LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The hypocrisy of supporting Trump

I was having a conversation with a young person the other day, and he was somewhat surprised that the election for the presidency is still an unbelievable 15 months away. While campaigns generally have started earlier, it seems the tempo and coverage has started much earlier this time … and that is not always a good thing. Donald Trump has, as has been done in the past, tied into a reservoir of discontent. There will always be those who are not happy … not happy with the government, not happy with international events, not happy with policies, and not happy with our government’s response to many of these things. There is nothing new to this, regardless of what people think. I also wonder if many of these same people are also unhappy with their own jobs, their own bosses, their own families’ choices and options, and unhappy about their own individual prospects for the future, and if they get these two areas confused. It is called “projection”; they believe they will feel better if their candidate wins over the other candidate, or maybe they just dream of having the power Trump has. Donald Trump is a particularly odd choice for the disenfranchised, though. People often complain about politicians being rich and out of touch, and, in some cases, it is undoubtedly true. I see that Hillary and Bill Clinton’s net worth is approaching $100 million, and there is no doubt they are not as accessible as when he was a state legislator or governor of a southern state, or even, perhaps, during his presidency. Wealth, fame, and power can shield you from many of the unpleasant aspects of life, which is why they are desired by many. However, one is not going to get that from Trump. His net worth is somewhere between 10 and 80 times greater than the Clintons’, and has had that wealth and secluded lifestyle for a much longer period of time. He also multiplied it by many of those same exact ways people complain about the “ruling class.” As an example, he turned his bankruptcies around as a positive. In effect, he said, unlike losers, I know how to use our nation’s bankruptcy laws to my own advantage. There is an old saying that if you owe the bank $1,000, you are in trouble, but if you owe the bank a million (or, in Trump’s case, hundreds of millions) … the bank is in trouble. He (and others of his elite group) somehow manage to wind up after these legal proceedings better off than any regular person could ever dream. Now, Trump made his billions by being a tough negotiator, as well as leveraging his existing wealth and power. In real estate, these are essential. However, those very powers that people now seem to admire hurt the very same group of people who seem to applaud him now. He did things like get middle-class houses condemned so his projects could go through, which hurt the small person. He brags about his value, he brags about his power, he even brags about his political influence, as if these very sins many Americans believe are wrong with our system are somehow an inoculating influence against him being influenced the same way. In effect, he is saying, “I did all those things you hate, so, you can trust me.” This smacks of hypocrisy, both by Mr. Trump, and his supporters. How can one spend the last two elections condemning the role of money and power by the elite, to condemn those who supposedly tread over common folk because of their supposed arrogance — and then, support Mr. Trump?

Larry Josefowski Magnolia