Oh No. Who Could Have Guessed?
CBS News is reporting a *possible* pay-to-pay scheme involving the Ambassador to the Bahamas. Did the guy buy his post?
Doug Manchester a California developer donated a million dollars to Trump’s inauguration fund and then, while his conformation was stalled in committee, he was asked by the RNC to donate half a million dollars to the RNC prior to his conformation hearing. So, Manchester replied to the RNC that his wife would donate $100,000 immediately and then when his name to be ambassador got the House floor for a vote, he would get the remaining $400,000 from his family.
Draining the swamp?
Once all this was discovered, Trump dropped his nomination.
When asked about it, Manchester explained, “Hey, that’s politics.”
During the Nixon administration, the president’s personal lawyer asked the wife of a wealthy department store owner for a US$250,000 campaign contribution in exchange for the ambassadorship to Costa Rica. She famously replied, “That’s a lot to pay for Costa Rica, isn’t it?” She eventually went to Luxembourg as ambassador, and shortly thereafter wrote checks to the Nixon re-election campaign that added up to $300,000.
That overt quid pro quo prompted the passage of the Foreign Service Act of 1980.
The act states that those appointed to be an ambassador “should possess clearly demonstrated competence to perform the duties of a chief of mission,” including knowledge of the language, history and culture of the country.
It added that, given those requirements, such positions “should normally be accorded to career members of the Foreign Service, though circumstance will warrant appointments from time to time of qualified individuals who are not.”
It also stressed that “contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor in the appointment of an individual as a chief of mission.”
Foreign Service Act of 1980… How quaint.
1Quelle surprise. Not to any of the denizens of the WMDBS. But the MAGAts seriously do not care. Any sentient human being knew that this was exactly what Republicons and especially crime boy IQ4.5 do as standard fare. We are stuck with what they voted for, until Donnie is removed by either death or impeachment. Removing Donnie is step one. Moscow Mitch, Leningrad Lindsey and the other Republicon Senators must go, too.
2The Ugly American (1963) 2:00:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZshuNuTlRmQ
An ambitious scholar (Marlon Brando) becomes the ambassador of Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war is brewing.
3Bless both their little hearts.
4We still have people going to jail because they paid for and manipulated their children’s college enrollment applications. Did they say, “hey, that’s education?”
No, they went to jail and paid a fine because their kids would have taken a spot from a more deserving student. Might there have been a more qualified ambassador to the Bahamas? Or do we know have another person who paid more for the position?
5Crooks. Every single day, this administration (and the RNC) demonstrate that they’re wall-to-wall crooks. And none of them seem the least bit embarrassed by it.
6