Trump’s associations have included many mob bosses. And like a Don, Trump obtains protection from his followers and dispenses indulgences to his favorites.
Devin Nunes Admits Protecting Trump Is the Goal
On Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC played audio from a private fundraiser that Republican Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) arranged for the reelection campaign of Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA).
Nunes said of Trump’s regime, “If Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the President, we’re the only ones, which is really the danger…We have to keep all these seats, we have to keep the majority. We do not keep the majority, all of this goes away.” At least that’s clear: Nunes believes that to protect Trump from the Mueller investigation the Republicans must maintain a majority of the House in this fall’s elections.
Part of what might vanish, after all, are preferences for friends of Trump.
Trump Has Three Buddies Secretly Running the Veterans Administration
On Tuesday we learned from ProPublica that Trump has given secret control of the Veterans Administration to three Mar-A-Lago friends. There is no accountability or oversight. VA administrators are required to travel to Mar-a-Lago to hear the triumvirate’s views. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former official said.
Among other things, the group proposed “proposed inviting private health care executives to tell the VA which services they should outsource to private providers like themselves.” Nope, no conflict of interest there.
Steel Companies with Trump Connections Block Tariff Exemptions for American Companies
But that’s not all. On Sunday we learned that two of the biggest U.S. steel manufacturers, Nucor and United States Steel, both with strong ties to the Trump administration, have successfully blocked hundreds of requests for exemptions from Trump’s metal tariffs by American companies who buy foreign steel.
So far Nucor and United States Steel have objected to 1,600 exemption requests. Their objections have never failed, forcing the American companies to buy from them at much higher prices. In contrast, a number of aluminum exclusions have been granted.
Needless to say, Nucor reported its highest second-quarter revenue ever last month and United States Steel said last week that its prices and profits have soared.
Trump’s EPA Pushes Rule Allowing Russian Asbestos Company Sales in the U.S.
Of course, all roads that Trump travels eventually lead to Russia.
On Monday we learned that on June 1 Trump's Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule allowing new products containing asbestos to be created.
On July 11 Uralasbest, a Russian company with ties to Vladimir Putin that is one of the world’s biggest producers of asbestos, praised the Trump administration for keeping asbestos legal. The company went so far as to brand their products with Trump’s face. Yes, asbestos is a carcinogen and also causes permanent lung damage.
Trump Republicans Press Pro-Russia Relations
But that was not all regarding Russia.
On Wednesday, Republican Senator Rand Paul visited Moscow. He said he delivered a letter to the Kremlin on behalf of Trump that “emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchanges.” If that was all, it’s hard to imagine why a hand-delivered secret letter was needed. No copy of the letter was released.
Earlier, over the Fourth of July, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) led a group of eight Republican Senators and Congressmen on a tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow. This included meetings with Russia’s politicians and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Though the trip was strongly criticized, Shelby told the leader of the Russian parliament that the visit sought to “strive for a better relationship” with Moscow, not “accuse Russia of this or that or so forth.”
With those sorts of efforts, perhaps it is not surprising that Gallop reported a poll on July 13 showing “the percentage of Republicans calling Russia a friend or ally is up sharply since 2014, from 22% to 40%.” For decades previously, the Republican party took a tough stance regarding Russia. The poll shows how far Trump has tilted some in the country toward Russia, despite the Russian invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Russian interference in the 2016 and 2018 U.S. elections and the recent Russian assassination attempt in Britain using a banned nerve agent.
The shift is perhaps best epitomized by the appearance at Trump’s rally in Ohio this week of supporters wearing shirts that read: “I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat.” Perhaps that can be arranged.
