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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Of Course It Would Be the Saudi Government, and Lobbying for Such A Fine Cause, Too…

Of Course It Would Be the Saudi Government, and Lobbying for Such A Fine Cause, Too…

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A lobbying firm working for Saudi Arabia paid for a room at Donald Trump’s Washington hotel after Inauguration Day, marking the first publicly known payment on behalf of a foreign government to a Trump property since he became president.

Qorvis MSLGroup, a communications firm that lobbies for the Saudis, has been organizing veterans and other activists to come to Washington to urge Congress to repeal the law letting 9/11 victims’ families sue the kingdom. Between 20 and 40 veterans, with the assistance of the advocacy group NMLB, stayed at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in December and January.

One of those veterans checked in on Jan. 23 and left on Jan. 26 at a rate of $250 to $325 a night plus tax, according to NMLB president Jason Johns. The bill was paid by Michael Gibson, a subcontractor to Qorvis representing the Saudis, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department.

The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits U.S. officials from receiving payments from foreign governments. Lawyers started warning about the potential for violations at Trump’s Washington hotel and overseas properties after he won the election, but the clause didn’t start applying to Trump until he took office on Jan. 20…

“The problem with Donald Trump’s constitutionally forbidden foreign government cash and other benefits is not just that any one particular payment is problematic — it’s also a systemic problem,” said Norm Eisen, who was President Barack Obama’s ethics czar and is now part of a lawsuit accusing Trump of violation the Emoluments Clause. “It’s another tile in the mosaic of unconstitutional behavior.”…

Before the inauguration, Kuwait and Bahrain held events at the Trump hotel, and other foreign diplomats reportedly patronized it to curry favor with the incoming president.

Trump leases the building for the hotel from the General Services Administration, part of the executive branch. Democrats are pressuring the agency to evict Trump because a line in the contract prohibits it from benefiting an elected official. Trump’s lawyer and some contracting experts dispute that interpretation.

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump replaced the agency’s designated temporary chief with his own pick.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  3. 3.

    Ian

    We are not asking the important question: how does this tie into Hillary Clinton’s emails? I DEMAND A HEARING!

  4. 4.

    Baud

    OT. There may be one good thing that comes out of the Trump administration

    But amid a bitter war of words between the Trump administration and the Fourth Estate, plans for the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April have been thrown into turmoil.

    After President Donald Trump’s repeated barbs against the “dishonest media” and “fake news,” some journalists and media outlets are thinking twice about their participation in the April 29 dinner, a tradition that dates back to 1921.

  6. 6.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Baud: Sam Bee is throwing a dinner the same night. I look forward to epic tweets wars.

    On another topic, in complaining about having her line discontinued because of her father’s politics, has it ever occurred to Ivanka Trump that her clothing line was only in Norstrom’s in the first place because of who she is? Live by the family brand, die by the family brand.

  7. 7.

    randy khan

    The bit about “a line in the contract” really minimizes it – that’s a standard provision of every GSA contract that’s there specifically to prevent corruption in letting and implementing contracts. They would not have signed the agreement without it.

  10. 10.

    pamelabrown53

    @Baud: #4.

    My take, Baud, is the MSM will clutch their pearls and then submit. However, in the big picture the WHCD should be off the radar. In big picture terms, Trump supports the sunnis/Saudis when their branch of Islam is the one that supports exporting terrorism to the West. Isn’t ISIS composed of Sunnis?

  12. 12.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Iowa Old Lady: Ivanka: Not only that, but you know all those people your dad dissed? Many of them can afford $600 knockoff shoes and are deciding not to buy them. That wife of a Muslim surgeon? That first generation Af-Am computer engineer with stock in Google? They are the ones that buy those shoes. Old money sticks to Birkenstocks and imported wear.

  13. 13.

    efgoldman

    @debbie:

    Trump is Trump, but they should not repeal that law.

    Not a law – in the constitution. There may be statutes as well, but it would require an amendment.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    has it ever occurred to Ivanka Trump that her clothing line was only in Norstrom’s in the first place because of who she is?

    I’m going to go with “no”. Trumps and privilege are like fish and water.

  15. 15.

    mai naem mobile

    Who the hell knows what the situation is going to be end of April…I wouldn’t be shocked if strong calls for impeachment don’t start by April. These guys are that incompetent. Also, the GOP congrresscritters will have faced more angry townhalls by then and they may have gotten through their thick heads that their policies are not that popular.

