“Nobody cares about Hunter Biden … why is [Trump] spending all his time on him?” Luntz asked. “Hunter Biden does not help put food on the table. Hunter Biden does not help anyone get a job. Hunter Biden does not provide health care or solve COVID. And Donald Trump spends all of his time focused on that and nobody cares.”-- Prominent Republican pollster Frank Luntz, The Hill, 10/20/20.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Luntz on Trump
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17 comments:
Trump says his position as President makes it easy for him to raise money.
He says "I called Exxon. 'hi how ya doing. How's energy coming? Oh you need a couple permits huh? Ok. Ya know, I'd love you to send me 25,000,000 for the campaign.'"
Exxon denied it happened. I think Trump was just using their name in a "for instance."
Still an open admission of his corruption. His voters won't care.
It's not an admission of corruption; it's a description of Presidential power. Here's a real example, according to a good friend:
After the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, many of the invading Cubans were taken prisoner. Cuba agreed to release them for a price. JFK did not want to use government money to pay this ransom. So, according to my friend, Bobby Kennedy called various large businesses and demanded donations to a fund for the prisoners' release. There was an implicit threat that the Kennedy Administration would be unfriendly to businesses that refused.
I don't write this to criticize Kennedy. I think it is SOP. From the business POV, on advantage of McCain Feingold (which was overturned in the Citizens United case) was that the politicians could no longer demand donations from corporations.
Cheers
David, you're right, it is SOP. But it's also corruption, however endemic.
DA: "Still an open admission of his corruption. His voters won't care."
DiC: "It's not an admission of corruption"
Yup. Up is down.
Eggcelent observation.
David, it was not an admission of corrupton. Trump continued "I will hit a home run every single call," Mr Trump said. "I would raise a billion dollars in one day if I wanted to. I don't want to do that."
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54614792
He didn't admit to having done it. He just said "Hey, if I wanted to raise money I could just extort it from corporations, but I just don't want to".
Not, "If I wanted to raise money I could reach out to my vast network of business contacts" or "I have a silver tongue" or "people believe in what I'm doing and are happy to support me" but instead:
"If I wanted to raise money I could use extortion. I would raise a billion dollars in one day, if I wanted to, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do it."
Remember, this is a guy that, not six months ago, was caught red handed trying to extort a foreign government to cook up dirt on his political opponent. Now suggesting that, if he wanted money, he could just extort it from corporations.
Thanks, Thomas and Layzej for your comments.
Trump deserves credit, not blame, for honestly pointing out that this corrupt practice exists. Trump's enemies choose to misunderstand Trump's comment as acknowledging that he used this technique. It's the exact opposite. A politician who was using this technique would be the last person to point out its existence.
Cheers
David,
Ha. Trump said the corrupt part out loud, because he has no sense of shame. Another trait of narcissists and psychopaths.
He thinks he deserves brownie points because (he claims) he didn't break a federal law. Most people wouldn't think that was something to brag about.
Lazyej - I don't think it violates a law for a politician to request a campaign donation from a corporation. If there were an implicit threat, that would be illegal. But, as long as the threat is unstated, I think it would be legal, although morally scummy.
David A agrees with me that this scummy practice is normal and common. Therefore Trump does deserve brownie points for not doing it.
Cheers
DiC, how do you know he doesn't demand contributions? Given Trump's notoriously lax relation to truth, claiming he doesn't is worth nothing.
DiC: "I don't think it violates a law for a politician to request a campaign donation from a corporation. If there were an implicit threat, that would be illegal. "
But that's exactly what Trump was referring to. "Oh, you need a permit? How about you donate to my campaign."
In case it needs to be spelled out, the threat is: "No donation, no permit."
It was the same thing with Trump's phone call to the President of Ukraine for which he got impeached.
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