Trump first, America last
by digby
Chris Hayes made an observation that would be really smart for Democratic politicians to take up:
Chris Hayes lays out all the ways Trump and his associates have been "selling off U.S. foreign policy." #inners #Trump #Cohen #Flynn #Manafort pic.twitter.com/IuFvd2xwnZ— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 24, 2018
It’s quite clear now that in many cases America came in second to the interests of the president and his associates.
His national security adviser Michael Flynn was secretly being paid by Turkey during the campaign and into the transition, pushing for more favorable policy towards the Turkish strongman in an op-ed he published on Election Day.
Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman running the campaign at a certain point, was deeply entangled with Russia and Ukrainian interests, which he apparently tried to appease by leveraging his role running a presidential campaign …
Michael Cohen was reportedly pitching the government of Qatar at Trump Tower during the transition, soliciting a $1 million payment in exchange for access to the new administration. It turns out the president’s own son, Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t just interested in what Russia could do for the campaign. He also met with an Israeli, an emissary from the Saudi government and the United Arab Emirates in the months before the election. These are just the instances we know about, what’s publicly come to light.
Today we learned of what looks like yet another example of the president’s inner circle selling off U.S. foreign policy. BBC reporting, citing sources in Kiev close to those involved, the president of Ukraine secretly funneled $400,000 to Michael Cohen to arrange a meeting at the White House.
You can add the Broidy and ZTE deals too …
This really can’t be said enough. Trump isn’t for internationalism or America First. He is for Trump. Period. And he and his family and cronies obviously made it very clear during the campaign and since then that they are open for business.
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