Search results for "barack Obama"

I blame Barack Obama for this

Up until inside the past decade or so, I always fancied myself a fairly affable guy. Growing up in New Jersey and working in newspapers as an adult demanded a certain degree of tolerance and a wicked sense of humor.

Everybody had their flaws, but we were all in this mess together, so I figured let’s go for the laughs and make the most of it. I was willing to give anybody a chance.

Not anymore.

These days, if I even whiff the foul scent of Republican on you, I’m either going the other way, or right through you.

Lately, I hate Republicans. I mean I really HATE them. I don’t necessarily like that I really hate Republicans, but there is nothing to recommend them. They are just flat mean, morally busted, and are actively trying to kill us. Worse, many of them are doing it with a smile on their face.

How many more hundreds of thousands of Americans would still be alive if we all simply listened to the science, wore masks and got vaccinated? How much more stable would our democracy be if a defeat at the polls was accepted through gritted teeth and graciousness, instead of threats and insurrection?

Instead, Republicans have doubled down on their heinousness and placed an anti-vax ghoul in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. They have made scientists the enemy, instead of our friends tirelessly searching for answers.

Rather than defend and replenish the lifeblood of any democracy, our vote, Republicans are doing everything in their power to kill it. It’s not a matter of IF Trump deploys the Insurrection Act but WHEN, to put down people who don’t like him or disagree with him, which we know from last weekend alone is an astronomical number.

It really is hard to see how we survive this without an all-out war. More than 7 million patriots were in our streets last Saturday peacefully sending the message that they’ve had enough of this dangerous, abhorrent Republican fascism.

The grotesque, orange would-be king responded by posting an AI video of himself literally s------g on those protesters. Republicans, as always, were just fine with this. Completely normal. Nothing to see here.

The corporate press, which has gone out of its way to enable this madness, barely gave it a mention.

Like I said, this is not sustainable.

It was quite a surprise then, that when I rolled out of the rack today, I resolved to find a better way to talk to Republicans. I’m sure it had something to do with a recent epiphany, but more on that below.

Something has to change …

I didn’t always hate Republicans. Hell, I used to vote for ’em every now and then.

Are you still there …?

A number of my oldest friends are Republicans. We’ve been around several blocks together. These are the people I grew up with; got in trouble with; fought for; whose pockets were stuffed with my secrets … the people I loved.

I know where my old friends came from; how they were raised; whether their mother or father was an ass; where the skeletons were buried … Nobody knows more about you than an old, trusted friend.

Lately, I don’t much recognize too many of my old friends anymore. I reckon I look pretty hazy to them, too. I see the stuff they load up on their Facebook page, and wonder how it is we ended up living on different planets when we used to share the same bed.

This all started with Trump, of course. The guy brought out the worst in all of us. It’s his singular talent. Everybody around him is miserable and angry.

I realize I’m not splattering you with any big revelations here. We’ve all gone through this. Not a one of us hasn’t been touched by this negative, soul-crushing force.

Used to be we could trade political insults. Poke fun at each other. In the event it got too heated we could turn the flame down by simply agreeing too many of our politicians were full of crap. They were just going to screw us all in the end no matter what. There was money to be made.

Much better to believe in a friendship that had stood the test of time, than some political party that would test your patience.

Those were the days ...

Today was going to be different, though. Today, I was going to be the bigger man. I was going to reengage. Bridge the gap. Start anew. Find some reason amid the ashes of these torched relationships …

I blame Barack Obama for this.

I don’t know about you, but I do most of my above-average thinking while lying in bed. There’s not a more honest place than safely underneath the covers, head nestled in a pillow.

Just before I closed my eyes Sunday night, I remembered something the two-term, scandal-free president said on a campaign trail way back when while stumping for Joe Biden. I’ll paraphrase, and guarantee you it was even smarter than I’ll type it. But it stuck, and here it goes:

“Look,” Obama said in his ascending tone, “If I tell your Republican friends they should consider voting for something or doing something, they’ll look at me and laugh. They don’t like me! But if YOU tell your Republican friends they should consider voting for something or doing something, they’ll listen! And they’ll listen, because-they-like-you! They might even LOVE you! So sit down. Talk with them!”

