Not2BSubjugated
Callous Individualist
Washington Post left-leaning enough for you to trust the quotes?
How Donald Trump made it look like he was bribing the attorney general of Florida
I won't make you read it, since you're so pressed for time. The relevant quotes from Trump are:
"Hey, I have lobbyists," Trump said in June 2015. "I have to tell you, I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me. They’re great."
"As a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do," he told the paper. "As a businessman, I need that."
And this bit, explaining that last bit:
"I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me."
The only thing these quotes unequivocally describe is lobbying activity. Giving donations when they're needed or during campaign season, then sending in his lobbyists when he needs something from someone to whom he's donated.
On the other hand, bribery, as defined by US law, requires an explicit quid pro quo. Person A pays X to politician B in exchange for a specific action or promise. Donating to a politician or campaign for no specific promise, then using the resulting good will down the road when that politician is potentially able to help you with something is not the same as bribery. Essentially, the same reasoning by which Clinton Foundation financial activities involving nations with business before Sec State Clinton weren't prosecutable as bribery, is the reasoning by which the lobbying that Trump was describing was not bribery.
But hey, don't let the actual nature of the quotes get in your way. Just keep your foot on the same gas pedal the left was pressing through the entire election: Insist that the least charitable possible interpretation of a Trump statement is absolutely the only possible correct interpretation, then when someone presents any facts that dispute your Trump-is-Satan narrative, call them stupid or racist or sexist, plug your fingers in your ears, and La La La your way through any disagreement.
How Donald Trump made it look like he was bribing the attorney general of Florida
I won't make you read it, since you're so pressed for time. The relevant quotes from Trump are:
"Hey, I have lobbyists," Trump said in June 2015. "I have to tell you, I have lobbyists that can produce anything for me. They’re great."
"As a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do," he told the paper. "As a businessman, I need that."
And this bit, explaining that last bit:
"I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me."
The only thing these quotes unequivocally describe is lobbying activity. Giving donations when they're needed or during campaign season, then sending in his lobbyists when he needs something from someone to whom he's donated.
On the other hand, bribery, as defined by US law, requires an explicit quid pro quo. Person A pays X to politician B in exchange for a specific action or promise. Donating to a politician or campaign for no specific promise, then using the resulting good will down the road when that politician is potentially able to help you with something is not the same as bribery. Essentially, the same reasoning by which Clinton Foundation financial activities involving nations with business before Sec State Clinton weren't prosecutable as bribery, is the reasoning by which the lobbying that Trump was describing was not bribery.
But hey, don't let the actual nature of the quotes get in your way. Just keep your foot on the same gas pedal the left was pressing through the entire election: Insist that the least charitable possible interpretation of a Trump statement is absolutely the only possible correct interpretation, then when someone presents any facts that dispute your Trump-is-Satan narrative, call them stupid or racist or sexist, plug your fingers in your ears, and La La La your way through any disagreement.
