As if there weren't enough going on in the world today, Donald Trump sent his Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, out to announce that the G7 Meeting for 2020 will be held at his own Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami. Apparently Trump has stopped caring about even the appearance of impropriety as he mocks the Congress and the American people with his shamelessly self-dealing and contempt for the Constitution.
Trump originally suggested his bedbug infested Doral resort at the close of the last G7. And that didn't go well. But Trump's disrespect for even the most basic expressions of ethics is painfully obvious. It's as if he wants you to know that he's a barefaced grifter and is daring you to do something about it. He's rubbing his depraved corruption in our faces and laughing as he believes that he'll get away with this, or any other immoral misconduct he might conceive.
But Trump may be in for a surprise. The first take on this by Fox News was by their digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt (video below). When he was asked about the decision to use Doral he replied with a sense of amazement...
"I got to tell you, the idea that this administration, dealing with what this administration is dealing with, right? A lot. You’ve got the unraveling in Syria. You’ve got the march toward Trump impeachment here at home. A breaking news story every day. The world is on fire.
"Why? It is beyond my imagination [...] That is an unnecessary problem to create for himself. But then the next step, today. To do it now and do it in this way. I just wish I could think of a good reason for it."
From Trump's perspective, there may be more than one good reason for it. First, it makes him richer. Second, it promotes his brand worldwide. Third, it kicks sand in the face of his critics, including the media. And fourth, it serves as a distraction from the other atrocities he's currently involved with.
What will be truly unbelievable is if Congress let's Trump get away with this. They have the right and the duty to review this decision and impose some measure ethical standards on this president whose morality has gone rogue. They need to take action and rein in contemptuous behavior. If not just because it is so flagrantly wrong, but to also make it clear that he can not run roughshod over the law and the American people who he plainly despises.