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President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka walk to Marine One at the White House on Feb. 1. Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images

Recent examples included Argentina

"Over and over again, you see this pattern of populist leaders, often democratically elected, who use the power of office to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies," Stephenson said.

In that context, Stephenson said the White House's recent behavior was "extraordinarily and depressingly familiar."

Trump and his family's vast holdings and his refusal to fully sever ties with his business have long prompted warnings from legal experts that his administration will be plagued by conflicts of interest.

Those fears reached new heights this week as Trump and his aides repeatedly attacked Nordstrom over its decision to remove Ivanka Trump's clothing brand from its stores. Ivanka Trump's husband, Jared Kushner, is also an adviser to the president.

The president said Nordstrom treated his daughter "unfairly" on Twitter on Wednesday, while Press Secretary Sean Spicer accused the company of a "direct attack on his policies," even as the department store chain insisted that the move was

The White House response drew heavy criticism from ethics watchdogs, who complained that the president appeared to be intimidating a private business to pad a family member's profits.

"This is the behavior of a Mafia don defending his turf, not the president of the United States," Norm Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told MSNBC. Eisen was the top ethics counsel under President Barack Obama.

A tipping point came Thursday morning, when Conway gave what she said was a "free commercial" for Ivanka Trump's clothing line during a Fox interview from the White House briefing room, urging people to buy her products.

The comments appeared to violate federal ethics rules preventing federal employees from using their offices to endorse products or services. CREW and Public Citizen, another nonpartisan group, fired off letters to the Office of Government Ethics and the White House counsel demanding an investigation.

Conway's appearance also drew a rebuke from the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who has so far rebuffed Democratic calls for investigations of Trump.

"That was wrong, wrong, wrong," Chaffetz told NBC News. "It is wholly unacceptable no ifs, ands or buts about it."

In a joint letter with Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland), the ranking Democrat on the committee, who frequently clashes with Republicans over investigations, Chaffetz asked the Office of Government Ethics to investigate Conway's behavior and recommend possible disciplinary action.

"I kept telling [Chaffetz] that there would come a time," Cummings told NBC News. "He kept saying things like 'we wait until we get to the bridge.' I told him, 'We are at the bridge.' Today he told me, he said, 'We are on the bridge together.' You just can't get a worse case than this. He had no choice, really."

Chaffetz faced particular pressure because he was one of the key politicians involved in investigating Hillary Clinton, whom Republicans frequently accused of ethical missteps based on what they claimed were potential conflicts.

The Republican National Committee, for example,

Notably, "Clinton Cash" author Peter Schweizer who previously teamed up with Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, to investigate Clinton also condemned the White House's behavior.

"They've crossed a very, very important bright line, and it's not good," Schweizer told

Asked about Conway's comments, Spicer told reporters Thursday that she had been "counseled," but she did not elaborate on whether she faced any possible consequences. White House aides later told NBC News that they were still fully confident in Conway.

Spicer's own remarks on Wednesday drew at least as much alarm as Conway's did, if not more, for implying that businesses decisions that detract from Trump family profits would be viewed as a personal affront.

Spicer framed Trump's comments on Nordstrom as those of an angry parent who had a right to "stand up for his family" rather than the reaction of a government official. That version of events offers little to console critics, however, given that Trump's own multibillion-dollar business empire is being run by his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, in his absence.

The participation of White House aides in Trump's private feud also raised the question of whether a future business that pulls out of a deal or a foreign official who issues an unfavorable ruling against a Trump property might expect retaliation not only from the president's words but from government officials.

In addition to the comments by Conway and Spicer, the official White House account retweeted Trump's initial remarks on Nordstrom.

"The implication is if you cross one of his children, the power of the presidency will be used to retaliate against you," Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in government ethics, said of Spicer's remarks.

Trump has already drawn criticism for appearing to do the opposite: promoting a business that he views as favorable to him personally. During the transition, he tweeted "Buy L.L Bean"

As Trump has noted, he himself is exempt from most government rules regarding conflicts of interest, which apply to Cabinet officials and other appointees, like Conway. Until his election, however, it was assumed that presidents would take even greater care to avoid private entanglements, because they're directly accountable to voters and have an interest in avoiding any hint of corruption.

That assumption is

Trump has said he will avoid discussing business with his sons, but it will be difficult to avoid news stories on the company. And there is nothing preventing private actors from buying a Trump property, making a favorable investment in a Trump business venture or buying a pricey membership at a Trump resort to try and win him over.