See what I mean? If FDR deserved four terms, this guy should have got at least that many. Imagine how much better off we’d be for it.

Except we don’t allows kings in the country …

Now, here I was this morning, refreshed and ready to bring it. There were holes to patch and old friendships to cement. I would be the better man, and cautiously extend a hand. Maybe, just maybe … I could reconnect with a few of these lost souls.

I figured there was nothing to lose, because everything has already been lost. If nothing else it might add perspective, and make for a half-decent column.

I poured a cup of coffee, plugged into a comfy chair, cracked open the local paper, and said this out loud: “Awwwwwwwww fuuuuuuuck …”

HEADLINE: “GOP Tries to Weaken Law Shielding Whales, Seals and Polar Bears”

Whales, seals and polar bears????? Holy hell, are there three more lovable and majestic creatures on this earth?

Whales, seals and polar bears?????

Is there ANYTHING these detestable Republicans won’t put their filthy hands on and strangle to death?

Here’s the lede of this important story:

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Republican lawmakers are targeting one of the U.S.’s longest standing pieces of environmental legislation, credited with helping save rare whales from extinction.Conservative leaders feel they now have the political will to remove key pieces of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972 to protect whales, seals, polar bears and other sea animals.

Turns out this story was filed last week and got very little damn attention, because Republicans are coming at us with both barrels. They intend to end America as we’ve known it since the last Civil War.

It’s impossible to keep up with it all, and process this madness, which is all part of their destructive design.

The Republican Party is anti-life, anti-American, and anti-good.

The party that said boogeymen were coming for our cats and dogs, are literally coming after our whales, seals and polar bears.

How damn much more of this are we supposed to take?

So, hands shaking, I put the paper down, and raged to the point of tears.

I decided talking to my Republican friends could wait for a bit, and until I could do it without wanting ’em all dead.

D. Earl Stephens is the author of Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.

From Your Site Articles

'Thin-skinned loser': Trump slammed over WH exhibit insulting Democratic presidents

President Donald Trump's exhibit of previous presidents at the West Wing of the White House now has a new addition — plaques that include negative commentary written in Trump's voice.

On Wednesday, USA TODAY White House correspondent Joey Garrison tweeted images from Trump's "Presidential Walk of Fame" that show new plaques under images of past Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Both plaques include a plethora of insults of both presidents that include Trump's signature style of oddly placed capital letters.

The plaque for Biden (which is under not a portrait of Biden but a photo of the presidential autopen) used Trump's denigrating moniker "Sleepy Joe Biden" and called him "the worst President in American History" who won the "most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States." The plaque further alleges that Biden "caused the highest Inflation ever recorded."

Under Obama's portrait, the plaque claims that the 44th president of the United States was "one of the most divisive political figures in American History" who "presided over a stagnant Economy." The plaque also claims that Obama "weaponized the IRS and Federal bureaucracies against his political opponents" and "presided over the creation of the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, the worst political scandal in American History."

Condemnation from social media was swift and immediate from both sides of the political aisle. American University alumnus Brian Thomas called the display "incredibly crass and low-class." Canadian communications consultant Greg MacEachern sarcastically described it as "very adult." Former CNN host John Harwood quipped: "The incumbent president is mentally ill."

"Staggering level of pettiness and grade-school immaturity," tweeted former Kentucky Republican state senator Whitney Westerfield. "Once again, right on brand from this President. Once again, a stain on the honor and dignity of the office of the presidency, and further driving the decline in our national civic decorum. A shame."

"What a bunch of children," observed Maryland-based sports commentator Paul Douglas. "The funny thing is all the insults and skits and bits will never fill the infinite chasm in Trump's soul. Twice elected the most powerful person on the planet and yet still the most insecure person in human history.

"It takes a special kind of thinned-skinned loser to drive stuff like this," tweeted tech and digital media lawyer Josh King.

