The big news is Trump's nomination of Tillerson as Secretary of State. I've discussed that earlier (and will likely do something more focused later on).
► I will be making my announcement on the next Secretary of State tomorrow morning.
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808469755749339136]
Winter is coming …
And today:
► I have chosen one of the truly great business leaders of the world, Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, to be Secretary of State.
The thing I like best about Rex Tillerson is that he has vast experience at dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments.
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808638507161882624, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808653723639697408]
Nope. It'll be getting too warm for Winter. Eternal Summer is coming …
More elsewhere.
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Trump had intended to announce how he was going to magically divest himself of all potential conflicts of interest as of 12/15. Now it seems the details are being pushed back, but Trump still gave us a broad outline.
► Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office. I will hold a press conference in the near future to discuss the business, Cabinet picks and all other topics of interest. Busy times!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808528428123254785, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808529888630239232, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808532286664822784]
1. Trump is absolutely correct that, in broad terms, he is exempt from normal Conflict of Interest laws in government (so is Mike Pence). There are other laws that actually do affect him, so he'll still have to tread very carefully. I expect legal challenges are going to dog this presidency.
Plus, of course, lack of legal conflicts of interest does not equate to lack of ethical conflicts of interest.
2. "Leaving my businesses" seems to mean here less "divesting myself of business interests that may seem to drive my policy decisions out of a sense of personal gain" and more "letting them manage the businesses because I'll be too busy."
3. Again, remember that the point here is that if Trump's businesses (no matter who is managing them) somehow profit from a US government policy decision, it immediately raises the question of why that policy decision was made. Trump doesn't get out of that by having the boys "plus executives" running the day to day details.
4. I call shenanigans on "no new deals." What does that really mean? No contracts signed? No new projects, at all? No continuation of leases? No permits or plan changes on projects under construction? Even if it means "no new big projects will be announced, contracts signed, or ground broken, nor the sale of any major properties" during the Trump Adminstration, I neither believe it (I don't believe the business can be run that way, nor do I think he intends it), nor does it remove the ethical issue at stake regarding existing properties and deals.
5. Nice to hear that there will be, in fact, press conferences, rather than rushed words and tweets. Stay tuned!
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► The final Wisconsin vote is in and guess what – we just picked up an additional 131 votes. The Dems and Green Party can now rest. Scam!
[https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/808456602076545025]
Yes, only Trump would complain / attack when a result actually favors him.
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Other tweets: one on the Victory Tour. This is not normal.
A bit more delving into why "No New Deals" is a pretty meaningless commitment: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/13/theres-already-a-big-problem-with-trumps-no-new-deals-pledge/