  16. 16.

    efgoldman

    Bobby Burchfield, the Trump Organization’s ethics adviser, declined to comment.

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
    He clocks in and then naps all day, except for Monday thru Friday, that he has off.

  17. 17.

    joel hanes

    Old money sticks to Birkenstocks

    In my experience, old money prefers boat shoes — Sperry Topsiders or Sebago Docksiders.
    The richest woman I know lives in a beat-up old Army fatigue jacket from the green-fatigues era, four sizes too big for her, because it has wonderful pockets and, after 30 years of washing, is the most comfortable garment in the world.

  19. 19.

    Lapassionara

    I am thinking this emoluments clause issue will be another IOKIYAR nothing to see here. I think he is going to have to get under 40% approval-wise, and probably lower, before anything gets legs. I keep thinking of what the R’s would be up to if Hillary were president, and I just am stunned at the hypocrisy, but also have seen this before, so not surprised. Just determined to keep resisting.

  22. 22.

    Wapiti

    @joel hanes:

    The richest woman I know lives in a beat-up old Army fatigue jacket from the green-fatigues era, four sizes too big for her, because it has wonderful pockets and, after 30 years of washing, is the most comfortable garment in the world.

    We lived a while in Menlo Park, CA. There was an alteration place that catered to the serious money – people who would rather pay ($$$) to repair their favorite golf shirt than to buy ($) a new one.

  24. 24.

    randy khan

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I think the real old money thing is acting like you don’t really care much about your clothes, except when caring about your clothes is important to the situation. (That is, you don’t wear old things to a big charity event because It’s Not Done, but otherwise you wear stuff down to the nubs – those elbow patches really do cover up holes in the elbows, etc.)

    And the further point is that there are two kinds of rich people – the people who don’t care one way or another if you can tell they’re rich, and the people who care a lot. Warren Buffett doesn’t care; Donald Trump cares more than the entire Buffett family combined. (And the ones who don’t care generally are the ones who give the most to charity, although there are exceptions.)

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Iowa Old Lady: A guy my wife is FB “friends” with posted a pic of an Ivanka sweater, clearly showing the label, the “Made in China” tag and the price tag — $1.00, on super-closeout at Marshall’s. For those who are unaware, that’s what is called an “off-price” retailer — they sell merch that doesn’t move at regular stores, usually at half list price and down.

  27. 27.

    CarolDuhart2

    The deplorables couldnt afford her stuff even on sale. Even going to a high-end retailer when they have their clearance won’t bring the price down low enough. It’s consignment and thrift store, baby.

    I’ve been around a few granola rich, and they could well afford a dozen of those shoes, but they won’t buy them.

    She’s QVC with flex-pay, and guess who buys a lot of that stuff? All the kind of aspiring Jewish/African-American/immigrant ladies who yearn for at least one pair of break-out fashion shoes. Dissing minorities and playing around with fascism isn’t good for that bottom line.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    @Lapassionara:

    I am thinking this emoluments clause issue will be another IOKIYAR nothing to see here.

    Wasn’t a lawsuit filed by Tribe and others the day of the inauguration?

  29. 29.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Gin & Tonic: my wife went to Ross, another such place, saw something she liked, noticed the Ivanka label, then practically shrieked in a rush to put it down lest she catch cooties from it. That has to be happening everywhere. And department stores know it.

  31. 31.

    retiredeng

    Holy crap. If Clinton were acting like this her head would have been on a pike more than a week ago by now.

  34. 34.

    CarolDuhart2

    @ThresherK: Thrift store, if it’s down to $1.00. It costs more to sell it than it bring in now. Watch-they will tear off the tags and donate the merch so that at least it would be sold there.

  36. 36.

    Suzanne

    @CarolDuhart2: I was in the shoe department at Nordstrom about a year ago, and I was trying on plain black flats (as Suzanne is a very boring dresser). The sales lady brought over some Ivanka Trump-branded flats, and they were actually not bad, but I refused to even try them on. She took them away very quickly, and I got the impression that I was not the first person to react that way. Ended up buying some Toms that are not the regular Toms.

  38. 38.

    m.j.

    I can’t wait to hear on my drive to work how NPR’s Morning Edition will try to spin this if they look at it at all.

