Monday, July 25, 2016

What Does a Guy Have to Do?

Today I learned that Donald Trump himself (not just his father, as is widely known) actively discriminated against black renters in the 1970s. He also called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five and refused to take it back when they were completely exonerated (and he still insists they must have been guilty of something).

Obviously, Trump has made a range of insane foreign policy statements recently, and has spewed racist venom on Mexicans and Muslims. He has, over the years, said many egregiously sexist things and patted his own daughter on the butt on national television last Thursday night (this is the daughter he has said he wishes he could "date," not the one who was only a year old when he started speculating on how great her breasts would be when she grew up).

In fact, it's hard to even write this because I'm sure I'll leave out something he's said or done that would usually warrant its own blog post, but I just can't remember them all.

And, of course, he won't release his tax returns, which -- if David Cay Johnston is right -- would probably show that he has paid almost nothing in taxes (and that either he has little income relative to the billions he claims to have or has lied about his income).

When Trump was in Scotland a month or so ago, he solicited members of Parliament for campaign donations, which is an utter violation of U.S. election law. He is also soliciting money from other foreign nationals. After all of the utterly amazing violations of our social compact, I wonder if these violations may be the ones to finally topple him?

What does the FEC do with a candidate who just ignores them? What power do they have? Is it just fines, or can they put the person in jail for contempt of court or breaking election laws? What happens when the social compact breaks down?

What does a guy have to do to get arrested in this town, or at least thrown out of the election?

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