At no point during Donald Trump's "presidency" did Republicanism’s new god-king appear to understand what he had been elected to. From beginning to end, Trump appeared to think that his White House office was just another means of generating publicity and the occasional trickle of cash for his tacky business empire; we even heard constant stories of him chafing whenever his staff tried to focus his attention on anything else. It began with Trump selling self-branded water to his own campaign, continued with Trump hosting supplicants at his self-branded new hotel near the White House, and would eventually end—after an attempted coup, of course—with Trump carting off highly classified nuclear and national security secrets for no better reason than he wanted them, thought he deserved them, and thought he could personally make use of them.
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who Trump used as his generic proxy whenever a problem might require reading half a book or looking at graphs, walked out of the White House into a $2 billion "investment" sponsorship from the Saudi Arabian royal family, while Trump himself focused on another small-scale grift: partnering with the Saudis to host new golf tournaments meant to boost the journalist-murdering regime's public image. Whether either of those deals included a classified document gift basket is still unknown. Nobody on this planet is seriously claiming Trump would never dare do such a thing.
The grift is still going strong, and it's still just a cheap and tawdry little thing compared to Trump's supposed wealth. This time, the grift is in Oman. Donald Trump and family have scored a new decades-long deal to develop a golf course and community of "luxury villas" on a desert bluff overlooking the ocean. The catch is that he's doing it in partnership with the government of Oman, another monarchy, and with the Saudi government-backed real estate firm Dar Al Arkan.
Donald Trump is, ostensibly, running to be president. If by some miracle of Republican fascism Trump actually regained the position, the seditionist coup-attempting president of the United States would be an active business partner with two Middle Eastern dictatorships, which in any era previous to this one would be a hell of a thing. Now, though? Hell, now Trump might be a rube if he doesn't get at least two Supreme Court justices to be partners in the deal. Trump's whole party exists to back crookedness like this; they fought tooth and nail to let Trump get away with far more and far less.
The New York Times brings us the deets on Trump's new Oman deal, and it's worth a read for several reasons. The first is the obvious one: For someone who's ostensibly again running for the U.S. presidency, indicted or not, Trump certainly isn't letting his theoretical return to power interfere with humping the royal Saudi leg at every last damn opportunity.
The whole affair feels less like a grift than somebody's idea of a bad joke. It’s the usual "deal" for Trump: His name will be plastered on a "luxury" development that Oman's monarchy is building in order to attract rich suckers bored with their other five or six luxury vacation homes. Trump will put up absolutely no money. He and his family will have complete say in the "design" of the new villas, which likely means they will turn out like any of his other hotels or clubs, a slightly bizarre mix that can only be described as "elegant mall, one that serves margaritas in the food court," and then Trump and his offspring will be paid to "manage" the hotel, golf course, and attached club for "up to" 30 years.
The whole premise is based on Donald Trump's seditionist grifting name being worth a mountain of money, and in the boonies of Oman, no less, when the far more reasonable course would be to make up some new bullshit faux-luxury name like The Luxor or The Salmonella and promote the hell out of that brand with all the money you're saving from Trump being nowhere near the project.
Is there a big market among the world’s super-rich for new villas named after a disgraced Worst President Ever? Are the billionaires of the Middle East and Asia going to flock to new gilded apartments on Shouting Seditionist Lane, translated into its Arabic equivalent?
Oh look, the world's rich will say, a new luxury development named for a boorish clown, nestled above pirate-infested waters within spitting distance of a half-dozen recent or active war zones. Oh, and the poop-rooms each have their own chandeliers!
The Times reports that Trump and clan have already pocketed at least $5 million, and the sketchiness of anyone still wanting to go into business with Trump certainly feels like circumstantial evidence that Trump is firmly in the Saudi monarchy's pocket, in exchange for enough cash to keep his business empire running. Note how in Trumpland, the only "business" deals we hear about are linked to Saudi government firms.
Right now it's just weird. If, God help us all, Republicans actually succeed in getting this brickheaded wannabe dictator back into office, then Trump and family will likely run the whole government with an eye towards keeping the Saudi dictatorship very, very, very happy.
Because otherwise, Donald Trump might lose money. And there's nothing in America Donald Trump wants to protect more than his own money.
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Joining us on "The Downballot" this week is North Carolina Rep. Wiley Nickel, the first member of Congress to appear on the show! Nickel gives us the blow-by-blow of his unlikely victory that saw him flip an extremely competitive seat from red to blue last year, including how he adjusted when a new map gave him a very different district and why highlighting the extremism of his MAGA-flavored opponent was key to his success. A true election nerd, Nickel tells us which precincts he was tracking on election night that let him know he was going to win—and which fellow House freshman is the one you want to rock out with at a concert.
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Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who Trump used as his generic proxy whenever a problem might require reading half a book or looking at graphs, walked out of the White House into a $2 billion "investment" sponsorship from the Saudi Arabian royal family, while Trump himself focused on another small-scale grift: partnering with the Saudis to host new golf tournaments meant to boost the journalist-murdering regime's public image. Whether either of those deals included a classified document gift basket is still unknown. Nobody on this planet is seriously claiming Trump would never dare do such a thing.
The grift is still going strong, and it's still just a cheap and tawdry little thing compared to Trump's supposed wealth. This time, the grift is in Oman. Donald Trump and family have scored a new decades-long deal to develop a golf course and community of "luxury villas" on a desert bluff overlooking the ocean. The catch is that he's doing it in partnership with the government of Oman, another monarchy, and with the Saudi government-backed real estate firm Dar Al Arkan.
Donald Trump is, ostensibly, running to be president. If by some miracle of Republican fascism Trump actually regained the position, the seditionist coup-attempting president of the United States would be an active business partner with two Middle Eastern dictatorships, which in any era previous to this one would be a hell of a thing. Now, though? Hell, now Trump might be a rube if he doesn't get at least two Supreme Court justices to be partners in the deal. Trump's whole party exists to back crookedness like this; they fought tooth and nail to let Trump get away with far more and far less.
The New York Times brings us the deets on Trump's new Oman deal, and it's worth a read for several reasons. The first is the obvious one: For someone who's ostensibly again running for the U.S. presidency, indicted or not, Trump certainly isn't letting his theoretical return to power interfere with humping the royal Saudi leg at every last damn opportunity.
The whole affair feels less like a grift than somebody's idea of a bad joke. It’s the usual "deal" for Trump: His name will be plastered on a "luxury" development that Oman's monarchy is building in order to attract rich suckers bored with their other five or six luxury vacation homes. Trump will put up absolutely no money. He and his family will have complete say in the "design" of the new villas, which likely means they will turn out like any of his other hotels or clubs, a slightly bizarre mix that can only be described as "elegant mall, one that serves margaritas in the food court," and then Trump and his offspring will be paid to "manage" the hotel, golf course, and attached club for "up to" 30 years.
The whole premise is based on Donald Trump's seditionist grifting name being worth a mountain of money, and in the boonies of Oman, no less, when the far more reasonable course would be to make up some new bullshit faux-luxury name like The Luxor or The Salmonella and promote the hell out of that brand with all the money you're saving from Trump being nowhere near the project.
Is there a big market among the world’s super-rich for new villas named after a disgraced Worst President Ever? Are the billionaires of the Middle East and Asia going to flock to new gilded apartments on Shouting Seditionist Lane, translated into its Arabic equivalent?
Oh look, the world's rich will say, a new luxury development named for a boorish clown, nestled above pirate-infested waters within spitting distance of a half-dozen recent or active war zones. Oh, and the poop-rooms each have their own chandeliers!
The Times reports that Trump and clan have already pocketed at least $5 million, and the sketchiness of anyone still wanting to go into business with Trump certainly feels like circumstantial evidence that Trump is firmly in the Saudi monarchy's pocket, in exchange for enough cash to keep his business empire running. Note how in Trumpland, the only "business" deals we hear about are linked to Saudi government firms.
Right now it's just weird. If, God help us all, Republicans actually succeed in getting this brickheaded wannabe dictator back into office, then Trump and family will likely run the whole government with an eye towards keeping the Saudi dictatorship very, very, very happy.
Because otherwise, Donald Trump might lose money. And there's nothing in America Donald Trump wants to protect more than his own money.
RELATED STORIES:
After protecting Khashoggi's murderer, Donald Trump and Jared Kushner are now cashing in
PGA says screw human rights, merges with Saudi golf group
Does anyone besides Donald Trump actually want his 2024 comeback story? Even Ivanka tapped out
Joining us on "The Downballot" this week is North Carolina Rep. Wiley Nickel, the first member of Congress to appear on the show! Nickel gives us the blow-by-blow of his unlikely victory that saw him flip an extremely competitive seat from red to blue last year, including how he adjusted when a new map gave him a very different district and why highlighting the extremism of his MAGA-flavored opponent was key to his success. A true election nerd, Nickel tells us which precincts he was tracking on election night that let him know he was going to win—and which fellow House freshman is the one you want to rock out with at a concert.
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