Coyote Blog

Inspired perhaps by back episodes of the Sopranos or his experience with payoffs required in New York to get any real estate development project going, Donald Trump is attempting to establish a regulatory regime right out of any kleptocracy

President Trump confirmed Monday he is open to a deal in which Microsoft Corp.  or another U.S. company buys the video-sharing app TikTok, but said the government should receive payment for clearing a purchase.

“I did say that ‘If you buy it…a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen.’ Right now, they don’t have any rights unless we give it to them.”

Mr. Trump, a former real-estate developer, compared his demand for a piece of the purchase price to the “key money” a tenant who wants a lease pays a landlord.

“It’s a great asset,” Mr. Trump said of TikTok. “But it’s not a great asset in the United States unless they have the approval of the United States,” he said, reiterating that the Treasury should get “a lot of money.”

Great.  Already there are too many regulatory hurdles to doing about anything, and Trump wants agencies to use regulatory approvals to hold up corporations for payments.   And you can be sure this is a precedent the Democrats will be only too happy to latch onto -- want a pipeline built, where's our vig?  Who wants to be that this is the first Trump decision AOC comes out in support of?  The Republican Party sure has come a long way in my lifetime.