[image: dailykos.com]

It’s Time to Reassess the Trump

Well, the dust has settled a bit since the Republican candidates for President have all announced their intentions. Some might correct me and say they have given us “fair warning” about their intentions. Either way, the Donald has leapt to the top of the heap, and by all indications he damned well intends to stay there. I think that calls for a new assessment of this bellicose fellow with the fetish for funny hair.

First of all, I hope he wins his party’s nomination. I say that with my faculties as intact as they are as likely to be for the duration of this election cycle. My reason is simple: The others are already bought and paid for by their wealthy benefactors. Trump at least says he cannot and will not be bought. So far, I will take him at his word. He has pretty much pissed off the entire money elite in the country. And that is a very good sign that he does not want to listen to them. And although that circumstance is suboptimal, it’s a lot better than being sold out to the power mongers from the start. So let’s score a big first quarter for Donald J.

We all know that anyone who aspires to public office must, by definition, have an inflated perception of his or her talents and abilities vis-à-vis the rest of us. Few of them actually say as much, but the Donald lays it right out there for his minions to lap up. The questions that need to be asked, and answered as well as we can at this writing, are these:

1. Who are his minions? 2. How many of them are there? 3. Are they a large enough group to get him elected? 4. How and why does he have control over their minds?

That’s enough for now. We can expand and refine our list as time goes by.

First of all, Donald is drawing his support from among the right wingers. And he lures in about 32 percent of them according to the polls. Those of us (you and me) who get to view that group from a distance know that it is loaded down with “the crazies.” They typically swarm to a Southerner who talks with a draw, carries a Bible, and is pretty much anti everything that smacks of progress. Trump, in contrast, is a Northerner, he loves the spot light, he’s a high tech kind of guy, loves glitz and glamour, he attended the Wharton School of Finance, and he has lived a life of privilege since birth. What do Southerners know or like about his kind? Nothing. But they like him because he is the first candidate ever who talks in public like they do in private. Trump actually has a set of balls and they love it (mainly because all the other candidates have shown us they do not). And Trump is going to build a fence across the border with Mexico—and make the Mexicans pay for it. How cool is that? And while he is building (his specialty) he will also be deporting 11 million of them. Holy shit balls! That is like 11 million of their dreams all coming true on the same day.

The Donald believes he is a genius. So did Hitler. He inherited $30 million from his father and turned it into $3 billion. He claims he is worth $10 billion, but he lies. Let’s look at his contribution to that total. $30 million compounded for 42 years to arrive at $3 billion comes to an annual rate of return of 12 percent. That’s pretty good given that most of it came from real estate that has increased across the country in the same time period by only 5.19 percent. But, let’s be fair. He got most of his from luxury holdings in New York City, and that is not like real estate on the plains of Kansas. Data are difficult to find, but two sources (New York Magazine and the Corcoran Group) suggest that real estate in Greenwich Village increased 12 percent in that time period, and in mid Manhattan it has risen 12 to 15 percent. Luxury condos have done better. Suffice to say Donald has held his own in a market that likely attracts and keeps the best and the brightest in that line of work. How well his golf courses, casinos, and television forays have done is anybody’s guess. His skills, manners, and achievements, moreover, would likely win respect among the Vladimir Putin’s of the world, but few others. That fruitcake in North Korea must absolutely love the Donald. The elite in China also seem to love the trappings of wealth, so he and they would likely make good bed fellows.

In summary, Trump likely appeals to those in the bottom one-third of the Bell Curve for IQs, plus the one percent at the top of the wealth curve, and a smattering of others who are simply sick of the gridlock that exists in Congress. I don’t see how he could get more than 45-47 percent of voters. But I thought much the same about Geo. W. Bush. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Martin O’Malley could kick his ass six ways to Sunday in any debate format. I’m sure he knows that, and for that same reason he would avoid confronting them there. I doubt if he is willing to spend $1 billion of his real estate money in trying to buy enough votes to actually win the election. But if he wins the nomination, we are all in for one hell of a fun ride into the crevices and fissures of Goofyville and Never Never land. Keep your seat belts fastened!