President-elect Trump’s announcement Wednesday outlining how he is transferring control of his company to his sons caused ethics experts to raise concerns, but not solutions, about how a successful business person places their successes, and the potential successes for their children, in a safe space where there is the appearance of no conflicts.
The messy truth is there is no such place.
The steps announced Jan. 11 won’t resolve Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. But if we are being truthful, there are no steps that can do that. When you get a guy who has an active going business, what do you do about conflict?
It’s not a problem we’ve ever faced before. If he were to divest, wouldn’t that create a bigger conflict?
Imagine the outcry if someone were to buy his empire. It would be seen by some as a bribe. And remember, he has real estate whose value is in the eye of the beholder. So wouldn’t divestiture cause more conflicts? And cash in his pocket?
In short, how is Trump supposed to handle this in a way that does not cause conflicts? There really is no perfect answer. You cannot say, “Oh put it in a blind trust and no one in your family can have anything to do with it,” because it is a family company and the last time I checked, a family company is as American as it gets.
You may not like the Trump product, you may not like Trump the man, but it is a family company, and we used to honor family companies.
In fact, we hated it when those things were sold off, or broken apart, or their doors were closed.
Just last month when the family owned Carnegie Deli closed, breathless obituaries were written by New Yorkers lamenting the doors shuttering at the Manhattan institution for the last time.
Lines formed, people took selfies of themselves eating their last sandwich, hundreds of tweets were sent begging for a “miracle” to save the deli known for its towering pastrami sandwiches. So it’s not as if we don’t still celebrate family businesses. They are truly the backbone of America.
Now this does not mean Trump has done the right things in trying to deal with the potential conflicts of interest. But there is not one answer that would be perfect.
Selling it off would not be perfect, neither is declaring that his adult children — who have devoted their entire adult careers to building this brand — should not continue their careers just because their father was elected president.
No child should have to take it in the shorts just because a parent was elected president. Remember, they did not run for president, he did.
We have never had a president with this type of private sector business. We also have never held any other president’s adult children to a standard that tells them that their careers must end.
There is no perfect answer because all of the answers have downsides. By the way, it would be a little better if Trump were more candid and forthcoming about the difficulties of setting his business aside, as opposed to saying, in effect, “I’m always right, and everything is perfect, or awesome or the best.” A little more reflection about how complicated this has been might have at least caused some of his critics to pause.
His only option seems to be to divest, in which case he has to either take too little for the assets or risk being criticized if someone is seen as overpaying for it and potentially face the appearance of gaining influence for overpaying for it. And he also puts his kids out of business in that scenario.
If Trump were to place his company in a blind trust and insist that Don Jr. and Eric leave the business, he would effectively end their careers mid-career. This would stop the equity they have spent their entire lives building up. Which is completely un-American.
If he continues to keep his hands in it, the potential for ongoing conflicts arises. And if he keeps his hands out of it but they keep their hands in it, we have to trust that they don’t talk about ways that government impacts their companies. And a lot of people don’t trust them.
That last option is likely the most fair to the children and in keeping with the American tradition. But you have to trust that he is not going to talk to his kids about something the business needs until he’s no longer president.
The question is, as slaves to 140 characters, will the press cover it outside the sensationalism of social media?
Salena Zito is a columnist for the Washington Examiner.
