Shameless abuse of the presidency

If you’re a politician and a billionaire businessman, how do you avoid a conflict of interest? Trump’s
answer, says The New York Times, is to ignore the problem. As a candidate, he felt no compunction
about displaying Trump merchandise at campaign events. And now he’s president, he still recognises
no real distinction between his two roles. “The brand is certainly a hotter brand than it was before,”
he noted with satisfaction after his election. He has refused to divest himself of his business interests,
and is clearly out to “milk” the presidency for all it’s worth. The fee to join his Mar-a-Lago Club in
Palm Beach, which Trump calls the “Winter White House”, has just doubled to $200,000. The
Trump Organisation is aiming to boost its number of Trump-branded US hotels from five to 26 over
the next few years. Its new hotel in Washington has promoted itself on Twitter with an image of
a man relaxing in a room, gazing out at a building that resembles the White House: since the
election, numerous embassies have held events there; diplomats “say it is important that they be seen
patronising it”. Rather than boasting about how much the presidency is boosting his brand, Trump
should focus on how his commercial ambition is “tarnishing” the image of the presidency.