Brooks: I’m Worried About Trump ‘Intermingling’ Business and Public Service

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that he was bothered by the “intermingling of the business and the public service” with President-Elect Donald Trump’s family and its role in his administration, but “if the family members choose one side or the other, I would have no problem with Ivanka serving on the White House staff,” and that the rule forbidding family members from serving in the Cabinet is a “dumb rule.”

Brooks said, “Well, what does bother me is the intermingling of the business and the public service aspect of this. And so I do agree with that. But I do think, if the family members choose one side or the other, I would have no problem with Ivanka serving on the White House staff, frankly. But there’s a rule against it now, in theory, serving in the Cabinet, at least, maybe not in the White House, that was passed after Bobby Kennedy. I personally think that’s a dumb rule. If a president wants to have a family member, as an executive of a small business can have a family member. I don’t have a problem with that. I actually think Ivanka would be a good influence on the administration. But I do think as long as the — he’s so business-minded. As long as we’re constantly asking about, is he trying to make a buck off this, is he trying to promote his hotel with this? Then that’s just a corruption of what we think of as public service.”

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