© Mike Segar / Reuters
Here's how a pre-bribe works.
When a president leaves office, you offer the ex-president an enormous speaking fee. Let's say $400,000. The ex-president does the speech and banks the money. The ex-president has no power at that point, so the speaking fee can't be seen as a bribe because there is no quid pro quo.
But what about the president that is in office while this happens? Do you think the current president notices when the the prior president gets a $400,000 payday for an hour of work?
It would be hard to miss.
So let's say the company that hired the ex-president asks for a meeting with the current president. Do you think the company gets that meeting? And do you think the current president bends over backwards to get them whatever they need?
He does if he wants a $400,000 payday after leaving office. That's a pre-bribe.
Totally legal.
I agree with those who say President Trump hasn't done enough draining of the swamp. But I do like having a president who could turn down a $400,000 payday without blinking. And that's not nothing.
By the way, do you remember when Trump famously claimed he was worth $10 billion and his critics said it was closer to $3 billion? If Trump has a successful presidency (which I predict will happen), the Trump brand will be worth at least $10 billion at the end of his term. That would be no surprise to anyone who read the book that Trump's childhood minister wrote.
Obama and the democrats are despicable for accepting pre and post bribes, but at least you have a healthy part of them (the part that supports Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard) that is fighting to end legalized bribery in the form of private campaign finance!! The whole point of Bernie's campaign was putting an end to such form of legalized bribery disguised as campaign finance because money isn't speech and corporations aren't people.
I don't see conservatives advocating for an end to private campaign finance.. they seem to not care that politicians for decades have been representing their compaign donors instead of their voters.
Also, I can't help but notice the low intelligence of some people;
"But I do like having a president who could turn down a $400,000 payday without blinking."
Duhhh!!! The billionaire class does not need to buy Donald Trump because he IS PART OF the billionaire class. He is not going to pass laws and sign executive orders against himself. But he may do it against the middle and lower classes because he does not relate to them.
Donald Trump does not need to clean the swamp, he IS the swamp. It is not smart to ellect a billionaire in order to try and prevent billionaires from controlling government.
People in America seem to have skipped sociology and history classes and not have a clue what social classes are and how humans instinctively act in accordance with their own class interests.