The Bottomless Corruption Of The Trump Crime Family

 

Convicted felon Malignant Loser's amoral son- in- law Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner has been a busy deal- maker ever since leaving the White House, where his incompetence was only surpassed by his greed.  It has come as no surprise that this has involved the same access- peddling and self-dealing that has characterized the slumlord's entire "career" thus far. 

His corrupt dealings with the regime of murderous Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed "Bone Saw" bin Salman resulted in a $2 billion windfall for Kushner's Affinity Partners, apparently the going pay- to- play price for an insider in a future Malignant Loser regime.  (Bone Saw once bragged that he had Kushner "in his pocket.") Well, now Kushner's firm is also involved with another unsavory regime, this time in Serbia, a Russian client state:

After weathering criticism over its reliance on a gusher of Saudi cash, Jared Kushner’s investment fund made its first big splash last month when it announced it had signed a $500 million deal with the Serbian government to develop a high end real estate project in downtown Belgrade on the site of a bombed down army building destroyed during the 1999 Kosovo war.

But the fine print of the deal includes a commitment that seems destined to stir up even more international controversy: a pledge by Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, to construct a “memorial dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression”— an allusion to the U.S.-backed bombing campaign that brought the Serbian government of Slobodan Milosevic to its knees a quarter century ago in response to its relentless campaign of repression and savage massacres of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 

Among those exercised over the Kushner deal is retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander during the war.

While he has no objection to a U.S. firm investing in Serbia, the planned revisionist memorial—officially proclaiming America’s adversary in the war to have been a victim of  “aggression”— “is worse than a reversal” of U.S. policies in the region, said Clark in an interview with SpyTalk. “It’s a betrayal of the United States, its policies and the brave diplomats and airmen who did what they could to stop Serb ethnic cleansing.” 

Just as concerning as the whitewashing of Serbian war crimes, Clark said, is the just announced deal between Kushner’s firm and the Serbian government of Aleksander Vučić, a pro-Russian hardliner who once served as minister of information in Milosevic’s government. The memorial project needs to be viewed in a wider geopolitical context: It serves the Kremlin’s core interests in undermining NATO at a time the alliance is engaged in resisting Russian aggression in Ukraine.  (our emphasis) [snip]

Kushner's not the only member of the extended Trump Crime Family involved in the Serbia deal. If there's money to be made selling off access to the White House to our adversaries, you can find this p.o.s.:

Those questions have intensified in recent weeks in light of the reported role in the Belgrade deal of Richard Grenell, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, who has forged close ties to Serbian officials and made no secret of his hopes of becoming secretary of state in a second Trump administration.

The New York Times recently reported that Grenell is a partner of Kushner’s in the proposed $500 million project, which includes plans to build a luxury hotel, retail space and 1,500 residential units on the bombed out site of the former Serbian Army headquarters pulverized by NATO forces under Clark’s command in 1999. 

He was quoted by the Times as saying he saw the project—an earlier version of which he pushed during a period he also served as Trump’s special envoy to the region—as promoting “healing” between the U.S. and Serbia. (Efforts to reach Grenell for comment for this story were unsuccessful.)...  (our emphasis)

Just the thought of Grenell as a potential Secretary of State should curl your toes almost as much as a second term for the Malignant Loser.  He was and is an utter toady and courter of authoritarians worldwide (the Malignant Loser has called him "my envoy").  If the convicted felon Malignant Loser is the "chaos candidate," Grenell would be his "chaos Secretary of State," ready and willing to undercut America's alliances and interests.

The White House and State Department would be open for business in a second Malignant Loser regime, and deals like those made with the Saudis and Serbs would be the template for wholesale corruption, putting America up for grabs to the highest bidder.

(h/t MockPaperScissors)

(Image:  Kushner and Grenell / Getty)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links provided for the full articles.

Jeff Greenfield on the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, 50 years ago:

To see him at the podium claiming victory in the crucial California primary, jokingly thanking his dog Freckles, passionately hopeful that the divided country could come together, flashing a peace sign as he exhorts: ‘So it’s on to Chicago and let’s win there!” Knowing what is to come a moment later, it is hard not to assume that it was only Sirhan Sirhan’s bullets that kept Robert Kennedy out of the White House.

Sam Fullwood summarizes yet another study about how the dehumanizing rhetoric of sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump is "awakening and emboldening" his nativist, anti- democratic base, and the long- term threat that poses:

The most recent such study comes from political scientists Steven V. Miller at Clemson University and Nicholas T. Davis at Texas A&M University.  Their working paper – “White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy” – fires a warning shot to signal a budding threat to the nation. Miller and Davis collected and compared polling data compiled between 1995 and 2011 by the World Values Survey and discovered an escalating impulse among some white Americans to embrace “an unwillingness to associate or fraternize with individuals whose cultural, racial, or religious ideas or ways differ” from their own. They identified such attitudes as “socially intolerant,” which they also found to correlate with a willingness to sacrifice democratic notions, such as political compromise or respect for minority rights, if such principles conflicted with their selfish interests.  (our emphasis)

As Rump's minions frantically spin their inane thoughts about presidential powers and immunity, their notion that a president can't obstruct justice would have a hard time passing a smell test given this precedent:

Sitting GOP senators who voted to toss President Clinton from office for obstruction of justice:
BLUNT
BURR
CRAPO
ENZI
GRASSLEY
GRAHAM
HATCH
INHOFE
MCCAIN
MCCONNELL
MORAN
PORTMAN
ROBERTS
SHELBY
THUNE
WICKER
***
SESSIONS also voted to remove Clinton for obstruction.

— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) June 3, 2018

There are primaries tomorrow in multiple States, including a problematic "jungle primary" in California:

There are primaries in five states Tuesday: California, New Jersey, Iowa, Montana, and New Mexico. 

California will likely be the most closely watched state. With seven Republican-held districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016, the state is an integral part of Democrats’ path to regaining control of the House in November. 

But the states is also home to the chaotic “top two” primary system — in which all candidates of all parties compete against each other, with only the first- and second-place finishers advancing to the general election. It’s high stakes for Democrats, who legitimately fear losing out to Republicans because of the crowded field of Democratic candidates in many contests.

California should have done something about its primary system before now. We'll see if that omission will cause Democrats to miss an opportunity to pick up vulnerable Republican seats.

Man Baby Trump not like mean Frenchie boyfriend criticizing him!

A call between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron last week that focused on trade and immigration went badly and saw Macron be highly critical of Trump’s policies, two sources familiar with the call told CNN. 

"Just bad. It was terrible," one of the sources told CNN. "Macron thought he would be able to speak his mind, based on the relationship. But Trump can't handle being criticized like that."

Meanwhile, the Trumpy U.S. Ambassador to Germany (and ex- internet troll) wants to facilitate the spread of Trumpism far and wide in Europe:

Germany has asked the U.S. government to clarify remarks by President Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Berlin after he told a right-wing website he wanted to empower “other conservatives” in Europe. 

The comments from Richard Grenell, a former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations and outspoken defender of Trump, drew criticism from politicians across the German political spectrum, who cautioned him against meddling in domestic politics.

There's some diplomatic tact for you right there! Meddling in another country's domestic politics -- sounds Putin- esque.

Finally, we once again recommend the excellent link round- up provided by Infidel 753, containing "Various interesting stuff I ran across on the net over the last week."