"Handing the keys to the worst humans imaginable in this administration continues to humiliate," civil attorney Daniel Aguilar wrote.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Outrage after Trump overnight Truth Social spree includes AI video of Obamas as monkeys

Although he sometimes uses X, President Donald Trump has used his own Truth Social platform as his primary social media outlet during his second presidency — often sending a barrage of controversial posts on the same night. And Trump's Truth Social posts of Thursday, February 5 and Friday, February 6 are generating plenty of discussion, from a dog video to a racist video attacking former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

For the dog post, Trump forwarded a TikTok video that read, "Watch my dog appear out of NOWHERE when I pour some whipped cream."

Social media users are puzzled by the dog video. On X, Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond posted simply, "?"

Meanwhile, the Obamas post — which forwarded a video depicting the Obamas as monkeys — is generating outrage.

Newsweek, early Friday morning, reported, "A video posted by U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social account contained a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. At the end of the 62-second video — otherwise about voting machines — the Obamas' faces appear on apes' bodies for about 1 second as The Tokens' song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' plays."

Deadline's Jake Kanter reported, "An apparently AI-generated clip portraying Barack and Michelle Obama as apes has been shared on Donald Trump‘s Truth Social account. Overnight, the U.S. president’s verified account twice posted a minute-long video about voting machine anomolies, which features the PatriotNewsOutlet.com watermark. In the final moments of the video, a two-second clip flashes up showing the Obamas as apes, dancing in a jungle setting to 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.'"

The Guardian reported, "The racist depiction of the Obamas – the first Black president and first lady in American history – appears at the end of a one-minute video perpetuating the false and disproven claims that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The company in 2023 settled for $787.5m with Fox News in a landmark defamation lawsuit."In a February 6 post n X, economist and PAICE CEO Lars Christenen wrote, "THIS is the US. Americans maybe you should get your act together and have this man removed. It is shameful."

David Jolly, a former Republican congressman and Never Trump conservative, argued that the Obamas post underscores a broader problem in the GOP.

Jolly tweeted, "Folks, this election is no longer about policy - it's about our national identity, about who we are. The President depicting the Obamas as monkeys, a Florida gubernatorial candidate unleashing antisemitism and cheered for it, another peddling Islamophobia, ICE agents detaining a 5 year old in bunny ears and a Spiderman backpack, the whitewashing of credible allegations in the Epstein files…. It's vile."

Londoner Richard Woodruff, known for volunteering in war-torn Ukraine, tweeted, "The F—— President of the United States of America just casually posted that all Black Americans are monkeys to him…. he shoots Americans in the street, now he calls the Obamas f—— monkeys. F—— TRUMP. Do something TODAY, America!!!!"

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Ask yourself what would have happened if Barack Obama said this

I am seeing a lot of nonsense being reported about the America-attacking Donald Trump alleging last weekend he will not seek a third term in office ... as if anything that comes out of his dirty mouth is at all credible.

Have we learned nothing yet?

Listen to me, good people: Unless he has the decency to die first, America’s First Felon has no intention of leaving the White House in 2028.

What we do between now and then in revolt of this revolting man will tell the tale.

After 10 years of carpet-bombing the truth, can everybody at least understand that we can never trust a single word that comes out of the dirty mouth of the woman-abusing narcissist, who according to one count told an astonishing 30,573 lies and mistruths during his first chaotic presidency when hundreds of thousands of Americans needlessly died because of his RFK Jr.-like response to a once-in-a-century killer pandemic?

We need only rely on his past despicable actions to get at his true future intent, because whatever this racist lowlife — who is actively trying to disappear people of color and their history from our government websites — is saying and what he has actually done is far, far worse.

We know by his actions that after losing the 2020 election by more than seven million votes to Joe Biden, Trump began making it crystal clear to everyone that he had no intention of stepping down and honoring the vote of the people.

Thus, the Big Lie was hatched.

Rather than gracefully concede his loss, as Hillary Clinton had done four years earlier after winning close to three million votes MORE than him, Trump decided to go to war against America.

We know by his revolting actions, that after losing scores of legal challenges, and publicly threatening and shaking down poll workers and election officials, Trump finally summoned the worst people in America, his lawless base, to Washington in an attempt to violently overthrow the government.

