‘Nepotism and corruption’: Trump’s top pick trend isn’t sitting well with the internet
“Nepotism and corruption,” two words practically synonymous with the Trump administration at this point.
Trump has created a rogue’s gallery of Cabinet picks ranging from terrible to comic book villain. His candidates of choice range from accused sex offenders, unwitting Russian propaganda parrots, and erotic art collectors with zero experience in government. Speaking of total lack of experience, Trump has also picked numerous members of his own family to serve in government, as this X user points out.
While all of Trump’s choices smack of nepotism and corruption, his choice for the U.S. ambassador to France is particularly egregious. Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, was chosen by Trump to serve in the position despite having a criminal history. in 2005, Kushner was convicted on multiple counts of tax evasion and one particularly horrifying count of retaliating against a federal witness. As punishment for aiding in a federal investigation, Kushner blackmailed his own brother-in-law, his sister’s husband, in what then prosecuting attorney Chris Christie called one of the most “loathsome” crimes he had seen in his career as Attorney General.
The “daughter-in-law” in question her is Laura Trump, who Trump tapped to serve as co-chair of the RNC. According to sources close to the president-elect, Trump is pressuring Florida governor Ron DeSantis to appoint Laura Trump to fill the Senate seat that Marco Rubio is slated to exchange for a Trump cabinet position.
Trump’s penchant for pardons is famous. During his first term in office, he pardoned multiple political allies, including some jailed for crimes uncovered by the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Muller during the Russia probe. Trump also pardoned four mercenaries who were involved in the Nisour Square Massacre in which 17 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed.
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were two of the foremost beneficiaries of nepotism. After working at the White House during their father’s first term in office, the pair reportedly walked away hundreds of millions of dollars richer. According to this report, Ivanka Trump and her husband reportedly profited off of staying at their own Trump-family hotels in Washington. Many of Ivanka Trump’s foreign business dealings also turned profit, as multiple trademarks for her business were approved by Russia, China and Japan.
According to Donald Trump’s second son Eric Trump, nepotism is simply a “factor of life.” In an interview with Forbes, Eric Trump shared his point of view about he and his family’s positions of political privilege: “we might be here because of nepotism, but we’re not still here because of nepotism.” Eric Trump believes that the Trump childrens’ business acumen was what allowed their father to take a shot at the presidency in the first place. “I don’t know if he could have done the presidential thing four years ago,” said Eric Trump, elaborating that his and his siblings’ business success is “ultimately why we’re in the seat we’re in.”
Sadly, America has a long tradition of political aristocracy. In an effort to curb the spread of nepotism, Congress passed the The Federal Anti-Nepotism Statute aka the “Bobby Kennedy Law” which passed six years after John F. Kennedy made his brother Robert F. Kennedy the U.S. Attorney General in 1961. While some were hopeful that the law would prevent Donald Trump from installing his family into positions of political power in 2016, those hopes were dashed. Regarding Trump’s 2024 administration, it seems history will continue to do what it does best: repeat itself.
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