Trump outlines first 100 days in office

Back when many expected Trump to lose the election, speculation was rife that business would suffer at the hotels, condos and golf courses that bear his name. In 2016, Trump did so too.

Last week my post-presidential election column earned the headline “The Bright Side of Trump”, which was accurate insofar as there are certain positive developments about Donald Trump‘s election and the defeat of the Clinton machine.

Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University, raised serious legal concerns about Donald Trump and his ongoing interest in Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., especially after a report in The Washington Post that said foreign diplomats felt pressure to stay there.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who denounced Mr. Trump and pleaded for Republicans to abandon him during this year’s race, is getting a look for secretary of state.

Dixon said Monday that both Trump and Pence are welcome to come back stage and meet with the cast at any time, adding, “Art is meant to bring people together”. The children were supposedly set to run the Trump businesses through a “blind trust,” but all three also serve on their father’s transition team. And his daughter Ivanka sat in on a meeting with Japan’s prime minister. She later defended crossing party lines to meet with Trump about USA involvement in Syria, saying in a statement she would never “play politics with American and Syrian lives”.

President Obama warned Trump to not mix politics and business while serving in the White House, saying that he needed “strong White House counsel” which would “eliminate a lot of ambiguity”.

Ostensibly, surrendering control of his own business to his offspring (who incidentally hold top positions on his White House transition team) is more about delegating the Trump Organization workload than distancing the Oval Office from inherent conflicts of interest.

When it comes to a Trump White House, a Morning Consult/Politico poll showed that most Americans do not want his adult children to have roles in the administration and that a plurality do not an opinion on a Trump appointment that has ignited a furor.

As of yet, the president of the United States does not have to remove himself from his financial interests, according to a recent report published by the Congressional Research Service.

Some attendees won raffle prizes – among them overnight stays at other Trump properties around the world – allowing them to become better acquainted with the business holdings of the new commander in chief. We should all follow their example.

Mr. Trump has met with several business titans. And there are signs that his ban on lobbyists seeking White House jobs may be skirted with just a little bit of paperwork: As the Washington Post reported last week, a close aide to Vice President-elect Mike Pence filed on November 14 to terminate his status as a federal lobbyist.

One of the businessmen told the New York Times that the discussion was simply meant to offer congratulations. They counseled against bringing back Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, who was sacked in June on their advice. “This honeymoon phase is common for new presidents”. No ethics rules prevent Trump from running a hotel frequented by diplomats and titans of industry, and no rule forbids them from spending their money there.

“On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country”, he said.

Trump built the hotel inside the former Post Office Pavilion, which his company leased from the US Federal Government in a 60-year deal worth US$180 million ($255m).

In reality, there seem to be few barriers that stand between Trump and walking off with an unlimited payday. Some of Trump’s more definitive stances (such as his hostility to trade deals and conciliatory stance toward Russia) also run diametrically opposed to establishment Republican thought, not to mention Democratic preferences.

“That’s what we want, that’s what we’ve been waiting for”, he said.

ZARROLI: Well, you know, the thing is, there are all kinds of ways in which Trump’s business interests bleed over into his role as president. But they will act as check against Trump’s misuse of power, they insist.