How Times Have Changed

When Jimmy Carter became president in 1977, he deemed it appropriate to put his peanut farm into a blind trust in order to avoid the perception of any conflict of interest while he assumed the presidential mantle. My, how times have changed.

Donald J. Trump has effectively declared that there is no such thing as a conflict of interest, only presidential opportunities to profit from an elected position. In his short time in office he has managed, along with his immediate family, to almost double his net worth. American policy is at auction to the highest bidder. If that policy is in the best interest of the United States, it is by coincidence, not design.

The White House has maintained that since Donald Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children, there are no conflicts of interest. Having family members managing your business interests, isn’t exactly a “blind trust.” By definition, a blind trust is a financial arrangement in which a person in public office gives the administration of private business interests to an independent trust in order to prevent conflict of interest. Under the trust, the owner does not know how the assets are managed. Does anyone really believe the Trump children don’t talk to Daddy?

World Liberty Financial is co-owned by Trump and family, where they are entitled to 75% of all revenue from cryptocurrency token sales. Trump successfully negotiated a $2B WLF investment from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and in exchange, they will now be able to buy powerful US AI chips. Such chips have been identified as critical to US security interests and countries like the UAE would normally not be allowed to purchase them. They would then be able to resell them to China without American interference.

I’m not a whiz when it comes to numbers, but $2B isn’t exactly peanuts. Hell, it's more than a whole peanut farm. It’s just nuts that he can be this corrupt and do it with a smile.