greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 27
th, 2017 at 11:01am:
Unforgiven wrote on Feb 26
th, 2017 at 8:48pm:
Trump is a crook. He won't publicly release his tax returns like other presidential candidates do.
Trump may be broke and filling his pockets with taxpayer free money.
The bloated orange douche-bag owes $1.8bn to more than 150 different institutions.
Good point, Greggery. Trump's business model - the one Americans hope will make Amerika great again - is borrowing huge amounts and, when the investment fails, writing it off as a corporate bankruptcy.
It's an elaborate pyramid scheme, and one that worked for Trump because of his other business strategy: branding. Here, Trump believes all publicity is good publicity. The important thing is to get his name out there - divorce settlements, fake PR (Trump used to call the tabloids to spread "fake news" under the name of John Barron), reality TV, all of it. The banks wrote off Trump's 1.8 billion dollar debt to keep the Trump name on Trump's failed casinos and hotels.
For Trump, this validated his personal brand. When Trump called up Forbes to argue his case to be on their rich list, he pretended the Trump name itself was worth billions. In this way, Trump overinflates his wealth.
When Forbes didn't buy it, Trump called them fake news.
This is exactly what Trump plans to do with the US economy. He has, on a number of occasions, argued that the US could print more money because of the "brand" value of the US dollar. His plans to slash taxes and spend big on infrastructure will require enormous government debt. Ultimately, Trump believes that the Trump name alone attached to the White House will restore confidence in the US economy. Presumably, this is what Trump means when he talks up the US economy after a month of being in office.
Trump plays the media in exactly the same way he did in business. He actively spreads fake news, getting staffers and even FBI agents to call reporters and give them "alternative facts" as background. Like Trump's John Barron character, Trump's staffers refuse to go on the record. Like Trump's hissy fits attacking the Forbes rich list, he blames the press for refusing to publish his fibs.
In a paradoxical display of transference, Trump calls them fake news outlets. He has even taken to locking media organizations out of White House press briefings. Their sin?
They published investigative reports on Trump.
Ultimately, Trump has no clear plan to make Amerika great again. His promises are a grab-bag of populist, protectionist and lasses-faire policies, and this is what makes Trump's own party - those who will need to vote for Trump's policies - panic. There is no consistency. Unlike Reagan, Clinton and Obama, there is no economic narrative. Trump, of course, has no plan to bring the congress and senate on side - a plan critical to all administrations. This is, after all, what makes a successful president: the ability to get his/her policies voted in.
Trump has seen the futility of presidential executive orders. This was probably his biggest lesson in government to date. What Trump will need to survive is a coherent economic plan, along with a legislative plan to get it through government.
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