The whole Clinton Foundation “scandal” is nonsense because direct “Pay for Play” is massive and legal, especially after Citizens United. Compared to this giant, legalized direct bribery, the indirect, attenuated connections between Clinton donors and access is miniscule, or more likely non-existent.
But contributions to campaigns by foreign persons or entities are still illegal, so the Foundation “scandal” has come down to whether foreign donors to the Foundation gained access to or influence in, the State Department under Hillary Clinton. Even liberal commentators have said there might be “something to look into” if there is evidence of foreign donors to the Foundation gaining access or influencing policy. (Short Answer: There isn’t any such evidence.)
But I’m thinking, “Wait — aren’t there other ways foreign money leads to access and influence? Aren’t there groups who can accept foreign contributions, and then support campaigns and candidates?” It took me about two minutes to think of the most likely example of this: The National Rifle Association. Then it took me another two minutes of googling to find out from Mother Jones that 46% of contributions to the NRA came from foreign manufacturers;
Based on available figures, we estimated that nearly half of the group's gun company donations come from foreign manufacturers—the proportion rises substantially if you include donations from Springfield Armory, an American company whose top-selling XD pistol, one of the nation's most popular handguns, is a relabeled Croatian weapon.
One of the greatest sins of the AP and the others pounding the Clinton Foundation nonsense is lack of context, including:
- the life-saving work of the Foundation
- access given to the State Department by non-donors
- that Both Bushes and Colin Powell had family charitable foundations in existence during their entire terms
Here’s another bit of context — The unregulated and unreported huge influence of foreign owned gun companies on the NRA’s wildly successful campaign to kill even the most limited gun control, against the wishes of overwhelming majorities of Americans.
People die every day because of that influence —
Well, yes, but Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus may have gotten a meeting!