Donald took to the business world
enthusiastically, especially after his father gave him a personal financial
stake of several million dollars. Bored
with mundane investments of ordinary residential and business properties, he
envisioned bold real estate structures emblazoned with the marquee “Trump”
name. Riding the crest of his father’s
financial power, he was able to borrow millions of dollars. As a result he
was successful in purchasing and building major New York City buildings and
investing in nearby casinos and resorts…all the while making sure that the name
Trump was well displayed.
Drawing on his father’s financial clout
and his own emerging business aura, his negotiations with future properties
were from a position of strength, and it was seldom that he was forced to deal
with a financial adversary of equal stature.
As owner and CEO of his own empire, he was not accustomed to resistance
to his ideas and dealt accordingly with those who disagreed with him.
His intransigence to listening to sound
advice began to backfire when many of his glitzier businesses, such as the
casinos and resorts, began to experience business downturns due to fluctuations
in the economy. Heavily leveraged
financially with bank loans, many of the enterprises filed bankruptcies, but
Trump escaped personal losses through creative financial wiggling. Those who suffered worst were the employees
of the failing establishments, but Trump was willing to walk away from the debt
or renegotiate the businesses’ mortgages.
On November 1, 1987, his book, “The Art of
the Deal,” was published and remained number one on the New York Times book
list for ten weeks. Ghost written by
Tony Schwartz, it was part memoir, part auto-biography, and part business
advice. Trump, though taking claim for
the book, has never admitted what, if any, portion of the book he wrote. However, in later years Tony Schwartz wrote
that the publication was the most embarrassing book he had ever been associated
with and stated flatly that the book should be classified as fiction. But it did what Trump wanted; it reinforced
to the public that he was a financial wizard.
His aura of acumen pushed him to express
interest in the 2016 presidential campaign, and when the time came for him to
announce his candidacy, he presented to the public the same braggadocio he used
when involved in business dealings.
Brash, rude, and crude, he plowed through the Republican presidential
candidate debates like the proverbial bull in a china closet, but his brashness
to some voters seemed to be a breath of fresh air compared to the otherwise
conventional presidential candidates. He
won the Republican Presidential nomination.
His presidential campaign against Hillary
Clinton was the quintessential “slash and burn” approach. With little interest in the national issues
of the day, Trump accused and insulted Clinton repeatedly with innuendos,
half-truths, and rumors. Clinton,
however, was so confident in her winning the presidency that she barely
responded and in general just ignored Trumps barbs.
The night of November 8, 2016, was a
shocker. The result of the popular vote
was as predicted; Clinton won by over three million votes. However, by a quirk of electoral votes, Trump
became the proclaimed winner and the next president of the United States. Clinton was floored that she actually lost,
and Trump was amazed that he actually won…to the point that he was totally
unprepared to begin creating a new administration, and the scramble began to
find appropriate political appointees.
Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, proved to
be a prophetic day for the usual proceedings of the Trump Administration. Trump’s first brouhaha with the press was
over the size of the inauguration crowd which was clearly smaller than the
previous Obama inauguration crowd.
Insults flew from the president and his press agent about the
“hostility” of the press, and relations between Trump and the press would only
go from bad to worse over the next four years.
Due to Trump’s intransigence to equal
negotiations, his relations with Democrats never got off the ground. Unable to talk issues nor negotiate, Trump resorted to
false accusations and insults to fully alienate the opposing party. The business acumen of which he was so proud,
that of dealing from strength, he discovered did not work in a democratic
assembly like Congress where all voices are heard, and votes are taken to
decide actions to initiate. Unable to
tolerate anyone who disagreed with him, his Executive Branch became a
merry-go-round of individuals either jumping on board or being pushed off, and
the result was a bumbling Executive Branch approach to any issue.
And yet, in spite of a bumbling, insulting
president, the economy of the United States flourished. The economic rebound, which actually began in 2015
during the Obama Administration, continued into the Trump Era. Jobs were plentiful, businesses were
flourishing, and the soap opera shenanigans of the Trump Administration were of
little interest to the man on the street.
