As for Donald Jr. and Eric: Are we to believe that there will be an iron wall of silence between Trump and his two sons? The man doesn't seem to be a big respecter of boundaries, even with his own children.
And as for Russia: Donald Trump Jr. reportedly told attendees at a 2008 real estate conference that "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets." He added: "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."
Like father, like son: "Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment," the elder Trump stated in a 2007 deposition, according to the Washington Post, adding: "We will be in Moscow at some point."
But it's wrong to fixate exclusively on Russia. Trump Jr. also expressed enthusiasm for investment in China, and the trade publication that covered his talk noted that the Trump organization has a joint-venture agreement covering 19 Middle Eastern countries.
But he and little brother won't talk about such things with Dad. No, never.
Expert observers promptly rejected Trump's plan. Zephyr Teachout is a law professor who wrote an entire book on political corruption. After the press conference, Teachout stated flatly that Trump "will be violating the foreign bribery/emoluments clause of the constitution."
Norman Eisen, President Obama's ethics adviser, agreed that Trump's plan fails to meet the requirements of the emoluments clause. "Mr. Trump's ill-advised course will precipitate scandal and corruption," he flatly told The Atlantic, adding:
"Mr. Trump did not make a clean break with his business ownership interests as his predecessors for four decades have done ... and offered an inadequate and scantily-detailed ethics wall."
Walter Schaub Jr., Director of the Government Ethics Office, noted today that the calls for Trump to divest have been bipartisan, coming from "President Bush's ethics counsel ... the conservative Wall Street Journal ... (and) conservative columnist Peggy Noonan."
Added Schaub:
"It's important to understand that the President is now entering the world of public service. He's going to be asking his own appointees to make sacrifices. He's going to be asking our men and women in uniform to risk their lives in conflicts around the world ... I don't think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the President of the United States of America."
Many Trump opponents continue to believe he'll be undone by revelations about Russia or sex. They're probably wrong. Trump is rewriting the rules of scandal, as his comeback about Putin showed. What outrages people in Washington doesn't seem to offend voters in West Virginia or boost Democratic turnout in Milwaukee. But everyone understands greed, and graft, and selfishness.
Here's a prediction: Barring some unforeseen revelation, people will remember that a President of the United States profited from his presidency long after they've forgotten those hotel sex stories.
They'll also remember who stood up to him and said that what he was doing was wrong -- and who didn't.
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