We watched for hours as overmatched law enforcement officers were beaten with American and rebel flags, and stomped into curbs. We watched as Trump’s thugs breached our Capitol inflicting millions of dollars worth of damage, and then hunted down politicians threatening them with death and hanging.

And while all this was happening Trump took no action, except for hoping the insurrection would succeed.

Finally, when it was clear the attack had been put down, he grudgingly harrumphed in front of a camera on the White House lawn, and through gritted, yellow teeth told the people who had attacked us that he loved them.

He told them that he loved them …

I just want to stop here for a second and ask again, because it can never be asked enough: What would have happened on this terrible day if Black people had inflicted the worst attack on our Capitol since 1812? Would they have have been told they were loved by the outgoing President of the United States?

Fact is, there would have been thousands of dead and wounded littering the Capitol grounds, and most white people would have been falling all over themselves to say they got what they deserved.

Because that is how America operates today and always. We are a racist country governed by white people, who predominate our elected offices, our military and law enforcement barracks, but mostly our banks.

I’ll never forget any of what happened that terrible day, but mostly I’ll never forget that chilling moment when the racist Trump told those disgusting people that he loved them, because that’s when I knew for sure he was coming back.

It was yet another call to the far-right, racist extremists who cement his morally bankrupt base to “stand back and standby.”

By telling the people who violently attacked us that he loved them, Trump was making it plain as day that unless he was jailed and/or prevented by Congress from ever running again, he was going to be back to finish us off in 2024.

He was telling us he understood America and the degenerates in the Republican Party better than the elected officials who were supposed to keep us safe, and honor our Constitution.

He was telling us he knew this country better than Mitch McConnell, or Biden, or anybody who he appointed to be his Attorney General. He was making a bet on injustice and cruelty, and against the country he had attacked.

First, McConnell and 42 other gutless Republican senators failed to vote to convict at Trump's second impeachment trial, which would have prevented the America-attacker from ever running for office again. Then there was the three-dimensional chess-playing legal scholar, Merrick Garland, who spent four years successfully putting himself in check.

So catastrophically did Biden's attorney general fail us, that even the foot soldiers in the Jan. 6 attack who he was able to successfully jail are now back on the streets because he refused to lay a glove on their lawless leader, the most dangerous man in the world.

Finally, there was Biden, a good man who spent four years too often talking about an America that never existed, and ended his term perched in front of a crackling fire at the White House just days after Trump had carried out his threat to return, and enthusiastically offering him his hand, a warm smile and a, “Welcome back!”

Welcome back. My God …

When will people start taking this violent, democratic arsonist seriously? When will we start looking at his repulsive actions, instead of taking him at his empty word?

I bring all this up today because in addition to making sure we never forget what has really happened to America, we keep a close eye on what is really happening in America.

The American-attacking Trump is telling us in words what he has been telling us with his actions the past 10 years: The Constitution of the United States simply does not apply to him.

When asked during the same interview last Sunday in which he said he wouldn’t run again, NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed him on if he will uphold that Constitution.

Trump answered this way: “I don’t know.”

Now ask yourself what would have happened if Barack Obama had given that answer.

ALSO READ: This MAGA warlord scheme will shock the hell out of you

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.

From Your Site Articles

Trump uses Jesse Jackson’s death to argue he’s not 'a racist'

President Donald Trump acknowledged the death of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson on Tuesday, calling him a “good man” and a “force of nature,” while using the moment to spotlight his own past support for Jackson as evidence against accusations of racism.

“The Reverend Jesse Jackson is Dead at 84,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I knew him well, long before becoming President. He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’ He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people!”

After praising Jackson, the president then went on to detail his past support for the civil rights leader.

“Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,” he said.

Trump accurately said that he “provided office space for him and his Rainbow Coalition, for years, in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.”

He claimed that he responded “to his request for help in getting CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM passed and signed, when no other President would even try.” President Barack Obama signed in to law the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.

Trump praised himself for what he claimed was his single-handedly pushing and passing long-term funding for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). The Obama administration previously ensured funding for HBCUs as well.

