Some Thoughts on Donald Trump

I don't usually like getting political in these writings, but I do feel that it helps me process everything that's been going on the last few months.

As a teenager, I realized that Donald Trump was a fraud.  I may not have thought of that exact word when I was sixteen, but I definitely realized that the man who would become the 45th President of the United States more than a quarter of a century later definitely had no concept of what it's like to be an "average American."

In 1990, Trump was going through one of his financial crises, and he had to be put on an allowance of $450,000 a month (you can read all about it at https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/26/business/quick-who-d-have-trouble-living-on-450000-a-month.html).  Many media outlets of the time raised the question about whether or not he could survive on that amount of money.  My first thought was, "Why don't you ask the average American if they can survive on that amount?"  I know I could get by on that.  Hell, I could get by on $450,000 a decade and still make more money than I make right now!  The whole incident certainly made me skeptical toward the ultra-rich in general and Trump specifically.

Don't get me wrong, I actually respect and even admire many rich people, particularly if they use their wealth to make the world a better place.  I appreciate everything the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does to help people in poorer countries improve their lives.  I'm impressed by the fact that Warren Buffett is upset over the fact that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary who makes considerably less than he does.  Even people in the entertainment industry like Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Brad Pitt (among others) have my deepest, utmost respect for their charitable works.  These people know they are financially better off than the average individual and feel an obligation, even a duty, to better the lives of those who have less.  I don't care if a person has a lot of financial wealth.  I also wouldn't mind having it myself, but it's not something that motivates or defines me.

I do, however, get concerned when a person is motivated by or defines themselves by their wealth, like Donald Trump consistently has.  It's as if he thinks that having money makes him a better person than someone who has less than he does.  His public behaviour has always indicated to me that he is incredibly shallow, he has no real friends except for sycophants and hangers-on, and that he would sell out any one of them--even his own children--at a moment's notice if he thought he could get more money out of it.  Underneath his gold-plated, spray-on tanned, combed over veneer is a churlish, friendless little boy who has to bully/buy his way into getting exactly what he wants exactly when he wants it.  Sad, really.  Of course, that's just one man's opinion.

Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Anthony Jackson wrote a song called "For the Love of Money," which was a hit for the O'Jays in 1974.  A sample of the lyrics include:

"For the love of money

People will steal from their mother

For the love of money

People can't even walk the street

Because they never know who in the world they're gonna beat

For that lean, mean, mean green...

For the love of money

People will lie, Lord, they will cheat

For the love of money

People don't care who they hurt or beat

For the love of money

A woman will sell her precious body

For a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight

Call it lean, mean, mean green

Almighty dollar...

I know money is the root of all evil

Do funny things to some people

Give me a nickel, brother can you spare a dime

Money can drive some people out of their minds."

The great irony is that this became the theme song of his hit show, "The Apprentice" (or as I always liked to call it, "The Biggest Loser").  I never actually watched the show (like I said, I lost any respect I might have had for him when I was a teenager).  For all I know, the song may have only been used in the show's advertising campaign.  Either way, I wonder if Trump actually knew those lyrics ahead of time or, like most people, he only knew the "Money money money MOOOOO-NEY" chorus with its slinky bass line.  If he did know them, was he really confessing all the things he'd do in order to acquire that "lean, mean, mean green"?

I can't decide if Trump is a narcissistic sociopath or a sociopathic narcissist.  He is a bully.  Like any bully worth his salt, he has an incredibly thin skin that houses an easily bruisable ego.  Therein lies his real weakness:  he can dish it out, but he can't take it.  If anyone points out a flaw in anything he says or does (especially if it's factual), he goes off on some kind of screed, usually on Twitter, mocking the person or persons who have the unmitigated audacity to point out the flaw in the first place, throwing around terms like "fake news" and "witch hunt" and crying like a whiny little bitch about how he's being treated "very unfairly."  And don't even get me started on how many times he's "doubled down" on however many specious claims he's made over the last five years--naturally without a scrap of evidence to back up any of it.  He seems to believe that if you repeat a lie enough, people will eventually believe it's true.  Some will even believe it immediately.

 

Reviewing that New York Times article again, I find myself questioning Trump's brand--something I started doing the moment he announced his candidacy for President.  Particularly, I question whether or not he's really a billionaire.  Personally, I don't think he is.  He has been far too reluctant to release his tax returns to make me believe he isn't hiding something.  And the returns that have been leaked seem to indicate a considerable amount of debt, much of it to foreign interests.  That reluctance to back up his claims of his own self-worth make me doubt whether there's as much wealth there as he says there is.

Regardless of how much money he actually has, let's not confuse wealth with worth.  More importantly, let's not confuse the lows to which he sinks with any kind of depth.  There is nothing really there.  I doubt there ever was.