Trump is getting more brazen about using his office for political and personal gain

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Few things have defined President Donald Trump’s second term as much as his transactionalism. He’s gone to great lengths to wield potential official actions for political and even personal gain in ways simply not seen since at least Watergate.

It’s this same sensibility that led to Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, after he suggestively tied Ukraine’s military aid to that country investigating the Bidens ahead of the 2020 election.

But while that and many of Trump’s transactions have relied on implied threats or quid pro quos, he’s increasingly coming out and saying them out loud.

His brazenness was on display on multiple fronts over the last eight days. Last week, he promised American adults thousands of dollars each if they elect Republican majorities in November. This week, he’s repeatedly threatened to abandon or even tear down the Kennedy Center if he’s not allowed to put his name on it.

And on Wednesday night, he jokingly threatened to withhold disaster aid from North Carolina if it elects a Democratic senator (except maybe it’s not a joke, judging by Trump’s track record).

To so openly talk about tying official actions to his political and personal interest should be scandalous. And it was a scandal in Trump’s first term, as evidenced by his impeachment.

His transactionalism is treated as less scandalous today in large part because Americans already know it’s how Trump’s been conducting business for the last 20 months.

But it shouldn’t be lost just how brazen it is now.

At a Wednesday night rally, Trump tied North Carolina getting disaster aid to the state electing Republican Michael Whatley to the Senate — before claiming he was joking.

“You’re waiting for some additional money … and I’m gonna get that to you, Michael,” Trump said. “Now, if Michael loses, I’m not sending it. Okay?”

Then Trump added: “No, I’m only kidding. You’re getting it. You’re gonna get it, Michael.”

But is it really a joke?

An AP investigation this year found that blue states had to wait longer for disaster aid and were denied more frequently . (The White House told the AP “there is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief.”) And the Energy Department in a July 15 legal filing explicitly acknowledged that it canceled clean-energy grants “ based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state ” — i.e. whether it “was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State.”

It’s hard to see how people still recovering from Hurricane Helene don’t take this threat somewhat seriously. And regardless of how Trump meant it, this is not really a laughing matter.

The other development this week is Trump’s increasingly blunt effort to force the Kennedy Center to take his name . He’s been repeatedly denied in court, so he’s getting more open about his threats.

Trump said on social media Tuesday that renovations “cannot begin until such time as the DC Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name.”

“If the ruling is a negative one … the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” he added .

Then Trump said it again on Wednesday.

“For me to get involved and to take that on long-term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it — I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” he told reporters in Charlotte. “Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.”

Trump was then pictured on Air Force One on Wednesday night reviewing a poster that appeared to say “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”

So this is a president now explicitly saying he needs personal recognition to save this institution — and unsubtly threatening its demise if he doesn’t get what he wants.

Trump’s $5,000 checks idea might be the most brazen.

At the Republican midterm convention last week, Trump said that if Americans reelect GOP congressional majorities, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”

It would be one thing to say that electing Republican majorities would enable the party to pass cut taxes, or something like that. But Trump is expressly tying handing out large sums of cash to people — apparently without congressional approval — as a reward for giving him what he wants.

Even some on the right have labeled that a bribe . It certainly seems like a quid pro quo — a payment made in exchange for a specific outcome.

And imagine if that became the new normal. The only thing stopping presidents from paying ever-larger sums of money for votes might be the economic consequences of doing so.

There is evidence that the American people see through what Trump is doing.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll this week showed 66% of registered voters said that Trump’s promise to hand out $5,000 checks if the GOP wins the midterms was “inappropriate,” compared to just 18% who said it was appropriate.

Even Republicans leaned toward it being inappropriate, 37%-33%.

And while voters previously tended to view both parties as about equally corrupt, some recent surveys suggest the GOP is suddenly at a deficit on this issue.

A New York Times-Siena College poll this week showed likely voters said by 14 points that “corrupt” described Republicans more than Democrats. And a Fox News poll showed registered voters said Democrats would do a better job on issues of corruption by 11 points.

But Trump doesn’t seem to have much regard for this perception. He and his deferential GOP congressional allies have made the presidency too powerful not to squeeze all the juice out of it that he can.

And he’ll apparently just keep squeezing.

