{"id":132307,"date":"2016-12-15T08:11:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T15:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/15\/its-not-wrong-if-everyone-knows-youre-doing-it.html"},"modified":"2016-12-15T20:46:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T03:46:22","slug":"its-not-wrong-if-everyone-knows-youre-doing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/15\/its-not-wrong-if-everyone-knows-youre-doing-it.html","title":{"rendered":"It's not wrong if everyone knows you're doing it!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

'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.'<\/i><\/p>\n

No, conflicts of interest arise when you have decisions to make and a conflict<\/i> in deciding between what benefits one interest<\/i> (say, the American people) or another interest<\/i> (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.<\/p>\n

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."<\/p>\n

It is, to use the word, deplorable. The question then becomes, what to do about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nFacing conflict-of-interest allegations, Trump tries brazenness<\/a><\/span>
\nIt’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.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “It's not wrong if everyone knows you're doing it!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-money-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/24\/interest-in-ending-the-conflict-over-conflicts-of-interest.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":0},"title":"Interest in ending the conflict over Conflicts of Interest","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 24-Dec-16 3:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite repeated denials that there are any such things, it seems Donald Trump and his family are taking a number of actions -- insufficient but a start -- to address the problems of family conflicts of interest, now that Donald will be the executive in charge of the Federal Government.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132091,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/22\/its-good-to-be-the-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":1},"title":"It's GOOD to be the President!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Nov-16 2:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine it! When you're President of the United States, you never have any conflicts of interest!'\"The law's totally on my side. The president can't have a conflict of interest.\u201d Trump said in an interview with New York Times editors and writers, according to real-time reports from reporters on Twitter.Trump said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132124,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/29\/will-this-conflict-of-interest-bite-trump-on-the-butt.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":2},"title":"Will this conflict of interest bite Trump on the butt?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-Nov-16 10:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump insists that, as president, he can have no \"conflict of interest.\" He means that legally, but he states it as though it applies ethically as well. Unfortunately for him, it may not apply contractually.Donald Trump's business is leasing the Post Office Pavilion in Washington as the Trump International Hotel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132440,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/24\/this-is-what-conflict-of-interest-looks-like.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":3},"title":"This is what Conflict of Interest looks like","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 24-Dec-16 3:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump's Virginia winery is requesting H2 foreign worker visas for seasonal vine trimming. Leaving aside the whole \"HIRE AMERICAN!\" thang, what we have here is a Donald Trump business is asking for a waiver from a federal government and an agency that will soon be under the overall executive oversight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132284,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/tweetizen-trump-2016-12-13-state-and-ethics.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":4},"title":"Tweetizen Trump – 2016-12-13 "State and Ethics"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Dec-16 7:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"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).\u25ba 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:\u25ba I have chosen one of the truly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rtr39j4q5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rtr39j4q5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/rtr39j4q5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131539,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/14\/trump-doesnt-seem-to-understand-conflict-of-interest.html","url_meta":{"origin":132307,"position":5},"title":"Trump doesn't seem to understand "conflict of interest"","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Sep-16 7:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Donald: Giving your national and international assets to your kids doesn't mean you no longer have a conflict of interest in domestic and international policy you might pursue.I'm not sure which is worse: thinking that you know this, or thinking that you don't know this. Trump\u2019s Plan To Separate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132318,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132307\/revisions\/132318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}