Watchdog groups have accused Trump of violating the "emoluments clause" of the Constitution which bars presidents from receiving benefits from foreign governments by maintaining a stake in hotels and other businesses that can do business with actors abroad.

Trump's attorney has maintained that their interpretation is mistaken as long as the businesses receive only market value for their services. CREW is engaged in a lawsuit over the issue, although it faces long odds.

Tara Malloy, deputy executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit election law organization, said the overall atmosphere created by Trump's actions was more troubling than any individual incident. She promised more issues in the future unless changes were made.

"They reveal what seems to be a complete indifference to all ethical standards applicable to Trump and the administration," she said.

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Donald Trump's Feud With Nordstrom Sparks Warnings From Ethics Experts - NBCNews.com

Photo credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Maybe youd better sit down for this one. According to a report by Politico, corned-beef dirigible Donald Trump, a skill-free inheritance baby with a virtually unbroken lifelong track record of incompetence and failure, has found that running the United States government is a tougher job than lending his name to mail-order steak delivery scams run by other people. Because he is a world-historically stupid idiot who could not tell the difference between his face and his ass even if they werent identical to each other, this has come as quite a shock to him.

Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought, begins the article, neatly capturing the blithe, criminal ignorance that characterizes both Trump himself and the many dozens of millions of morons who thought he should be the leader of the free world. Yes, being the president is a harder job than Donald Trump would expect, because Donald Trump had never previously held an actual job, because actually, spending your inheritance on a succession of failed cons is not an actual job.

None of the revelations in here are all that surprising, if youve paid attention at any point in the more than 40 years Trump has spent as a professional horses ass marginally enriching himself off a succession of sleazy branding schemes (or in the over 200 years the presidency of the United States has spent being an actual job). The fun is in the wording. Our new president occupies a wild outer range of blundering, arrogant stupidity, far beyond that typically euphemized in newspaper-ese, and the effort to describe the former truthfully and accuratelybut without using such frank and impolite words as stupid and ignoramus and spray-tanned fart balloonvery nearly breaks the latter.

Heres a low-key savage example, from the third paragraph:

Yet it has become apparent, say those close to the president, most of whom requested anonymity to describe the inner workings of the White House, that the transition from overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him.

Overseeing a family business is great. This is the way you put it when you want to say that the presidents last gig was as the ornamental figurehead of a penny-ante hustling operation run by his hare-brained childrenwho even in their vacuity knew better than to let him handle any responsibility more sophisticated than ogling the Miss Universe contestantsbut you also would like to maybe interview him or them at some point in the future. This is what youre left with when the leader of the free world is incapable of thinking and operating and leading from anywhere in the vast ocean of specificity and nuance dividing Get me some more cash and Here is what brand of tanning spray the new press secretary should use, and which parts of his face must be sprayed with it. Overseeing a family business.

The transition from that to being the president has been tough on him. Doing things that you are not qualified to do is tough! Who could have predicted that this would be a challenge for a butter-soft septuagenarian nincompoop?

I love this article so much. Nearly every sentence contains some marvel of delicacy. The new president often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. When confronted with details, he has been known to quickly change the subject or direct questions to one of his chief advisers. His aides joke that they wish their boss would spend more time at his Mar-A-Lago estate. How many ways can you avoid saying that the president is a bumbling, pillow-fisted shit-for-brains, in a story about that exact fact?

Heres the most incredible example. We learn that after unflattering details (what other kind could there be? Hes Donald Trump!) of his phone conversations with other foreign leaders were leaked to the press, Trump grew paranoid about National Security Council staffers and launched an investigation into the source of the leaks. We also learn this (emphasis added):

In turn, some NSC staff believe Trump does not possess the capacity for detail and nuance required to handle the sensitive issues discussed on the calls, and that he has politicized their agency by appointing chief strategist Bannon to the council.

The President of the United States of America is too stupid to participate in discussions held expressly for his benefit. That is what some NSC staff have said, here. Talking to him is a waste of time, because hes literally incapable of grasping what is being talked about, and he just gets mad, like a baby. Like a big red baby with a sensitive heinie.

Its not all bad times and tantrums for Trump, though.

For all his frustrations, Trump has reveled in the trappings of the presidency. He has taken a liking to the Oval Office, where he spends much of his time working. Following a recent gathering of business leaders, he brought the group into the storied room and showed them around.

Sometimes he wanders around his office, pecking at the shiny stuff, like a fucking bird.

