Will Trump Run His White House Like A Business?

Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump’s supporters told voters that Trump would make an excellent White House occupant because he would run the executive branch like a business. Mitt Romney made the same case in 2012 – he would bring his entrepreneurial expertise to bear as president. Normally, Americans understand that running the White House as a business means cutting waste, firing the bad actors, acting with efficiency.

But there’s another side to business – or at least family business. Family businesses often mean cutting corners in favor of family or taking advantage of opportunities presented without regard to principle. Family businesses are not always run like Bain Capital. They’re sometimes run like Trump Inc. or Clinton Inc., benefitting family even if it means bending or breaking the rules.

Here’s what that would mean.

Crossover Between Government And Business. Republicans were rightly outraged at the incestuous relationship between the Clinton Foundation and the Hillary Clinton State Department – so much so that we said it should disqualify her for the presidency. But Donald Trump has not placed his business in a blind trust; his kids continue to run it. Meanwhile, here are some events from the last week: Trump met with Indian business partners building Trump-brand apartments; Ivanka Trump secretly went to a meeting between Trump and the prime minister of Japan; the Washington Post reported that Trump Hotel in DC invited reps from local embassies post-election “to encourage them to use it when leaders from their countries visited Washington.”

Use Of Government Dollars For Personal Profit. Trump was a fan of eminent domain and public-private partnerships in his business career. Trump has been heavily promoting the Old Post Office building in Washington D.C.; according to BuzzFeed, FOIA documents show that “Trump gave three of his children – Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric, all of whom spoke at the Republican National Convention – more than 22 percent of the federal project, though they apparently invested no money of their own. The stakes were allocated through separate companies bearing each of the children’s names, and the document indicates that those companies did not invest money.” Now Trump is talking about trillion dollar infrastructure projects.

Hiring From Family. Family businesses are known for giving old Uncle Bob a job when you need to help him out. Trump has staffed up his entire company with his children – and now he’s looking to make them integral parts of the administration. Imagine if Hillary had been elected and immediately began using Chelsea as one of her top advisors. Most Republicans bucked at the very notion of another Bush in the White House, even one who had been a governor.

Racking Up Debt. Family businesses often rack up unsustainable debt in order to pay the bills. The Trump companies have been no exception – Trump himself freely admits that he loves leveraging debt. His take on government seems to be exactly the same: he’s not interested in reining in spending, opposes any changes to entitlement programs, and his chief advisor openly compares his upcoming tenure to the “excitement” of the 1930s.

So, the question isn’t whether Trump will run the government like a business. It’s whether he’ll run it like one of his businesses. If he does, that’s not necessarily a good thing.