Sometime between the publications of the Starr Report and the Access Hollywood recordings, Americans decided that we don’t care about the character of our statesmen.
This is an error, but it’s grounded a reasonable-sounding argument that the policies and official actions are the only relevant considerations when judging a public official.
Back in the 1990s, a Time magazine White House correspondent made it clear, in particularly depraved terms, that Bill Clinton’s infidelities were fine because he favored legalized abortion. Today, millions of conservatives say Trump’s infidelities, churlishness, and dishonesty don’t matter because he cuts our taxes and puts conservatives on the Supreme Court.
Even if we adopt this morally stunted viewpoint, we ought to at least draw a line at abuse of power. If we’re going to ignore how the politician, as an individual, treats others, we should still care if he uses his power for personal gain.
Abuse of power and abuse of privilege, even in our relativistic (supposedly enlightened and tolerant) age ought to still provoke public anger.
And Donald Trump abuses his power, as the recent closure of the Trump Foundation reminds us very clearly. He acquires power and special privileges, and he uses that power and privilege to benefit himself.
The Trump Foundation agreed on Tuesday to shut itself down, under the weight of an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office. Foundations have special privileges. They don’t have to pay taxes. They can solicit tax-deductible donations. Those privileges and others reflect a public purpose of the foundations: to perform charitable works and serve the broader public.
Instead, Donald Trump used the Trump Foundation again and again to serve Donald Trump—both to enrich him and to help him politically. In the run-up to the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, Trump skipped a debate and instead hosted a Trump Foundation fundraiser for veterans and troops. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, in those days called on the Trump Foundation to donate money in Iowa. “Is there any way we can make some disbursements,” Lewandowski wrote, “this week while in Iowa?”
The Trump Foundation, in turn, cut six-figure checks to three Iowa-based veterans’ charities: Central Iowa Shelter and Services, Puppy Jake Foundation, and Support Siouxland Soldiers. You’d have to play dumb to deny what was going on here: the Trump Foundation was acting as an arm of the Trump campaign.
This is an abuse of power. Trump was using his foundation’s privileges not for the public good for which the privileges were granted, but for a private good: his election.
Trump often used the Foundation for a more acute private good: boosting his companies. The Foundation’s largest-recorded gift helped restore a fountain outside of the Trump Plaza. Once he used Foundation money to fund a group supporting the election of Pam Bondi as Florida Attorney General. Shortly after the Trump Foundation cut the check, Bondi dropped the state’s investigation into the shady Trump University.
Trump used his foundation for personal purposes so casually (he apparently paid Don Jr.’s Boy Scouts annual fee with Foundation money) that one suspects he simply doesn’t see the ethical issue here at all.
The Trump Foundation is his foundation, so he seems to believe he can use the money as he sees fit. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., is his campaign so there’s nothing wrong with him spending campaign money to stay at overpriced Trump hotels. The Republican National Committee is now his party committee so it’s fine to spend RNC money also enriching Trump through his hotels.
The scary step is the next one: To what extent does he see the federal government as his own? We know he holds this belief at least bit. His staff say “he runs the country’s economy.” His hiring of family and firing of irritants also convey that sense of ownership.
But of course, it’s not Trump’s government to do with as he pleases. It’s ours — he’s only the trustee. Similarly, he is not free to use his campaign coffers and his foundation money to benefit himself. All of that is abuse of power and privilege.
New York’s State government has responded to Trump’s abuse of the Foundation’s privileges by shutting down the Foundation. How will America react if Trump shows a pattern of abusing his government power?
