Would you like to have Donald Trump as the son-in-law in your family?
BALTIMORE – I have a question for all those who cling to their loyalty to Donald Trump despite what the entire world has discovered about this president’s bigotry, his history of financial cheating, his incessant lying, his sexual aggressions, and what investigators have just confirmed as the hush money payments that cheated both his wife and the American voting public.
Here’s the question: If you aren’t nauseated at the thought of your national leader behaving so badly, how would you feel if such a man were your son-in-law?
I raise the question because of the latest declaration from government prosecutors, which arrived last Friday. They confirmed earlier reports that Trump, heading toward the closing days of the 2016 presidential election, directed his former fixer, Michael Cohen, to pay nearly $300,000 to silence two women Trump had taken to bed.
And, just to cling to the “son-in-law” angle, he was bedding them a mere two months after his wife, Melania, had given birth to their youngest child.
Imagine if your daughter were married to a man like this. It’s already a big political issue, since the payments were made so Trump could sneak his way into the White House. But imagining a family connection really hits you where you live.
And so we can add this little adventure to the following bits of sexual history:
*Trump’s own words (“I grab ‘em by the…”) in the Hollywood Access audiotape.
*His words about invading beauty contest dressing rooms for a few creepy peeks at young ladies in various states of undress.
*The claims of 19 different women that Trump made unwanted sexual advances on them.
“Sothat’syourson–in–law, huh?”
The talk about hush money to Stormy Davis and Karen McDougal has been in the air for months, but last week was the first allegation by government prosecutors out of the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Yet, as they issued such salacious criminal charges, there were a few other things to consider.
First, as a New York Times analysis (headlined “Is This the Beginning of the End for Trump?”) by three prominent attorneys put it, these payments were made “in coordination with and at the direction of Individual 1” – that is, President Trump.
Second, the SDNY prosecutors said, the payments were fraudulently disguised as legal fees, and according to Friday’s revelation, “were approved by senior executives at the (Trump) organization…The likelihood that the company and the Trump campaign face charges is now high.”
It’s long been the boast of Trump people that their campaign operation was extremely small – as is the Trump business organization.
And who are some of the top execs in that Trump organization? Well, let’s start with a couple of high-profile guys: Donald Trump, Jr., and his brother, Eric.
And who were among his top advisors in the presidential campaign? Well, the same two sons, plus the daughter, Ivanka, and the son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
So, according to last week’s government filings, what we’re looking at here is the possibility of the president’s own family winking at the hush money payments, which were:
- Payments that broke campaign finance laws.
- Payments that were made to influence the 2016 presidential election.
- Payments meant to cover up dear old dad’s sack time with a porn star and a Playmate just weeks after Don Jr. and Eric and Ivanka’s baby brother was born.
Is this what the Republicans meant when they used to talk about “family values?” If so, how would you like to have Donald Trump as the son-in-law in your own family?
It’s painful enough to imagine him, and his sleazy record, as president of your own country.
Michael Olesker, columnist for the News American, Baltimore Sun, and Baltimore Examiner has spent a quarter of a century writing about the city he loves.He is the author of several books, including Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home, Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore, and The Colts’ Baltimore: A City and Its Love Affair in the 1950s, all published by Johns Hopkins Press.