    There’s a reason why I don’t give money to public radio. And if it needs explaining Mr. Steve Innskeep, it’s because you don’t serve the public, you fucking quisling.

  41. 41.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Suzanne: I’m not sure I would take them even as a gift, Suzanne. There’s too much pain associated with the Trump name now, and even worse, it’s a tacky kind of pain- as if they don’t even want to acknowledge that some people are being hurt.

  42. 42.

    RepubAnon

    @Baud: Trump is draining the swamp of its most corrupt and vile denizens – by giving them key positions in his Administration. Not quite what the average Trump voter envisioned… but, hey, liberals are angry, so it’s fine by the Trumpistas. After all, how can something be immoral if it’s done by a Republican?

    (/snark)

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    @CarolDuhart2: Same. I also have a much less fashion-conscious style these days, and I like things that are well-fitted and completely nondescript.

    I have over 30 gray sweaters.

  45. 45.

    Aleta

    @CarolDuhart2: There was a story not long ago that reported about discards from Nike or Under Armour and one other brand. Bags of unsold merch were out on the street for the trash. The shoes etc had all been slashed open so that lower class or homeless people would not be seen wearing them. It would ruin the upscale brand you see. So I wonder if that IT junk will be tossed for the same reason. Hope it gets donated though.

  46. 46.

    CarolDuhart2

    @schrodingers_cat: The difference is that some fashion is pitched towards people who want something that you could show off to people who want to show off in the clubs and at cocktail hour. Trump was a name that at least said to some people, “I got flash and money and can afford this”. Groups vary of course, and so does age. These are strivers-first time I ever had money people.

    Taste comes with time and education and exposure. Think QVC/Home Shopping Network again-that one good pair or fancy shoes or jacket, or purse. Trump was for those people a symbol of the good life.

  47. 47.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    @efgoldman:

    am thinking this emoluments clause issue will be another IOKIYAR nothing to see here.

    Those old founder-guys really screwed up. Writing stuff like “don’t DO that!” in the Constitution, and figuring that Presidents, Senators, etc., would follow the rule, just because they swore an oath to do so.

    If those old guys could have seen Trump’s Amerika, they’d have put in ‘enforcement clauses’, stuff like “Violators are subject to Kinetic Removal by outraged citizens”.

    But they didn’t, and here we are.

  49. 49.

    beergoggles

    Cue the Democrat that runs for president in ’20 to give him absolute immunity for past crimes like Obama did with Bush..

  50. 50.

    schrodingers_cat

    @CarolDuhart2: You are stereotyping entire groups of people based on what exactly?

    She’s QVC with flex-pay, and guess who buys a lot of that stuff? All the kind of aspiring Jewish/African-American/immigrant ladies who yearn for at least one pair of break-out fashion shoes.

    Do you have any data to support this dubious assertion?

    Dissing minorities and playing around with fascism isn’t good for that bottom line.

    I agree with this.

  52. 52.

    scav

    More interesting than Nordstrom’s ditching brand Trump, is KMart, Sears and that tier of merchants dropping the brand. That may be hinting at a more general decline of the cachet.

  53. 53.

    ThresherK

    @Suzanne: Gray sweaters?

    What color fur do your cats shed? I really enjoy black and navy clothing, but a tabby-over-white (with buff-colored underhairs) and a calico really make for a lot of lint-roller work.

    —

    Generally speaking I think the Trump clothing brand is going to become as fashionable as a LeBron Cavaliers jersey after he left for Miami.

  54. 54.

    Yarrow

    @ThresherK: At this point a lot of those Ivanka clothes are going to end up at Goodwill or be sent to wherever losing playoff teams have their “winners” shirts sent.

  56. 56.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It’s criminal, but it’s white collar REPUBLICAN crime, so no big deal, really.

    Can you imagine the outrage if Clinton or Obama tried something like this?

  58. 58.

    CarolDuhart2

    I is one of those categories, and I used to listen to that stuff as a cure for insomnia from time to time. Upper working class at best, for whom a $200 pair of shoes down to $50 is a real find.

    Look, I know you’re sensitive about this. But have you seen Jersey Shore?

  59. 59.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Your description of Marshalls is correct.
    Marshalls and TJ Maxx are 2 of the off-price retailers owned by TJX Cos.
    If the pic you mention is the one I saw, that sweater is first quality regular retail merchandise that was put on the floor back in November.
    I’m sure about the merchandise type, but they could have changed the date code* since I worked there.

