There’s a lot to fit in the header and this article, but here goes. Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson, the billionaire owner of the NFL New York Jets AND the Donald Trump-appointed US ambassador to the United Kingdom, “was investigated by the State Department watchdog after allegations that he made racist and sexist comments to staff and sought to use his government position to benefit the President’s personal business in the UK,” according to this story at CNN.
I won’t even try to recap all the allegations from the story, which is very much worth the time it takes to read. Suffice to say that Johnson allegedly has made racist and misogynistic statements to staff and other diplomats during his not-quite-3-years in his position. Not surprising for a billionaire NFL owner and Trump appointee, but still disturbing given his position on the world stage.
More from CNN:
Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson, the top envoy since August 2017 to one of the United States’ most important allies, made racist generalizations about Black men and questioned why the Black community celebrates Black History Month, according to exclusive new information shared with CNN by three sources and a diplomat familiar with the complaints to the State Department inspector general.
His comments about women’s looks have been “cringeworthy,” a source with knowledge of the situation said, and two sources said it was a struggle to get him on board for an event for International Women’s Day.
“He’s said some pretty sexist, racist,” things, the diplomat with knowledge of the complaints made to the IG said of Johnson, an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and one of the owners of the New York Jets.
Johnson, of course, has refuted the multiple accusations.
(Of course he tweeted.)
First reported by the New York Times, there’s also an issue about Johnson allegedly trying to get British Open officials to award the golf tournament to a Trump course — Turnberry — in Scotland. Honestly, after the racism and sexism, this hardly seems awful. I think that Trump appointees are automatically assumed to be Trump salesmen/saleswomen at this point.
Best people, y’all.
Honestly, I’m so numb to incompetence at all levels of the Trump Regime that this barely lands on my outrage meter. My baseline for anger is now “Did a Trump-loving idiot kill someone, or through incompetence or stupidity allow someone to die?” Braying ignorant racist and sexist comments is just another day in Trump hell.
I agree at some level, but if we just decide to be numb to it all, they’ve pretty much won.
No, wrong is still wrong. It’s just that repeated exposure to wrong has desensitized my impulse to fucking kill someone. But I still know it’s wrong.
…from what I gathered the other day about the golf course thing it isn’t so much that it’s surprising that Trump expects the role of an abassador to be shilling for his personal financial gain
…it’s that it underscores a lack of understanding of how (as the saying goes) any of that shit works…one which apparently encompasses both the ambassador in question & the asshole with the golf courses that are losing him millions of dollars annually
…just asking the question burns your ambassador at a functional level…so literally shoots your “national interest” in the foot…& actively ratchets down any chance the course might have of being included in the list of ones considered for hosting the open tournament…a decision reached by a non-government organization over which neither ambassador nor those to whom he’d direct the question have any input
…so to repeatedly insist on them doing something with zero upside & a significant downside is a pretty convincing demonstration of a working definition of “dumber than shit”
…& that’s all before you even start to get into the actual specifics of the story or the rest of the ambassador’s bullshit…which kind of makes that first bit seem to pale in comparision…& I guess I think maybe ought to be the bigger deal?
I am not shocked that a guy named Woody Johnson turned out to be a massive dick.
Well done!
8Jesus, it’s literally on page one of “shit you can’t do as president”.
He tried to enrich his business using the power of his office!
LOCK HIM UP FOR FUCKS SAKE
Ninja edit: according to the times article, he’s exempt from conflict of interest. Oops. I just woke from a nap.
…your point still stands though…that exemption doesn’t clear him of explicitly se king what functionally amount to foreign emoluments (the UK state being on the hook for providing security arrangements & the like would be enough to trigger that bit) even without the added abuse of his position that comes of improper pressure on the ambassador to try to improperly influence the decision?
…the whole exempt from conflicts thing seems pretty sketchy anyway…to me anyway