The corrupt pay-to-play at Trump's private clubs

Source: Washington Examiner | January 2, 2018 | Timothy P. Carney

If you paid $750 to a business owned by President Trump, you got to party with him on New Year’s Eve. This is, at best, the appearance of corruption, and it is another reminder of why Trump’s continued ownership of his hotels and resorts is improper.

You may recall Bill Clinton renting out the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom to large donors. You may remember Bill getting paid six-figure sums for speeches to foreign entities while his wife was Secretary of State. This was precisely the sort of pay-to-play corruption that led voters to reject Clinton and vote to drain the swamp.

What Trump is doing is more direct in many ways. He has created an arrangement whereby you get access to the president and some of his chief advisors, such as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, if you give the president money. This isn’t even about campaign contributions, like the Lincoln bedroom fiasco. The access-for-cash trade is more direct than if you hired Trump to give a speech.

Access is a huge part of what companies pay for when they hire lobbyists — a seat at the table. It is the coin of the realm in the swamp. So, it’s certainly unseemly for a president to literally sell access to himself, as Trump does with his private clubs.

For some customers of Trump’s clubs, it appears that the rewards have been real.

When Trump ordered reviews of America’s trade agreements, with an executive order on his 100th day in office, he did what many presidents do: He chose some gritty American business as the setting. The business he chose? The Ames Companies of Camp Hill, whose president, Robert Mehmel, is a member of Trump National Golf Club-Bedminister. USA Today determined that on at least three occasions, Mehmel played Bedminster the same day Trump was there.

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