    *Date code is the boxed 23 at the top of the ticket.
    They ran on a 2 year cycle that resets in December.
    If the codes still work that way, the top was put on the floor in November 2016.

    Here’s a repost of a comment I made over at Wonkette:

    I’m going to give you a bit of insider knowledge from my 17 years working at a TJ Maxx distribution center.

    Namely that TJX’s (Parent company of both Marshalls & TJ Maxx) buying policy is to buy factory seconds, leftovers, stuff other retailers can’t sell, overruns, etc., and then buy first run product.

    In other words, while we do carry first-run, first-quality merchandise, it’s not something you can count on. In fact, there’s a code on each TJ ticket that tells the merchandise type. If I remember them right, the type codes are 1=first quality regular retail, 2=factory 2nd, 3=irregular, 5=overrun or store brand (don’t remember which), and 7=out of season..

    I can’t tell you just how many batches of merchandise came in with other store pricetags on it that we had to remove and reticket with a TJ hangtag.

    This background is important because we got TONS of Ivanka Trump clothing & shoes in for years before Donald ran in 2015, and most of it was either production overruns, first quality, or out of season.

    IOW, if IT was a true luxury brand, you wouldn’t be seeing her clothes as regular merchandise at fucking TJ Maxx.

    Now we did get some true luxury stuff in (Gucci, Chanel, etc.) occasionally, but it all was in smaller quantities, the Saks or Neiman tags had to be removed & replaced with TJ tags, and was handled at the DC as ‘high risk’ merchandise because the high cost made it an attractive target for thieves.

    I remember retagging $500 Manolo heels w/$225 TJ Maxx tags.
    That’s a bargain. $49.99 Ivanka Trump heels weren’t a bargain.

  61. 61.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @JPL: Right…

    Not to mention 8 straight, ENDLESS years hearing about that farking birth certificate…

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: I know I’ve seen at least one picture of children in an African country wearing shirts for a team that didn’t win the championship. The article was about that issue of having pre-made hats and shirts and then having to offload them and the photo accompanied it.

  63. 63.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    @joel hanes: Most of the Old Money people I know wear Brooks Brothers and drive cars like old Volvos and Mercedes because they’re classic, unassuming and can be used for decades.

  64. 64.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Yarrow: Yeah… I’ve seen and read about that too…

    I’m just being a wise arse… I think some of the pro sports leagues just destroy the stuff too…

    Actually… children in Africa wearing Ivanka Trump items would make a FANTASTIC photo…

  65. 65.

    John Revolta

    Day after Nordstrom’s dumped Ivanka their stock went up 5%. Next day, TJ Maxx followed suit. I had to laugh.

    Now I hear Sears and KMart are jumping on the bandwagon. Hey, it’s just good business!

  66. 66.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): That’s interesting. It reinforces the idea that Nordstrom’s carried her stuff because of who she was rather than because it sold well. And now that her name is a liability rather than a plus, they’re no longer so inclined to take it. As I said, live by the family brand, die by the family brand.

  69. 69.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Yarrow: I would love to see a lion posing w/ the Trump they took down…

    However, I have no doubt eating a Trump would make a lion seriously ill…

  71. 71.

    scav

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: Class Out of Sight Out of Mind — and at least two reasons to be so. A) Stereotypical Old money, stereotypical inherited class status because they know to their bones what their class is and don’t need to buttress it with trivial markers or B) safety in anonymity.

  72. 72.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @John Revolta:
    TJ Maxx didn’t dump her.
    They still sell her stuff, but they’re no longer going to set aside a separate section and print up signage* to direct customers to Ivanka merchandise.
    In other words, they don’t see her name as the draw it used to be, as Iowa Old Lady pointed out.

    *We called it ‘feature’ merchandise when I worked at the DC.
    We printed up the signs and packed the signage with the featured merchandise.

  75. 75.

    Roger Moore

    @Lapassionara:

    I am thinking this emoluments clause issue will be another IOKIYAR nothing to see here. I think he is going to have to get under 40% approval-wise, and probably lower, before anything gets legs.

    The thing about IOKIYAR is that it’s one of those things that will continue to be true until one day it suddenly isn’t, and then there’s going to be a huge reckoning. The longer we put off that reckoning, the more devastating it will be when it finally arrives. I’m hoping there will be something bad enough about Trump to puncture IOKIYAR and take down the rest of the party with him.

