title:  U.S. Taxpayers Were On The Hook For Trump’s Corruption Before He Was Even Inaugurated
text: Ethics? Divestment? We ve known for awhile that these two words are alien to Trump and his family, but until recently, we didn t really have a solid example of the corruption that this would sow within the administration. Now we do   in early January, Eric Trump took a short trip to Uruguay to promote the Trump Organization, and we taxpayers were left on the hook for a lot of the cost.Eric Trump, being Trump s immediate family, gets Secret Service protection like his daddy. So we, the taxpayers, paid for hotel rooms, flights, and incidentals for the Secret Service to be there protecting Eric while he ate at beach-front restaurants, mingled with presumably important real estate brokers, and went to an ultra-exclusive party. We re on the hook for roughly $100,000 right now.Some will say that s nothing compared to Obama s supposedly extravagant vacations. Some will say that even if it s not government business, a little here and there won t hurt (especially compared to how many taxpayer dollars they re just certain Obama wasted on himself). Those who make these claims will be ignoring one very important fact: Obama wasn t using taxpayer dollars to pay for his own and his family s protection while he was busy promoting a commercial enterprise that is supposed to be 100 percent separate from the government.There s a word for this: Corruption. Political corruption, by definition, is a government official (or the entire government) using public resources for private gain. Or, as the Washington Post put it: In this case, government agencies are forced to pay to support business operations that ultimately help to enrich the president himself. Trump has been in office for a whole two weeks, and Eric went to Uruguay before he took office. Even so, as the President-elect at the time, it was still on us to pay for the Secret Service, and for the U.S. Embassy in Uruguay to have staff at the hotel for this  VIP visit.  It s not unusual for family members to travel independently of the president, but when was the last time a president s family members used public dollars to promote private business interests?This is sick.Featured image by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images