Should the latest “revelation” that Donald Trump deliberately downplayed the COVID-19 threat, despite “knowing” that it was a danger to the country in the early days, really be a shock to anyone, just because it was caught on an audio recording? Trump has proved time and time again that he doesn’t care about “other” people, unless there is something in it for him, like getting reelected and avoiding criminal indictments for another four years. This is plain enough to see in Michael Cohen’s book Disloyal which I received a copy of the other day; after an initial thumb-through, my impression is that it is a valuable resource into the netherworld of Trump.
One of Cohen’s anecdotes tells us that Trump received complaints about peeling paint from guest rooms at his Doral resort; the rooms had been recently repainted, and he instructed Cohen to contact the contractor who had done the work and inform him that he would not receive payment unless he brought his crew back and did the job “right.” The contractor told Cohen that he used the paint that Trump had personally selected, because it was the cheapest available, the kind of paint for temporary “band-aid” use. The contractor had warned Trump that this paint was unsuitable for the purpose, but the penny-pinching Trump insisted on it. Cohen knew that Trump would never admit to making such a foolish decision, but he also knew that if the contractor sued for payment in court, there was a “chance” he’d actually win.
What to do next? Cohen and Trump decided on another tactic, to contact the paint manufacturer, Benjamin Moore, and claim that the paint was “defective” and demand a full refund. At first the local director of sales of the company tried to call Cohen’s bluff, insisting that he send them a can of the paint so that it could be tested for comparison. Cohen knew the claim of “defective” paint would be found to be bogus, so he threatened to start a media campaign of bad publicity that would be harmful to company sales. After a pow-wow among upper management, the paint company offered first 10,000 gallons of free, more expensive paint, which Cohen knew wasn’t needed and couldn’t be stored anywhere, and instead suggested a credit line for a similar amount of paint for future use, which was settled on. Trump was much impressed by Cohen’s ability to turn a screw-up of Trump’s own making into a profitable “mistake.” There were many such examples of Trump using his money and position to bully those with lesser resources to fight back from such unethical and often illegal behavior.
Trump has predictably come out swinging against Cohen and his book, but who are we supposed to believe--Cohen or a guy who spells the word liar “lier”? Cohen is just one of a long line of former Trump aiders and abettors who have turned against Trump after they discovered that they were being forced to foot 100 percent of legal liability for actions taken on Trump’s behalf, and usually on Trump’s orders.
There were those, like Jeff Sessions, who acquired Trump’s ire and were forced out--but only after the damage of their own actions had already been done. And now Trump seems willing to throw current Post Master General Louis DeJoy under the bus--after the damage DeJoy caused on his behalf has already been done. In its essentials, DeJoy is now being accused of the same crime that Dinesh D’Souza was convicted of: getting around campaign finance laws by “persuading” unwilling people to donate to candidates of his own personal choosing (all Republicans), and then “reimbursing” them later. Unlike D’Souza, who made direct payments to those making the donations on his behalf, DeJoy apparently attempted to disguise the reimbursements by calling them “bonuses.” According to the Washington Post,
Plant managers at New Breed said they received strongly worded admonitions from superiors that they should give money when DeJoy was holding fundraisers. A program manager said that when he was handed his first company bonus, a New Breed vice president told him he should buy a ticket to DeJoy’s next fundraiser. Several employees said New Breed often distributed large bonuses of five figures or higher. Bonuses did not usually correlate with the exact amount of political contributions, but were large enough to account for both performance payments and donations, according to the two people with knowledge of company finances.
DeJoy’s spokespeople naturally denied any such thing. It is clear enough why DeJoy would do such a thing; being a bigger fish in the Republican fund-raising universe has its perks, such getting in good with political and business power brokers--and in doing so, being installed in a powerful position in which he would be able to manipulate for personal and business profit. One member of USPS’ board noted that during his first interview for the Post Master job, DeJoy asked all of the questions; obviously he was seeking to find out if there was any “profit” in it for himself if he would be the one taking the “heat” for the decisions being made then to gut the Post Office’s ability to carry out its mandate, and being done to satisfy Trump’s desire to make more difficult widespread mail-in balloting--because in his way of thinking it would make it easier for the “wrong” kind of voter to vote.
Unfortunately for DeJoy, he is learning that when you do Trump’s bidding in ways that are clearly politically motivated to help Trump personally, and if not completely illegal but have harmful side effects to the population at large, the media wants to know more about you, and the more it learns, the more congressional and state investigators want to know. And when they find potentially illegal activity--like, say, campaign fraud--then you find out who your “real friends” are, and Trump tends to be one of those “friends” who is hard to find when you are in trouble. During a press conference earlier this week, Trump claimed that he only thought--not “knew”--that DeJoy was a “very honest guy,” but that “we’ll see” after an investigation. He seemed to agree that DeJoy should be fired or resign “if something can be proven that he did something wrong, always."
At this point, DeJoy might be asking himself why oh why did he agree to be Post Master General. But he has only himself to blame if he wasn’t smart enough to learn from the past four years that you should be wary of doing anything Trump wants you to do for him, because as Cohen wrote in his book, Trump would just as soon “kill” you rather then help you if anything goes wrong that can be traced back to himself personally--unless, of course you take the full rap for him, and you are the one sitting in a jail cell in his place.
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