Patterico's Pontifications

3/13/2017

Corey Lewandowski’s New Trump-Tweet Protection Racket

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:00 am



Dat’s a nice business what ya got there, pal. Be a shame if someone wuz ta . . . tweet about it:

Attention: corporate America.

For a fee, Corey Lewandowski, President Trump’s pugilistic former campaign manager, and Barry Bennett, a former Trump senior adviser, will protect you from “tweet risk” — what happens to the stock price and reputation of your company when the president tells his 26 million Twitter followers that you’re killing factory jobs or refusing to sell Ivanka Trump handbags.

“If he’s gonna come after you, there’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Mr. Bennett said of Avenue Strategies, the firm he and Mr. Lewandowski opened in offices overlooking Mr. Trump’s White House bedroom window. “But if you want to figure out how to win in this environment, we can help you.

“We’re your sherpa through turbulent times.”

The solution, of course, is to throw a bone to Donald Trump:

So far, the administration “hasn’t done much beyond “a few executive orders,” Mr. Bennett says. So he and Mr. Lewandowski are pressing American companies to “call Jared Kushner and tell him you’re gonna build a new factory,” or invite Mr. Trump to “fly somewhere, cut a ribbon, and high-five 200 employees.”

It’s even OK if he lies about what he made your business do for America — as long as you keep your damned mouth shut about it:

Mr. Bennett says the two men advised Lockheed Martin, not a current client, on how to recover from a “horrible” meeting with Mr. Trump after he tweeted, “Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Mr. Bennett said Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed’s chief executive, led a “boring” presentation about stuff like “procurement reform,” for a president who asked why the United States can’t lease fighter planes. Mr. Trump wanted a win, and the advisers told Lockheed how to give him one.

Two weeks later, Mr. Trump was on TV saying, “I was able to get $600 million approximately off those planes.” In fact, the savings were years in the making and had nothing to do with Mr. Trump, but Lockheed didn’t point that out.

Mr. Trump has taken credit for jobs announcements by ExxonMobil, Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Walmart, Sprint, Intel, SoftBank and Alibaba. All of these were in the works before Mr. Trump won the presidency, and many may never come to pass. Yet the companies involved play along, rather than risk his wrath.

This is all about as subtle as the Vercotti brothers in this Monty Python clip:

You’ve got a nice Army base here, Colonel. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to it. . . Things break, don’t they?

Presidential pressure on private companies is nothing new; Herbert Hoover famously jawboned businessmen to keep wages up at the beginning of the Depression — a destructive policy continued by FDR that helped fuel skyrocketing unemployment. Nor is there anything new about a business quietly acquiescing to a president’s propaganda campaign. Under FDR, businesses “voluntarily” put signs in their windows with a picture of a blue eagle, to show that the businesses supported FDR’s National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the ruinous regulations that came with it. Like Trump’s “populism,” FDR’s grandstanding was popular while economically disastrous, and business owners knew it. But while a business owner might despise NRA regulations, he would still put the blue eagle in his window — so the public could see he was on board with the President’s Depression-lengthening program.

No, this sort of thuggery is nothing new. The swamp has been around forever. If you think it’s going away now, you’ve been conned.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

66 Responses to “Corey Lewandowski’s New Trump-Tweet Protection Racket”

  1. Am I to assume we now believe the New York Times?

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  2. Well, even la Dame Gris is a bit skeptical of this, I think. If you notice, they put this out as an opinion piece.

    At most, I think this says more about Trump hangers-on than Trump: people looking to cash in on the aura of the Great Man. As opposed to the Great Man trying to cash in for himself.

    kishnevi (2f2588)

  3. These are f*cking quotes, Hoagie. What’s the basis for your skepticism, exactly?

    Leviticus (505400)

  4. Influence peddling by political hangers-on! I am shocked! Shocked!

    nk (dbc370)

  5. I think this is hangers on, who are maybe barely hanging on.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  6. So I thought they were modeling Trump on Theodore Roosevelt, but you are saying we might have gotten the Tammany Hall one.

    Well cripes. Maybe a World War will help us out of it.

    Rae Sremmurd (2fd998)

  7. The Great Republic- America; Killed by Twitter

    Rae Sremmurd (2fd998)

  8. No Trump is not Theodore Roosevelt.

    He’s Andrew Jackson or King Artaxerxes I. (although neither is a very good comparison)

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  9. No Trump is not Theodore Roosevelt.
    He’s Andrew Jackson or King Artaxerxes I. (although neither is a very good comparison)
    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/13/2017 @ 11:06 am

    ***********

    Eh, I think we have a unique individual and The Republic is in for a bumpy ride.

    (Picture Bette Davis on a staircase, saying this–or not.)

