Reality Show Politics
Republicans elected Donald Trump to ‘drain the swamp’ and today they still enjoy watching the ‘Trump Show’ but it’s beginning to look like he’s not going to be able to whip the Washington Establishment. Instead, many of the men around Trump have morphed into Washington Insiders themselves.
Tom Price is one example. It’s an old story: A Cabinet Secretary gets to spend billions of dollars and temptation follows money. Trump appointed Price to clean up the Department of Health and Human Services but, instead, in 9 months, Price spent $900,000 on private airplanes and government jets to fly to Geneva, Berlin, Beijing and Tokyo. What government business took the man who manages Medicaid to China?
David Shulkin, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is another example. Along with his wife, Shulkin took a 10-day trip to Europe visiting castles, going on a river cruise, attending the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. The cost to taxpayers: $122,000. Was attending Wimbledon necessary to provide care to veterans?
The Secretary of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, spent $40,000 on a trip to Morocco and $90,000 on a trip to Italy. And, over at HUD, Ben Carson ordered $195,000 in office furniture, including a dining room table and chairs that cost $31,000.
And, finally, there’s the story of Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer. After the election the swamp’s tentacles reached out to Cohen and, in the blink of an eye, he was signing up new clients: A Korean defense contractor (for $150,000), AT&T (for $200,000), Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company (for $1.2 million), Washington lobbying powerhouse Squire Patton Boggs (for $500,000), Columbus Nova a New York investment firm (for $500,000).
The old swamp’s still there, doing fine, but there is a change in Washington: A new kind of entertainment.
Stormy Daniels said she had an affair with Trump. Trump said she didn’t. Daniels’s lawyer announced Trump’s lawyer had paid her $130,000 in hush money. So, now, Trump is suing Daniels for breaching a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’ about an affair he said didn’t happen.
Summer Zervos claimed Trump groped her. Trump called her a liar. And, now, Zervos is suing Trump for defamation of character. So these days in Washington, in addition to the swamp, we have a parade of porn stars and Playboy models and a new form of entertainment on TV: Reality Show Politics.
Reality Show Politics
Republicans elected Donald Trump to ‘drain the swamp’ and today they still enjoy watching the ‘Trump Show’ but it’s beginning to look like he’s not going to be able to whip the Washington Establishment. Instead, many of the men around Trump have morphed into Washington Insiders themselves.
Tom Price is one example. It’s an old story: A Cabinet Secretary gets to spend billions of dollars and temptation follows money. Trump appointed Price to clean up the Department of Health and Human Services but, instead, in 9 months, Price spent $900,000 on private airplanes and government jets to fly to Geneva, Berlin, Beijing and Tokyo. What government business took the man who manages Medicaid to China?
David Shulkin, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is another example. Along with his wife, Shulkin took a 10-day trip to Europe visiting castles, going on a river cruise, attending the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. The cost to taxpayers: $122,000. Was attending Wimbledon necessary to provide care to veterans?
The Secretary of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, spent $40,000 on a trip to Morocco and $90,000 on a trip to Italy. And, over at HUD, Ben Carson ordered $195,000 in office furniture, including a dining room table and chairs that cost $31,000.
And, finally, there’s the story of Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer. After the election the swamp’s tentacles reached out to Cohen and, in the blink of an eye, he was signing up new clients: A Korean defense contractor (for $150,000), AT&T (for $200,000), Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company (for $1.2 million), Washington lobbying powerhouse Squire Patton Boggs (for $500,000), Columbus Nova a New York investment firm (for $500,000).
The old swamp’s still there, doing fine, but there is a change in Washington: A new kind of entertainment.
Stormy Daniels said she had an affair with Trump. Trump said she didn’t. Daniels’s lawyer announced Trump’s lawyer had paid her $130,000 in hush money. So, now, Trump is suing Daniels for breaching a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’ about an affair he said didn’t happen.
Summer Zervos claimed Trump groped her. Trump called her a liar. And, now, Zervos is suing Trump for defamation of character. So these days in Washington, in addition to the swamp, we have a parade of porn stars and Playboy models and a new form of entertainment on TV: Reality Show Politics.