Call me confused. Trump is the most notorious liar in American political history, but he won’t even pretend to have an ethics plan — even though it hampers his transition. His recalcitrance has prevented his team from getting early access to the nation’s secrets. It makes no sense. Here is a man who risked jail by stealing top-secret documents — but won’t do the bare minimum to receive them legally.
Let me explain.
For his incoming administration to receive security briefings etc. before the inauguration, Trump has to sign a memorandum of understanding. This document outlines the conditions under which the Biden administration can share sensitive government information with the incoming president’s team. Trump has yet to do this. The New York Times explains the problem. (Link HERE — the paywall should be down)
Until the Trump transition signs that document, the Biden administration is legally barred from providing it with the security clearances needed to share classified intelligence and national defense briefings, Mr. Stier said. It also cannot give transition employees physical access to the 438 different federal agencies that they will soon control, and it cannot allow them to review their files.
But by law, that agreement cannot be signed until an ethics plan that conforms to federal statute is submitted to the White House and posted online.
That agreement was due on October 1. But while the transition team’s leadership has privately drafted an ethics code and a conflict-of-interest statement governing its staff, those documents do not include language, required under the law, that explains how Mr. Trump himself will address conflicts of interest during his presidency.
Why won’t Trump just promise to be ethical? No one believes him. The GOP and MAGA don’t care. The Supreme Court is in the tank for him. And the Democrats can’t do anything about it. Dear God, In January, the man will publicly swear on the Bible to uphold the Constitution before he rips it up. What’s the problem?
One reason for this non-compliance is Trump’s general ‘fuck you’ attitude. No doubt it feeds his sense of self-importance. And it is red meat to the sniggering sociopaths set to infest the executive branch. But it will lead to a shambolic transition. The American government is convoluted mass of information, rules, heirarchy, and policy. Even if your only plan is to blow it up, it would be useful to discover the weak spots.
It’s like giving drunk teenagers keys to the Rolls Royce without so much as a driving lesson. On top of that, the Project 2025 plan is to execute an arbitrary Stalinesque cull of any presumed disloyal civil servants. A bureaucratic bloodletting that will jettison experience and talent in favor of MAGA nihilism.
But there is more to Trump’s nose-thumbing than mere institutional vandalism. Never discount the money angle. As the NYT further reports:
Mr. Trump’s transition team blew past the Sept. 1 deadline to sign [another] agreement with the General Services Administration. That document provides for a variety of services to be made available to the president-elect, including $7.2 million in funding for the costs of transition. But it also puts a $5,000 cap on individual donations to the transition and requires the public disclosure of all its donors.
By refusing to sign that agreement, Mr. Trump effectively faces no limit on contributions and does not need to name his donors publicly. Money raised by the transition is not regulated by any other government agency.
Justice Brandeis said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. He was right. Which is why Trump operates in darkness. Who knows what favors Musk, Bezos, Thiel, et al. are buying? We know Elon wants to control space and global intelligence. What’s the price for NASA and the NSA?
The Mar-a-Lago document theft was a street mugging compared to the crime of the century sale of state secrets scam Trump is planning now.
But profit is not Trump’s only goal. There are temples to be razed. Back in the day, venal politicians wanted to raid the federal pantry. Today their descendants also want to bust up the kitchen before burning down the house. No one should be surprised. This is the promise the arsonist campaigned on.
