Sunday, May 18th, I'm Ali Valshi.

We begin this hour with a grounding moment, a reminder, if you will, of the standards by which we once measured the American presidency, even a Trump presidency, because taking stock from time to time of what was once considered a scandal is useful

when unprecedented times are followed by more unprecedented times, raising the risk that before we

know it will be living in precedented times, a new normal, if you will. So I want to start with a

phrase you might remember from Donald Trump's first presidency, emoluments. When Trump first entered office, watchdogs were concerned that foreign countries could curry favor

with the president by renting rooms in his hotels, which would violate the emoluments

clause in the Constitution, which forbids any person who holds federal office from accepting gifts

or benefits from foreign governments without the consent of Congress.

There was fear that a foreign government could maybe perhaps influence American foreign policy

by personally enriching the president by renting rooms at Trump's hotel.

How quaint.

Because in his second term, Donald Trump has termed profiting off the presidency into the new normal.

It's all right there out in the open, all through his trip to the Middle East last week. He was greeted like a monarch, treated to

camel parades, laudatory meetings, and eye-popping investment promises, not to mention the

many deals struck between Gulf countries and not the United States of America

and not U.S. companies, but with the Trump organization itself, like a soon-to-be Trump Tower in

Riyadh, a billion-dollar hotel in Dubai, a Trump golf course in Qatar. Trump even joked with the

new leader of Syria about a Trump tower in Damascus.

Trump's son Eric was in Dubai just weeks ago to announce an investment firm tied to the

Emirati government. We're looking at Don Jr. at the moment. Was that Eric? That's Eric. That would be

making a $2 billion transaction using the Trump family's

cryptocurrency exchange, which he is involved in, which would net them millions of dollars

...