Coming up to a year of enduring the tangerine tyrant aka Orange Blotus, I think it’s time I write about him (also as this blog is meant to have some political stuff in it). Though, I’m not sure what I can say that hasn’t been said already.
In brief, he’s an ultra narcissistic, racist, childish, dimwitted demagogue, snake oil salesman.
I always had a sinking suspicion that he’d win the election. Michael Moore wrote a very good piece outlining five reasons why Trump would win. Trump undermined democracy prior to the election, saying that the election was rigged, and he was right. It was rigged to let him win. The abomination of the electoral college trumped the popular vote. How would supporters of Trump feel, if it went the other way? Hillary was unfortunately a weak candidate, the ongoing email scandal didn’t help, calling potential voters deplorables didn’t either. A major factor was turnout. Bernie Sanders fanatics voted in an absolute fashion. If it’s not Bernie we won’t vote for them. Bernie or Bust. Well, look what you’ve done now. You’ve got someone who’s a million times worse than Hillary would have ever been. I’ve seen figures that it came down to 70,000 votes in three or four states and it would have gone the other way.
Character
Trump lies. A reductive argument would be so does every other politician. But do they lie to the extent and as often that Trump does? Probably not. And it’s obvious when he’s lying. Whether he’s lying about the size of his penis inauguration crowd or knowing that Flynn lied to the FBI, berating a war widow, whenever he opens his mouth he’ll spit out lies. How can you take anything he says at face value? He lies even on the most pettiest things, it’s ridiculous. He has accused several people and organisations of spreading fake news, except himself. How ironic.
People often paint Trump as not only a business genius, but an outright one. They say he’s playing “four dimensional chess” – i.e. complicated mind games with the media. Well, I put it to you, he’s doing no such thing and this simulacrum is because the media doesn’t know how to react, to his utter stupidity and barrages of daily denigration. “Trump must have done this for a reason!” They think, trying to keep sane and a shred of dignity. Being belittled by a genius doing it for a higher purpose, is more bearable than having it done by a stupid buffoon. Trump has incriminated/compromised himself multiple times and then lied to get out of it. Stop believing a serial liar. He’s making it up as he goes a long. Take a look at this American embassy moving to Jerusalem debacle. Trump believed he was merely fulfilling his campaign promise to be pro-Israel. He did not understand the ramifications and potential war that he has unleashed. Now Washington is trying desperately to reduce the fallout and wondering why Mahmoud Abbas won’t meet Mike Pence. Improvising worked well for him during the campaign, but it’s not working as well during his presidency.
It is wrong to say that Trump inherited most of his money. His current self worth, is roughly ~$4bn but he inherited only $200m (that’s according to Marco Rubio, the true figure is not known. Trump says it was a $1m loan others say at least $40m), so he should be commended right? Wrong. Trump would have been richer if he invested in index funds. He has done worse than the stock market, which tends to raise in value over time. He has done worse than other billionaires from the same era. Take a look at Bill Gate’s returns. How did Trump make his fortune? By squeezing his suppliers, underpaying his workers and being a deadbeat. So much so, that the American banks wouldn’t lend to him and he had to go to Europe. Does this sound like the business acumen of a shrewd businessman? No. It’s the behaviour of a loan shark or gangster.
Continue reading Treatise on Trump