"Asked by ABC News if he’d listen to
information offered by another country about a rival, the president
said, “I’d want to hear it.” He added he might not tell the FBI."
My
Comment: Hillary Clinton and many others have said Donald Trump is
unfit to become President of the United States the highest office in the
land imbued with a plethora of power he can wield from Executive Orders
on almost anything to the command setting off a nuclear blast just
because he thought it might be a blast to do so.
My
father was a small businessman for give or take 40 years. He sold many
things like paint, wallpaper and some hardware. If someone came into
his store and offered some interesting news on a competitor would he
have taken it? Of course he would it's a business after all in the
business of making money for him only. If he could have some knowledge
about a competitor he probably would not have thought twice about taking
it and he should have taken it. Why? Because it has nothing to do
with the national security of a nation. It has everything to do with a
private business of no national import.
A
more compelling question around the instant issue of Trump saying it's
perfectly okay for him or his campaign to get "dirt" on his political
adversary is if my father were President of the United States and a
foreign power during his campaign and afterwards offered some
information on one of my father's personal electoral adversaries would
he have taken it? The no brainer answer is OF COURSE NOT! There is a
difference between being an average entrepreneur accepting information
on a business competitor and being president of the United States, a
position of monumental power over the lives --- let me say that again --
THE LIVES, 350 million of them -- of those governed. Accepting
information from another power be it an adversarial power like Russia or
North Korea or Trump's example of Norway, a US friendly nation state,
does not matter. Once that information is given and accepted, that
giver nation has the receiver in its power for blackmail or otherwise.
It is insertion in the power dynamics of a nation state that could be of
use to the nation offering it.
Trump
is treating this issue in a way he has all his life as a builder of
tall buildings and that is to accept any advantage one can no matter the
source because he was a businessman, a builder of things that had
nothing to do with his exercise of power over millions of people in this
nation and around the world. That is the critical difference.
Clearly
it is against the law for a person of political office to accept
information or anything of value for one's campaign from any foreign
nation be it friendly or adversarial.
See: 18 USC 912 -- Demanding Or Obtaining A Thing Of Value: "The distinguishing element of the second offense in § 912 is demanding or obtaining a thing of value. This element is not limited in its application to things having commercial value. Even something as intangible as information has been held sufficient." United States v. Sheker, 618 F.2d 607 (9th Cir. 1980).
This unfit for the presidency Trump made a statement to ABC's George
Stephanopoulos that said in pertinent part: he would accept information
from a foreign government on his
opponents in the 2020 presidential election and suggested during
his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he also would
not need to alert the FBI. He is NOT acting as the owner of Trump
Enterprises although some have said that Trump used his election as
president of the United States for his own personal aggrandizement and
nothing else.
The campaign question
becomes do you feel safer now then you did before the election of our
civics know nothing President Donald J. Trump? The answer to me would
be a decided NO!
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