“…no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
--Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8
“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
--Donald Trump, June 2017
The most corrupt presidency in history, with hands down the highest corruption bar, just keeps on grifting. Now it’s a multi-million dollar luxury 747-8 to replace the existing Air Force One which apparently is not glitzy enough for Donald Trump. This flying palace, a gift to Trump personally from the Qatari royal family, is worth at least $400 million. It is for use during his presidency and for his personal use afterward. Trump has been salivating over the plane ever since he toured it a couple of months ago when it touched down at the Palm Beach airport. It’s newer and bigger than Air Force One and apparently opulent in a garish, tasteless Trump sort of way.
If this isn’t a foreign gift prohibited by the Constitution, then nothing is. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who must have skipped her law school ethics classes (instead practicing how to be a supine doormat), blessed this bribe, saying the whole shebang is perfectly legal, the Constitution be damned. Oh, and Bondi used to be a lobbyist for Qatar before signing on to be Trump’s pliant AG willing to endorse anything Trump says or does.
Current federal law limits the value of personal gifts a government official can receive to $480.
Why this particular bribe and why now? So that this miniscule Gulf state drowning in oil will continue on Trump’s most favored flatterer list. In return for its unprecedented largesse, Qatar, a Hamas haven and long-time terrorist funder, gets a Trump visit and a Trump golf course via a partnership with the royal family.
Qatar was just one of many stops Trump’s spawn made on their recent grift tour of the planet, paving the way for Daddy’s own personal enrichment visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. And they have the audacity to talk about the “Biden crime family.”
For all we know, this gift from a questionable oil state is dripping with electronic listening devices and assorted spy stuff. Cleansing every inch of it to make sure it is secure will cost taxpayers a fortune, assuming Trump cares a whit about exposing America’s secrets to our adversaries. His history indicates that he does not.
Trump also visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both the beneficiaries of Trump family business deals that will earn him and his family billions of dollars. Is there no end to the sleaze?
Trump’s exploitation of the White House as the ultimate grift machine isn’t even clandestine any more. It is all out in the open and done with impunity and disdain for the Constitution. He even boasts about it. In just three months, he has expanded his grift to levels unimagined even in his first term, when he squeezed foreign governments for millions funneled through his downtown Washington DC hotel and assorted golf courses.
This latest shiny object, which Trump will likely gild in gold plating like the now un-viewable Oval Office, is on top of the crypto currency scam he and his crooked seed are pulling off, also without bothering to hide their despicable activities. The Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, announced that its so-called “stablecoin”— with Trump’s likeness all over it — is going to be used by the UAE in a $2 billion business deal with Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world. The deal will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family in addition to the estimated $2 billion they have already hauled in. Binance has been sued by the Securities & Exchange Commission for its questionable deals and behavior, but the lawsuit is now on hold because it could get in the way of Trump’s grift.
In 2021, Trump called crypto a “scam.” Now he is in on it.
Congress, wherefore art thou? The Trump scams are allowed to continue without a peep from the cowardly Republican Congress. The Reichstag rubber stampers are content to hide under their desks and allow this felonious lawbreaker to do whatever he pleases no matter how criminal. Congress’s conduct gives new meaning to CHECKS and balances, emphasis on the former.
Every new con Trump gets away with emboldens him for the next one. America’s Grifter-in-Chief knows no bounds. No telling what new scheme he will come up with next.
Trump 1.0 saw a number of Democrats sue Trump for his blatant violations of the Emoluments Clause. However, in 2021 the feckless Supreme Court dismissed these cases on the grounds that Trump had left office.
Say again? The Constitution says nothing about the tolling of Emoluments Clause violations when someone leaves office. This is yet another bending of the law by the Court’s reactionary wing to achieve a political result that flies in the face of the Constitution. Just another in the many missed opportunities to hold Trump accountable for his misdeeds.
Timing is everything when trying to bring a presidential conman to account. Prospective plaintiffs should not delay filing new lawsuits claiming violations of the Emoluments Clause. If done early enough, maybe the Supremes will be backed into a corner, hoisted by their own irrational decision the first time around.
