The perfect example of what has happened to government ethics this year popped up on April 5 in a blog post on the State Department's ShareAmerica.gov promotional website. Of all the wonders in this great land, the department chose to promote one owned by President Donald Trump, the Mar-a-Lago Estate and Resort in Palm Beach, Fla.

After a public outcry, the State Department took down the article on Monday. Too bad. The choice of Mar-a-Lago perfectly captures America in 2017, where private business has been conflated with the public's business in an unprecedented number of ways.

Between October and March, the Office of Government Ethics fielded nearly 40,000 complaints and queries about alleged transgressions during the Trump campaign, transition and administration. The office can only issue advisory opinions and make referrals to congressional investigative committees, the Justice Department or agency inspectors general. Requests have been few.

Indeed, the greatest achievement of Trump's first 100 days as president may be the way he's normalized self-dealing. There appears to be little concern that — as the ethics office puts it — "the public may lose confidence in the integrity of government if it perceives that an employee's government work is influenced by personal interests or by payments from an outside source."

A few Cabinet appointees had their confirmations delayed while ethical conflicts were settled. But for every one of them, there's an agency now being run by someone who used to lobby it on behalf of the industry it regulates. Trump eliminated a rule that kept the revolving door closed for two years. In other cases, he's issued waivers allowing his appointees to rule on matters affecting their former employers.

In any organization, the person at the top sets the example. In the Trump White House, that's a very low bar. The president continues to refuse to release his tax returns or make public the names of White House visitors. He stepped down from day-to-day operations of his various companies but continues to profit from their activities.

Every day that Mar-a-Lago or the Trump International Hotel in Washington's Old Post Office does business with guests and clients tied to foreign governments, Trump stands in potential violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause.

Every time that first sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump do business with foreign governments, questions arise of a quid pro quo. When first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump joins Chinese President Xi Jinping at a state dinner and the Chinese government miraculously issues trademarks so her company can sell its line of luxury goods in China, no amount of Ivanka Trump Eau de Parfum can disguise the smell.

Shame is an emotion the president is unfamiliar with. He leaves that for the rest of the country.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH