WHAT IF IT IS A JOKE?

poor georgie’s almanack:

BUT WHAT IF IT’S A JOKE?  Yesterday, The Washington Post ran a story about the time, around 1840, when US President Martin van Buren was given two live lions, some horses, a Persian rug, and jewels by Mideast rulers.  The gifts set off one of the first really big emoluments-clause dilemmas.  To guard against conflicts of interest and potential bribes, people working for the government are pretty much forbidden to receive gifts and make profit from foreigners.  

Sometimes, it is not simple.  

For instance, The Post story reminded me of when daughter Amy and I were having lunch in Montevideo with the president of Uruguay, his wife, and daughter Pilar.  We, and a hand-full of others, were on the patio behind their government-supplied house.  Two llamas were roaming nearby.  

Amy’s college graduation present was to be my translator on a trip south of the Equator to present highly publicized awards to the first lady of Uruguay and the president of Argentina.  I was the volunteer president of the Pan American Development Foundation’s board of directors and had concocted a fund-raising and PR scheme to give awards to heads of state for working with the foundation on programs that helped their constituents lives.

Uruguay’s charming and very smart Mrs. Lacalle, though not the head of state, was a recipient for a nonprofit organization she led.  Some said it was Mrs. Lacalle who was responsible for her husband’s popularity.

Amy or I asked about the llamas.  The first lady said that, while in Paraguay for a summit meeting, the Lacalles heard a knock on their hotel room door.  It was opened and there in the doorway was Paraguay’s president with a rope in his hand.

He told them he knew there was a male llama in their back yard who must be lonely.  So his nation was giving them a female llama … which, of course, was on the other end of the rope, hopefully not soiling the rug.

I don’t think the emoluments clause of the US Constitution is a joke, nor are the potential legal problems of Mr. Trump’s family making money off of their foreign properties a triviality.  

But, how do legislators make laws that differentiate criminal activity from a couple of wise guys who like to pull practical jokes on each other?