Did you hear the story about the crooked banker who tried to get himself a Cabinet job by cutting a sweetheart loan to Paul Manafort?
We hope President Trump did.
Trump occasionally needs a reminder that Manafort, his former campaign chairman, was a self-dealing crook who saw Trump not as his client but as his product. The federal indictment announced Thursday alleges a bribery scheme that bears this out. Manafort, who was not exactly very creditworthy, got a $6.5 million bank loan at a too-low interest rate. The banker, Stephen Calk, allegedly approved this loan in exchange for an administration job, such as a Cabinet slot or an ambassadorship.
Manafort allegedly procured a job interview for Calk, without telling Trump’s transition team that Calk was his sweetheart lender. Thankfully, Calk never got a Trump administration job, but Manafort appears to have secretly used his proximity to Trump to enrich himself. Trump shouldn’t forget how much Manafort tried to use him.
But there’s a second lesson here involving not Manafort’s pursuit of profit, but Trump’s.
The lesson is this: When you have power, people will be willing to enrich you personally, expecting you will use that power to help them. Even if you don’t help them, it corrupts the system to let that expectation persist.
Trump operates dozens of hotels and resorts around the U.S. and around the world. When people, companies, and governments spend money at those Trump properties, they are enriching Trump personally. Undoubtedly, many foreign government officials who drop thousands of dollars at the Trump Hotel believe that this ought to earn them some favor with the Trump administration.
It is dangerous and corrupting if these foreign leaders believe they are owed something because they enriched Trump. It is also bad if businessmen, foreign or domestic, spend money at Trump properties expecting something in exchange.
There is also the risk they will get something in exchange. We’re not positing that Trump would do a naked quid pro quo, but we know how Trump carries warm feelings towards those who do business with him in a way he finds profitable.
“Saudi Arabia,” he said on the campaign trail, “I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
Even if Trump isn’t inclined to give a policy gift to his benefactors, he surely feels tempted to look away from their misdeeds, it seems.
Also, a lower-level U.S. official may be bullied by a businessmen or government official who is certain the Trump administration owes him something in exchange for the money he gave Trump.
This is why, since he won the election, we implored Trump to unload his properties, empowering an independent agent to sell the properties, at fair market value, in a sale in which Trump has no role.
Such a forced sale would be suboptimal for Trump’s wealth, but that’s the sort of sacrifice the presidency demands. Power rightly comes not with riches, but with constraints and sacrifice.
