When Donald Trump began his political campaign, he famously accused Mexican immigrants of being rapists and drug dealers. There’s zero evidence that a Mexican immigrant is more likely to rape than a good old fashioned rich, entitled American douchebag (or any non-immigrant), Trump captured the hearts of racists everywhere by validating their paranoia.
While Trump is cracking down on the poor immigrants to this country, there is one accused rapist — and fugitive from the law — he’s allowing to stay, and that’s because this fugitive is rich and is giving Trump money.
When Donald Trump took office, those who weren’t completely cynical expected that perhaps, as promised, he would leave his businesses so we could all avoid the fallout from his numerous conflicts of interest. The fallout is hitting.
At one time, Trump wanted to deport Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire real estate developer. Guo is accused of rape, bribery and kidnapping in China. Guo denies the allegations. In June, the billionaire real estate developer in the White House vowed to deport Guo.
The President then produced a letter from the Chinese government calling for the extradition of Mr Guo, delivered to him by Steve Wynn, a casino magnate with business interests in the Chinese casino city Macau.
“Where’s that letter Steve brought?” the President is said to have asked his secretary. “We need to get this criminal out of the country.”Then Trump learned he was making money off of the Chinese fugitive.
Source: Independent
Then Trump found out he was making money off the fugitive. Guo is a member at Trump’s flagship Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. After Trump’s aids mentioned that the “criminal” that needed to leave our country was a paying member of the club, Trump changed his mind. The administration has even blocked any attempts by the Chinese to take Guo home.
Guo, without evidence, had been tweeting allegations that the Chinese government was corrupt.
Here’s one example. Click on the “translate” link to read it:
郭先生有他面对的实际情况，无论他如何把握节奏，大家会尊重他的决定。由于郭文贵的出现，加剧了人们对过去五年反腐正当性的怀疑，激发了对中国政治的更激烈讨论。这从来不是一个人对一个政权的挑战，而是所有中国人的责任，我们不会停止，唯有坚持、抗争才会改变中国。 https://t.co/mP1oNYhMla
— 杨建利 (@yangjianli001) October 18, 2017
It seems that Guo is returning the love toward the Trump administration, or at least one of its closest surrogates. Here is a tweet with Guo and Trump media henchman, Steve Bannon:
忙碌了一整天．40个小时没有睡觉了……刚刚又和班农先生及他的团队开了一下午的会！学习了很多很多．他的直率．真心的爱美国．对美国国家安全强烈的担心与有关信息的了解！都让我佩服的五体投地！我们太多的共同目标共同想法．都为中美两国关系及人民可能及已经受到的盗国贼的伤害而愤怒！担心着急！ pic.twitter.com/Zr3JduonUX
— 郭文贵Guo Wengui ✊️✊️✊️ (@KwokMiles) October 18, 2017
To be fair, TruTrump isn’t exactly running his businesses anymore (he’s far too busy revenge tweeting to even think about that), but he is still collecting the profits. Not only has Trump not quit his interest in Mar-a-Lago, since he took office, the private resort doubled its fees from $100,000 to $200,000.
This story perfectly emphasizes why the founders put the “Emoluments Clause” in the Constitution. The clause states:
“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.”
The clause was to protect our country from the conflicts of interests that could cause a leader to put profit over the good of the country. If there’s anyone we can all agree is not here for the good of the country, it’s an accused rapist and kidnapper, right? Well, we live in Trump’s America now.
Featured image via Pool/Getty Images.
