THREAD: We've heard a lot of speakers during the Republican convention praise President Trump for "draining the swamp."
I am duty-bound to point out what a monumental farce this is. So sit back, and let me take you on a little journey into the "Drain the Swamp" presidency
2/ First, let's appreciate the fact that fully one out of every 14 of Trump's appointees for high-level positions in his administration have been lobbyists. propublica.org/article/we-fou…
3/ Trump named more lobbyists to cabinet-level positions in three years than his predecessors did in eight years.
fortune.com/2019/09/17/don…
4/ This has led to instances like this, where oil execs at a Ritz Carlton are recorded laughing about how much direct access they have to the administration because *their own former lawyer* is a high-level (now cabinet!) official politico.com/magazine/story…
5/ That same cabinet official -- a former lobbyist -- runs an agency that proposed a major sweetheart contract with one of his longtime former clients apnews.com/4527b2b31fcf45…
6/ When a Trump donor hit a regulatory roadblock with the Interior Department, he had a secret meeting with -- you guessed it -- the same guy as above.
After the meeting, an Interior employee says he was pressured to reverse his decision cnn.com/2019/07/08/pol…
7/ Let's not pick on him too much.
Trump's EPA—which is currently headed by a former coal industry lobbyist—worked on plans to roll back the US government’s only direct efforts to curb coal-fired power plant pollution that is heating the planet theguardian.com/environment/20…
8/ He also says things like this
9/ Elsewhere at the EPA, this guy also did a nearly two-year stint
10/ The examples of this kind of thing are too many to list. Here's a chemical industry lobbyist who is in charge of an agency responsible for protecting the public against toxic substances in consumer products nytimes.com/2020/03/03/cli…
11/ And the Trump official in charge of mine safety was an executive at a company accused *by that very agency* of a pattern of violations wvgazettemail.com/news/politics/…
Y'all I'm afraid I haven't even scratched the surface. Let's see how much more I've got in me.
12/ Trump doesn't just like to put industry officials in charge of offices they hope to dismantle. He also gives special interest groups and foreign governments a wide array of ways to curry favor with him and his administration, often while personally enriching Trump himself
13/ In his first term in office, Trump has racked up 3,336 conflicts of interest, and counting, stemming from his refusal to divest his businesses, which are routinely used foreign governments and special interests to cozy up with him citizensforethics.org/trump-conflict…
14/ Special interest groups tied to companies and other organizations that lobby the government have held 130 events at Trump properties.
Meanwhile, 13 foreign countries, or foreign-connected entities, have done the same.
Trump profits from all of this. citizensforethics.org/trump-conflict…
15/ By virtue of being paying customers at the president's properties, these special interest groups sometimes get to hear from cabinet officials or even visit the White House during their events citizensforethics.org/trump-properti…
(taking a break)
16/ I'm back. Let's talk about donors in the Swamp.
Here's the founder of the country's largest payday lending company telling fellow payday lenders that his status as a major political donor gets him a direct line to the President of the United States washingtonpost.com/business/2019/…
17/ Or the time a Canadian billionaire steel magnate hired a DC lobbyist and funded his own ad campaign to influence US steel policy.
The move got him a private dinner with Trump and Don Jr at the hotel they both profits from to talk about his pet issues nytimes.com/2019/05/20/us/…
18/ There's also the ethanol lobbyist who gave $250k to a pro-Trump dark money group right before the Trump administration adopted a policy his clients vocally supported. citizensforethics.org/ethanol-lobbyi…
19/ If you give big political donations to Trump, he might announce that his administration will side with your company in a major Supreme Court battle...on the very same day that the major donor is holding a lavish fundraiser for you
20/ And, when Trump isn't handing out plum positions to lobbyists, he's giving them to major political donors. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
21/ Here's a 1.5hr-long recording of Trump at an intimate dinner with wealthy super PAC donors hosted at the luxury hotel he still owns and profits from, during which the donors talk about their business and policy priorities. soundcloud.com/the-daily-beas…
22/ Looks like that link is dead, so here's the full video. You'll remember this is the dinner where Trump was told about Ambassador Yovanovich, and he immediately says "take her out"
23/ There's another recording from the luxury Palm Beach resort Trump still profits from, where wealthy donors got to chat with him about their pet issues
24/ Giving access to political donors is pretty standard Washington corruption, but Trump couples it with personal profit. This goes for paying customers at his luxury properties, too.
25/ There's the time Trump secretly outsourced his VA policy to three of his paying customers at Mar-a-Lago who had no military background or government experience.
Their only credentials were being wealthy enough to have Trump memberships propublica.org/article/ike-pe…
26/ Or the time a Mar-a-Lago member wrote Trump a letter on Mar-a-Lago stationary -- addressed "Dear King" -- and Trump personally forwarded it to one of his cabinet secretaries. propublica.org/article/trump-…
27/ And look at this, hot off the press: Before he gives his convention speech, the "Drain the Swamp" president will use his office as president to promote his luxury hotel while giving special access to wealthy donors who are spending money there
28/ NEW: Today, just hours before speaking at the RNC, Trump made his 500th visit to one of his properties, giving priceless promotion to his business and offering wealthy donors access to power, while they personally enrich him citizensforethics.org/trump-500-visi…
29/ The luxury resort that the "Drain the Swamp" president profits from in office is charging taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars for things like room rentals even when the president isn't there and "Resort fees" for on-duty Secret Service agents washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
30/ Last week, Trump broke two milestones in one week: 500 visits to his properties, including 300 visits to his golf resorts.
He still owns and profits from these properties, and he's using the office of the president to promote them citizensforethics.org/trump-conflict…
31/ "[The Drain the Swamp] pledge has not merely gone unmet, like most of his campaign promises. It has been shattered by a president and an administration unprecedented and unapologetic in their mingling of public and private interests." washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
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