Does Trump Bug His Hotel Rooms?

Early yesterday morning our crazy, narcissistic president-elect, when not grousing and complaining about the NYTimes routinely showing photos of his double chin-- despite all the money he's spent addressing it-- was also congratulating himself for selecting an old KKK enabler to be the Attorney General. But, don't worry, he thinks part of his job is to tell the Department of Justice who to prosecute and who not to prosecute-- like sending Manuel, the door man at Trump Tower it to get him a couple of Dave's Hot 'n Juicy 3/4 lb. Triple Burgers with Cheese Combos from Wendy's.

Trump has always-- for his entire sordid life-- seen Justice as a mortal enemy that had to be beaten in battle. That's how he's led his life and run his career. I know you already know that he had all the phones at Mar-A-Lago bugged so he could listen to any phone in the place from his suite. You think he doesn't wire-tap the phones at Trump hotels? This is from a column Al Kamen wrote about Trump early in 2000 for a Washington Post column. He quotes Trump directly about the Clinton impeachment shenanigans the GOP was pulling: "I got a chuckle out of all the moralists in Congress and in the media who expressed public outrage at the president's immoral behavior. I happen to know that one U.S. senator leading the pack of attackers spent more than a few nights with his twenty-something girlfriend at a hotel I own. There's also a conservative columnist, married, who was particularly rough on Clinton in this regard. He also brought his girlfriend to my resorts for the weekend."



You know what? There's a lot worth reading in that Kamen column now that Trump has been magically transformed into El Presidente-elect Señor Trumpanzee. Let's take a look at some more of it. Remember, this was 16 years ago!

President Donald Trump? Most Beltway insiders-- and many others-- dismiss the notion as absurd, figuring only a national nervous breakdown, or worse, could put the real estate developer and noted egomaniac in the White House.

But very strange things-- Monica Lewinsky, for example-- can happen. So it's re-freshing to see Trump, in his new book, The America We Deserve, give a little preview of what a Trump inner circle would look like.

He's already floated Oprah Winfrey for vice president, though she has demurred. Trump writes that he'd like General Electric executive Jack Welch for secretary of the treasury. Muhammad Ali would have some role in the Trump operation, the book says, as would Teamsters chief Jim Hoffa-- maybe at the Labor Department? Justice? There'll be a spot for "the brilliant senator from New Jersey," Bob Torricelli, a "close friend" from a state where Trump has casinos. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, "a good man," also might be summoned. "I believe we could get another president from the Bushes. He may be the one." Clearly, he doesn't think Texas Gov. George W. Bush will be.

Also favored are Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), former New York representative Susan Molinari, New York Gov. George Pataki, Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Equally fun reading are the "few people who wouldn't make my list." Trump saves the sharpest vitriol for those who have personally crossed him. He blames Bill Bradley's 1986 tax reform bill for costing him a bundle.

"Phony as a twenty-dollar Rolex," Trump writes of Bradley, predicting that Vice President Gore, "a much more formidable intellect and public servant," will "send Bradley back to Jersey with his well-worn tail between his legs."

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who fought bitterly with Trump over developing prime Manhattan waterfront property, is called "one of the most egregious hacks in contemporary politics." And Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.)? He was mean at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on sister Maryanne Barry Trump's nomination to a federal appeals court, grilling her on her views about abortion.

Smith is "inarticulate, unqualified, and, according to several members I know, about the dumbest guy in the U.S. Senate... Maybe if my sister had spoken more slowly he would have understood her."

As for President Clinton and his new home in Westchester County, "in all candor, he really overpaid. He really got ripped off on the house," Trump writes. "If I had represented him in buying the house I could have saved them about $600,000" off the $1.7 million price tag.

And now he's not going to allow his Klansman Attorney General to persecute his old friends, the Clintons. Isn't that Christian of him? Will he save us from Paul Ryan's determination to gut Medicare and Social Security too? Stay tuned for the next episode of La Telenovela: El Presidente-elect Señor Trumpanzee.