President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said last week that the administration held up military aid to Ukraine in part because officials wanted Kiev to investigate election interference allegations. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) responded that this comment made matters even worse for Trump. Even though Mulvaney tried walking these comments back later in the day, his original admissions did damage to the president’s position.
During the impeachment war, can both sides at least admit one common belief? That the United States needs to unite to stop illegal foreign interference in our elections?
Two years after Paul Manafort’s arrest, more arrests were made this month of individuals choosing to get rich by ignoring the legal prohibition against foreign donations to influence American elections.
Everyone from Trump haters to his fans should unify in condemning these acts of self-enrichment, as stated in a 2015 educational paper, “lest our political system be seen by foreign interests as a carnival in which all can participate and get the results they seek, even if those results weaken American interests, our national unity, and our national security.”
The Pavlovian defense by some of those accused of being paid by foreign interests to steer U.S. policy is similar to the inability of the Chinese to stop their country from being carved up by England’s Queen Victoria, Germany’s William II, Russia’s Nicholas II, France’s Marianne and a Japanese Samurai in an 1898 French cartoon.
Personal Gain over American Interests
According to the polls, 85 percent of Republicans would vote for President Trump’s re-election, and 88 percent of them oppose Trump being impeached. This does not mean Republicans should support those who take advantage of Trump’s campaign and presidency by receiving huge payouts from foreign interests.
Manafort, for example, did not seem to care very much about actually electing Trump while chairing his 2016 campaign, but it certainly seemed a great step to make millions of dollars more and hide it from the tax agency to help Russian interests in Ukraine.
If it turns out that Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani‘s associates Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas – who were arrested earlier this month on campaign finance violations and corruption – are guilty, then Trump supporters should view them as villains for taking advantage of Trump to make themselves rich.
So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2019
It is totally naive to believe that a foreign entity giving money to a candidate isn’t expecting to get a financial payback of some sort. The candidate is also risking their own name and career by accepting foreign money. This is also the definition of “pay to play” if the candidate wins an election and immediately enacts policies favorable to the country that foreign entity represents. The $1.5 billion equity deal of Hunter Biden and a Chinese Bank while Joe Biden was vice president is a prime example.
Most Americans watch election night while rooting hard for candidates based on who they believe will be the best for the country. However, there are plenty of insiders who immediately work to figure out how to get rich off their connections to the winner with complete disregard for what is best for America and the average voter.
With the most powerful military and economy in the world, the United States is supposed to protect its nation against any foreign threat – and yet we are leaving the backdoor open to allowing payoffs for foreign entities to influence U.S. policymaking while helping a tiny percentage of American insiders get very rich.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