    Rae Sremmurd (2fd998)

  10. I would trust barry Bennett’s advise:
    http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/06/carsons-westmoreland-story-match-records/75328960

    Remember buzzfeed committed two random of acts of journalism

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. People like this make me root for the piranha bros

    http://heavy.com/news/2017/03/sean-spicer-apple-store-video-watch-you-tube-periscope-twitter-shree-confronted

    narciso (d1f714)

  12. And don’t get me started on snoop dog, riffing on public enemy from nearly 30 years ago

    narciso (d1f714)

  13. Damn, beat me to it by 15 minutes, Nars. So did this happen before or after Preet got the boot?

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  14. Don’t know when the crazy woman haranged.

    narciso (d1f714)

  15. “SOB STORY NYT HEADLINE TODAY: Preet Bharara Shunned Politics. His End Was Tinged by Them.

    FLASHBACK FROM YESTERDAY: How (then-) U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Stiffed Reason’s Free Speech.

    “Shunned” is almost the same as “silenced,” right?”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/259645/

    Colonel Haiku (94464c)

  16. Meet the new swamp.

    Same as the old swamp.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  17. Close enough for me, coronello:
    acecomments.mu.nu/?post=368826

    narciso (d1f714)

  18. Well, it is close to the Ides of March, noting the plates on a vehicle in the story:
    http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170313/upper-west-side/barron-trump-bomb-scare-upper-west-side

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  19. Corey Lewandoski, a capitalist pig? Pshaw.

    Meanwhile, President Trump holds his first Cabinet meeting and talks about the weather.

    Looks like a blizzard.
    Sounds like a snow job.
    Smells like… strawberries.

    “Ahh, but the strawberries, that’s… that’s where I had them!” – Captain Queeg [Humphrey Bogart] ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1954

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  20. And…. ?

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  21. China’s “gift” of a few dozen trademarks in return for Trump forgetting about his promise to declare them currency manipulators on “day one” is looking like a real bargain!

    Dave (711345)

  22. The trademarks are only to prevent other people from using them. It diodn’t cost tehm anythuing and the Chinese government may have wanted that anyway.

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  23. So Trump is accountable for the post-firing behavior of Lewandowski? Does that also mean he is responsible for the post-firing behavior of Sally Yates, Michael Flynn and Preet Bharara? I don’t think that’s how it works.

    Just the other day, I read that there’s going to be a big reduction in force at the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. But that doesn’t count as draining the swamp? Then how about all those last minute Obama regs that are now being undone? They don’t count either?

    I was never good at the New Math. Guess I’m still not.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  24. Are they trying to discredit all of these findings

    https://mobile.twitter.com/cathleendecker/status/841398477561061376

    narciso (d1f714)

  25. Just the other day, I read that there’s going to be a big reduction in force at the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. But that doesn’t count as draining the swamp? Then how about all those last minute Obama regs that are now being undone? They don’t count either?

    Those are other portions of the swamp, and are subsidiary to the main area.

    kishnevi (417b3c)

  26. LOL

    ThOR (c9324e)

  27. I seem to remember from science class that swamps are complex ecosystems.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  28. With so many Republican Caucus alligators occupying the main swamp, this swamp-draining exercise won’t be easy.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  29. “So Trump is accountable for the post-firing behavior of Lewandowski? ”

    – ThOR

    Do you think any person in his or her right mind would give actual American dollars to an unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead like Corey Lewandowski without firmly believing that Lewandowski still had unmerited influence with an unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead like Donald Trump? So, yeah – Trump is accountable for being the type of person that people believe would trade favors with a person like Corey Lewandowski.

    That is clearly the point here, and I think/hope that everyone here realizes it.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  30. Lev,

    The following will give you an idea of why I find your argument unpersuasive:

    “Do you think any person in his or her right mind would give actual American dollars to vote for an unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead like Corey Lewandowski Donald Trump.”

    We were hearing that all the time a few months ago from you and others. Somehow it just didn’t work out that way.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  31. People believe what they want to believe.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  32. Con artists will use anyone’s name to defraud people. A long time ago, I had a a client who was a career jailbird. Small-time grifter. After he was released from his most recent stretch, he would approach the families of inmates he had gotten to know in prison and tell them that he had connections with the governor of Illinois and could get their son/brother/father/husband a commutation or pardon. I got him as a client for one of those when the family contacted the state police and they set up a sting. (I did good, too. Got him found guilty of misdemeanor attempt instead of felony theft by deception.)

    Lots of people will try to exploit the Trump brand, whether they’re licensed to by Trump or not.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. nk,

    Given the track records of recent governors of Illinois, that kinda goes to my point re: a serious degree of plausibility being a necessary prerequisite for effect influence peddling.

    Leviticus (d4d726)

  34. *effective

    Leviticus (d4d726)

  35. The following will give you an idea of why I find your argument unpersuasive:

    “Do you think any person in his or her right mind would give actual American dollars to vote for an unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead like Corey Lewandowski Donald Trump.”

    We were hearing that all the time a few months ago from you and others. Somehow it just didn’t work out that way.

