Rachel Maddow explained how Trump’s urgent need for cash is a threat to national security.
Maddow said:
So he desperately needs money. I mean, right now that bond, the half billion dollar bond, that’s two weeks from today and he needs that money so urgently right now while he is openly changing his publicly held long, held supposedly heartfelt policy position positions in ways that appear to be just straight up responsiveness to financial incentives on the bond he paid already. And the huge one he’s got to put up for within the next two weeks, there is no public transparency into who might be cosigning with him or otherwise underwriting these bonds. Somebody helping him put up the cash and collateral for these bonds. If so, what are they getting in exchange for their generosity to him? I mean, we know the name of the bonding company that put up the $91 million bond for the E. Jean Carroll case, but we don’t know if it was Trump alone or Trump and some helpers who put up the cash and collateral necessary to obtain that bond from that company. We have asked Mr Trump this evening if he will tell us if there were cosigners or anyone otherwise assisting him in obtaining that bond. We have not yet heard back from him. We will let you know if we do, but in national security terms, this is a profoundly dangerous thing regardless of what it means for him personally.
And politically, it’s a dangerous thing for us as a country. I mean, think about if, if you needed to get a security clearance for work, right? You wanted to get a security clearance, but when you applied for that clearance, the FBI did their background check on you and they became aware that you were in this much need of this much money this urgently if you were applying for a security clearance right now. And the FBI found that two weeks from today, you need to put up cash and collateral, collateral to secure almost a half billion dollars
of a bond to pay your court judgments.
Do you think you would get a security clearance? There is no chance you would ever be approved for even the lowest level security clearance? Because the risk is just too obvious.
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Video:
Rachel #Maddow on Trump’s desperate need for cash as a threat to national security, “Everything must go. Everything’s for sale. Anybody who can pay can get what they want. And you wonder why guys like this always want to undermine the rule of law.” pic.twitter.com/6fDYcnwYN8
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 12, 2024
Maddow concluded:
We are in a place where the entire Republican Party apparatus is merging with Trump’s personal legal defense apparatus. And the way he has been behaving when it comes to being transactional at his time of most desperate financial need puts us no matter how you think of Trump, no matter whether you support him or not, no matter whether you care about politics or not, it puts us the American people in a radically fragile place when it comes to what exactly is for sale in our country and from our government, I mean, Bud Light and TikTok seem to have figured out very early on where exactly you insert the coins to receive your prize.
But, but if anything is for sale, right? If, if everything is for sale, what makes you think it’s gonna stop with thin beer and Chinese social media apps, everything must go, everything’s for sale. Anybody who can pay can get what they want. And you wonder why guys like this always want to undermine the rule of law.
Video:
Rachel #Maddow, “He desperately needs money right now. That bond, that half-billion bond, that’s due two weeks from today. And he needs that money so urgently, right now, while he is openly changing his publicly held, long-held supposedly heartfelt policy positions.” pic.twitter.com/FTqWdViWnD
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 12, 2024
Rachel Maddow didn’t say it, but the implication is that if Trump starts getting national security briefings what would stop him from selling them to raise some much needed cash?
The RNC is pretty much broke. Trump’s fundraising has dried up. Donald Trump desperately needs money and one of the places where he could get it would be by selling US secrets.
Heck, Trump could make all sorts of promises about what he will do for anyone once he’s back in the White House if they write him a check today.
Donald Trump is a multifaceted national security threat, but the biggest current risk to our country might be Trump’s urgent need for cash.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
