Hobbled Lobby-
May 13, 2016 22:09:40 #
Hobbled Lobby--K street says its ready for Donald Trump--28h.,b58,44
Bottom line is he's winning," he told reporters. "He's going to win." Over the last few months, prominent consultants and business representatives have made it clear that they prefer Trump to his chief rival Ted Cruz. Paul Manafort, whose client list included deposed Ukrainian autocrat Viktor Yanukovych, has joined the campaign as convention manager. The center of Washington's influence industry, K Street, is far more open to Trump than the rest of the city is. Bob Dole, John Feehery, Rudy Giuliani and Trent Lott—they're all flacks for powerful interests, and they've all expressed a willingness to work with the real estate on mogul. "He's got the right personality," Dole told the New York Times in January and he's kind of a dealmaker.
This notion of Trump as a dealmaker, as a businessman and master negotiator, is at the heart of his appeal to D.C. lobbyists. Cruz, the thinking goes, would disrupt the capital with his war on what he calls "the Washington cartel." Trump on the other hand would be willing to listen to the thousands of has registered lobbyists—and thousands more unregistered public relations and media and crisis consultants. He'd be to more likely than Cruz to include K Street's desired tax breaks and exemptions and pork barrel projects in his tax, tariff, and infrastructure bills. Trump, the lobbyists believe, would be a pro-business president rather than a pro-market one. Which makes lobbyists see dollar signs.
The problem? The lobbyists' theory is almost certainly wrong. Trump is no more likely than Cruz to bow to K Street's wishes. His reputation as a dealmaker is entirely self-created and self-interested: Bragging about his business accomplishments is a substitute for the political and government experience he so obviously lacks. Haggling over licensing fees and favoring marble tile over terrazzo bears very little resemblance to writing, proposing, and compromising over a tax code of 75,000 pages and a budget of $4.2 trillion. Bob Livingston may want a dealmaker in Trump. But he's more likely to get a kingpin.
Unwritten norms govern how much firms charge their clients. And congressmen have been wary of lobbyists ever since the scandals of a decade ago. Indeed, the scandals themselves demonstrated just how boring and petty everyday lobbying is.
But the one thing Donald Trump has demonstrated in this presidential campaign is his refusal to play by the rules. Nor has he any particular loyalty to K Street. He's rarely used its services in the past: According to federal databases, the Trump Organization and Trump Casino employed registered lobbyists only between the years 1999 and 2001 and for the relatively paltry sum of $205,250.
Most of the lobbyists Trump retained were interested in legislation affecting casino gambling. Former Trump adviser Roger Stone's firm, for example, was paid $65,250 over a six month period in 1999 to influence the national gaming impact study, the "transportation of gaming devices," the "federal gaming tax," and "tax treatment of gaming losses"—a subject important to Trump because he somehow managed to lose money on his casinos.
Trump doesn't lobby. He employs an entirely different set of means to bend public policy to his whims. He donates to campaigns to "buy" politicians. He threatens and files lawsuits. He uses the bully pulpit to harass individual who stand in his way and id to intimidate potential critics. He brags, he threatens, he pouts, he bullies. And he relies on a shady network of business associates and fixers.
Trump has benefited from elites who have underestimated his abilities, dismissed his outrageousness. or erroneously believed his willingness to transgress democratic norms can be put to their advantage.
source--weekly standard (4/11/16), matthew continetti, paul manafort, nyt,
Bottom line is he's winning," he told reporters. "He's going to win." Over the last few months, prominent consultants and business representatives have made it clear that they prefer Trump to his chief rival Ted Cruz. Paul Manafort, whose client list included deposed Ukrainian autocrat Viktor Yanukovych, has joined the campaign as convention manager. The center of Washington's influence industry, K Street, is far more open to Trump than the rest of the city is. Bob Dole, John Feehery, Rudy Giuliani and Trent Lott—they're all flacks for powerful interests, and they've all expressed a willingness to work with the real estate on mogul. "He's got the right personality," Dole told the New York Times in January and he's kind of a dealmaker.
This notion of Trump as a dealmaker, as a businessman and master negotiator, is at the heart of his appeal to D.C. lobbyists. Cruz, the thinking goes, would disrupt the capital with his war on what he calls "the Washington cartel." Trump on the other hand would be willing to listen to the thousands of has registered lobbyists—and thousands more unregistered public relations and media and crisis consultants. He'd be to more likely than Cruz to include K Street's desired tax breaks and exemptions and pork barrel projects in his tax, tariff, and infrastructure bills. Trump, the lobbyists believe, would be a pro-business president rather than a pro-market one. Which makes lobbyists see dollar signs.
The problem? The lobbyists' theory is almost certainly wrong. Trump is no more likely than Cruz to bow to K Street's wishes. His reputation as a dealmaker is entirely self-created and self-interested: Bragging about his business accomplishments is a substitute for the political and government experience he so obviously lacks. Haggling over licensing fees and favoring marble tile over terrazzo bears very little resemblance to writing, proposing, and compromising over a tax code of 75,000 pages and a budget of $4.2 trillion. Bob Livingston may want a dealmaker in Trump. But he's more likely to get a kingpin.
Unwritten norms govern how much firms charge their clients. And congressmen have been wary of lobbyists ever since the scandals of a decade ago. Indeed, the scandals themselves demonstrated just how boring and petty everyday lobbying is.
But the one thing Donald Trump has demonstrated in this presidential campaign is his refusal to play by the rules. Nor has he any particular loyalty to K Street. He's rarely used its services in the past: According to federal databases, the Trump Organization and Trump Casino employed registered lobbyists only between the years 1999 and 2001 and for the relatively paltry sum of $205,250.
Most of the lobbyists Trump retained were interested in legislation affecting casino gambling. Former Trump adviser Roger Stone's firm, for example, was paid $65,250 over a six month period in 1999 to influence the national gaming impact study, the "transportation of gaming devices," the "federal gaming tax," and "tax treatment of gaming losses"—a subject important to Trump because he somehow managed to lose money on his casinos.
Trump doesn't lobby. He employs an entirely different set of means to bend public policy to his whims. He donates to campaigns to "buy" politicians. He threatens and files lawsuits. He uses the bully pulpit to harass individual who stand in his way and id to intimidate potential critics. He brags, he threatens, he pouts, he bullies. And he relies on a shady network of business associates and fixers.
Trump has benefited from elites who have underestimated his abilities, dismissed his outrageousness. or erroneously believed his willingness to transgress democratic norms can be put to their advantage.
source--weekly standard (4/11/16), matthew continetti, paul manafort, nyt,
May 14, 2016 05:21:54 #
trump gave me a cheap ass ciger when he opened the taj in ac, but he went bust because he didn't know how to run a casino. the taj needed $1,000,000 a day to make its nut. it was doomed from the start, the don pulled his money out and left the other investors holding the bag.
May 14, 2016 16:19:16 #
speed 1 wrote:
trump gave me a cheap ass ciger when he opened the taj in ac, but he went bust because he didn't know how to run a casino. the taj needed $1,000,000 a day to make its nut. it was doomed from the start, the don pulled his money out and left the other investors holding the bag.
And you wouldn't have done the same? You are just ticked because he gave you a 'cheap' cigar, according to you. You didn't have to accept it nor gamble in the Taj. You could have gone elsewhere, but no, you could be bought with a 'cheap' cigar.
May 15, 2016 23:20:26 #
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