IMPEACHMENT: LET US COUNT THE WAYS

If, as appears increasingly likely, the House of Representatives moves forward with impeaching President Donald Trump, lawmakers will find themselves working in a target-rich environment. Trump has committed so many wrongs, we should expect several articles of impeachment. Most recent attention has focused on Trump’s July phone call to Ukraine  President Volodymyr Zelevksy, in which Trump reportedly pressured Zelevsky about investigating former Vice President and potential 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian company. That’s the tip of the iceberg.

We’d remind everyone of the ten likely acts of obstruction of justice outlined in Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report. Oh, and

don't forget the federal campaign fiance issue rasied by hush money payments that apparently bought the silence of two women, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal,concern-

ing affairs they had with Trump before the 2016 election. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, remains in federal prison for his role in that. Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator and might also be in prison except for the policy against

prosecuting a sitting president. Today, however, we’ll focus on Trump’s financial transgressions, the ones from which he directly or indirectly profits as a result of being president.

         

Emoluments

Article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States constitution provides:

“…no person holding any office of profit or trust […] shall without the consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office, or Title of any kind whatever from any King, Prince, or foreign state.”

                       

This obscure, somewhat awkwardly written section – the emoluments clause – essentially means presidents can’t profit from being president through gifts or financial benefits received from foreign actors. In numerous ways, Trump has flaunted that provision.

The G-7 Suggestion

In late August, at the end of this year’s G-7 meetings in France, Trump suggested holding next year’s G-7 meeting at his Trump Doral resort in Florida. He promoted the location (“near the airport” Trump claimed), the “luxurious rooms,” and the spacious bungalows. He raised the point in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

         

Others didn’t think much of the idea. Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, called holding such a gathering at Trump’s resort, “a free, giant international promotion” for Trump’s business interests. It also sounds like an emoluments clause violation, since those foreign governments would spend all that money on rooms, food, and whatever else at Trump’s place. He didn’t offer Doral free of charge. 

Trump International Hotel -- Washington

Unlike most presidents who put their business interests in a blind trust or divest them  altogether upon taking office, Trump maintains his real estate and other holdings,

including Trump International Hotel in Washington. The Washington Post reports that hotel generated $80 million for the Trump organization since he took office, one tenth of the company’s revenues. Hotel officials claim they donate to charity all profits realized from foreign visitors. Still, Trump International remains a major attraction for officials of foreign governments. Whether the hotel constitutes a real violation of the emoluments clause, it doesn’t pass the smell test.

Vice President Pence

It’s not just foreigners who’re benefitting Trump. On a recent trip to Ireland, the

Vice President's business took him to Dublin, where he met with leaders of the Irish government. So, where did Pence stay? At Trump’s National Resort in Doonbeg, 180 miles away. Pence said Trump “suggested” he stay there, then claimed the reason was the “footprint” of

his security detail and staff.  Who paid the $600, 000 in ground transpor-tation costs? U.S. taxpayers, of course.  Who profited from the hotel stays? Trump, that’s who.

Air Force Stopovers

Several U.S. news outlets reported earlier this month that in September 2018, a unit of the Maine Air National Guard stopped at Prestwick, a small commercial airport near Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland.  An Air Force C-17 crew also stopped there on a trip to Kuwait. The U.S. Air Force has had a contract at that airport for refueling since 2015, but crews staffing those flights made their overnight stays at other area hotels. Only since Trump became president have U.S. military crews stayed at Trump’s property. An investigation is underway by the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee.

In fairness, we must acknowledge some confusion exists about the meaning of the emoluments clause. What’s a violation? Who has standing to sue? The issue hasn’t been litigated, mostly because no president has ever done what Trump has done – retain a vast business enterprise that offers services in just the kinds of things that encourage patronizing of those services by those seeking the president’s favor. Foreign governments wanting influence over U.S. foreign policy, lobbyists seeking government contracts or presidential support for or against legislation, and American government officials looking for favorable treatment of their agencies by the White House all have an incentive for currying favor with this president by patronizing his hotels and resorts.

Cases are now working their way through the lower federal courts, so perhaps we’ll soon have a reading on how the judiciary views the emolu- ments clause. If we’re lucky, those cases will become moot soon because Trump has left office.  We can only hope.       

