Asha RanGappa, The Freedom Academy - I’m old enough to remember when it was a scandal that Trump had been secretly negotiating a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow while he was campaigning for President in his first term. Yeah, I know that was back in Season 1, when the plot was relatively more straightforward, and the writers hadn’t yet come up with more colorful characters like “Big Balls” or create a government run by the anchors at Fox News. But here we are, eight years later, and secret hotel deals with foreign governments are the least of our problems: Trump recently accepted a plane from the Qatari government, dubbed “the palace in the sky,” valued at $400 million dollars and which Trump says he intends to use as the new Air Force One as President. After that, he claims, it will be donated to his presidential library. Where, I’m sure, it will sit on display and never be employed for Trump’s personal use.
In The Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton warned that ‘[the] most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” This worry is expressed in subtle ways, such as listing treason as grounds for impeachment, and even the requirement that the President be a natural-born citizen, presumably as a way to protect against divided loyalties. When it comes to gifts from foreign states, however, the Constitution is explicit and direct. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 states that “[No] Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
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