House Democrats have produced a report showing that Donald Trump accepted $7.8 million from foreign countries during his presidency, most of it from China. This is yet another illustration of what I have come to think of as the golden rule of Trump’s scandals. In other words, whatever President Trump’s opponents do, President Trump will do worse.
The classic example of this phenomenon is, of course, the Hillary Clinton email scandal. This was a huge political responsibility for Clinton, and was considered, not unreasonably, the worst thing a public servant could do.But even by the narrow standard of adhering to executive branch communication protocols, Trump’s actions greatly More irresponsible. He routinely communicated on unsecured cell phones, directed foreign policy from a free-for-all social club, attracted spies, mishandled classified documents, and, sure enough, sent personal emails to his advisers. allowed to conduct business.
This email story was terrible by Hillary Clinton standards. By Trump’s standards, it barely registered.
Republicans are now planning to impeach Joe Biden over foreign payments. The centerpiece of the indictment is the accusation that Biden received payments from China through his son Hunter. The Republican-run House Oversight Committee said, “Joe Biden received $40,000 in personal checks in Chinese funds laundered from the accounts of his brother James Biden and his sister-in-law Sarah Biden.” insisted.
that teeth It is true that Hunter Biden received funds from China, a fact that highlights the ethically questionable business model he adopted of trading in his father’s name. Joe Biden has allowed his son and younger brother James to benefit from perceived access to him. However, there is no evidence that Joe Biden received any money from these plans. The $40,000 check was a loan repayment and was not part of his profits. It also occurred in 2017 after Biden’s term as vice president ended.
The bottom line is that Republicans are trying to impeach Joe Biden over (false) accusations that he received $40,000 from China while he was no longer a public official. And here we see that Trump collected over $5 million from China during his presidency.
It’s even worse. Even if we accept Biden’s completely false claim that he was taking money from China in 2017, we can all see that Trump’s gains from China (during his presidency, not after) were much worse. Deaf?
And everyone agrees that it’s worse for public officials to take money from China for themselves than for their families to take money. That’s why Republicans claim, without evidence, that not only Hunter and James but also Joe Biden profited from this deal. If it’s just as bad for families to get rich on foreign deals as it is for politicians to make money for themselves, then there should be no reason for Republicans to exaggerate the evidence.
It’s true that Hunter Biden and Donald Trump used different methods to obtain money from China. Mr. Biden sold legal services; Mr. Trump sold hospitality. But Trump himself tracks how much foreign countries spend on his businesses and adjusts his views of those countries accordingly, he has said publicly. “Saudi Arabia, I get along very well with all of them,” he declared at a 2015 rally. “They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Should I hate them? I like them so much!
The fact that the Democratic Party is not as corrupt as Trump is no reason to condone unethical behavior. Mr. Biden should never have allowed his brother and son to sell him the illusion of access to his decisions, and if their nominee had a cleaner background, they would would have been in a good position to attack his corruption.
Still, there’s a reason President Trump calls Biden “Crooked Joe” after calling his previous opponent “Crooked Hillary.” It’s the same reason he called Ted Cruz “Liar Ted.” No matter who we’re running against, we need to blur the reality that, even when judged through the lens of the worst, Donald Trump is always, always worse.