Trump by one who knows him

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

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Pan Mass Challenge II

It’s happening again this year, next week-end.

I had an experience several years ago that amplified my confidence in the humanity of man to help others. I observed the Pan Mass Challenge. It is a bike-riding endeavor of 192-milles from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown, MA, on the tip of the Cape Cod Peninsula.

The reason thousands and thousands of bike riders accept this challenging trek is to raise money for cancer research and subliminally to bring awareness to so many who have never experienced a personal family or friend's cancer illness.

Then, I waited at the finish line for my son and his wife to arrive not only to my expanded pride and appreciation of their accomplishment, but to the cheers, applause and accolades of hundreds of others who were there to welcome the arrival of all who chose the endurance of this mileage.

My son, Gregg and his wife Julie rode for Gregg’s brother and my son Lee who passed years years ago from brain cancer and they rode for Gregg’s mother, my wife Ann, who was going through cancer therapy and she has sense died of cancer.

There is so much more to the Pan Mass Challenge than the thousands of poignant personal stories. Each rider has one.

There is the visual empathy of the man who finished the challenge with one leg. He peddled the entire 192-miles, up-hills and more, with one leg. The stub of his right leg figuratively watching the empty peddle below go around and around.

There is the surprise of watching sixty year olds, seventy year olds and even octogenarians cross the finish line and be welcomed by colleagues, compatriots and graying companions.

I have seen and covered many fund raising events in my experience as a news reporter. I have never seen anything as emotional as this or as altruistic. Each rider must raise a few thousand dollars for cancer research just to compete.

Every single dollar goes to research. There are no administrative or promotional costs to this non-profit organization.

Bravo Pan Mass Challenge and thank you to all who rode, then and the years in between and this year too. Thank you Gregg and Julie.

These are still my wishes.

I know none of my wishes is possible, but it sure would be nice.

I wish a number of common sense people could move to the congressional districts of stubborn uncompromising representatives and vote them out of office.

I wish we had term limits for all elected officials.

I wish Congress would have our Social Security System and our health care systems and not the elitist systems they voted for themselves way back when.

I wish we each had the power to demand certain drivers retake the written and road test.

I wish there was a universal code of behavior for all parents to teach their children social behavior with a special mandatory refresher section for stores and restaurants.

I wish every graduating college student could write a simple declarative sentence.

I wish there was a fair flat tax for all Americans and corporations. No deductions; no loop holes.

I wish all candidates for elective office had to pass a history and a geography test and take an ethics course.

I wish all children in the world would never know hunger.

I wish golf balls would always go straight, ice cream had no calories and gas was a dollar a gallon.

OK, I'm awake. What a dream.

Have a great Monday.