{"id":8635,"date":"2017-01-18T06:03:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T06:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=8635"},"modified":"2017-01-19T17:33:17","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T17:33:17","slug":"trump-snubs-ethical-norms-because-weve-forgotten-why-they-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/trump-snubs-ethical-norms-because-weve-forgotten-why-they-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump snubs ethical norms because we’ve forgotten why they matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth C. Tippett<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest. Conflicts of interest are boring.<\/p>\n

The president-elect knows this. In fact, he\u2019s banking on it.<\/p>\n

Instead of addressing his conflicts in a meaningful way at his press conference last week, Trump pointed to a stack of folders<\/a> behind him. He then turned the press conference over to a lawyer, who talked about Trump\u2019s plans for long enough for viewers to lose interest. It sounded official and complicated, even though it\u2019s an embellished version of his November announcement<\/a> to turn the business over to his children.<\/p>\n

Many<\/a> condemned<\/a> Trump\u2019s plan<\/a> to handle his myriad conflicts<\/a> of interest as president as wholly inadequate, including the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. <\/p>\n

But most likely, Trump will get away with it \u2013 for now \u2013 and continue to ignore the warnings of government ethics officials, tasked with preventing things from going terribly wrong. <\/p>\n

For decades, they\u2019ve been so successful at preventing a major government ethics scandal, Trump\u2019s conflicts of interest now seem academic and even soporific to the average voter. Unfortunately for Trump, his unwillingness to listen makes a disaster much more likely. On the upside, a scandal would at least remind Americans why ethics-based precautions matter.<\/p>\n

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