  76. 76.

    Corner Stone

    @Suzanne:

    I have over 30 gray sweaters.

    No one else is going to say it? Fine.
    “30 Sweaters of Gray”
    A Different Kind of Masochism Since She Lives in Phoenix

    Coming soon to theaters near you.

  77. 77.

    Yarrow

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): That’s what I figured. At TJ Maxx, when you walk in the door there are usually a few sections with named merchandise right at the front. Those racks will have their own signs promoting the brand. Some of the better known designers or something with cachet. Everything else, or even out of season stuff from those designers, gets put on the big racks.

    That’s what’s happening with the Ivanka stuff, right?

  79. 79.

    lapassionara

    @efgoldman: Yes, but I do not see that Tribe has standing to raise this claim. On the other hand, it has been a while since I took conlaw, and even then, the class was not thorough, so maybe I am wrong. He is the constitutional scholar! Right? So, maybe it will survive a motion to dismiss. I have been wondering what others think about its prospects.

  81. 81.

    Yarrow

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m hoping there will be something bad enough about Trump to puncture IOKIYAR and take down the rest of the party with him.

    Me too! I think the Russian stuff is going to be part of it. There’s going to be a whole lot of ‘what did they know and when did they know it’ going around. Pence obviously knows about Flynn’s calls. Who might know about Donald’s financial entanglements and what are they getting for keeping their mouths shut? If he accepts gifts, who in the Republican administration and Republican Congress is he paying off to keep their mouths closed?

    Interesting times ahead.

  82. 82.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @Yarrow: Yep. They’ll still sell it, but won’t ‘feature’ it anymore.
    For some reason the Ivanka Trump name is now seen as a potential liability.
    I can’t imagine why. ?

  83. 83.

    ? Martin

    @Aleta: Years ago (may still be true today) it was a requirement when writing down stocks of books to strip the cover off. When I was in retail we’d have a bunch of books that we over ordered on, publisher would give us a credit and rather than pay to return them, our instructors were to tear the cover off and throw them away. I felt like a fucking nazi doing that. Granted, some of the books were trashy romance novels that you wouldn’t want to donate to a school, but there were a lot of quite respectable books in that pile, and even the trashy ones could be donated to the library.

  84. 84.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat: A reporter investigating David Brooks’ assertions in Bobos in Paradise called the marketing director at QVC, who confirmed that most of QVC’s revenue was attributable to orders coming from counties that most people thought of as blue. A typical QVC strategy is to pair with a designer like Isaac Mizrahi, who still designs a couture collection, and whose name is well known, but who is no longer fresh for the dog whistle fashionistas. He designs clothing for QVC and personally appears at least weekly. I am assuming that his real profits come from doing this, and not higher end merchandise.

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    @randy khan:

    And the further point is that there are two kinds of rich people – the people who don’t care one way or another if you can tell they’re rich, and the people who care a lot.

    The whole old money/new money dichotomy is basically a stereotype that old money doesn’t care and new money does. I suspect there’s actually another level going on though: who you’re trying to prove it to. A lot of old money does care about trying to prove its wealth, but it really only cares about proving it to other old money. In contrast, new money cares deeply about proving their wealth to the public at large so they can show their old social group that they’ve moved up in the world.

  91. 91.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @? Martin:
    There was a used bookstore here in town that must have either dumpster dove for the ripped cover books, or bought them ‘under the table’ from someone at the original retailer, because half of the books in the store were in new condition minus the front cover. ?

  92. 92.

    Corner Stone

    @? Martin: Let’s not be silly here. I own several pairs of Allen Edmond shoes that all cost more than the $150 for those loafers. However, I can drop them off and get them redone for a small fee and wear them for another 5 years with moderate care. I will probably wear them until the end of my professional working life.
    I also have a couple pairs of RedWing boots I purchased when I was late teens/early 20’s. They made me cry at the time because they forced me to save forever to afford them. Still awesome.
    My dad had some ostrich boots made for him decades ago that I would have killed for if they had fit me. Soft as butter and just beautiful.

    Suede loafers at $150 do not fit into any of those categories.

  94. 94.

