The Oval Office meeting convened by President Trump brought together the most important leaders in the world of professional golf: Jay Monahan, the top executive at the PGA Tour, and, via telephone, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chairman of the Saudi Arabia-backed league known as LIV Golf.
The stated goal was to figure out a way to eliminate roadblocks preventing the planned merger between the rival two groups.
But the gathering earlier this month said something even more important about the Trump administration itself. Mr. Trump was not simply using the power of his office to forge an agreement — something that presidents have done for centuries. In this case, Mr. Trump was pushing a merger that relates to his own family’s financial interest.
. . .
In other words, according to half a dozen former Justice Department prosecutors and government ethics lawyers, Mr. Trump’s participation in this discussion was a brazen conflict of interest — one of a series that have played out over the past few weeks, with a frequency unlike any presidency in modern times, even in the first Trump term.
It’s really bizarre watching rats jump onto a sinking ship.
Gross.
“The presidency requires virtue — it requires a basic level of decency and loyalty to the country,” Mr. Rozenshtein said. “If you don’t have that kind of person, there is not much one can do unfortunately at that point, especially if Congress is supine.”
Underated quote. The people we elect matter. The “system” doesn’t work if the people running it don’t support it.
