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Now This Is How You Troll Donald Trump, Folks!

By Dustin Rowles | Twitter | November 30, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Twitter | November 30, 2016 |

The United States Office of Government Ethics is a branch of the federal government devoted to ensuring that there are no conflicts of interest on the part of any federal executive branch officer or employees, including the President.

However, while the Director of the OGE is appointed by the President, he or she serves a five-year term that overlaps administrations. That person right now is Walter M. Shaub, Jr., whose term runs until January 2018, which means he gets a full year to run checks on Donald Trump before he is presumably replaced (there are no term limits for the position). He probably also knows that he will be replaced in 2018 by someone who is less interested in ethics and more interested in ensuring Donald Trump doesn’t have to worry about business conflicts.

Anyway, knowing what the Office of Government Ethics does is important, because this morning, Donald Trump tweeted that he’s leaving his business to focus on the Presidency.

Everyone with half a brain cell read these tweets and immediately assumed that Donald Trump would hold a press conference to announce that he’s handing control of his business over to his children, which really doesn’t solve any of his business conflicts. Whether he’s running it or not, he will still own it, and he will continue to profit from it. He may give up day-to-day operations, but he will probably continue to advise on its operations, and he could continue to benefit from any potential conflicts.

Most people rolled their eyes. The only true way to avoid business conflicts here is to actually divest himself of it. Sell it. Get it out of his life and the lives of his children.

That’s why these tweets from Office of Government Ethics are so fantastic.

It’s almost as if the Office of Government Ethics wants Donald Trump to divest? Maybe he should listen to them (he’s totally not going to listen to them).