[Politico]

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Donald Trump Stunned To Learn Presidency Is An Actual Job, His First - Deadspin

Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor following talks at the Kremlin on Friday. POOL / Reuters

"Russian-American relations have degraded especially hard over the past five years or so, and of course, they need to be restored in the interest of both the Russian and the American people," the Russian president said, according to the agency.

"We've heard what the elected president, Mr. Trump, who has now assumed office, thinks of this, we've always welcomed it, and we expect that these relations will be fully restoring across all dimensions, but this depends not just on us, but also on the Americans," Putin said.

Such a meeting could help solve various international conflicts, and strengthen the fight against terrorism, the Kremlin said.

The White House has not yet commented on the possibility of such a meeting. During the U.S. presidential campaign, both men expressed admiration for each other. Also, U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia attempted to influence the American election to Trump's advantage.

Ljubljana was the site of a meeting between Putin and President George W. Bush in 2001.

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Putin Hails Slovenia's Offer to Host Summit With Donald Trump - NBCNews.com

New York Times

A Gift for Donald Trump New York Times If you could give Donald Trump the gift of a single trait to help his presidency, what would it be? My first thought was that prudence was the most important gift one could give him. Prudence is the ability to govern oneself with the use of reason. It ...

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A Gift for Donald Trump - New York Times

A rallying cry adopted by For Honor players may sound familiar to those well-versed in the conservative political landscape. Deus vult, a phrase thats become popular with the multiplayer games community, may have origins in 11th-century Europe, but its more recently been associated with the alt-right movement.

Deus vult is Latin for God wills it, which became a stirring declaration for the Crusaders. It concluded a speech made by Pope Urban II, calling defenders of Christianity to action in the fight to win back their Holy Land from its Muslim occupants. It became symbolic not just of pride in the Christian state, but in Western culture as a whole.

The religious, historical nature of the phrase is obvious and inextricable, and thats what accounts for its use by the community of games like For Honor. The action fighting game is set in medieval times, with players choosing between knights, samurai and vikings. In keeping with the time period, players who choose the knight class can often be found cheering Deus vult!

The phrase is a major meme in the For Honor community, and it appears to be recycled from older medieval times-based games. That includes Crusader Kings, which had an expansion called Deus Vult; the phrase also appeared in its sequel. Its used by recent beta testers in a plethora of threads on the subreddit and official For Honor forum. There are jokes about the meme and how common it is, but more often than not, players just post it as a rallying cry much like how it was originally intended.

Very important day tomorrow..

FOR HONOR BETA FUCK YES. KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS KNIGHTS DEUS VULT!

Despite the lighthearted use of the phrase by the For Honor community, rooted in pre-existing video game culture, the alt-right had resurfaced the age-old battle cry months earlier for more sinister purposes.

Members of the alt-right movement, which propagates racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and other hateful ideologies, co-opted Deus vult for its purposes during the 2016 election season. The group turned the phrase into a hashtag that accompanied its political tweets, and reports of it graffitied in public places followed.

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post wrote last November of why the alt-right, and particularly supporters of then-President elect Donald Trump, was so drawn to Deus vult as a symbol of Judeo-Christian pride.

Both Trump and those in the seething online churn of the alt-right a catchall term for a coterie of neo-fascists, white supremacists, ethno-populists, anti-feminists and other far-right extremists who cheered Trump's electoral victory on Nov. 8 also embrace a clash of civilizations, he wrote. The president-elect signaled as much in a major foreign policy speech in April, when he rejected the idea of universal values and trumpeted the promotion of Western civilization.

The alt-rights memeification of Deus vult is just one part of whats seen as the groups larger obsession with anti-Islamic discourse and medieval imagery. While this connection has been debated some argue that the phrases popularity is only attributable to Crusader Kings the prevalent understanding is that Deus vult in the alt-right context is just another code word for hate-mongering. (Its also another example of the movement re-appropriating iconography for its purposes. Refer to the history of the Pepe the frog meme for more on that.)

The current surge of Deus Vult does not seem to be part of [Crusader Kings], but part of a growing hatred for islamification, proved by simply reading the comments that come with that phrase, explained one Redditor to another asking about the phrases proliferation last October.

In the case of For Honor, Deus vult is just a phrase used by the community without any political associations. (Weve contacted Ubisoft for comment and will update if we hear back.) The meme, too, is divorced from the alt-right movement. Instead, its just one uncomfortable way that the games burgeoning community intersects with one of the internets most incendiary.

Link:
For Honor's accidental alt-right connection - Polygon