The Cost of “The Vig”

 

By Calvin Hill

In 2016, Donald Trump told Americans that he would reveal his tax returns if he won the GOP nomination. He lied. He said that if he won the Presidency, he would release them. Another lie.

During this pandemic, it seems that Donald Trump has had more phone calls with Vladimir Putin than he has had with Congress to aid the American people. We the people need to know if this President is in debt to Russian loan sharks. He refuses to criticize Putin, and according to his staff, he refuses to listen to any negative reports on Putin or Russia. Why? Now we know. The Senate Intelligence Committee Report, headed by Marco Rubio, confirms what Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said – that for Donald Trump, “All roads lead to Putin.”

After multiple bankruptcies of Trump companies, American banks refused to lend him the billions of dollars he needed. Eventually, his own son said that they no longer needed American money – they got all the financing they needed from Russia. But Vladimir Putin is not a bank. He is a corrupt dictator who has consolidated the wealth of the Russian people and that country’s resources.

As President, Trump and his family have been gouging the American taxpayers. He forces soldiers to stay at Trump properties. He endorses Republicans who hold fundraisers at Trump properties. He charges the United States exorbitant rates for the Secret Service to stay at his properties while he plays golf. He pressured the US Ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, to get the Open Championship Golf Tournament at Trump Turnberry in Scotland. Why is Donald Trump soaking the taxpayers and running his business while Americans are in food lines and intensive care units? Is it greed? Or are the calls with Putin the coercion of a collection agent? His tax returns must be revealed to see if his single-minded concentration on making money is to pay back Russian loan sharks.

The public has the right to know how, after multiple bankruptcies and all legal means of acquiring funds seemingly exhausted, Donald Trump managed to buy a golf course and pay cash. If you live in Kentucky, tell Mitch McConnell you want to know if Donald Trump is in debt to Russian loan sharks. Demand he show his tax returns. South Carolina voters, tell Lindsey Graham, Maine voters, tell Susan Collins, Texas voters, tell John Cornyn, Iowa voters, tell Joni Ernst, and North Carolina voters, tell Thom Tillis, that you demand to know if Donald Trump is in debt to Russian loan sharks.

Now, Donald Trump is out to destroy the US Postal Service with no regard for its Constitutional purpose or the inherent damage it would do to the military, our veterans, and the overall body politic. Ask any veteran about “mail call” and its importance to their morale. Then remember who is responsible for it.

Our intelligence agencies said Russia is actively aiding in Trump’s reelection. Even the Republicans walk the halls of Congress wondering aloud, to each other, what Donald Trump owes to Vladimir Putin. Is Putin out to guarantee repayment? By not divesting, Donald Trump has an obligation to prove to the American people that he is not obligating our democracy to pay his indebtedness to Russian loan sharks.

After the embarrassing debacle of Turnberry became an issue, Trump immediately went into distraction mode when Attorney General Bill Barr, in a typical Putin ploy, verbally indicted the Democratic nominee about a possible criminal result designed to taint Biden. Fortunately, the Constitution does not allow Donald Trump or Bill Barr to remove Biden from the ballot as Putin does with his opponents. But for Trump, as we found out with the Ukrainian bribery attempt which led to his impeachment, the lie is the thing. And while an average of one million Americans have filed for unemployment each week for the past twenty weeks, thousands of small businesses have closed their doors for good, one thousand people are dying every day from Covid-19, and the family farm is becoming extinct due to tariffs and the coronavirus, Trump’s latest big lie is, “Our country is doing very well.”

Many Republicans will admit “off the record,” to the press, as to their suspicions that Trump owes the Russians or that Putin is holding damaging information over him. Trump is childish, gullible and reckless – so it could be both. What we also know, is that only the Democrats in Congress seem to be vocally disturbed by the President’s insistence that Russia be readmitted to the G7 and that he is indifferent to reports of Putin’s bounty on US troops . Apparently, the road to reelection also goes through Putin. Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan, claimed that cabinet members approached him to primary Trump. What are the President’s people not telling us?

Several authors have noted that Trump has a history of doing business with mobsters in this country. Loan sharking is a very ruthless business. The loan shark’s interest, the vig, can get seriously out of hand when the principal cannot be paid. Meanwhile, the calls keep coming from inside the Kremlin. If America does not act quickly to see Donald Trump’s tax returns and find out if, indeed, he is in debt to Russian loan sharks, 2020 could be the final two-party presidential election in America. And if we are compelled to watch Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump standing on the White House lawn as sycophants Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell hoist a hammer and sickle flag on the pole with Old Glory, it will be too late.