A first class organization
More on the sterling credentials of Trump’s acting Attorney General, from the Wall Street Journal (which doesn’t lightly criticize capitalist ventures):
In early 2015, an anonymous comment accusing a Florida company of being a scam was posted on a consumer website called RipoffReport.com.
Around that time, the publication’s phone rang. The caller said he was Matthew Whitaker—now the acting attorney general—and he was angry, said Ed Magedson, owner of Ripoff Report. Using profanity, Mr. Whitaker demanded the removal of all negative reports about the company, World Patent Marketing Inc., Mr. Magedson said.
Whitaker threatened Magedson, with lots of swearing. He threatened to ruin Ripoff Report, he threatened to get the government to shut it down.
Since President Trump appointed Mr. Whitaker last week, the acting attorney general has faced questions about the extent of his involvement with World Patent Marketing, where he was a paid advisory-board member until at least 2016. The company was shut down last year by the Federal Trade Commission after it accused the firm of scamming $26 million.
Is this really what we want in the top law guy for the whole country? Reeeally? A guy who threatened people on behalf of a scam company? REALLY?
The threatening phone call recalled by Mr. Magedson suggests Mr. Whitaker took a more active role than previously known in shielding World Patent Marketing from outside criticism. He also wrote an August 2015 email threatening an unhappy customer, court documents show.
The call also suggests Mr. Whitaker was aware of allegations of fraudulent activity against the company, which was later confirmed by the FTC in its accusations.
In other words he’s a crook, he worked for a crooked company, he bullied and threatened critics of that crooked company…and he’s now the Attorney General.
Mr. Whitaker was paid $9,375 as an advisory-board member by World Patent Marketing, court documents show. He also appeared in two promotional videos. In a December 2014 company press release, he is quoted saying that “as a former US Attorney, I would only align myself with a first class organization.”
Sleazy enough?
I have a feeling things are going to get a lot sleazier before it’s all done.
We reached Sufficient Sleaze a couple of years ago, but I fear, like iknklast, that it will be quite some time (depth?) yet before we reach Peak Sleaze. It’s a moving target: the bar keeps getting reset lower and lower. Theoretically we could reach the asymptotic limit of Infinite Sleaze. They’re giving it a good try, anyhow, new American precedents and all.
Don’t worry. I heard Whitaker’s new Chief of Staff will be Saul Goodman.
YNnB, would that depth be Peak Sleaze, or Nadir Sleaze?
AoS, I think both…the nadir of the peak, or maybe the peak of the nadir? Anyway, the maximum ultimate. The best sleaze. The very best sleaze.
Ah, yes, I see I was changing my directions, mixing my metaphores in mid stream. Easily done as it seems to be sleaze in all directions. It feels, however, like an hulking, engorged, oleaginous, tainting, obstacular tumour of presence rather than a yawning, chasmous, vacuous absence, or space. Still, depth is probably the preferred direction, as in the depths of depravity, the bottom of the barrel, the lowest of the low, etc. Nadir, that’s a good one, too.
I think at some point sheer quantity of sleaze does turn into a quality in itself, and Trump seems to be sitting on an inexhaustible supply. Certainly the most brazen and unapologetic sleaze.