The man who gets away with everything

For the man who can get away with everything, these displays of cronyism are only the beginning.

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Only Donald Trump would continue sponsoring campaign-style rallies, a full month after Election Day. And only Trump’s most fervent followers, the zealots who still show up to hear him gloat at those events, would continue to chant “Drain the swamp!” at his command — when he is so obviously emptying that swamp into the White House swimming pool.

The bad joke of 2016 is that Trump actually perpetrates every one of the offenses charged against Hillary Clinton, whether invented or plausible, while he escapes all the blaming and shaming that fell so heavily upon her. The starkest example is the contrast between the Clinton Foundation, an enormous force for good that was falsely accused of wrongdoing in countless stories, columns and broadcasts, and the Trump Foundation, a vainglorious vehicle for tax evasion that has now confessed to unlawful self-dealing and remains barred from doing business by authorities in its home state.

But it is the Clintons’ reputation that suffered, even as Trump and his family remain unscathed.

During the campaign, Trump shrieked “pay for play!” to defame the Clintons over and over again, without proof. But now he is doling out top positions in government to the patrons of his campaign, his business and his foundation. To Trump, a post in his cabinet is not a commitment of trust granted on behalf of the people, but a plum to bestow on some crony who once did him a favor.

The most wanton example is designated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a political and financial opportunist who predicted many months ago that if he raised enough money, then Trump would reward him with precisely this powerful post. Imagine the outrage if Clinton had appointed someone like Mnuchin — a former top executive of Goldman Sachs who ruthlessly exploited government bailouts and crushed poor homeowners in the wake of the financial crisis — after he had raised millions of dollars for her campaign.

The hair on every pundit and anchor across America would have simultaneously burst into flame.

But those same media sages watch Trump appoint Mnuchin, then shrug and comment wryly on his Goldman pedigree. Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon is from Goldman as well, of course — and on Dec. 9, Trump chose Gary Cohn, the Wall Street mammoth’s chief operating officer, to head the National Economic Council.

As some wit said, Trump will be giving a speech to Goldman Sachs every time he addresses a White House meeting.

Another billionaire financial operator chosen by Trump is Wilbur Ross, a “vulture” capitalist who got to know Trump when the real estate mogul was going bust, bigly, in Atlantic City. It was Ross who gave Trump the most important boost of his business career. Rather than force him into a personal bankruptcy that would have destroyed his career (and saved us from his impending presidency), Ross persuaded the banks to let him survive.

That was a bad decision for many of Trump’s creditors, who saw their companies ruined, but it has turned out to be a good decision for Ross — who will soon wield power over major policy decisions affecting trade and industry as commerce secretary. Of course, Ross also made large donations to Trump’s campaign.

Then there’s Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive and failed Republican senatorial candidate from Connecticut just appointed by Trump to run the Small Business Administration. Promoting a fake sport may not qualify her to operate an important agency. And her family company has many embarrassing moments in its recent past, including the unlamented XFL. McMahon has no experience in government at all, but she does possess even more important credentials: She and husband Vince donated $5 million to the Trump Foundation and $6 million to a Donald Trump super PAC this year.

Pay for play? Hillary Clinton never did anything nearly so brazen, whether as first lady, senator, secretary of state or candidate. But for the man who can get away with everything, these displays of cronyism are only the beginning.

FALL FUNDRAISER

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