The Trumpometer is Broken

Donald Trump appeared on CNN Thursday night, and said he represents "millions of people" in this country.

What irony that the CEO of The Trump Organization, a man who Forbes now estimates to have a net worth of $2.9 billion, should make that pronouncement from the building he owns overlooking the Occupy Wall Street protestors. http://www.forbes.com/profile/donald-trump/

Who are the millions he represents? The millions who, like him, graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of Business? The millions of Americans who, like Mr. Trump, were sons of New York City real-estate developers? Donald Trump had the privilege of cutting his teeth at his dad's, Fred Trump's, firm, and in the late 1960's, right after graduating college, he was officially hired by Elizabeth Trump and Son.

How many millions can claim to have their fate signed, sealed, and delivered at birth. We didn't need to see Mr. Trump's birth certificate to know he was born to privilege. http://www.biography.com/people/donald-trump-9511238

And, shortly after earning his degree in Business from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1971, the Trumpster was given control of the company now bearing only his name.

What's more, of the "millions" of Americans Mr. Trump claims to represent, how many can afford to live in Trump Towers?

So, who are these millions of people Mr. Trump claims he represents? As he acknowledged when interviewed by Piers Morgan on CNN, some of them are heads of banks, and some heads of Wall Street firms.

Given what is widely known about his background, then, how can this born again billionaire have any credibility when he says that the Occupy Movement is ultimately more dangerous for Obama. Is it logical that a group of protestors, of all ages, waving signs that show they're members of the 99% would vote for anyone endorsed by the new godfather of the right?

Just who does Trump think will be politically injured by his assertion that he would "vote for anyone over Obama?"

Why would anyone who is part of the 99%, and yes that includes 99% of the tea party, give any credence to a man who is actively trying to protect his riches from those who, like President Obama and most Americans, would like to see the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy go away?

And, in a nutshell,all puns intended, Donald Trump has aligned himself with the far right of the Republican Party pandering to them by saying he is anti-choice, pro-gun, against same-sex marriage, but one can only deduce that he must have grown up in a zip lock bag because his views are from a planet other than the one the majority of those who lived in Forest Hills in the 1960's, and 1970's. I know, I grew up there.

What it all comes down to then is that the thermometer Mr. Trump has been using to take the temperature of the voting public in preparation for the general election is broken. But then, it's not the voting public he's really concerned about, but his own turn up at bat.

Donald Trump must have told CNN host Piers Morgan that he's "very smart" close to a dozen times, but how smart is it to say that some of the people under his nose at Occupying Wall Street are "serious people," and "some of them are only there to find a date?"

How smart is it to argue that the biggest problem the banks now face are the regulators: "The regulators are literally ruining the banks," and that the "entire world is ripping off the U.S?"

And, how clever is it for the landlord of a Chinese bank to blast the Chinese as ripping us off and suggest a 25% tax on Chinese products? It's not just the Chinese Trump has it in for: "Japan for years has been ripping us like crazy."

What about the statement that "some very smart people" agree that Obama's birth certificate was forged? Who are these very smart people, and can we expect them to crawl out of the same cave to vote in 2012?

On second thought, Donald Trump is right. He is smart. He was smart enough to be born right.

Trump says, "The main thing you've got to do is to get Obama out of office?" Where have you heard this before? He took the words right out of Mitch McConnell's mouth. Moreover, he calls the president "a very negative force."
What do you call a force that condemns the Environmental Protection Agency, and says "We've got to get rid of these regulators. These regulators are killing us?" How about a very dangerous force?

While he insists he was no fan of George W. Bush either, Trump says Obama came in and made things worse. With that in mind, here's a twist on an old maxim: "If it ain't fixed, don't break it more." Mr. Obama is only beginning to clean up the mess that deregulators like Reagan, Bush, Trump and friends have made on Wall Street.

Putting two and two together, it's clear now that Donald Trump is little more than a parrot who repeats the frozen, frayed syllables of a desperate, and rapidly diminishing force in the Republican Party, one that has been trying to gain dominion, pun intended, since the mid-1990's, but a force that has proven itself completely incompetent at doing so. And why? Because the tea party, the group to whom both Cain and Trump are pandering, reflects the interests of 1% of the population at the expense of the other 99%.

Many in his party have gifted Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed entrepreneur-in-chief, with the task of endorsing the next Republican presidential candidate. He vacillates between Romney and Cain, and appears to think highly of Perry, but one thing is clear. Trump is keeping his dance card open.

Any candidate who gets a hearty thumbs-up from The Donald should run for cover and not office because, in the end, an endorsement from one who is irrevocably embedded in the financial sector, thus in the interests of the upper 1%, will be the kiss of death to anyone who wants to win in 2012.

The best thing Mr. Obama has done was to alienate Donald Trump and his Wall Street friends. If nothing else, that's what the Occupy Movement has shown us.