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Time Magazine's New Cover Sums Up Donald Trump's Presidency: The Swamp Hotel
Donald Trump’s Swamp Hotel. Remember Trump’s promise to drain the swamp?
Well, Trump’s Swamp swells...
The potential conflicts of interest are dizzying. In the soaring atrium, guests kibitz under a massive U.S. flag—a gift on loan from the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that helps shape Administration policy and that thanked top donors by bankrolling a December gala here keynoted by then incoming Vice President Mike Pence. For Trump’s Inauguration, guests willing to fork over the steep fees could mingle with top federal officials. One VIP package, which offered lodging in a 6,300-sq.-ft. townhouse suite—two floors overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue, accessed through a discreet wooden door—was advertised for $500,000. The President invited members of Congress to lunch in the ballroom. “It’s an absolutely stunning hotel,” press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Jan. 19. “I encourage you to go there if you haven’t been by.”
Foreign governments seem particularly keen to patronize Trump’s property. Between Oct. 1 and March 31, lobbyists working on behalf of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ran up a $270,000 tab on rooms, catering and parking, according to foreign lobbying disclosures filed at the end of May and first reported by the Daily Caller. That stretch coincided with a Saudi lobbying push against legislation that would allow victims of terrorist attacks to sue foreign governments. In May, Trump chose Riyadh as his first foreign stop as President, where he announced an arms deal, gave a major foreign policy speech and participated in a traditional ceremonial sword dance.
In December, diplomats from Bahrain shifted that country’s National Day festivities to Trump International’s gilded, 13,000-sq.-ft. presidential ballroom. As if on cue, Kuwait moved its own annual gala in February from the Four Seasons across town to Trump International—even though the former location had already been reserved. The embassy of Azerbaijan co-hosted a Hanukkah party in the hotel’s elegant Lincoln Library, with a roster of guests that included Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, who has become notorious this spring for meeting with several Trump Administration officials. “You know, successful people own things,” Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin Suleymanov tells TIME. “That is a natural thing.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/6/8/1669950/-Time-Magazine-s-New-Cover-Sums-Up-Donald-Trump-s-Presidency-The-Swamp-Hotel
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