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Trump's Ukraine/Biden stuff looks to me like a continuation of his long time M.O. as a businessman:
1) break the rules to gain advantage
2) if caught, say "everyone does it"
3) pay some minor restitution
4) force it down the memory hole
5) rinse
6) repeat
propublica.org/article/trump-…
1) break the rules to gain advantage
2) if caught, say "everyone does it"
3) pay some minor restitution
4) force it down the memory hole
5) rinse
6) repeat
propublica.org/article/trump-…
To some extent, Trump is kind of right. Everyone tries to game the system, especially business people subjected to regulation. It's always a cat and mouse game between regulators/prosecutors on one side, and line-pushing businesses on the other.
What seems to be different about Trump, tho, is that his profit margin (to the extent that it even exists) seems to have depended, almost entirely, on how far over the line he was willing to push things to make an extra buck. Hence his sensitivity to oversight.
To use a driving metaphor. If the culture of a highway is that folks drive 75 in a 65 zone, Trump is the guy driving 80 who, when he gets caught, says "but those people were breaking the law too! Why are you picking on me? Unfair! Deep state conspiracy!"
So might Hunter Biden have done a slightly shady thing or two? Possibly. When Joe Biden as VP pushed for a Ukrainian prosecutor to be dismissed because that prosecutor was corrupt af, pocketing much of our aid money, & the whole world knew it, would that have helped Hunter? Maybe
But there's zero evidence so far that Joe's actions as VP were *motivated* by a desire to help his son. It's all quite murky, but it doesn't appear to be corrupt at this point. Whereas what Trump allegedly did, trading dirt on Biden for aid to Ukraine, is blatantly corrupt.
But Trump will say to his supporters (who will totally believe him) that "everyone does it." Thus, the metric of how one should feel about corruption is that it's bad when "they" do it, and it's ok when "we" do it.
Like when a MAGA person calls for drug tests for welfare recipients, while spending tens of thousands of dollars for a drug rehab program for their child. Taking drugs is bad and a sign of innate depravity when "they" do it, but it's just "human frailty" when "we" do it.