    ? Martin

    @Roger Moore: The main distinction is that old money is old money because it was carefully protected and stewarded so it could last generations, and carries with it the implied responsibility it should last generations more. The impressiveness of old money is really it’s durability more than its ability for excess.

    New money is anything. It could become old money, it could become big charitable giving like Carnegie did, it could all get blown on hookers and gold toilets to try and impress the class they want to be part of.

    Trump’s problem isn’t that it’s new or old money, it’s that he wants to be accepted by the social class, who are that because they have money and taste and respect. Trump only has money, and to this day hasn’t figured out that the other two things matter.

  96. 96.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    @John Revolta: As far as I’m aware, no it is not.
    That said, TJX isn’t above getting some free publicity at Ivanka’s expense.

  98. 98.

    Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)

    @Iowa Old Lady: There was a story last summer about how she wasn’t “lucky” where she lived but figured out how to have a lemonade stand with her brothers anyway… by selling lemonade to the gardeners etc. at their country home. So, I’d guess the answer is she never has realized how much she was depending & trading on her family name.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    @Yarrow:

    wherever losing playoff teams have their “winners” shirts sent.

    Apparently they’ve now started destroying that stuff instead of giving it away in third world countries.

  101. 101.

    Ella in New Mexico

    This may become the first case in the emoluments clause. Keep an eye on this.

    I’m not a lawyer, but I’m betting that no court will find that an American-owned company that lobbies for a foreign government and pays for US veterans overnight stays will be a violation of the emoluments clause.

    It’ll have to be actual foreign government representatives checking in at the Trump Hotel. But seriously, how hard will that be to come up with, given how things are going with this crew? If it hasn’t already happened someplace in a Trump-owned facility, it surely will.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    “Normally not into calling out spelling errors on Twitter because we’ve all been there. But you’re the Department of Education. Of America,” tweeted Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a candidate for Democratic National Committee chairman.

    Extra points for “Of America” :)

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    The main distinction is that old money is old money because it was carefully protected and stewarded so it could last generations, and carries with it the implied responsibility it should last generations more. The impressiveness of old money is really it’s durability more than its ability for excess.

    The flip side, though, is that new money knows how to earn a fortune, while most old money only knows how to hold on to what they have. Old money has to steward what they have because it’s all they have; they wouldn’t know how to expand their fortune beyond what the market will provide. New money tends to be much more casual about spending because they built their own fortune and believe, right or wrong, that they can always make another.

  107. 107.

    Mnemosyne

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I wandered into Nordstrom Rack today (their discount outlet) and had a brief, oblique conversation with the sales clerk, who indicated that their business seemed to be up in the wake of dropping Ivanka’s stuff and getting attacked by Trump. I’m in deep-blue Los Angeles, so it’s no surprise, but he seemed pleased.

    (For the record, he was African-American and had an accent that was probably Caribbean.)

  108. 108.

    joel hanes

    @? Martin:

    I felt like a fucking nazi doing that. Granted, some of the books were trashy romance novels that you wouldn’t want to donate to a school, but there were a lot of quite respectable books in that pile, and even the trashy ones could be donated to the library.

    Don’t feel bad. If the store stripped the front cover, that means that they did not count that book as a sale, and, as the publisher counts it as a return, the author will receive nothing for that copy The contract between the book store and the publisher states that that such stripped books may not be sold, and must be destroyed.

    Buying books stripped of their covers is roughly morally equivalent to Napster downloads in its heyday.

  111. 111.

    LAC

    @CarolDuhart2: Jaysus fucking christ. How did you guess that we African Americans purchase shit like ivanka’s off of QVC? Who has been passing you notes from our North American aspirational black folks meetings? We are trying to keep that on the down low. ?

  113. 113.

    randy khan

    @Corner Stone:

    It’s my experience that good men’s shoes cost around what comparable women’s shoes cost, but tend to last longer because they are made with the assumption they need to be durable. I have Alan Edmonds shoes and a pair of fairly fancy Italian loafers, and with normal resoling they all have outlasted the cheaper shoes I’ve bought by a lot (like 10 years). The Italian loafers, on a $/year basis, probably are going to end up meaningfully cheaper than my outlet-purchase boat shoes.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @Corner Stone:

    If a loafer lasts 20 years, then $150 is cheap. IF you have $150…

    I agree with the old money wants to look good, but inconspicuous. Anyone with wits wants that. Well, I like that, maybe that’s just me.

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