Thread by @NGrossman81

Federalist 57: Bribes from rich = bad
Federalist 68: Corruption = bad, esp w/ foreign powers
Federalist 69: For bribery, should be impeached & jailed because president ≠ king
The Federalist: Corruption = good, because it's like Thanksgiving at your house instead of your cousin's

This very silly article provides a public service, because, in its attempts to defend Trump's corruption--and not just defend, but treat it as a positive--it shows how utterly indefensible the corruption is.
Some highlights:
2/x

Best part is how it defends Trump's claim that he won't make any profit: Assume it's true. That's it.
Reminds me of the joke about an economist trapped down a well who says "assume there's a ladder."
(And revenue helps a business, even if it just covers costs, but never mind)
3/x

International relations isn't sports. I thought this was obvious, but I guess not.
Home field advantage in sports comes primarily from the refs. Research shows home teams get more borderline calls, likely due to social pressure from the crowd.
There are no refs at G7 summits.
4/x

A running feature of Trump defenses is to assume international leaders are regular people who fall for basic tricks.
Seeing a chandelier in a golf club might impress David Marcus, but it's not going to change Angela Merkel's conception of German, European, or global interests
5/x

This article's silly, but the best "international relations is really this other, much simpler thing" is still the claim Trump succeeded with North Korea by walking away like you do with a car dealer.
Yeah, North Korea never heard of that move. Concessions coming any minute.
6/x

"The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments."
-Nietzsche
The contortions needed to defend Trump's corruption and international embarrassments just end up showing how indefensible they are.
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