[cmurf]

Nation of spectators, not citizens. And I find in tech, they prefer not to even watch. It seems people think ethics and law are on autopilot. And they think aristocrats are from a bygone age rather than alive and well and want more classism and money, not less of either.

Of course, it's not quite so simple. Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer to Bush 2 has said about this specific instance that DoJ should investigate on the basis that this was clearly an official role and title.

I would add, that this administration insists everyone watching is a moron, and will thus just let them get away with it. They might be right, we'll just have to see how it plays out in a future episode of President Celebrity Chaos Clown.

In any case, a huge amount of the way things works in government is based on norms including etiquette and ethics, not laws or regulations. When you get people who don't care about norms, things start to fall apart quickly because there's no law or regulation to fall back on.