Rosie O’Donnell’s Bribery ‘Joke’ Is No Laughing Matter
O’Donnell hoped to convince two Senate Republicans to abandon tax reform with a multimillion-dollar seduction.
Tone-deaf celebrities harbor an immeasurable amount of hate toward Donald Trump and his agenda. There’s a way that society can protest and ruffle some feathers without succumbing to unjustified vitriol or even law-breaking, but the latter is happening more and more these days under the guise of “entertainment.” On Twitter this week, Rosie O'Donnell, a favorite target of Trump anyway, hoped to convince two Senate Republicans — Susan Collins and Jeff Flake — to abandon tax reform with a multimillion-dollar seduction. She called the tax reform package “criminal” before pledging “to give 2 million dollars to senator susan collins [sic] and 2 million to senator jeff flake [sic] if they vote NO. NO I WILL NOT KILL AMERICANS FOR THE SUOER [sic] rich.”
so how about this
— ROSIE (@Rosie) December 20, 2017
i promise to give
2 million dollars to senator susan collins
and 2 million to senator jeff flake
if they vote NO
NO I WILL NOT KILL AMERICANS
FOR THE SUOER RICH
DM me susan
DM me jeff
no shit
2 million
cash
each
According to Title 18 U.S. Code § 201, “(b) Whoever— (1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent— (A) to influence any official act; … shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.” Oops.
O'Donnell probably didn’t actually expect the senators to oblige, and maybe, just maybe, her inducement was completely in jest, as she appears to be suggesting. But that’s also not the point. You really have to believe that you can get away with anything if you’re this willing to bribe two senators on Twitter, where it’s available for everyone (literally anyone who has Internet) to see. And it’s not like a precedent hasn’t been set. When likeminded malcontents like Kathy Griffin are allowed to showcase a severed head of Donald Trump and get away with it, no wonder O'Donnell thinks she can engage in something that’s illegal. Hollywood elitists are more immune to the consequences of nefarious behavior than they are even capable of understanding.
