I think we are beyond the "theory" phase by now. Just yesterday I saw the president of a country advertising the products of a private company (Trump making an obvious marketing ploy for Tesla).

How can this ever be acceptable?

> How can this ever be acceptable?

Because the only people capable of holding him accountable won't do it.

The system is broken. The US Government/Constitution depends too much on the assumption that people will do the right thing.

The failure relative to the original expectations seems to be that the other branches of government aren't fighting to retain their authority because the things they're being overridden to do align too well with what they would do themselves.

It's not even the first time he's done it. He even advertised for Goya Beans from the Oval Office.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-president-...

I saw it even 4 years ago https://people.com/politics/joe-biden-takes-hybrid-jeep-for-...

> ...his speech, which was attended by the CEOs of dozens of the world's largest automakers...

I don't recall Biden reading off a price sheet for a single corporation. Seems a bit different than what happened yesterday the White House.

> the president of a country advertising the products of a private company

I think you're inventing new norms. It has never been unusual or interesting for the president of a country to do PR for some company in their country that has hit a rough patch (as long as this isn't a legal rough patch.)

Most of what our diplomats do is sell US products to other countries. They certainly have always played favorites.

> How can this ever be acceptable?

The horror. What if he says that he's going to Burger King?

Trump has ultimate power in the administration. You are either dumb or blind if you cannot see that Trump is running the executive branch like a mob family. Kiss the leader, show him respect, and he will do things for you. Betray him, ignore him, or go behind his back and you will be squashed.

People might think this is a partisan statement, but it's not. It's simply how he is operating. Want power? Want to get things done? Kiss his feet. You saw all the tech boys line up at his inauguration. You saw him tell Zelenskyy "Thank me". Elon might have power, but he is also on a leash.

I have a working theory is that the current Trump government is like 12 people, a quarter of which do not hold any official position, and they decide everyting with absolutely no oversight.

Trump did this during his previous term as well, with Ivanka and Jared Kushner, but to a much less significant degree.