General Discussion

Tom Rinaldo

(22,913 posts) Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:23 PM Jul 2019

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like one political party gets to pick the V.I.P.s

allowed central seating for a supposed non partisan national celebration of Independence Day on the Washington Mall. Everyone already knows that this is actually just a campaign event for Trump featuring his permanently attention starved megalomaniac ego, but is the actual organizing for it really this flat out naked partisan? Has Trump,for example, attempted to give a block of V.I.P.tickets to the D.N.C. to distribute also, or is it just the Republican National Committee and his reelection campaign that gets to determine which donors and hacks get to hog the best sight lines for photo ops at this obscene spectacle?

The only media coverage I've seen regarding the closed off V.I.P. area for July 4th discusses White House staffers getting blocks of tickets to distribute, and Republican donors being invited, and the R.N.C. playing a role if deciding who can and who can not be near the Lincoln Memorial. Am I missing something?

6 replies

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like one political party gets to pick the V.I.P.s (Original Post) Tom Rinaldo Jul 2019 OP

Since they discovered that they can ignore the Hatch Act, they're taking it to the logical extreme htuttle Jul 2019 #1

Nope - you nailed it leftieNanner Jul 2019 #2

The Trump Campaign needs to reimburse us. C_U_L8R Jul 2019 #3

It will be interesting to see how many they can coerce into attending Siwsan Jul 2019 #4

Reportedly, the two fireworks companies who "donated their services free of charge" sop Jul 2019 #5

Yeah, that's hideous corruption, but it's the standard same old Tom Rinaldo Jul 2019 #6

htuttle

(23,738 posts)

1. Since they discovered that they can ignore the Hatch Act, they're taking it to the logical extreme

Reply to Tom Rinaldo (Original post)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:26 PM

Jul 2019

leftieNanner

(15,122 posts)

2. Nope - you nailed it

Reply to Tom Rinaldo (Original post)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:26 PM

Jul 2019

It is a nakedly partisan campaign photo op. And I hope like hell that the sky opens up and delivers a biblical level storm on his ass! And you are also correct that this is likely illegal in ten or eleven different ways, but as with everything else this guys does, who's gonna prosecute?

C_U_L8R

(45,003 posts)

3. The Trump Campaign needs to reimburse us.

Reply to Tom Rinaldo (Original post)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:32 PM

Jul 2019

This is bullshit. It's not in anyone's interest except for Trump and his pathetic ego

Siwsan

(26,268 posts)

4. It will be interesting to see how many they can coerce into attending

Reply to Tom Rinaldo (Original post)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:32 PM

Jul 2019

From what I've been reading, tickets to the event aren't in high demand and most of those VIPs have already left town.

I know it's too much to hope for a strategic lightning strike, so hopefully it will all get rained out.

sop

(10,193 posts)

5. Reportedly, the two fireworks companies who "donated their services free of charge"

Reply to Tom Rinaldo (Original post)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 05:48 PM

Jul 2019

Last edited Wed Jul 3, 2019, 09:57 PM - Edit history (1)

only did it so Trump would exempt their industry from the China tariffs.

(ABC News) "President Donald Trump's Fourth of July celebration will feature $750,000 of donated fireworks from an Ohio retailer who has lobbied the White House against expanded tariffs on Chinese imports...And last week, the same day the donation was announced, the company, Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, Ohio, got what it wanted: Trump decided to hold off on his threatened $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/july-4th-fireworks-donor-lobbied-president-trump-tariffs/story?id=64108794

Tom Rinaldo

(22,913 posts)

6. Yeah, that's hideous corruption, but it's the standard same old

Reply to sop (Reply #5)

Wed Jul 3, 2019, 07:31 PM

Jul 2019

The same type thing happened with his inaugural committee. Then there's Ivanka's patents in China, and foreign interests buying suites in Trump's hotel and/or condos in his properties. People get to lobby Trump in person when they buy a membership in Mar-a-Lago, yada yada...

But this is like moving the Declaration of Independence from the Smithsonian to his personal living space in the White House and then rewarding big donors by letting them pose in front of it holding a quill pen.

We all know that Trump is appropriating our founding national holiday for his own ego and political ends. But he gets to pretend that this July 4th thing isn't a partisan event because he is the "President of the United States acting in his official capacity representing all Americans". The media talks about all the precedent's Trump is breaking but I haven't heard a single person say "in what alternate universe does the President get to rope off the heart of Washington's public mall and then allow his own political party to hand pick who is allowed to be seated there to celebrate the birth of our nation with him?" There aren't even any fig leafs being deployed. They are trying to help fill that space with major Republican Party donors.

It this really is what it looks like it should be an impeachable offense. And I'm dead serious.

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