安娜·莫尼梅克/盖蒂图片社

唐纳德·特朗普总统的第二个任期，其鲜明的特点莫过于他的交易主义。他不遗余力地利用潜在的官方权力来谋取政治利益乃至个人私利，其手段之恶劣，至少自水门事件以来前所未见。

正是这种心态导致特朗普在 2019 年第一次遭到弹劾，当时他暗示将对乌克兰的军事援助与该国在 2020 年大选前调查拜登家族联系起来。

虽然特朗普的许多交易都依赖于暗示性的威胁或交换条件，但他越来越多地公开谈论这些交易。

过去八天里，他的厚颜无耻在多个方面都暴露无遗。上周，他承诺如果美国成年人在11月的大选中投票支持共和党，他将向每人支付数千美元。本周，他又多次威胁说，如果不能让他以自己的名字命名肯尼迪中心，他将放弃甚至拆毁该中心。

周三晚上，他开玩笑地威胁说，如果北卡罗来纳州选出一位民主党参议员，他将扣留对该州的灾难援助（但根据特朗普的过往记录来看，这可能不是玩笑）。

如此公开地谈论将公务行为与个人政治利益挂钩，实属丑闻。而特朗普第一任期内，这的确是一桩丑闻，他的弹劾案便证明了这一点。

如今，他的交易主义行为不再那么令人震惊，很大程度上是因为美国人已经知道，在过去的 20 个月里，特朗普一直都是这样经商的。

但我们不应忽视它现在有多么肆无忌惮。

在周三晚上的一次集会上，特朗普将北卡罗来纳州获得灾难援助与该州选举共和党人迈克尔·沃特利进入参议院联系起来——之后又声称他是在开玩笑。

“你还在等一些额外的钱……我会把钱给你的，迈克尔，”特朗普说。“不过，如果迈克尔输了，我就不会给你钱了。明白吗？”

然后特朗普补充道：“不，我只是开玩笑。你肯定会得的，迈克尔。”

但这真的是个玩笑吗？

美联社今年的一项调查发现，民主党执政的州需要等待更长时间才能获得灾难援助，而且被拒绝的频率也更高。（白宫告诉美联社，“总统在灾难救济方面的决定没有任何政治考量。”）能源部在7月15日提交的一份法律文件中明确承认，它取消清洁能源拨款“完全基于拨款接受州的政治性质”——即该州“是民主党执政的州还是非民主党执政的州”。

很难理解那些仍在从飓风海伦中恢复的人们为何对这种威胁不予重视。而且，无论特朗普的本意如何，这都不是一件可以一笑置之的事情。

本周的另一项进展是，特朗普越来越直白地试图迫使肯尼迪中心以他的名字命名。他多次在法庭上遭到驳回，因此他开始更加公开地威胁此事。

特朗普周二在社交媒体上表示，翻修工程“只有在哥伦比亚特区巡回上诉法院对董事会批准的名称作出裁决后才能开始”。

“如果裁决结果不利……肯尼迪中心的重建和翻新工程将无法进行，”他补充道。

周三，特朗普再次重申了这一点。

“对我来说，能够参与其中，长期坚持下去，或者筹集资金来维持下去——我认为特朗普政府当然应该得到认可，”他在夏洛特告诉记者。“因为坦白说，如果我们不这样做，它就会关闭。最终会被拆除。”

随后，周三晚上，特朗普被拍到在空军一号上查看一张海报，海报上似乎写着“肯尼迪中心被拆除”。

所以这位总统现在明确表示，他需要个人认可来拯救这个机构——并且毫不掩饰地威胁说，如果他得不到他想要的，这个机构就会消亡。

特朗普提出的发放5000美元支票的想法可能是最厚颜无耻的。

在上周的共和党中期选举大会上，特朗普表示，如果美国人再次选举共和党在国会中占据多数席位，“我将向美国每位成年公民发放 5000 美元的红利。”

如果说共和党赢得多数席位就能通过减税之类的法案，那倒也罢了。但特朗普却明确表示，未经国会批准就向民众发放巨额现金，以此作为满足他要求的回报。

甚至一些右翼人士也称之为贿赂。这看起来确实像是一种交换条件——以某种特定结果为交换条件而支付的款项。

试想一下，如果这种情况成为新常态，总统们为了获得选票而花费越来越多的金钱，唯一能阻止他们的可能就是这样做带来的经济后果。

有证据表明，美国人民已经看穿了特朗普的所作所为。

本周路透社-益普索民调显示，66%的注册选民认为，如果共和党赢得中期选举，特朗普承诺向每位选民发放5000美元支票的做法“不合适”，而只有18%的人认为这种做法合适。

即使是共和党人也倾向于认为这样做不合适，比例为 37% 对 33%。

虽然选民以前倾向于认为两党腐败程度差不多，但最近的一些调查显示，共和党在这个问题上突然处于劣势。

本周《纽约时报》和锡耶纳学院联合进行的一项民调显示，可能投票的选民认为用“腐败”来形容共和党人比用“腐败”来形容民主党人更合适，比例高出14个百分点。而福克斯新闻的一项民调则显示，已登记选民认为民主党人在反腐败问题上会做得更好，比例高出11个百分点。

但特朗普似乎并不在意这种看法。他和那些对他唯唯诺诺的共和党国会盟友们已经把总统职位搞得权力过大，以至于他必须竭尽所能地从中榨取一切利益。

他显然还会继续挤压。