Bribery

Washington, D.C. is a swamp.

Trump loves it.

Remember a decade ago, when Trump said he was "really rich" and therefore wasn't beholden to anyone? He could "drain the swamp."

Now he is the swamp.

The Trump crypto dinner for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP crypto coin set a new standard of influence-buying. The $TRUMP buyers support the price and the Trump family owns 75 percent of the $TRUMP "coins." What Trump is doing is legal. Handing him a paper bag of currency would not be legal. Theoretically, it was a financial investment for the buyers. In fact, it is a political investment.

College classmates Erich and his wife Cynthia Blanton worked for many years in Canada, then chose to retire in Mexico at San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He has written guest posts here about his experience living as an expat.

Guest Post by Erich Almasy

Bribery sounds nasty, which may explain why it is often bundled with the word “corruption.” In fourth-century BCE Greece, political bribery was so commonplace that when Pericles ran for office, he had to explain to voters that he did not take bribes. In ancient Rome, corporations were formed to bribe senators and could even take out loans to raise funds.

Republicans seem more likely to be bribers and bribees, possibly due to their having more past presidential administrations than Democrats, 20 to 15. Republicans also lead in members of Congress being accused of bribery by about three to one. Many of the elected accused avoided imprisonment by resigning their seats, and many more were pardoned after the fact.

Bribery has caused major inflections in American politics, and key incidents have become significant parts of American history:

*** The Republican administration of Ulysses S. Grant was guilty of numerous major corruption scandals tainting the legacy of an otherwise honorable man and great general. With the connivance of Grant’s brother-in-law and his treasury secretary, financiers James Fisk and Jay Gould tried to corner the gold market. They plunged the economy into recession on what became Black Friday. Various “rings” (Custom House, Star Route, Trader Post, and Whisky) bribed and stole taxes and customs fees with impunity during Grant's administration. His Interior Department was riddled with corruption, stealing land, and embezzling from Indian tribes.

Teapot Dome, in Wyoming

*** The most infamous bribery scandals occurred during President Warren G. Harding's Republican administration. A cabinet known as the “Ohio Gang” took the idea of cronyism to new heights with widespread bribery, including the attorney general selling pardons. The Teapot Dome scandal topped off this skullduggery. Interior Secretary Albert Fall leased federal oil lands at low prices without competitive bidding.

Nixon: "Come before the American people with a full financial statement. . . ."

*** While running as Eisenhower’s vice-presidential candidate, Richard Nixon gave his most famous speech, denying that an $18,000 contribution was a bribe. He stated that he was "proud of the fact that Pat Nixon wears a good Republican cloth coat.” He insisted that his family would not return the constituent gift of his dog Checkers because his daughters loved it. His speech saved his candidacy, changing history.

Ironically, eight years later, Sherman Adams, Eisenhower’s chief of staff and campaign manager, was forced to resign because he accepted an expensive vicuna coat for his wife.

The vicuna coat. A vicuna is a South American camelid

*** During Nixon’s administration, his vice president, Spiro Agnew, was confronted with evidence that he had been offered bribes while serving as governor of Maryland. Agnew disputed the claim by saying, “Nobody sat down in front of me with a suitcase of money.” It was later revealed that he had indeed received bribes, even while vice president. In paper bags! He resigned, and Gerald Ford replaced him. When the Watergate scandal led to Nixon's resignation the next year, Ford became an unelected President.

FBI video recording of ABSCAM payoff

*** The Republican president and icon, Ronald Reagan, presided over an even more tarnished administration: Iran-Contra gun-running and bribery; HUD grant rigging; EPA bribes; Operation Ill Wind investigation into military contractor bribes; an ABSCAM FBI sting involving an Arab sheikh that caught five Democrats and one Republican; and the Keating Five Savings and Loan scandal that cost American taxpayers $160 billion (in 1990 dollars). Most of the Republicans sentenced were later pardoned.

Despite the odious nature of bribery, it has had its lighter moments:

*** Simon Cameron, Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of war, was so corrupt that Representative Thaddeus Stevens, when asked if there was anything Cameron would not steal, told Lincoln, “I don’t think he would steal a red-hot stove.” Cameron demanded that the statement be retracted, whereupon Stevens told Lincoln, “I believe I told you he would not steal a red-hot stove. I will now take that back.”

 *** In 1935, Judge Joseph Buffington, appointed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, was determined to be “aged, senile, and nearly blind.” It was discovered that many of his rulings on the Court of Appeals had been written by Judge John Warren Davis, who received bribes for them.

Traficant, with his famously bad toupe

*** In 2002, Ohio Democratic Representative Jim Traficant was entrapped by an FBI sting when he verbally accepted a bribe of $50,000 from an Arab sheikh (Are you seeing a pattern here?). Traficant nearly persuaded the jury at his trial that he thought it was a joke.

Cash in paper bags in Menendez home

*** And this year, New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was sentenced to eleven years in prison for his part in a bribery and influence-peddling scheme involving Egypt. The trial devolved into farce as Menendez and his wife jointly accused each other, and it was revealed that he had insisted on payment in gold bars, which proved hard to hide from authorities.

Can we learn lessons from this history of malfeasance? Maybe one. Beware of Middle Easterners bearing gifts.

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