2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy Clinton’s perceived corruption seems to echo louder than Trump’s actual corruption
Hillary Clinton seems more tainted than Donald Trump, even though she isn't. Why?Source: Washington Post, by Daniel W. Drezner
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Now, consider Donald Trump. Here are a few stories about possible conflicts of interest and corruption scandals involving him in recent weeks: The Huffington Post reported that Trump quintupled the rent charged to the campaign for using Trump Tower between March and July, even though the campaign had fewer paid staff in the latter month. The obvious inference to draw is that Trump raised the rent once his campaign was being financed primarily by outside contributions rather than the candidate himself.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, as of July, 17 percent of all of the Trumps campaign spending had gone to companies linked to himself or his children, or to reimburse their travel expenses.
The Posts David Fahrenthold reported that Trump had to pay a $2,500 fine to the IRS because Trumps charitable foundation had violated tax laws by giving a political contribution [of $25,000] to a campaign group connected to Floridas attorney general. Oh, and by the way, after Florida Attorney General Pam Bondis campaign received that money, she decided not to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University. This is but one in a series of Fahrentholds investigations into Trumps bogus claims of charitable donations.
The AP reported the appearance of a similar pay-for-play deal with Texas governor Greg Abbott back in 2010 when Abbott was the Texas Attorney General and decided, like Bondi, not to pursue an investigation into Trump University. A former Texas official says he was told to drop any investigation for political reasons, according to CBS.
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In a nutshell?
Read it all at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/06/why-hillary-clintons-perceived-corruption-seems-to-echo-louder-than-donald-trumps-actual-corruption/?utm_term=.f5246ab51d21
SHRED
(28,136 posts)The horse race is all that matters to the profiteers so they manufacture one.
uponit7771
(90,382 posts)uponit7771
(90,382 posts)LAS14
(13,801 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Caliman73
(11,764 posts)There is such a visceral reaction to psychology, especially social psychology, that people in this country have. Reality is a construct based on perception. Now granted, most humans buy into a shared perception (I.E. a dog is a dog, car is a car, etc...) but there are many facets and complexities which are able to be manipulated.
The funny thing is that we look at a country like North Korea, and most Americans will say, "Man, those North Koreans are 'brainwashed'. How can they believe that there leader hit 18 holes in one?" We laugh at them, but it is a matter of degrees. When people think that there is any valid comparison between Clinton and Trump, then the ideas of "brainwashed" is not that silly. I have relatives who honestly believe that Clinton is literally responsible for the deaths at Benghazi. The media influences our perceptions and the constant drumbeat of "the Clintons just seem untrustworthy" has certainly taken hold after more than 25 years of persistence.