Jon Chait engages in a bit of "nut picking" when he singles out a Federalist essay supporting Trump's brazenly corrupt decision to host the G-7 at one of his resorts. The word "emolument" has been thrown around a lot since January 2017, because Trump has failed to do two things: divulge his financial records and divest from his business interests. The slogan "Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm" is fundamentally about the usual standards presidents apply to the separation between their previous business interests and the interests of the American people as filtered through the office of the presidency.
The Federalist is a hack website, as Chait calls it "the Trumpiest of Trumpsites." But this is yet ANOTHER litmus test for Congressional Republicans. This decision is so brazenly corrupt that it requires a response. And there is plenty of time ahead of this decision to generate a response. Congress could easily pass a bill that upheld the idea that the President should not profit of his presidency and in a sane world it would pass with veto proof majorities. The fact that it won't is a sterling example of how the GOP has become a congregation of lickspittles kowtowing to Trump's most erratic impulses.
If Congressional Republicans are indeed sick of Trump's act, as whispers suggest, here is an example to curtail his lawless disregard for the office of the presidency. It does not involve impeachment. It simply stops an action that cannot be justified on any grounds based on precedent or law. But we all know that the GOP won't do shit.
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