And then came news from China…
As early as October 2019, news was coming
from China concerning a strange virus which was spreading rapidly. The coronavirus labeled Covid-19 in three
months’ time spread to most continents of the world, and scientists gave grave
warnings concerning its potential impact on citizens’ health. In February 2020, Donald Trump, in a
television interview, stated he was aware of the dangers of the virus and its
seriousness, but he had made the decision to downplay it because he “didn’t
want to panic the people.” It was a
politically fatal mistake.
Due to his administration’s failure to face
the virus and create contingency plans for prevention, the United States during the Trump presidency suffered over 750,000 deaths. Additionally, when it became evident that the
U.S. economy was beginning to suffer, Trump’s administration created a Covid
task force to create a strategy, only to see the task force's efforts thwarted by Trump himself who
questioned its recommendations.
Openly flaunting the task force's Covid guidelines and ridiculing the experienced
doctors, Trump encouraged the man on the street to ignore any safety
precautions.
By the time the 2020 Presidential election
rolled around, the economy was in shambles, unemployment was sky-high, and our
hospitals were on full emergency alert.
Joe Biden ran on a “Beat Covid” platform, and Trump ran on a “What Covid?”
platform. Election Day, 2020, was
predictable. Joe Biden won by over eight
million votes, gaining well over the minimum electoral votes for confirmation.
It is an interesting comparison to consider. On November 8, 2016, Hillary Clinton won the
popular vote for the presidency by three million votes. However, realizing that she did not have the
electoral votes to win, less than 24 hours after the election she
conceded and congratulated Donald Trump.
On November 3, 2020, Joe Biden won by over eight million votes and
additionally won the electoral count, but Trump refused to concede.
As Biden formed his government in the
months leading up to Inauguration Day. Trump continued to claim fraud and
refused to concede. Although his army of attorneys filed over fifty lawsuits in
various states contesting the election, not a shred of evidence proving fraud
was ever presented, and all were thrown out of court.
Trump continued to fan the flames of his
loyal followers to the point that on January 6, 2021, the day the electoral
votes were officially counted by the nation’s Congress, a mob encouraged by
Donald Trump, descended upon the Capitol Building, overrunning the security
guards and ransacked the building all the while calling for the capture and
harm to several congressmen. Five people
died and over 125 security guards were injured.
The result was the second impeachment of President Donald J. Trump on
the charge of inciting a rebellion against the Congress of the United States.
To watch the resulting trial in the Senate
during the week of February 8-13 was frightening and saddening. The thirteen-minute montage of video taken
during the mob siege was unbelievable, and the resultant testimonies were both
damning and frightening. The verdict was clear, and the Senate voted 57-43 that
Trump was guilty of sedition and promoting rebellion.
However, because conviction requires a
two-thirds majority vote, Trump was not convicted. Once again Trump “won” with a minority of the
votes in his favor. I was amazed when I
read a loyal Trump follower's comment on Facebook, “Finally, truth has
prevailed!” I agree with that; truth
did prevail…in that anyone who watched the trial knows the evidence was
overwhelmingly against Trump. However, what did
not prevail was justice.
It is interesting to note that Trump has been involved in three major votes…two presidential elections and one trial. In NONE of the processes did Trump ever receive a majority of votes. He has never “won” an election. He has been successful in two (2016 and the trial) due only to technicalities. And even in the Senate, senators came forward to announce they knew he was guilty but decided to vote to acquit to “get on down the road.” Due to senators who were reluctant to resist party pressure and judge the evidence at hand, once again Trump escaped justice. As a result of his presidency, the Republican Party lost the White House and its majority in both houses of Congress. Additionally, the Senate Committee which investigated the events of January 6 has been successful in slowly bringing to light the seditious activities committed by Trump fanatics with the blessing of the former president.
Only time will tell the extent of the political damages done by the presidency of Donald J. Trump to the United States and the Republican Party. The political and social divisions within the United States have been exacerbated by the caustic rhetoric of Donald Trump. A party which prided itself in promoting fiscal and social conservatism allowed a populist non-political eccentric to take control, and the party paid and will continue to pay a heavy price for that error.
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