Donnie-boy sells honor to moneybag jew

[yankeedoodle]

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, said: "The Medal of Freedom has always been awarded based on service, as the award is intended. Trump uniquely envisions government service as a business for self-enrichment, and so it comes as no surprise at all that Trump would award an otherwise honorable medal to Adelson on the grounds of who gives him the most money."   

Wife of GOP megadonor to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/10/medal-of-freedom-trump-adelson-982928

President Donald Trump is set to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation's highest civilian honor — to the wife of one of the Republican Party's most prominent patrons, the White House announced Saturday.

Miriam Adelson will receive the medal along with six other "distinguished individuals" at a ceremony on Friday, the White House said. She is married to billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate and GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who joined Trump for a watch party at the White House residence on Tuesday evening to monitor the incoming returns from the 2018 midterm elections.

The Adelsons in recent months have emerged as the Republican Party's biggest financial backers, contributing more than $113 million to GOP causes during the 2018 election cycle. Among those donations, the couple gave $25 million in July to the Senate Leadership Fund, $2 million in September to ESAFund, $3 million in July and September to the Republican Governors Association, and roughly $40 million between May and September to the Congressional Leadership Fund.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is bestowed upon those who have made "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House.

In its brief biography of Miriam Adelson, the White House described her as "a committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian," as well as "a committed member of the American Jewish community."

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, said: "The Medal of Freedom has always been awarded based on service, as the award is intended. Trump uniquely envisions government service as a business for self-enrichment, and so it comes as no surprise at all that Trump would award an otherwise honorable medal to Adelson on the grounds of who gives him the most money."

The other 2018 honorees include Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), former football player and retired Minnesota Supreme Court justice Alan Page, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach, and, posthumously, singer Elvis Presley, baseball great Babe Ruth and former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.

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Miriam Adelson was awarded Medal of Freedom after donating $500k to Trump aides' legal expenses
The Adelsons were the biggest donors to Trump's campaign other than Trump
https://thinkprogress.org/adelson-russia-aides-fund-medal-4d6dd5bb8a53/

In the last three months of 2018, GOP megadonors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $500,000 to a fund set up to pay legal expenses incurred by aides to President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Thursday night.

Contributions to the fund are specifically allocated to pay expenses for aides wrapped up in the investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. The Adelsons donated $250,000 each on October 1. Just a little over one month later, Trump awarded Miriam Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Before receiving the medal, the Adelsons donated $30 million to Trump's presidential campaign in the final months of the 2016 race, and last year, donated $100 million to various Republican candidates and GOP-aligned PACs in the midterm elections. In fact, as Open Secrets noted last fall, other than Trump himself, the Adelsons were the largest donors to the Trump campaign. They also donated $5 million to Trump's inaugural committee.

Their sizable financial investments have yielded significant returns. Sheldon Adelson is widely believed to have been one of the most significant influences in Trump's decision to move the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem. At the medal ceremony in November, Trump called Adelson a "committed doctor, philanthropist, and humanitarian," but many saw the award as merely a thank you gift.

"It's ludicrous, and an insult to people who received the medal for genuine service," The New York Times' Paul Krugman wrote on Twitter.

"It's emblematic of the corrupt and transactional presidency of Donald Trump, and it is a shame, but not a surprise, that he is corroding and corrupting a civic treasure, an honor like the Medal of Freedom," Robert Weissman, president of public interest group Public Citizen, told The Guardian.

Lindsay Walters, a White House spokeswoman, also told the paper last fall that Trump went through the same process as all previous administrations when deciding Medal of Freedom Award recipients. The process was coordinated by the office of the staff secretary, taking into account recommendations from the public, relevant presidential advisory bodies, the cabinet and senior White House staff, she said.