Are politicians influenced by money? Well, yeah

This spring two prominent Delawareans spoke in Lewes about the influence of money in politics.

Former Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey, a Republican, talked about the state’s “pay to play” political culture.

Sen. Bryan Townsend, a Newark Democrat, discussed calling for an Article V convention to reverse recent Supreme Court decisions that have allowed unlimited campaign contributions.

Good speakers both, but it took Donald Trump, who is currently a Republican, to really clear things up about money and politics.

Not that I’m about to jump on The Donald’s bandwagon, but the man does have his uses.

Exposing corruption, for example. In this case, his own. And by extension, the entire U.S. political system.

In 2011, with blinders firmly in place, perhaps surrounded by his “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil” little monkey statues, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy handed down his astonishing Citizens United opinion.

Here’s what Kennedy wrote: “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

That sentence and that decision helped unleash the current torrent of campaign spending.

Now, four years later, Trump has made clear how preposterous that decision was.

Following the Republican debate and the resulting Twitter explosion, everybody was talking about, well, everything Trump.

But most of the attention seemed to center on Trump’s attack on Fox’s Megyn Kelly, an attack that was not only boorish, but which also violated one of the Ten Commandments of Cable TV News: Thou shalt not insult an attractive blonde moderator.

(Trump did insult comic Rosie O’Donnell, which drew big belly laughs from the classy debate crowd.)

Nearly lost in the various Trumpisms was something strikingly honest: Wealthy people can buy politicians, much like regular people can buy turnips.

This being Trump, his example was as weird as his hair. He told how Hillary Clinton came to be at his wedding: “‘Hillary Clinton,’ I said, ‘be at my wedding,’ and she came to my wedding. She had no choice because I gave to a foundation.”

It’s kind of sad you’d want to bribe people to come to your wedding, but perhaps Hillary livens things up with special party tricks. Who knows?

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., poor soul, actually thought he had something on Trump.

“You’ve donated to several Democratic candidates,” Paul said. “You explained away those donations by saying you did that to get business-related affairs. And you said recently, quote, ‘When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.’”

Sen. Paul thought he had him cornered. He forgot he was living in Trump World. “You better believe it,” Trump said.

Yes, Trump was saying, I give politicians money and they do my bidding. And your point is …?

Or as Trump might say to Justice Kennedy, “Are you stupid or what? Appearance of corruption? Of course there’s corruption. That’s the way the system works, loser!”

But the media mostly ignored that angle.

The New York Times, for example, in a story headlined “Hand-wringing in G.O.P. after Donald Trump’s remarks on Megyn Kelly,” focused on Trump’s remarks suggesting that Kelly “questioned him forcefully because she was menstruating.”

Which, to be honest, is a phrase I never thought I’d see in relation to a presidential debate.

But this being America 2015, it makes perfect sense, because the state of Megyn Kelly’s hormonal cycle now ranks among our most important issues, other problems facing our Great Republic long since having been resolved.

Trump, of course, was punished for his comments. For saying that Kelly treated him roughly because of her period, Trump was disinvited from speaking at the RedState Gathering in Atlanta.

A crushing blow, to be sure … for his rabid Republican fans, who were denied the opportunity to hear firsthand pearls of wisdom drop - or rather gush - from their hero’s mouth.

To be fair, though, Trump could teach us all something about money and politics. I’m thinking specifically about the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Update: Trump clarified later that he was NOT referring to Megyn Kelly’s period when he talked about blood coming from eyes and “wherever.”

“I was going to say nose and/or ears because that’s a very common statement. Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to.”

And so the race for president continues.


Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.