Donald Trump: the man behind the hair – Ben Banks
Donald Trump is an interesting character to say the least. Is he a fascist? A successful businessman? A real and growing threat to the global community? All of the above? In order to gauge whether he is any of these, we will need to look at the man in depth. First, let us look at his past.
The Trump family first moved to America in 1885 when Mr Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, travelled from Kallstadt, Germany to New York City, where he lived with his elder sister Katherine who had emigrated just two years earlier. In 1891, with his few hundred dollars of life savings, Trump bought a restaurant called the ‘Dairy’ in the red light district of Seattle, which was advertised to include ‘rooms for ladies’, which I’m sure doesn’t need any further explanation. Mr Trump also played a part in the Yukon gold rush of the late 1890s in British Columbia, where he set up another brothel in order to profit from the vast discovery of wealth.
By the time Mr Trump’s father Fred was born, Friedrich Trump was a very wealthy man, and had managed to evade the authorities on numerous occasions on account of his dubious business activities. This meant that the property developer, like Donald, had an easy start to life, being an incorporated partner by the age of 22 in his mother’s company, E. Trump & Son. Fred Trump senior specialised in selling cheap single couple housing, and did very well for himself, just like his father. It may surprise readers that Fred Trump did so well for himself judging by the fact that he only sold to a small, unrepresentative market, of non-blacks. His blatant discrimination was spotted more than once, firstly on his arrest at a Ku Klux Klan rally and more specifically when a civil lawsuit was filed against him on grounds of racism and prejudice by the company.
So it may be more clear now as to some of Donald Trump’s influences; however it may also be worth looking into some of his business ventures, to see if he lives up to his ancestry’s standards. Trump has had no less than five failed companies: Trump Airlines, Trump vodka, Trump mortgage, Trump: the game, and Trump casinos. To look at just one of these in detail is enough to show what poor judgement in business he really has. Trump Vodka was introduced in 2006, and Mr Trump was said to have actually stated at the launch that a T&T (Trump and Tonic) would, before too long, become the most sought after drink in America. However, unfortunately the company, instead of becoming a household name, ‘failed to meet the threshold requirements’, i.e. The company went bankrupt. In 2011 when the company was all but a memory, (one that was very hard to place at best), Trump vodka filed an injunction to prevent sale of Trump vodka by an Israeli company: in doing so, he prevented the only people in the world who wanted to drink his vodka, from drinking it.
It is true that Trump is a successful businessman, but the number of bankruptcies and failures of good judgement in the business world (once he was in $4bn dollars in debt), cannot be ignored – especially as he stated last week (probably mildly untruthfully) that he knows how to manage debt “better than probably anybody”. Many people like Trump, because he’s funny, and says the things that no politician should say. But the time for jokes is over. Ted Cruz and John Kasich, the last remaining Republican candidates, have dropped out of the race – it is now inevitable that he will face Hilary Clinton in the running for president, later this year.
His views are vulgar, ill-informed and frankly racist. He feeds like a vulture on the deepest unconscious views of those Americans who know no better. His opinions are even more flawed when you consider that migration across the US border with Mexico has changed direction as of two years ago – there are now more people travelling to Mexico from the US than the other way around, so his concept of building a wall (which a whole 38% of Americans support) on the border is not only ridiculous but ill-founded. He has called the Mexicans and the Chinese ‘rapists’, and inspired violence among his supporters: two thugs from Boston beat a homeless Hispanic man close to death, quoting Trump’s views in police records; an old man attacked a protester in Las Vegas after being ‘inspired’ to punch him in the face by the Republican; and in Virginia when a race riot nearly occurred after a Black Lives Matter group interrupted a Trump rally. He even encouraged his supporters to pledge their allegiance to him with a fascist style salute. No wonder that 80% of Hispanics, 86% of African-Americans, and 70% of women dislike him.
His support seems even more preposterous when you consider that by one count, 76% of his statements to the public are untrue or impossible to verify. For example, he claims (that by some miracle) he will pay down $18 trillion debt in just eight years, cut taxes by $10trn, whilst also completely protecting social security and increasing spending on national defence. Americans need to wake up to the fact that if Trump becomes president, their country will certainly not be made great again. Trump’s huge ego is not what Americans need; Americans need a politician with the courage to act with integrity, with decisiveness, whilst promoting sensible economic policies. But above all they need a politician who understands America’s role as the leader of the free world. In an age where separation and distance are at the forefront of news around the globe, as we have seen in the Brexit campaign and the rise of many right wing politicians in Europe recently, America needs a politician who will use his or her power to promote cooperation and understanding. Now more than ever.
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