Yeah, I saw this quote yesterday and couldn't quite believe it. It's from RNC spokescritter Sean Spicer, who's been working closely with the Trump transition team.
'Conflicts of interest arise when you’re not – when you’re sneaky about it, when you’re shady about it, when you’re not transparent about it.'
No, conflicts of interest arise when you have decisions to make and a conflict in deciding between what benefits one interest (say, the American people) or another interest (say, your family business). That's what a conflict of interest is. Having that conflict in public, with "transparency," doesn't make it go away, it just makes you look like a corrupt excuse for a public official. And having personal legal immunity to some conflict of interest laws doesn't make having those conflicts ethical.
But this is part and parcel of Donald Trump — brazen assertions, daring people to question them, then either handwaving the questions or attacking the questioners. It's taking social conventions, blowing through them, and daring anyone to say no. It's normalizing bad behavior, and justifying it as "because I can."
It is, to use the word, deplorable. The question then becomes, what to do about it.
Facing conflict-of-interest allegations, Trump tries brazenness
It’s not just the corruption; it’s the brazenness. Faced with questions about conflicts of interest, Donald Trump is making no effort to hide his actions.
"ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS ."