Monday, September 05, 2016

Quick thought on an opinion piece I read

Very short but good opinion piece in the Huffington Post today that asks the question of why are news outlets screaming for Hillary Clinton to disassociate herself from the Clinton Foundation--or to shut it down completely--because it looks like it has the potential for a conflict of interest with foreign donations, while the same news outlets are not calling for Donald Trump to disassociate himself from the Trump organization? Very valid. Hillary Clinton--love her or hate her--is simply held to a completely different standard than other people. She makes no money from the A-rated Clinton Foundation, no salary, nothing, and everyone who knows anything acknowledges that the foundation is doing wonderful work in difficult areas, including AIDS, water, and women's rights among other things. And she said she will separate from the foundation if she's elected president. Bill Clinton has chimed in that if Hillary is elected the foundation will not accept any foreign donations while she is president. Bill will also disassociate from the foundation. I'm not sure about Chelsea, whom many people claim makes a huge salary from the foundation but actually., like her parents doesn't make a cent.
The Trump Organization, is strictly a money-maker. And while Donald has railed about the Clinton Foundation taking money from Saudi Arabia (our political ally, by the way), he is not holding himself to task for taking many millions from...yes, Saudi Arabia. And a number of other Middle-Eastern countries. His son Donald, Jr. has said that the Trump Organization also gets a lot of money from the Russians; we know Trump is in deep debt (maybe not for a billionaire but at least to the tune of a few hundred million) to the Chinese, and so forth.
Here's the thing: If the Clintons step away from the Clinton Foundation, the people actually running it will continue to do so and the good work will continue to get done. If Trump does as he said he will and turns the Trump Organization over to his children, he'll still be making money from that Organization and that organization will continue to do business with China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and so forth--with all profits going to Mr. Trump and his family.
I agree with the writer of the op ed piece: It's time for Trump to be held to the same standard as Hillary Clinton.

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