Blind trust basics

I can’t figure out if the Trump campaign people don’t understand how a blind trust works or they just hope that the rest of America doesn’t.

Blind trusts are usually a great tool for politicians. The basic concept is that the politician is not aware of what company stocks or investments their independent investment managers choose and has no direct communication with the investment manager to ‘tip off’ his future political actions, so their is no conflict of interest.

Blind trusts don’t work for the dealings of a privately owned company whose business activities are regularly reported in public media. The suggestion that Trump’s companies will be operated within a blind trust to avoid conflict of interest with Donald’s proposed presidential shenanigans is ridiculous.

Imagine how this works: Donald announces to the media he will soon be starting construction on the wall. The blind trust buys stock in an adobe brick company; automatic conflict of interest.

The potential implications of conflict in overseas dealings is scary to many Americans. I conclude that there is simply no way for Trump to avoid conflict of interest unless he divests of his and his families’ interests in the companies that bear his name. That just isn’t going to happen.