The president also insisted that Jackson “could not stand” President Barack Obama, despite the civil rights leader endorsing Obama’s 2008 presidential bid.

Commentators criticized Trump’s remarks.

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein called his remarks “a statement on the death of Jesse Jackson … that is really a statement about Donald Trump, by Donald Trump.”

The Independent’s Eric Michael Garcia wrote, “Trump, unsurprisingly, makes Jesse Jackson’s death about him.”

Mike Sington, a retired NBCUniversal senior executive, wrote: “Trump bizarrely exploits Jesse Jackson’s death to take a swipe at President Obama.”

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

White House delivers jaw-dropping excuse for Trump’s racist AI Obama post

President Donald Trump is drawing vehement criticism after forwarding, on his Truth Social platform, a racist AI-generated video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. And the Trump White House is responding to the controversy by attacking Democrats.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in an official statement, said, "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."

But CNN reporter Edward-Issac Dovere noted a problem with Leavitt's explanation.

Dovere, in a Friday morning, February 6 post on X, wrote, "The White House press secretary’s response is that the Obamas as apes in the video Trump posted is just because they it was a spoof of characters from The Lion King. There are no apes characters in The Lion King. (Closest is Rafiki, who is a mandrill.)."

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

New York Times slammed for 'providing cover' to Trump over racist Obama ape video

The New York Times is being destroyed over a since-deleted excerpt in its report on President Donald Trump sharing racist imagery online.

Trump shared an AI video spreading conspiracies about voter fraud that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, a trope often used refer to Black Americans in a disparaging context.

The Times report included the passage: "It was unclear if Mr. Trump was aware that the clip had been included in the video before he shared it. It was unclear how the clip was made, although it appeared to have been generated by A.I. The clip appeared to have been taken from a video that was shared in October by a user on X whose watermark is shown with the caption 'President Trump: King of the Jungle,' and an emoji of a lion."

The beginning of that paragraph has since been removed by The Times, but not before activist Oliver Willis copied it and posted the initial screenshot online.

"The New York Times has finally covered the Trump video of Obama as an ape — and they are still providing cover for him. F—— the Times," Willis added as a comment.

Long-time attorney Max Kennerly wrote, "Love how the presumption here is that the President doesn't know what he's sharing and that's fine and normal. Sorry, no, if the President doesn't know what he's sending out, then that is indisputable proof of gross incompetence, cognitive unfitness, or both."

From Your Site Articles

Trump 'the laughingstock' of polite society: NYT editorial

New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie says the easiest way to read the motivations of an insincere person like President Donald Trump is to see him “at his most unfiltered.”

That involves his late-night posts on social media, far away from the eyes of handlers.

It was late Thursday night when Trump posted a video to his Truth Social account depicting President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. It’s a post Bouie described as “the most flagrant display of presidential racism since Woodrow Wilson screened D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” in the White House in 1915.

A smattering of Republicans were offended enough to speak out, beginning with endangered blue-state Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y), who called the post “wrong and incredibly offensive,” followed by Rep Michael Turner (R-Ohio) who slammed it as “heart breaking and unacceptable.”

But getting back to what motivates Trump, Bouie said — in addition to ego and raw self-interest — is obviously racism. After all racism is the brand an “ideology that papers over feelings of inadequacy.”

“Let’s suppose you’re the spoiled son of a self-made man,” said Bouie. “Let’s suppose … that you’re the laughingstock of polite society, a punchline for the privileged.”

In truth, Bouie said Trump’s “entire political career — from his embrace of birtherism to his hatred of birthright citizenship — cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism.”

“Trump is not profound,” said Bouie. “He has been the same person this whole time. The question is why so many others have refused to see what he has never bothered to hide.”

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump goes on early morning Truth Social spree reposting calls for Obama's arrest

President Donald Trump was up early Thursday morning for a Truth Social posting spree that focused largely on his 2020 election loss — but included a dash of claims about 2016's "Russiagate."

The rant included a nearly decade-long conspiracy that Trump was spied on by former President Barack Obama. Trump reposted Fox News commentary from far-right host Jesse Watters who claimed Obama personally ordered a CIA spying operation on Trump.

