Have you heard about the president who received money from China and other foreign countries? No, not the current president. The former one.
House Republicans recently launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, premised on the claim that he is hiding, in the words of Speaker Mike Johnson, āmillions of dollars in payments from Americaās foreign adversaries.ā As yet, they have produced no evidence to back up the idea that Biden profited. (The payments they have flagged involve the business interests of his son Hunter Biden, who is facing two separate federal indictments at the moment, and his brother James.)
Meanwhile, House Democrats on Thursday released a report detailing how former President Donald Trump received, and then tried to hide, millions in payments from Americaās foreign adversaries. Unlike in the impeachment inquiry, which is premised on a suspicion that Republicans hope will turn up evidence, the receipts are here.
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The saga of the foreign payments is a good case study in how Trump has taught Americans to tolerate brazen corruptionāso long as itās his. To do this, Trump relies on two tactics. First, he does much of it out in the open, recognizing that voters tend to assume that only hidden deeds are nefarious. Second, he finds ways to slow-walk the release of the most damaging information, so that by the time the full picture is clear, the public has become almost inoculatedāas though it had been out in the open all along.
Naaah we tolerate it. Remember when Reagan sold arms to the country that held American hostages during his predecessorās term. You know the country he illegally colluded with to beat the incumbent president. Selling them weapons to circumvent a US embargo. To fund international terrorism like the contras in South America. And then when he and his VP were caught red handed. They passed it off to a patsy. Ollie North! The criminal president at his term limit retiring comfortably as Republican Messiah. The criminal VP going on to be president. Who then pardoned the former president and Ollie North of their crimes. And America collectively yawned. So much so that cartoons do a better job covering it than most history books people are exposed to.
Sorry. Iām still not tolerating corrupt governing. If you do, thatās okay.
Nowhere did I ever say I tolerated it. Iām just asking who this We is you think youāre talking about. Because America clearly tolerates it.