My good friend Alan Marcus, an astute political analyst for
decades, a successful public relations guru, a former Nixon advisor and a
former PR firm for Donald Trump has written a post about DJT that should be
read by all. I have his permission to repost on this blog.
“A quick review of
events of the past 48 hours will show why Donald Trump can never be
President. And, I won’t even address the idiocy of his attacks on the
Khan family. They speak for themselves. Suffice it to say, if Khan
versus Trump was a prize fight it could never be licensed by boxing officials
in New Jersey. Mismatch. I’m not going to raise his draft status
and ridiculous remarks while accepting the gift of a purple heart. They,
too, speak for themselves and, anyway, the VFW has spoken clearly. And,
I’m not going to dissect DJT’s ridiculous attacks on Republican candidates and
officials who he has singled out for vitriol because they have offended him by,
frankly, not being as offensive as him. That conduct would get a 12 year
old a “time out.”
No, this goes
beyond DJT’s inability to stop digging even though the hole is impossible to
escape. Many months – seems like an eternity ago – I posted on Facebook
Joseph Welch’s infamous, eight minute entreaty to Joseph McCarthy, best
known by “…at long last…have you no shame?” We’re long past the Welch analogy.
So what’s happened
in the past two days to trigger this rant? Warren Buffett and Ivanka
Trump. First, Buffett.
Buffett correctly
states that Trump’s publicly traded company (Trump Hotels and Casino
Resorts/New York Stock Exchange) lost money for ten years, that investors got
killed (at a time when the stock market was at its hottest). In full
disclosure, I was a “friends and family” holder of “Trump” stock and,
fortunately, only lost my shirt (i.e., did better than the $.10 on the dollar
Buffet noted). But the real issue is what Trump says about it,
paraphrasing, “I (emphasis on I) did very well in Atlantic
City.” Yes, he did. But what about the shareholders and bondholders
(to say nothing of the vendors who got stiffed or were forced to take huge
financial haircuts)? Trump only sees the casino company through the prism
of Trump and fails to address his role as Chairman of a publicly traded
company. Shouldn’t that make one wonder how he’d lead a nation?
Yes, “Trump” was
saddled with debt which contributed significantly to the company’s poor
results. But that debt was the result of transactions which bailed out
Trump personally. Coupled with money upstreamed to Trump and the shareholders
and bond holders never had a chance. As DJT might say, “it was a rigged
system.”
Incredibly, he is
never called on this. In the very first debate last August Chris Wallace
questioned Trump on his four bankruptcies. After disputing whether he was
ever bankrupt and taking credit for being smart and playing the system to his
advantage he browbeat Wallace to the point that he missed the obvious
follow-up: Mr. Trump, if you did so well, what happened to the
shareholders and bondholders?” My granddaughter, Peyton, a very promising
communications major at USC asked the question that Wallace should have drilled
in on, “PopPop” she asked, “isn’t there a disconnect between the company
being bankrupt and the ‘owner’ claiming he made lots of money?” Bingo, Peyton.
You got it. The national media must have missed their class in Finance
101.
Trump doesn’t care
about Buffett. Well, here’s an exercise for the financial press.
Why not track the stock price of “Trump” casinos versus Buffett’s (Berkshire
Hathaway’s) holdings in publicly traded companies he controls? Donald,
here’s a hint. Buffett may not be as sympathetic but he’s as tough as
Khan. It’s a fight you don’t want.
What does this have
to do with Ivanka Trump? Plenty. First, Ivanka has always been
sophisticated beyond her years, bright and “the favored one.” Growing up
in the crucible of her parents highly public divorce in a city which thrives on
gossip and celebrity she’s become something of a model citizen. So it
comes as no surprise that the media spoke directly to her after her father
suggested that victims of sexual harassment should resolve the issue by leaving
their jobs. Ivanka noted that she was in fact the victim of harassment
while visiting construction sites (not a very unusual occurrence for any
experienced in passing by construction sites in New York). But what
Ivanka then said is astonishing and proves that she is in fact her father’s
daughter. “…they apologized profusely once they found out I was the
boss’s daughter…” Ok, Ivanka. So there are two standards, one for
the boss’s daughter and one for everyone else? How Trumpian! While
I don’t really care to pick on Ivanka her carefree statement is too important
to gloss over. In the world of Trump there’s “Trump” and then there’s
everyone else.
Have voters in the
United States ever been confronted by a candidate who puts his self interest
above the national interest? Have voters ever had a worse choice? Two
deeply flawed candidates in a race to the bottom.
In the few minutes
it’s taken to draft this essay there have probably been additional eruptions
that make these examples seem minor. That’s the essence of the problem.
The good news is that the media appears to have recovered from being under
DJT’s “ether” (a term he loved) and has finally started to report rather than
simply repeat his outrageous, baseless claims. Actually, there’s one
claim that isn’t baseless. He did receive more votes than any other
Republican has ever scored in a presidential primary season. G_d
save us.”
Alan
C. Marcus
President & CEO
Overlook At Great Notch,150 Clove Road, Little Falls,
NJ 07424
Phone: 973-890-9590 l Fax: 973-890-9130
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