News that the G-7 summit will be held at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami is perhaps the most blatant example of President Trump using his office to boost his personal business interests. But it also speaks to another one of his defining characteristics: his utter shamelessness.
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney got before reporters and said with a straight face that the resort was chosen only because it was the best location to host the gathering of world leaders — as if there aren’t any just as suitable locations that do not happen to be owned by the president.
Mulvaney also claimed that the Doral has agreed to do the event at cost, and so Trump won’t profit. But there’s no way of ensuring that is the case, and there’s certainly no reason to take the word of this White House on it. Regardless, however, even if the resort somehow doesn’t profit directly from the conference, it will no doubt benefit from the prestige associated with hosting such an event and be free publicity for the resort on the world stage.
There is something deeply corrupt about a president using his position to directly benefit his business interests. When Trump was elected, he was the first president with such a wide reaching business empire, so any leader with a smidgen of appreciation for ethics would have gone out of his or her way to prevent any conflicts of interest between official duties and private business.
But Trump is simply shameless. He is consistently brazenly dishonest and proudly unapologetic about his statements and actions because he is incapable of feeling personal shame. In this case, in the midst of an impeachment inquiry stemming from his abuse of power, he’s just going to lean in. What’s especially shameless is that the White House is announcing this in the midst of a daily campaign to attack Hunter Biden for profiting from his dad’s public office.
