Unless you have been under a rock, you have heard the word emolument more than you want in the last week. Democrats have cried about how President Trump has violated the emolument clause in his attempts to have the G7 at Trump Doral in Florida. Then President Trump called the emolument clause phony during statements to the media. Let’s take a closer look.
The emolument clause the media and Democrats are referring to is in two portions of the Constitution. The first one is located in Article 1 section 9. In this foreign emoluments clause, it states that no one holding office should receive gifts, payments, office or title from any King, Prince or foreign state. This is the clause that was initially brought up by Democrats and media.
The second is located in Article 2 section 1. In this domestic emoluments clause, the Constitution states that the President should receive a salary and no other emolument from the United States or any state. President Trump referred to this in his statements. Before we continue, here’s the link to Trump’s statements.
CNN was quick to fact check his comments about Obama and quick to post the domestic emoluments clause to view. There are a couple issues with the left’s motives here, but also with Trump’s approach.
First, President Trump has repeated that he has no ownership stake in his businesses and no positions in his businesses. He resigned all of these prior to his assuming office. This is a failure of the left in trying to prove that Trump or his family is gaining from this. While there was no proof, the impression of a potential gain was there. This also highlights one of Trump’s failures.
Trump stated in his comments that he was going to make sure the event was held at no expense to the United States. Because of this, holding the G7 summit at Trump Doral is not a violation of the emoluments clause. Yet, Trump did not explain this prior to the announcement of the summit location. Without this explanation up front, it gave the liberal media and Democrats talking points.
The second failure of the media is to attempt to attack President Trump over his statements. CNN was quick to post the message about the emoluments regarding salary and the correction over Trump’s statements about Obama. They certainly were not quick to correct Jake Tapper’s statements in that he accused Trump of violating the emoluments clause everyday. The Constitution does not restrict a President from earning a salary, only from receiving emoluments from the US government or the states outside of his salary.
The emoluments clause of the constitution is very real and is a good thing. We should not have a President profiting off the office from foreign governments. The President should not profit from states either. The emoluments clause that the Democrats are making up is phony, however.
I understand that there are portions of the Constitution that may be difficult to understand. From the changes in English language to the changes in writing style, it can be a challenge to navigate at times. But there are sections like this which are very clear. While the left continues to try to educate the President on the constitution, perhaps they should actually learn it themselves.
If President Trump had clarified his plans ahead of time, this would most likely not be an issue. Sure, the liberal media would still argue that he is profiting, even though he has no ownership anymore. President Trump is not perfect, but in this case, he is right in calling the emolument clause the left is pushing phony.
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