Dick Hermann
May 16, 2025
--Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8
“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
--Donald Trump, June 2017
The most corrupt presidency in history, with hands down the highest corruption bar, just keeps on grifting. Now it’s a multi-million dollar luxury 747-8 to replace the existing Air Force One which apparently is not glitzy enough for Donald Trump. This flying palace, a gift to Trump personally from the Qatari royal family, is worth at least $400 million. It is for use during his presidency and for his personal use afterward. Trump has been salivating over the plane ever since he toured it a couple of months ago when it touched down at the Palm Beach airport. It’s newer and bigger than Air Force One and apparently opulent in a garish, tasteless Trump sort of way.
If this isn’t a foreign gift prohibited by the Constitution, then nothing is. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who must have skipped her law school ethics classes (instead practicing how to be a supine doormat), blessed this bribe, saying the whole shebang is perfectly legal, the Constitution be damned. Oh, and Bondi used to be a lobbyist for Qatar before signing on to be Trump’s pliant AG willing to endorse anything Trump says or does.
Current federal law limits the value of personal gifts a government official can receive to $480.
Why this particular bribe and why now? So that this miniscule Gulf state drowning in oil will continue on Trump’s most favored flatterer list. In return for its unprecedented largesse, Qatar, a Hamas haven and long-time terrorist funder, gets a Trump visit and a Trump golf course via a partnership with the royal family.
Qatar was just one of many stops Trump’s spawn made on their recent grift tour of the planet, paving the way for Daddy’s own personal enrichment visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. And they have the audacity to talk about the “Biden crime family.”
For all we know, this gift from a questionable oil state is dripping with electronic listening devices and assorted spy stuff. Cleansing every inch of it to make sure it is secure will cost taxpayers a fortune, assuming Trump cares a whit about exposing America’s secrets to our adversaries. His history indicates that he does not.
Trump also visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both the beneficiaries of Trump family business deals that will earn him and his family billions of dollars. Is there no end to the sleaze?
Trump’s exploitation of the White House as the ultimate grift machine isn’t even clandestine any more. It is all out in the open and done with impunity and disdain for the Constitution. He even boasts about it. In just three months, he has expanded his grift to levels unimagined even in his first term, when he squeezed foreign governments for millions funneled through his downtown Washington DC hotel and assorted golf courses.
This latest shiny object, which Trump will likely gild in gold plating like the now un-viewable Oval Office, is on top of the crypto currency scam he and his crooked seed are pulling off, also without bothering to hide their despicable activities. The Trump family crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, announced that its so-called “stablecoin”— with Trump’s likeness all over it — is going to be used by the UAE in a $2 billion business deal with Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world. The deal will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family in addition to the estimated $2 billion they have already hauled in. Binance has been sued by the Securities & Exchange Commission for its questionable deals and behavior, but the lawsuit is now on hold because it could get in the way of Trump’s grift.
In 2021, Trump called crypto a “scam.” Now he is in on it.
Congress, wherefore art thou? The Trump scams are allowed to continue without a peep from the cowardly Republican Congress. The Reichstag rubber stampers are content to hide under their desks and allow this felonious lawbreaker to do whatever he pleases no matter how criminal. Congress’s conduct gives new meaning to CHECKS and balances, emphasis on the former.
Every new con Trump gets away with emboldens him for the next one. America’s Grifter-in-Chief knows no bounds. No telling what new scheme he will come up with next.
Trump 1.0 saw a number of Democrats sue Trump for his blatant violations of the Emoluments Clause. However, in 2021 the feckless Supreme Court dismissed these cases on the grounds that Trump had left office.
Say again? The Constitution says nothing about the tolling of Emoluments Clause violations when someone leaves office. This is yet another bending of the law by the Court’s reactionary wing to achieve a political result that flies in the face of the Constitution. Just another in the many missed opportunities to hold Trump accountable for his misdeeds.
Timing is everything when trying to bring a presidential conman to account. Prospective plaintiffs should not delay filing new lawsuits claiming violations of the Emoluments Clause. If done early enough, maybe the Supremes will be backed into a corner, hoisted by their own irrational decision the first time around.
Dick Hermann
May 16, 2025
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