    Indeed! Turns out an awful lot of people voted for the unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent shithead Donald Trump!

    (I didn’t say it. You did.)

    Patterico (115b1f)

  36. People believe what they want to believe.

    Which makes the world a wonderful place for liars and con-men who are willing to take advantage of it:

    I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole.
    – Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal

    “Truthful hyperbole” … a.k.a. “truthful lies” … a.k.a. “alternative facts”

    Dave (711345)

  37. @28 ThOR

    IRL swamps aka wetlands filter the ecosystem. Maybe the filter is clogged with Obama appointees.

    Pinandpuller (a9c3fd)

  38. Indeed! Turns out an awful lot of people voted for the unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead Donald Trump!

    But Patrick…he’s OUR unqualified, unsophisticated, incompetent sh*thead!

    Get with the program!

    /sarc

    Dave (711345)

  39. Oh, and speaking of Trump tweets…

    A week ago, Sean Spicer said Trump’s insane, syphilitic conspiracy theory tweets “spoke for themselves”.

    Now it turns out, a week later, that he didn’t actually mean “wire tapping” when he tweeted about “wire tapping”.

    It also turns out that despite accusing President Obama directly and personally, multiple times, and comparing it to “Nixon/Watergate”, that he wasn’t trying to suggest that Obama had any personal involvement when he accused Obama of personal involvement!

    Thanks, Spicey! Glad we finally got that cleared up!

    Dave (711345)

  40. He talks like a Valley Girl, too. I wonder if he met Daddy Brown in prison.

    nk (dbc370)

  41. @ThOR, #24:

    So Trump is accountable for the post-firing behavior of Lewandowski?

    http://dilbert.com/strip/1997-03-12

    Like Trump, you’re the boss.

    Demosthenes (09f714)

  42. Nordstrum’s business plan has always been retailing “We recycle to save the Planet From scum like you” bumperstickers, and lemur poop coffee to undeserving benefactors of the socialized state.

    Those people aren’t injured by being singled out by President Trump in a tweet. All they get is an increase in webads pointing out the best place to download Cordozar Broadus’ latest rant for a hefty premium.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  43. Thor, you’re quite a hack!

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  44. Thank you.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  45. It seems that there is a “hack gap” at this site, so I’m doing my best to make up the difference.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  46. Where do I donate to Cory?

    mg (31009b)

  47. e

    mg (31009b)

  48. Corey could have had the P90X royalties and a lifetime supply of cheese for making this go away: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/breitbart-posts-audio-of-ryan-saying-he-won’t-defend-trump/ar-AAoke1i?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

    urbanleftbehind (4d585c)

  49. Breitbart-in-name-only continuing to be scumbags. F*ck the filthy creeps. What they report should be less important to any decent person than the farting of a duck in the village pond.

    nk (dbc370)

  50. High value background info from someone named Big Dog;
    Snoop needs a secret service enema.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  51. Get ‘er done, Thor! The nattering nabobs of negativism are gnashing teeth and rending their wife-beaters.

    Colonel Haiku (94464c)

  52. First Breitbart and now Snoop Dog. What is this? “What lowlifes say Tuesday”?

    nk (dbc370)

  53. H8ters gonna h8 h8 h8 h8 h8.

    They hate us cause they anus.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  54. Who said that, Hoft or Milo?

    urbanleftbehind (4d585c)

  55. Thor, great job. You have a real gift.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  56. Who said that, Hoft or Milo?

    Luci Ann Twinkreach.

    nk (dbc370)

  57. MSNBC scoops Trump’s tax returns and he pays higher rate (25%) than:

    NBC/Comcast – 24%
    Obama – 18%
    Bernie – 13%

    ?????

    If this is true Maddow just cr*pped the bed.

    Harkin (09a7e6)

  58. MSNBC scoops Trump’s tax returns and he pays higher rate

    News flash: the effective tax rate you pay depends on your income.

    Did Obama or Bernie report $150M in income during whatever year you’re comparing?

    Dave (711345)

  59. Good ol’ self-professed conservative Dave…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  60. Factor in the $100 million deduction which reduced his taxable income by that amount. Net operating loss which is rich people tax lobbyists’ lingo for “phony deduction for being a bad businessman”. Resulting in $100 million cash in his pocket that he paid zero tax on.

    nk (dbc370)

  61. Good ol’ self-professed conservative Dave…

    Telling the truth is part of being a conservative. You should try it sometime.

    Dave (711345)

  62. Anyone making over $326,450 in taxable income would pay a 35% tax rate on that income for starters.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  63. Anyone making over $326,450 in taxable income would pay a 35% tax rate on that income for starters.

    The income over $326K, yes.

    In fact, Trump only paid $5.3M (4%) in standard income tax.

    The remaining 30-odd million was AMT (i.e. the safety net to catch scumbags who would otherwise only pay 4% on $150M in income…).

    Dave (711345)


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