The
unethical blurring of private interests and public business is a
hallmark of Donald Trump’s presidency. That blurring has increasingly
involved U.S. foreign policy. The possible effects on U.S. foreign
relations may be subtle and largely out of public view. But they arise
every time, for example, that foreign governments wanting something from
the United States bring their business to the hotel that Trump’s
company runs a few blocks from the White House.
Many processes
are in play here, including the power of well-known lobbies and the role
of money in U.S. politics. But as with any of Trump’s excesses, it’s an
extreme manifestation of a trend that became pronounced during the last
two decades—the era of the Tea Party and of the Gingrich style of
scorched-earth political warfare—away from the concept of “general
welfare” embodied in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. This trend
involves the rejection of any idea that some of the most important
things that citizens do and experience, and some of the most important
ways in which their interests are affected, can only be done as a
community—and that in many cases community necessarily means government.