           

ATTENDING TWO REUNIONS

This time, Rob shares an essay he wrote for a church service on family. This piece looks back at his experiences in the ‘60s and asks that Americans act now and spare their children the pain, divisiveness, and turbulence of the past, and even of today.  

High school class reunions generate many emotions – longing for days gone by,    excitement at seeing old friends,regret about roads not taken, reflection on life and what it’s meant, realization of mortality and all it implies. I never thought, however, reunions would generate sadness and apprehension for my children’s future. That’s what happened this summer as a result of attending two class reunions. Those reunions drive my thoughts about family this fall. 

 

My 50^th

Two Thousand Nineteen marks 50 years since I graduated from high school. Due to an odd circumstance, I got to go to two reunions. The thoughts and feelings they generated offer a commentary on the past, on our times, and, unfortunately, on the times my family may see in the future. 

I’m a member of the graduating class of Dollarway High School of 1969. The Dollarway School District lies on the western edge of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I attended DHS from the beginning of my sophomore year until graduation.

I grew up in Hope, Arkansas, so until we moved to Pine Bluff,

I attended school there. I finished my  freshman year at Hope's Yerger High in the spring of 1966.

Like most school systems in the South in the 1960s, the

Hope and Dollarway districts found themselves caught up in the battle over desegregation. Both operated dual school systems. Blacks attended one set of schools and whites another -- by law. They called it de jure segregation.

The Dollarway and Hope districts resisted ending their dual systems by using so-called “freedom-of-choice” plans. Students and their parents could choose the school they preferred. This resulted in desegregation in name only. No whites attended the black schools. A few blacks attended the white schools. Only two other black students graduated from Dollarway with me in 1969.

The federal courts and the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare ultimately decided the constitution required unitary systems – one set of schools for everyone. That fall—after my graduation – in both districts, the black schools and the white schools merged. That freshman class I started with was, therefore, the last graduating class Yerger High ever had, as

Back of Yerger 50th Reunion T-shirt

the back of the 50^th reunion t-shirt proclaims. I remained friends with some members of that class and they kindly invited me to their reunion in early July. Two weeks before, I attended my Dollarway class reunion.

Initially, both reunions left me joyous about renewing old acquaintances and reliving my youth. But, as they say in the National Football League, “upon further review,” I saw things differently. 

I had a positive experience at Dollarway. For the most part,  it

was what high school should be – a time of personal growth, youthful exploration, and adolescent experimentation. I had a few racially uncomfortable moments there as I will explore in my forthcoming book The Dollarway Syndrome: Race, Individual Goodwill, and the Continuing Struggle for Equality. By and large, however, my Dollarway

experience left me with warm feelings. That’s what the reunion reminded me of – positive emotions associated with football games, bonfires, drama club meetings, and track practice.

The Yerger reunion provided pleasant moments of a different

kind. I loved spending time both  with the friends with whomI’ve stayed in touch and those I hadn’t seen in ages. I appreciated learning about their triumphs and tragedies, reminding me of the miniscule margin between success and disaster. I didn’t do high school with the Yerger graduates, but they’re good people who played a meaningful role in my past.

Some Things Never Change

Despite the good feelings, generated by different circumstances at the two reunions, being at both reminded me of something else – America’s unfinished business with race. Both school districts have re-segregated. 

Dollarway, nearly all-white when I started there in 1966, is now about five per cent white, the rest of its student population black and Hispanic. Hope is about 20% white, the rest black and Hispanic.

It happened at Dollarway because whites left for private schools and because real estate developers built subdivisions in far out suburban areas. In Hope, a few private academies opened, and some white parents transported their children to a nearby rural district that welcomed them with open arms. So, fifty years after the battles I witnessed in the ‘60s, America still fights wars about race. The reunions reminded me of the depressing fact a good chance exists my children will likely still be fighting about race at the time of their 50^th class reunions. The battles won’t be the same as those of my youth, or even the ones of today.  But so many signs I can see say their society will face racial turmoil. That makes me very sad. I so much wish we would decide we don’t want that for our children, that we really are one family, and do something about it ourselves --- NOW.