Trump's Money Monday

We need to continue to be louder about this threat

I love this quote from The New Yorker writer, E.B. White:

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
...Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. ”

It seems to me this still holds true.

Although a native New Yorker, Donald Trump represents something else entirely. Certainly not solidity. On Monday, some of his real estate assets could be seized by New York Attorney General Letitia James, because he cannot come up with the $454 million owed. Reading the NY Times article I link to above, it’s a complicated mess. Trump has thoroughly layered his “ownership” of these properites in legal mumbo-jumbo, so much so that seizing them will be challenging. I can imagine in the past, this is how Trump operated: just make it so complicated that it takes too long and people forget about it. Not that AG James will forget, she won’t. But the public might- we can’t let that happen.

I listened to The New Yorker Radio Hour yesterday in which David Remnick interviewes Adam Gopnick on his piece in the magazine about Hitler. The obvious connections are there, but Gopnick never mentions Trump in his piece and is clear to say that Trump is not Hitler. But Remnick and Gopnick talk about that, and about the comparison. Gopnick read Mein Kampf and tells us that much of that book details all the insults and slights Hitler experienced in his life and how that affected who he became.

The same is true for Trump. I recall Trump of New York in the 1980’s, and he was always made fun of, he was a laughing stock for the NY intelligensia. Gopnick also points to the 2011 Correspondant’s Dinner when President Obama humorously and somewhat visciously goes after Trump for all the “birther” stuff. Many say that that was the night that DT resolved to run for President.

All his life, he has either been trying to please his father or show the sophisticated NYC elite that he is better than them. I also read Mary Trump’s book “Too Much And Never Enough,” which provides insight into her uncle and their family. Money is how he defines himself and how he compares himself to others.

In the interview, Gopnik responds to a direct question from Remnick as to whether we are in danger, are liberal publications like The New Yorker and The New York Times too smug and not strong enough in their alarm of what’s happening as we “sleepwalk” into dictatorship. Gopnik says yes, in so many words.

We need to be louder, more often.

Tomorrow it’s all about money for Trump… and who he is.

Here is a drawing of mine from The New Yorker in 2009.

Here’s another rough sketch I did of DT wrapped in a dollar bill. I didn’t put the details on the bill, because frankly it’s a pain to draw that!