Trump pitches a highly dubious $1 billion deal to Big Oil execs

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Donald Trump made a pitch to Big Oil executives: If they spent $1 billion to help elect him, he'd scrap environmental safeguards and give them tax breaks.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-pitches-highly-dubious-1-billion-deal-big-oil-execs-rcna151621

As it happens, that’s not the only “gross” connection between Team Trump and Big Oil. The Washington Post also reported on a recent Mar-a-Lago gathering at which the former president sat with some of the country’s top oil executives, who complained about “burdensome” environmental safeguards.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

According to the Post’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, the presumptive GOP nominee told the oil executives that if they raised $1 billion to put him back in power, it’d a good “deal” for the industry because they’d end up making more than that in profits thanks to Trump’s policies on taxes and regulations......

President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign responded to the reporting with a statement that read in part, “This is Trump’s corrupt MAGA agenda in a nutshell: Trump acting as a puppet for his largest donors — giving them tax breaks and favorable policies while working families get screwed over.”

I’m mindful of the fact that the definition of the word “populist” can sometimes be amorphous, but the next time someone uses it to describe Trump, remind them of this story. An oil billionaire organized a gathering at the former president’s glorified country club, where Trump made a brazenly transactional pitch to oil executives, whom he expects to help put him in the Oval Office, at which point he’ll fulfill their anti-environmental dreams.

A “man of the people” he is not, unless the “people” in question are wealthy Big Oil elites.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Biden-Harris campaign statement on new report that TFG is asking oil executives to contribute $1 billion to his campaign

Link to tweet

[BoRaGard]

3. G.O.P. is on their knees for Big Money. Typical.

What a disgrace.

They would destroy the planet, and their children's future, to grub money.

Sad.

[keithbvadu2]

2. Gov't for sale but gov't does not get the money.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Once installed into the WH, Trump would want a slice of their profits.

Fascist leaders rely on oligarchs to help them seize power.

But once installed into high office, they screw over the oligarchs and want
a big portion of their profits.

One reason Putin is the richest man in the world.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. TFG is asking for bribes

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Trump's pitch to Big Oil execs sparks Senate Democrats' attention

Will Senate Democrats hold hearings into Donald Trump's controversial pitch to oil industry executives? It's “highly likely,” one key member said.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-pitch-big-oil-execs-sparks-senate-democrats-attention-rcna151943

The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie responded soon after, “I’m obviously angered by the blatant disregard for the planet and its inhabitants. But I’m also struck by the in-your-face brazenness of Trump’s reported quid pro quo. This is more than the hint of corruption; it is the overpowering scent of the rotting corpse of corruption. It is influence trading of the sort that would embarrass a Boss Tweed or a Roscoe Conkling, whose 'honest graft' came with at least the pretense of pursuing the public good.”.....

Have the revelations opened the door to possible scrutiny on Capitol Hill? In the Republican-led House, no. In the Democratic-led Senate, maybe. The New Republic’s Greg Sargent reported:

For starters, the revelations seem to cry out for more scrutiny from Congress. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has been presiding over hearings into the oil industry as chair of the Budget Committee, says it’s “highly likely” that the committee will examine the new revelations.

“This is practically an invitation to ask more questions,” the Rhode Island Democrat told Greg, describing this as a “natural extension of the investigation already underway.”

The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie responded soon after, “I’m obviously angered by the blatant disregard for the planet and its inhabitants. But I’m also struck by the in-your-face brazenness of Trump’s reported quid pro quo. This is more than the hint of corruption; it is the overpowering scent of the rotting corpse of corruption. It is influence trading of the sort that would embarrass a Boss Tweed or a Roscoe Conkling, whose 'honest graft' came with at least the pretense of pursuing the public good.”

Have the revelations opened the door to possible scrutiny on Capitol Hill? In the Republican-led House, no. In the Democratic-led Senate, maybe. The New Republic’s Greg Sargent reported:

For starters, the revelations seem to cry out for more scrutiny from Congress. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who has been presiding over hearings into the oil industry as chair of the Budget Committee, says it’s “highly likely” that the committee will examine the new revelations.

“This is practically an invitation to ask more questions,” the Rhode Island Democrat told Greg, describing this as a “natural extension of the investigation already underway.”

Whitehouse added, “The phrase that instantly came to mind as I was reading the story was ‘quid pro quo.’” Referencing both the Post’s report and the aforementioned Politico article, the senator concluded, “Put those things together and it starts to look mighty damn corrupt.”

All things considered, I think it’s fair to say that Senate Democrats have exercised extraordinary restraint — by some measures, too much — in not holding committee hearings in response to every episodic development surrounding the former president. While the likes of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan have reached for their gavel in response to meaningless Fox News segments, Democrats in the upper chamber have been far more measured about chasing assorted Trump scandals.