State Cabinet, including the Governor, and the Speaker are all Republicans. Some politicians do have values besides grab, grab, grab.

I was in the process of editing my post to add some stuff to it when you were replying, so not sure if you saw this second part of it

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Congressmen and House Reps make $174,000 per year. If you had to venture a guess at how many are multi-millionaires, what would your guess be?

Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index)

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

ballotpedia.org

https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4165&context=faculty_scholarship

Speaking as someone who has an income that's not wildly off of that $174k number... how are so many of them tripling and quadrupling their net worth in a period of 10 years? I have a good salary, my home was just recently paid off, and I'm in a "Dual income-no kids" situation, I don't have enough left over that I'd be able to pad my net worth by millions of dollars over the next 8-10 years.

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I don't doubt that there's some state & local level politicians who still have some values.

But per the links I posted, finding one in federal politics is rare.


I thought this stat was somewhat striking:
Because the study focuses on percentage increases, a gap in the study it is difficult to determine a meaningful percentage for a member who had a starting net worth in the negatives but increased to a positive net worth by 2012. However, there were substantial increases in wealth of the members who fell into this category. For the 49 members who went from a negative net worth to a positive net worth, the average increase was $3.4 million per member.

We have some members of congress who are just absolutely raking it in somehow.

For that first stat I mentioned...

For someone who has a starting net worth in the negatives, to increase their net worth by $3.4 million dollars... even if they somehow were able to completely expense (and write off) every single aspect of their lives (housing, food, medical, travel, entertainment, etc...) and paid zero tax. On $174k/year, they'd literally have to save every dime from every congressional paycheck for 19 years.

Just how much does CNN pay for a 15 minute appearance for a congressmen on a panel discussion? lol