"ARREST OBAMA NOW," one post read.

According to the "Truths," the Obama administration manufactured evidence to undermine Trump's election in 2016, though none of the information about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia was revealed publicly until after the election. Other reports about the Russian hack of Hillary Clinton's campaign, Russian bots and content farms were reported throughout 2016, a Washington Post timeline shows.

Trump on Thursday morning also posted a series of "Truths" showing he's still focused on his 2020 election loss.

Among the posts was a flood of accusations claiming that the election was "crooked."

Trump appeared to post screenshots of random users from X who agree with his sentiment that he actually won the 2020 election.

Another video Trump posted from CNN appears to show a discussion about Trump winning Georgia in 2024, though Trump doesn't explain how that is relevant to his 2020 conspiracy theories about the election.

Trump also shared another conspiracy cited by former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly about the Chinese government funding leftist groups and the Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee.

From Your Site Articles

'Most racist thing I’ve seen': Even GOP’s Tim Scott is calling out Trump’s AI Obama post

Long-time Donald Trump loyalist, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), is questioning the president after he posted a racist meme online about former President Barack Obama and his wife that depicts them as apes.

"Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it," Scott posted on X.

Overnight, Trump shared a video made with artificial intelligence material, including conspiracy theories about voter fraud as part of the Republican push to pass the SAVE Act, or the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Democrats have argued that the SAVE Act adds unnecessary hurdles to voting to fix a non-existent problem.

One of those changes would require Americans to present a "Real ID" to vote and proof of citizenship to register. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) compared it to Jim Crow-era laws like poll taxes, which disenfranchised poor, predominantly Black voters. The practice of requiring a poll tax to vote was outlawed by the 24th Amendment.

Republicans have dismissed allegations that the SAVE Act is racist, but Trump then used a meme depicting the first-ever Black president as an ape.

The White House argued that Trump shared it as a reference to "The Lion King," which doesn't feature any ape characters. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's seeming acknowledgment of the post likely doesn't help answer Scott's prayer.

From Your Site Articles

Trump's self-enrichment violates this core 5-word principle: ex-White House attorney

Estimates of President Donald Trump's net worth vary, but according to Fortune, it was $7.3 billion in late 2025 — a major increase from $3.9 billion in 2024. Bloomberg News, on January 20, estimated the Trump family's net worth to be around $6.8 billion.

Trump, Time reports, has found a variety of ways to add to his wealth since returning to the White House, from Trump Media & Technology Group to cryptocurrencies and Trump-branded merchandise.

In a biting op-ed published by MS NOW on February 16, Ian Bassin — executive director of Protect Democracy and former associate White House counsel under former President Barack Obama — argues that Trump is doing everything he can to monetize his presidency and is denigrating the White House in the process.

"'Be allergic to free stuff' — that's the line I used to deliver in every ethics training I gave to White House staff when I was associate White House counsel under President Barack Obama," Bassin explains. "It captured, in plain English, a core principle of public service: You are there to serve the public, not your own interests, and even small gifts corrode judgment and squander the public trust. It feels resonant this Presidents Day to understand that the opposite has become the norm, despite what our founders envisioned."

Bassin continues, "The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a $500 million transaction between an Emirati royal and President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial, that had sent $187 million to entities tied to the Trump family just four days before his 2025 inauguration. Amazingly, this has all but fallen out of the news."

Trump's actions, according to Bassin, not only raise ethics concerns, but also, "national security" concerns.

"When I told staff to be allergic to free stuff," Bassin recalls, "I said not to accept so much as a can of soda from anyone with business before the White House. Yet here's a report of something orders of magnitude more significant, and as a nation, we barely paid it any mind. That's a dangerous mistake. What the Journal report describes threatens not just the public trust or public decision-making, but also, our national security ... As we advised White House staff: Even the appearance of something untoward squanders the public trust."

Bassin adds: "Now, some federal ethics rules and statutes apply to the president while some regulations apply only to staff. Some past presidents, including the one I worked for, insisted on voluntarily adhering to the highest standards whether they legally applied to them or not."

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
@2026 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com.