President-elect Donald Trump has many business dealings around the world. These give him a number of conflicts of interest with becoming president. He was told to put his business in a blind trust, but he doesn’t seem to understand that concept. He just says that his kids will run it.
Most people agree that Trump definitely has conflicts of interest, but people have varying opinions on whether or not this is a bad thing. There’s a huge divide on this issue. In a national survey, 73 percent of Republicans say this is a good thing, and 73 percent of Democrats say this is a bad thing.
People on both sides say that Trump should separate himself from his business dealings. Over 69 percent of voters say that Trump will likely make decisions based on his business interests.
If Trump doesn’t put his business in a blind trust or do more to separate himself from it, he could be impeached on the first day in office.
He would be in violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. The clause says:
“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
His current plan is to let his adult sons run the companies, and there will be “no new deals” while he is president. He was supposed to have a press conference on the topic this week, but he has postponed it until January. This will happen after the Electoral College votes, which will formally make him president.
Trump’s former campaign manager and current senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said:
“As we know, it’s a very unconventional situation. Normally we have politicians moving from political job to political job. In this case, we have a very successful businessman, who’s brilliant and a billionaire, who has assets and holdings all over the globe, and that needs to have a transfer of power through the proper channels.”
Why weren’t these issues addressed sooner? Trevor Noah explains in this Daily Show clip:
Featured image by m01229 via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
