Barack Obama was a senator, George W. Bush was a governor, Dwight Eisenhower was a general. The typical president-elect comes to the White House knowing how to cash a government paycheck.
Then there is Donald Trump,
the nation's incoming entrepreneur-in-chief. Previous presidents have
been wealthy or had business experience (Harry Truman ran a men's
clothing store), but it's safe to say Trump's shift directly from corner
office to Oval Office is unprecedented. He is a globally active real
estate and marketing mogul who doesn't plan to shut down the family
business just because he's moving from New York to Washington.
That decision brings with it a worrisome
question about how to manage conflicts of interest between his new and
old jobs. It is in the nature of Trump's two careers that they are going
to collide. He's got property interests and branding deals around the
world, meaning when President Trump makes a decision or just speaks
about, say, India, there could be more than foreign policy implications
at stake. There is also the value of Trump Tower Mumbai.
The
usual route for a high-ranking official is to sell off assets and put
investments in a blind trust managed by an outsider. That offers
assurances that all decisions made while in office are for everyone's
good, not personal enrichment. However, presidents aren't required to do
that because the office is exempt from a financial conflict-of-interest
law governing other officials in the executive branch. The thinking is
that being president has such wide-ranging responsibility that conflicts
are difficult to avoid and to police.
For Trump, keeping official and private interests
ongoing but untangled will be especially tricky, even if he never lifts a
finger to actually participate in Trump Organization activities. That's
because his vast empire is built in part on the value of his name, and
his brand has never been stronger (OK, except among Democrats). That
opens Trump to criticism of being a walking, talking conflict of
interest, because he'll be the most powerful man on earth at the same
time there will be Trump product for sale. Some of that product is just
six blocks from the White House: the new Trump International Hotel —
perfect for the diplomat who needs to book rooms and also wants an easy
conversation-starter with administration officials.
Trump, not one for overthinking life's nuances, doesn't seem
worried. The law's on his side, he said, and he doesn't care about the
future performance of his company. His children will tend to that while
he runs the nation. Legally, he told The New York Times, he could be
president of the United States and president of his company, and even
keep signing the checks. "But I would like to do something," he said. "I
would like to try and formalize something."
We think he needs to take concrete action, law
or no law. He doesn't need to sell his businesses or place his
ownership stakes in a blind trust. Trump made it clear during the
campaign that he'd hand over day-to-day business affairs to his
children, and the voters accepted that. If the honeymoon suite at
Trump's hotels sells out, or conversely can't be given away, that will
be one of many oddities of the Trump era.
But Trump and
his children should be careful not to use their marketing prowess to try
to make any quick bucks from the presidency. That would be unseemly,
which is what the family learned after an overeager employee publicized
the $10,800 Ivanka Trump bracelet she wore during the "60 Minutes"
interview.
More broadly, before taking office Trump needs to disengage
entirely from business activities and set in place ethical protocols to
prevent conflicts of interest or even appearances of conflict. That
should include naming one or several White House officials to keep close
tabs on activity to protect the presidency and the public from
unexpected trouble. Some quick extra advice: Whatever the White House
and State Department did to build a firewall between the
Clinton
Foundation and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's work wasn't enough.
Eager foreign donors to the foundation thought they were owed access to
the Obama administration.
If Trump doesn't separate himself
from his and his family's business interests, how long before he's seen
as taking action as president because it was good for Trump and not
America? Those kinds of allegations would harm the presidency.
Ultimately they would tarnish the rules of fairness everyone must
respect.
Source: Chicago Tribune
French police want it known ... they've nabbed people they think are involved in the Kim Kardashian robbery.
