Ronald Reagan received an honorary knighthood* from QEII in 1989, after he was no longer President — and back then it was controversial, unprecedented, Not Done, for even a former President to accept a Title of Honor. But in 1993 the same title was given to George H. W. Bush once he was no longer President, and for the same reason, their help to the UK in the Falklands War. ... Which actually touches on the reason Presidents and other officers are not to accept foreign emoluments or titles, so they do not act in the interest of foreign governments rather than their own.
“No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” — Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.
Noice that Trump is currently President, not former President. Notice also that no bill has gone through Congress consenting to him accepting either foreign titles or foreign emoluments while in office — he simply hasn’t been impeached yet on the latter basis, and now I suppose it remains to be seen whether he will be on the former basis.
That is, we could now eagerly expect the GOP to finally wake up and become angry about Trump using the Constitution as toilet paper, as if they hadn’t known all along he was doing that — but they’ve been doing that too, so realistically why should we expect them to be outraged at him for the same thing? The fig leaf of waiting until term’s end has been dropped, that is all, and naked corruption is exposed to view as if to boast that you can’t do anything about it, because the GOP holds all the levers of power.
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* He could not be called “Sir Ronald”, because real knighthoods are only for British subjects, not foreigners.
Drumpf bowing to the Saudis
ReplyDeleteThis is, constitutionally, a Big Deal.
ReplyDeleteRonald Reagan received an honorary knighthood* from QEII in 1989, after he was no longer President — and back then it was controversial, unprecedented, Not Done, for even a former President to accept a Title of Honor. But in 1993 the same title was given to George H. W. Bush once he was no longer President, and for the same reason, their help to the UK in the Falklands War. ... Which actually touches on the reason Presidents and other officers are not to accept foreign emoluments or titles, so they do not act in the interest of foreign governments rather than their own.
“No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” — Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.
Noice that Trump is currently President, not former President. Notice also that no bill has gone through Congress consenting to him accepting either foreign titles or foreign emoluments while in office — he simply hasn’t been impeached yet on the latter basis, and now I suppose it remains to be seen whether he will be on the former basis.
That is, we could now eagerly expect the GOP to finally wake up and become angry about Trump using the Constitution as toilet paper, as if they hadn’t known all along he was doing that — but they’ve been doing that too, so realistically why should we expect them to be outraged at him for the same thing? The fig leaf of waiting until term’s end has been dropped, that is all, and naked corruption is exposed to view as if to boast that you can’t do anything about it, because the GOP holds all the levers of power.
__________
* He could not be called “Sir Ronald”, because real knighthoods are only for British subjects, not foreigners.