Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that if elected, he would make it difficult for government officials and lawmakers to take up lobbying jobs once they leave office. He said in some cases there will be a lifetime ban. A five-point plan for “ethics reform” is the latest weapon in what Mr. Trump calls a “movement against the Washington establishment”.
The practice of lawmakers and government officials moving to private firms at high salaries and returning to the government later is criticised as the ‘revolving door’ in the U.S capital. This was among the core issues that fired up the primary run of Bernie Sanders against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Trump has focused his energies on wooing the young voters, and in all his speeches, talks about how “Bernie was unfairly treated by” the Democratic Party.
Hemmed in by multiple allegations of sexual assault and abandoned by an array of leaders of his own party, Mr. Trump is gearing up for the third and last presidential debate on Wednesday, with his campaign projecting its programmes as a war on the ‘establishment.’ Over the last few days, Mr. Trump has repeatedly alleged that the “election is rigged”. His supporters have strained to explain his statement as an indictment of the media discourse that they say focuses entirely on allegations against him and inadequately reports revelations on hacked e-mails of Ms. Clinton’s advisers, appearing on Wikileaks.
Melania defends husbandSupporting her husband’s position that his accusers are lying about sexual assault, Melania Trump said there was a media conspiracy against him. “I didn’t expect media would be so dishonest and so mean. I didn’t expect that,”she said in an interview. “They’re going — just for example, he makes a speech 45 minutes long, they take a sentence out, and they’re going on and on about that sentence, nothing else,” she said, adding that that the media does not discuss it when he talks about the issues. “…and that’s what American people want to hear, it’s about issues, about jobs, about the future of our country, and that’s what he wants to do.”
Mr. Trump runs a substantial part of his campaigning on Twitter but a good amount of the Twitter buzz that he creates could be automated, according to a study led an Oxford academic. In the four days following the first presidential debate there were 576,178 automated tweets benefiting the Republican nominee while 136,639 automated tweets favoured Ms. Clinton. There are nearly 1.8 million tweets for him, while Ms. Clinton had roughly one third of that figure.
The Wikileaks e-mails have increased the burden on Ms. Clinton, who has a low rating on trustworthiness, even as she leads in almost all opinion polls. The hacked e-mails have given credence to some of the allegations that Mr. Trump makes now, and Mr. Sanders made earlier, about her ties with the Wall Street and the activities of the Clinton Foundation. Ms. Clinton, who is preparing for the debate, has not been campaigning for at least five days now.
Restrictions on lobbyingMr. Trump’s five-point ethics plan includes a five-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government after they leave government service, a similar ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and lifetime bans on senior officials on lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. “Former government officials label themselves consultants and advisers when we all know they are lobbyists,” Mr. Trump said. “Not only will we end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation,” he said.
