Asha Rangappa Thread re: Mary Trump Maddow interview

[catbyte]

Link to tweet

THREAD. Watching the interview with @MaryLTrump on @maddow and caught a small note which has enormous significance: She mentions how, when she provided the NYT with legal documents, she discovered things about the Trump estate which her “trustees” had never revealed 1/

2. A “trustee,” is a term with legal significance. Someone who acts as a trustee has a FIDUCIARY DUTY — in Mary Trump’s case, to act in her interest (she is the “beneficiary” of the estate being administered). In other words, they need to take steps to maximize *her* benefit 2/

3. What Mary reveals in her memoir is that her trustees — her aunts and uncles, including Donald — did not reveal to her the value of the assets held in trust for her and, it appears, did not give her what she was owed under that trust. So, should you care? Because it’s a pattern

4. The NY AG found that the Trump Foundation — run by Donald and his eldest three kids — violated their FIDUCIARY DUTY to the donors to that trust, using that money to benefit themselves rather than the causes they were meant for. The Foundation was shut down.

5. The Ukraine scandal was, at its core, about a violation of Trump’s FIDUCIARY DUTY to administer the funds appropriated by Congress in the way it intended, rather than for his personal benefit. When he was impeached for “abuse of power,” it was because he violated this trust
6. Everything that Barr is doing, at Trunp’s behest, is a violation of Trump’s FIDUCIARY DUTY, to the American people, to take care that the laws be FAITHFULLY executed. @jedshug and others have written about the fiduciary duty imposed by the word “faithfully” in Art. II
7. In short, this is a person who has no sense of acting in any fiduciary capacity to his OWN FAMILY — and has no qualms with pilfering from her. He has shown he will do the same from his own donors, from the Treasury, and from the American people. He has no interest but himself.

8. In case it’s not clear, as President, Trump is effectively a “trustee” for the American people, who are the “beneficiaries.” More ads/questions/talking points need to be framed in this way to fully highlight how he has violated and abused his power and the public trust.

[malaise]

1. Great post - Get thee to the greatest page

RFN!

[Sunsky]

2. Great analysis nt

[Cha]

3. Yes, it's a GD "pattern".

[intrepidity]

4. Exactly. nt

[sop]

5. Trump couldn't spell fiduciary if his life depended on it, much less understand the concept of duty.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Con men gain your trust, and then plunder you - this is the same thing

Mary Trump has laid it all out, and from what I saw, is not even sure what the impact will be, not even aware that she put it out there in a most opportune moment. Her book may move the needle against Trump another 2-3%. This is huge.

[benld74]

7. So glad I recorded Maddow last nite

[DeminPennswoods]

8. Her aunts and uncles cut off insurance payments

for her brother's very sick little boy for no other reason than to get their hands on the inheritance money that was supposed to go their brother Fred, Jr.

What else do you need to know about them?

[MontanaMama]

13. Yep.

After hearing that from Rachel last night, I pretty much went into the non-thinking zone of rage. I didn’t need to hear any more.

[NewJeffCT]

9. Asha is one of the smartest legal analysts out there

and she has a wicked sense of humor as well.

[Marcuse]

10. NT

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Yep. Fiduciary Responsibility is their Achille's Heel.

And by "their" I mean just about everyone who takes a position that looks over other people's interests.

[Mike 03]

12. Was Robert Trump was one of Mary's trustees?

Maybe this explains why Robert fought so hard to censor the book. Initially, I thought maybe he was put up to it by Donald Trump, but now perhaps he had his own reasons for wanting this book shut down.

[SergeStorms]

24. Yes.

All of Fred's children (Little Donnie, Mary, Robert) were the trustees. Little Donnie's sister Mary - who had a lifetime post as a federal judge (received with the help of Roy Cohn) - had to resign her judgeship so the details of their little crime syndicate wouldn't become public. Looks like they're going to become public anyway.

[Hortensis]

14. Attorneys representing at least a couple of the women

Trump bought off were actually working with Trump's official attorneys against them. This is obviously one of his standard tactics. In his world, whatever's not corrupt and therefore buyable gets corrupted or worked around by winners like him. Can't buy a judge? Replace her.

[wiggs]

15. The pattern has received so little attention...media instead likes to focus on

one conflict, one outrage at a time.

I remember reading/hearing that his accountants developed a policy to never meet with DT alone, but always have a backup witness in the room in case he lied about the discussion

EASY case to make, and yet....

[lagomorph777]

16. Ads can't use the word "fiduciary" but the concept is valid.

Personally, I think the life or death things need to be top of the list:

Trump is murdering Americans with his sabotage of COVID response.
Trump is murdering Americans by allowing Putin to kill our troops.
Trump is STILL kidnapping and torturing babies and children.
Trump is now kidnapping and disappearing protestors on our city streets.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. what's hidden is the payoff

There are entities in the world who want America weak. It's not only Russia. They want free reign with America out of their way. We are being undermined into - the term she used last night - "learned helplessness" so that we don't care what happens and can't do anything about it anyway.

[lagomorph777]

20. That was a key takeaway. Learned Helplessness.

Beaten into submission.

[sop]

25. That's Trump's only talent: he beats people into submission, relentlessly wearing people down,

constantly lying about everything, never letting go of whatever insane idea he wants others to believe, gaslighting everyone till they finally question reality and simply give up.

[Eyeball_Kid]

29. One of the nightmares political scientists have

is the dissolution of Constitutional democracy by the corporate world.

For a stable government, there needs to be a balance of power that always leans toward government. If business interests get powerful enough, they can take advantage of a weak federal government and apply strong influences on everything until, perhaps, they decide to dissolve government itself and replace it with a network of corporate networks. Some corporations can make billions while paying no taxes. Now that's powerful. And it shows the limits of unregulated capitalism. It shows the snake eating its tail.

[calimary]

17. K&R

Wanna keep this one.

[iluvtennis]

19. Awesome tweet...read it last night. "[Mary's] uncles and aunts violated their FIDUCIARY DUTY"

What a bunch of criminal a-holes. Karma will find them all.

[SayItLoud]

21. Great post and once again it seems the #TrumpCrimeFamily was and IS above the law. nt.

[ananda]

22. Very telling, but not surprising.

We've known that Trump is the most corrupt president ever,
ever since he took the oath of office, which he has since
violated repeatedly.

[Sherman A1]

31. Precisely

No surprise here.

[Evolve Dammit]

23. excellent points. Thank you

[lunatica]

26. The gutter is still the gutter no matter

how much gold foil you cover it with. The denizens are still rats.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

27. K & R

[Mr. Ected]

28. It was the saddest moment of her interview with Rachel

Donald was the trustee of her trust. He owed her a fiduciary duty to protect her assets per the terms of the trust. He obviously did the opposite and left her empty-handed and disillusioned.

If there is, in fact, a Hell, it exists to punish people like Donald J. Trump for an eternity.

[smirkymonkey]

30. K&R