Bob Lord

When Donald Trump boasts about his fortune, he drives up his popularity

[Distributed via OtherWords.org]

Donald Trump alienated millions of voters with his ugly attacks on Mexican immigrants and John McCain’s war record. But he rocketed to the top of GOP presidential polls anyway.

Is Trump’s racism driving this surge? Maybe. But I’d argue it’s something else: his relentless, self-aggrandizing celebration of his own wealth.

Recently, Trump estimated his net worth at over $10 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs this fortune way lower, at $2.9 billion, while other estimates clock in at only $1.5 billion. In any case, Trump is “really rich” — as he bragged when he launched his presidential bid.

I’d put Trump’s obsession with money at the root of all the ugly traits he personifies. His base desire to accumulate — and to publicly display — obscene wealth divides his world into what he sees as worthy winners and unworthy losers.

According to Trump’s guiding philosophy, winners like him deserve everything they have. Only losers, as he sees John McCain, get captured. Americans are winners. Mexicans and Chinese are losers — who, Trump says, must be kept away with border walls and stiff tariffs to make them “behave.”

Trump’s over-the-top boasting reflects a long-trending change in how those at the very top see their own wealth. It also echoes an evolution in how the rest of us view people whose fortunes, as the playwright Edward Moore put it, run “beyond the dreams of avarice.”

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I thought reporters who cover the courts for big city newspapers were supposed to understand how America’s justice system works. Apparently not, based on my reading of the Republic’s Michael Kiefer article, Debra Milke’s new world after a half-life on death row.

Here’s Kiefer’s bio:

Michael Kiefer is a senior reporter who has covered courts, justice and Maricopa County government issues for The Arizona Republic since 2003.

And here’s the reporting on Debra Milke’s recent release from prison by the senior reporter who has been covering the courts for over a decade:

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I love it when someone makes an argument out of expedience not realizing the implications of it. Actually, what I love is pointing this out. I reported on one of my most enjoyable episodes of this in Successfully Nailing Jell-O to a Wall.

I have to fess up to trolling here, but what the heck. One of my conservative Facebook friends posted about Mormon Church’s angst over the Boy Scouts’ decision to allow gay troop leaders. I’m not sure how everything in his post was supposed to tie together, but this seemed be the heart of his intended message:

Recently, a father was directed to go home and told that he could not stay overnight at a Girl Scout lock-in anywhere in the same building (in this case the U.S. Airways NBA arena) with his daughter. The chances of anything inappropriate happening were beyond miniscule, but nobody demanded that the Girl Scouts change their policy because it makes sense.

Boy Scout troops frequently go on overnight camping and backpacking trips, some of which last for several days. Having gay men in charge of these events will create issues. Anyone who thinks otherwise is being intellectually dishonest.

I didn’t think either paragraph was particularly logical. My point in commenting, however, was not to debate, but to have some fun. So I asked:

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Okay, this one is admittedly out there, and likely wrong. Still, it’s fun to speculate about these things.

Jonathan Pollard, convicted of spying on the U.S. for Israel 30 years ago, was granted parole yesterday.

Rachel Maddow reported on this yesterday and was perplexed by this. She gave the following background:

1. Pollard had sold huge volumes of state secrets.

2. He’d sought asylum unsuccessfully from the Israeli embassy.

3. On several occasions, during peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Israel had demanded Pollard’s release as a condition to its agreement to settlement terms, and the U.S. had refused, presumably derailing the settlement negotiations.

4. The Obama Justice Department did not even enter an appearance to oppose Pollard’s parole.

The New York Post reported that some Obama administration officials hope Pollard’s release will calm Israel’s anger over the Iran deal. Then the Post commented on how deluded they were for so hoping.

But maybe it’s the Post Editorial board that suffers from delusion. It is, after all, a Murdoch-owned paper. Consider the following:

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