Last year, Donald Trump pardoned Democratic Rep. Harry Cuellar, who was under indictment for federal bribery charges.
asserted
who → pardon → charges
All he expected in return was that Cuellar, out of gratitude, would immediately switch parties and become a Republican.
asserted
Cuellar → expect → parties
To his shock, Cuellar never did.
asserted
Cuellar → do → shock
“Many considered this to be a tremendous act of disloyalty,” Trump fumed on Truth Social last night, “and certainly showed him to be an extremely ungrateful person.”
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him → consider → Social
He then encouraged Texas voters to vote Cuellar out in November.
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He → encourage → November
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: It’s genuinely amazing how little Trump tries to hide his own mob-boss style.
asserted
Trump → say → style
Some MAGA scandals take unpacking.
asserted
scandals → take → unpacking
Yesterday, we got one of the latter.
asserted
we → get → latter
The Wall Street Journal headline: “‘Honey Please’: Kimberly Guilfoyle Pushed Donor to Wire $100,000 to Her Amex Account.”
asserted
Guilfoyle → push → Account
Sourced to her own smoking-gun text messages, the report is the latest example of this administration’s open, staggering corruption.
asserted
report → source → corruption
We haven’t heard much from Guilfoyle lately.
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We → hear → Guilfoyle
Once a fixture of Trumpworld as the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., the family quietly put her out to pasture after Don Jr. moved on to his next paramour and now wife, Bettina Anderson Trump.
asserted
Jr. → put → paramour
In true royal-court fashion, as thanks for years of services rendered, she got a lavish parting gift: an ambassadorship to Greece.
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she → render → Greece
But Guilfoyle, who had evidently become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, was soon living beyond her means.
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who → become → means
Which is how she found herself last summer wheedling Eric Deters, a penumbral MAGA figure and Trump donor, for a little quid pro quo cash.
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she → find → cash
Deters wanted someone in the family—so to speak—to help get a few requests in front of the right people.
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someone → want → people
He wanted the administration to ask Pakistan to extradite the defendant in a lawsuit he was involved in, and he was hoping the IRS could make a little audit problem he was having go away.
uncertain
he → want → lawsuit
Guilfoyle assured Deters she was his guy.
asserted
she → assure → Deters
“Every secretary of you know defense, transportation, treasury commerce IRS commissioner everyone gets right back to me,” she texted.
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she → know → me
“Oh yeah, I’m forgetting cash Patel.1”
asserted
I → forget → Patel.1
Deters had promised her as much as $1 million if she was successful, but she was happy to badger him for a little advance: Days before her July confirmation hearing last year, she asked Deters to wire $100,000 to American Express to pay off her credit card balance.
asserted
she → promise → balance
Eventually, Deters began to lose patience.
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Deters → begin → patience
Was Guilfoyle going to deliver the promised access or not?
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Guilfoyle → go → access
“I have paid you $300,000 over the years,” he wrote her.
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he → pay → her
“As of this memo, I have not received one favor.
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I → receive → favor
I need results.”
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I → need → results
“Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things,” Guilfoyle responded.
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Guilfoyle → wish → things
“It’s really dangerous and not helpful to you or me while you could simply just call me on signal.”2
uncertain
you → ’ → signal
It’s one thing to have a U.S. ambassador openly selling access to the government to cover her personal debts.
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ambassador → ’ → debts
It’s another thing to have her lecturing her briber on bribing best practices.
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her → ’ → practices
And it’s yet another for her to be so fluent in those best practices that she is inventing slang to talk about them.
asserted
she → ’ → them
So far, Guilfoyle seems determined to brazen the story out, or at least to try.
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Guilfoyle → seem → story
Through a lawyer, she engaged in the usual rote denials: Insisting without evidence or even specific argument that the texts were not “authentic,” that all money paid her by Deters had been to cover speaking and travel fees, and that she remains “committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity.”
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she → engage → dedication
Secretary of State Marco Rubio—who is in Greece—declined to comment this morning, instead treating reporters to a minute of silly bluster about how presumptuous it is to ask public figures to comment on stories they haven’t read yet.
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they → decline → stories
(Sure you haven’t, Jan.)
asserted
you → have → ?
Will Trump keep Guilfoyle around?
asserted
Trump → keep → Guilfoyle
On the one hand, this is an open-and-shut case of staggering corruption—and it’s hard to imagine that this is the end of it.
asserted
this → ’ → it
What’s more likely: that Guilfoyle only ever tried to sell access the one time, and got really unlucky with the dance partner she tried to sell it to?
asserted
she → ’ → it
Or that the usual rules about seeing a roach in your kitchen apply?
asserted
rules → see → kitchen
In theory, Trump could get ahead of some headaches by cutting Guilfoyle loose now.
uncertain
Trump → get → Guilfoyle
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
