Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

It was one thing when he claimed that American adults would get a check for $5,000 if the House and Senate remain in Republican control.

If not, no money.

How this is not construed as attempted bribery — which is a crime under various statues, including 18 U.S. Code § 201 — is beyond me.

Here is the president of the United States trying to use money — cold, hard Benjamins (he will probably demand people stop using that term because Franklin wasn’t a president — to influence every single voter in the United States.

And as he has been out and about, making speeches in various states, he has been promising a number of things to the locales, like changing emissions regulations in Kansas so more of the corn grown there — and, yes, corn exports are down for a variety of reasons, including the fact that one of the main export markets is Mexico, which Trump hasn’t exactly been benign toward — can be used for blending in auto fuel.

Again, these carrots are only going to be distributed if voters vote Republican.

If not, no bueno.

But at a rant earlier this week in North Carolina Trump went beyond the pale with his bribery.

There are American citizens who have various cancers — e.g., kidney, bladder, liver — because of a contaminated water supply at Camp Lejune, a Marine Corps base. This wasn’t a one-off situation but lasted from 1953 to 1987.

Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act in 2022, which allows the victims of the contaminated water and their families to sue the United States. 

Trump told the crowd in Greenville, NC, that if the Republicans keep the House and Senate he would instruct the Department of Justice to settle “all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible.”

“If we don’t win, there’s no money. If we do win you are getting it, and it is going to be finally over with.”

Think about the cruelty expressed by the President of the United States.

Do it my way — or else.

Notice that he said “legitimate claims” wouldn’t be settled if the Republicans don’t win. Shouldn’t the man who with the flick of his Sharpie to do all sorts of things simply sign an Executive Order saying that these claims should be paid right now? Oh, but he has bigger things in mind, like keeping a feckless Congress in place so he can do what he wants to.

But realize he is talking about US Marines, men and women who have pledged their lives to defending the United State of America. He is talking about the families of those brave patriots who lived on base and drank the contaminated water.

He is talking about people who have died or who are suffering from horrible, ravaging diseases.

Vote his way and things will be taken care of pronto.

Otherwise. . . .

He bloviates about how much he supports the military. And then he does this.

And consider: He is holding out the settlement of the cases to people who realize that while they may have their own vote and may be able to influence others, should some congressional districts elsewhere turn from red to blue the president will leave them hanging. Some of them undoubtedly feel helpless in the face of cancer. And now they have to worry about the election results in some far-flung state.

It is both outrageous and pathetic.

It is immoral.

The support of this behavior by anyone is absolutely unconscionable.

And those who do support it are going to have to look themselves in the mirror if, God forbid, a member of their family or themselves is stricken with a horrible disease and realize how Trump toyed with those who suffer.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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