"Under the Articles of Confederation-the document governing the still-fragile republic-Franklin could keep the gift only with the explicit permission of Congress, which it reluctantly granted. But the gift unsettled the country. The Constitution, written two years later, barred federal officeholders from accepting any gift, payment, or title from a foreign state without Congress's explicit consent. The Founders feared that European monarchies would seek to control the new country by showering it with gifts, which would undermine its capacity for self-government."
"During his second term, and especially during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's recent visit to Washington, Trump has rewarded his benefactors with sweeping geopolitical favors. Their huge investments in his family's businesses are hard to describe as anything other than the spectacular subversion of American sovereignty, wherein the nation's foreign policy reads as a thank-you note to the president's biggest financial boosters."
Benjamin Franklin received an extravagant, diamond-encrusted portrait gift from King Louis XVI that required Congress's permission under the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution later prohibited federal officeholders from accepting foreign gifts without congressional consent to prevent foreign influence over governance. Since 2022, the Trump family has been promised hundreds of millions of dollars from Gulf monarchies through investments, real-estate licensing deals, and other offerings. Trump responded to those benefactors with sweeping geopolitical favors, creating a close alignment between foreign benefactors' interests and U.S. policy and producing a significant subversion of American sovereignty.
Read at The Atlantic
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