President-elect Donald Trump pauses during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)In setting out his "plan" to reassure Americans that his policy decisions won't be clouded by his business and personal profit decisions, Donald Trump wants us just to hear this: "Trust me."
Trump and attorney Sheri Dillon explained in a bizarre news conference Wednesday that a trust will be established. Trump's two oldest sons and longtime Trump executive Allen Weisselberg will run it. And then the sons and he won't talk about either business or policy.
"The president-elect will have no role in deciding whether the Trump Organization engages in any new deal, and he will only know of a deal if he reads it in the paper or sees it on TV," Dillon said.
Huh? So all family meetings will stop? And family dinners will focus only on the weather? And Trump (and the sons who might initiate, stall or stop deals based on a policy story in the news - or perhaps Dad's Twitter feed) will never read a newspaper or watch news programs or peruse Twitter again?
And what of the profits from foreign entities renting rooms and services from Trump companies either to curry favor or to even simply to show good will to our soon-to-be president? Don't worry, those "profits" will be voluntarily donated to the United States Treasury. But, no, we still can't see his tax returns. So how will we know, exactly?
But trust him.
"Don and Eric are going to be running the company. They are going to be running it in a very professional manner," Trump said. Later, trying to end what became a contentious news conference on a note of Trump branding humor, he instead tipped his hand: "I hope at the end of eight years, I'll come back and say, oh, you did a good job. Otherwise, if they do a bad job, I'll say, "You're fired."
So he's not really giving up the business. Just farming it out. The bottom line is the business empire will still be his.
He might as well have been holding a giant sign that says, "Open for business, but don't call me, call my sons."
And, of course, he couldn't help himself - he had to brag:
"Now, I have to say one other thing. Over the weekend I was offered $2 billion to do a deal in Dubai - a number of deals and I turned it down. I didn't have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I'm president. I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to. I'd do a very good job "
Most pundits threw up their hands, and ethics experts - including some who served other Republican presidents - gnashed their teeth, speaking out about the wrongness of this, and about what this says to Americans.
But Nicole Wallace, a former communications chief for President George W. Bush and a senior strategist for John McCain's presidential bid, told MSNBC that over the weekend she visited Erie, Pa., and spoke with "real people" who "didn't care" about any of those potential conflicts of interest.
Wallace's Twitter feed afterward shows a response from a number of Erie residents who beg to differ.
Polls, too, show that Trump's bravado is wearing thin.
While President Barack Obama rides an approval-rating wave nearing 60 percent, Trump hit an approval-rating high of just 44 percent right after the election and now has fallen back to a mere 37 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Jan. 10. That was just before the newest Russian scandal made the news and before Trump's pitiful Wednesday business trust announcement.
"As honeymoons go, Donald Trump's wasn't much to write home about. He was voted in as the most unpopular president-elect in modern history and got slightly less unpopular in the weeks that followed," writes The Washington Post.
Quinnipiac's analysis notes that 51 percent of American voters surveyed disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president-elect. Only 37 percent approve.
What's more, 45 percent said Trump will be a worse president than Obama, while 34 percent said he will be a better president and 15 percent said he will be about the same.
Trump is overestimating himself and underestimating voters - even his base.
They will not be patient with half measures, fake transparency and a deepening swamp.
They will be even less patient with any more Access Hollywood-like sex tapes, if they exist. Especially if they (or business conflicts such as "deals") put American security at risk from Russia or any foreign government.
Trump apparently does not understand that he is playing with fire.