One of the problems in confronting Trump's corruption is that we've been trained to use the wrong language to describe it. "Conflict of interest," "ethical concerns" etc. is made for small technical violations, not shameless cash-grabs, shakedowns, and payoffs www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... - ThreadSky

paulwaldman.bsky.social • 10 days ago

One of the problems in confronting Trump's corruption is that we've been trained to use the wrong language to describe it. "Conflict of interest," "ethical concerns" etc. is made for small technical violations, not shameless cash-grabs, shakedowns, and payoffs

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/13/trump-mideast-business-conflicts

Comments

bronxriverdigital.com•10 days ago

Trump doesn't get out of bed in the morning without at least one potential private business conflict.

trixienorton.bsky.social•10 days ago

The problem is whatever Trump does, the Supreme Court and DOJ will support it, so it's automagically legal. It's hard to call someone a criminal when you know crimes can't exist for them. Collapse of rule of law makes a lot of news stories obsolete, really.

paulwaldman.bsky.social•10 days ago

What journalists need to do is describe Trump's moves not in the language of political coverage but in the language of crime coverage. That's the only accurate way to address it and inform the audience.

checkedout2.bsky.social•10 days ago

But they won’t. They’re one of the biggest reasons we’re in this living hell.

alissakmclean.bsky.social•10 days ago

💯 this

brendanamartin.bsky.social•10 days ago

It wouldn’t even require muckraking to plumb this open sewer—but that’s precisely the problem: editors and publishers don’t want to get down and dirty.
Hence, it’s all the sterile, speculative, esoteric province of discrete bodies of “experts”:
… \1

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/13/trump-mideast-business-conflicts/

brendanamartin.bsky.social•10 days ago

…”Government watchdogs, presidential historians and other critics say it is an escalation of unethical and even unconstitutional conflicts between the interests of the United States and its president.”

Note that it’s never the public saying it. Meanwhile, the estimable experts they do trot out… \2

brendanamartin.bsky.social•10 days ago

…are usually hedging,
or simply learned dunces. Here’s Douglas Brinkley applying a maddeningly impossible and inappropriate standard:

“There’s yet to be proven illegality. But it’s taking a wrecking ball to convention and norms….”, blah blah.

What about the emoluments clause?… \3

brendanamartin.bsky.social•10 days ago

…The same learned helplessness and hairsplitting apply to every treatment of Trump’s corrupt and treasonous relationship to Russia:

https://bsky.app/profile/brendanamartin.bsky.social/post/3ljj3akl5ds2n

trixienorton.bsky.social•10 days ago

Criminals go to court and when judges find them guilty, they are punished. When judges say they have to do something, they have to do it. How in the world could you map that world to Trump's world? You can't. It's impossible.

aozorasf.bsky.social•10 days ago

They would know damn well what language to use if they were covering the leader of another country who was doing this.

lostcausenation.bsky.social•10 days ago

The media that gave us this regime cannot be trusted to report honestly on it.

vmg-ylw.bsky.social•10 days ago

torops.bsky.social•10 days ago

El Chapo’s business practice raises ethical concerns

serogers.bsky.social•10 days ago

It's crime-coverage conventions that cause part of the problem - namely, it's proper to refer to crimes as "alleged" because there will come a moment (the verdict) when there's an answer. That's not how conflicts of interest work, & so you get trapped in describing outrageous things as "potential."

fullerick.bsky.social•10 days ago

Fight the lies! He hasn’t fixed everything he claims to. In many cases there was no issue until February of this year. Point out he has merely unbroken what he broke so he may claim a false victory. Be Fierce, Be Brave, Be Free! Follow the money.

kieranhannon.bsky.social•10 days ago

And this re: the Statue of Liberty false argument https://bsky.app/profile/adamkinzinger.bsky.social/post/3lp2hx5assk2a

curiouslyclever.bsky.social•10 days ago

"Potential private business conflicts"...?!

What about the more pressing concern: "This openly criminal transaction poses an active threat to national security and the country's future."

af68.bsky.social•10 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6m4p3ifx6sublhl2mggyfsqw/post/3lg6ufukgqk22

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