Even before Team Trump first slid into the White House, it was evident that they would not be bothering with such things as ethical constraints. The now-resigned head of the Office of Government Ethics reported as much himself, noting the team's unwillingness to so much as have the rules explained to them; naturally, the result is that nobody in the administration appears to even know what the government rules are.
In at least a dozen interviews with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets since her nomination, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has appeared beside her shipping magnate father, whose company carries goods between the United States and Asia, and who has given Chao and her husband at least $5 million in the past 10 years. [...]
One interview with New China Press published on April 12, 2017, features the pair sitting in what appears to be the Department of Transportation, with DOT flags in view behind the interviewer.
To be clear, the heads of government agencies are not supposed to be stumping for the family business while in office—especially not with the trappings of their government position hanging behind them as they do it, just in case anyone was unclear that this was being done under the auspices of that office. How the hell this is even remotely unclear is a f--king mystery to us all.
Not only do the DOT flags appear prominently in the New China Press interview and several other interviews, the state flag of Kentucky appears in at least one, which points up her connection to her powerful husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
And while this is ostensibly being done because Chao's father is just such a fine fellow who happens to have a fine, fine book to promote, it also has transparently Kushneresque utility as well:
[S]pecialists in Chinese and Asian business practices say that having the owner of a family shipping business seated next to a daughter who is U.S. secretary of transportation sends a message that Foremost Group has high-level government connections — an important credential in China.
Is there anyone on the Trump team who is not a moral cesspool? Do Chao and McConnell sit down for dinner in the evening and laugh about which longstanding government norm they gleefully abandoned that day? Is the Republican Party a political entity, or just an organized crime ring?