The Washington Post editorial board has published an op-ed warning that President Donald Trump's corruption of the office of the presidency would likely reach new lows if he gets elected to a second term.
The editors begin by showing how Trump has completely failed to live up to his promise to "drain the swamp" of corruption in Washington D.C.
"That pledge has not merely gone unmet... it has been shattered by a president and an administration unprecedented and unapologetic in their mingling of public and private interests," the Post writes. "In an unfettered second term, the self-dealing would be epic."
Among other things, the Post notes how Trump frequently visits his own businesses at taxpayer expense, which serves both to inject revenue into them and to give them free promotion from the highest office in the land.
The constant use of his own private businesses has been particularly problematic because foreign governments have also regularly been visiting them as a way to pay tribute to the president in the hopes that he will do their bidding.
"Foreign dignitaries seeking to curry favor with the administration, businesses needing government approvals for their ventures and state GOP officials wanting to stay on the right side of the president seemingly know it is best to stay at Mr. Trump’s Washington hotel or one of his other properties," the editors write.
They conclude their editorial by warning that Trump's corruption will grow even worse in his second term.
"Mr. Trump has made clear that he believes 'my generals,' the Justice Department and the rest of U.S. government are there to serve his private and personal interests," they write. "If voters do not take their government back, they can expect it to have been remade into a second Trump Organization four years from now."