What If Trump Wasn’t Just One Huge Lie?
Published in El País
(Spain) on 15 October 2018
by Francisco G. Basterra (link to original)
(Spain) on 15 October 2018
by Francisco G. Basterra (link to original)
Translated from
by Megan Smith.
Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
The president and the Republicans control the presidency and, for the time being, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They have now gone on to control the judiciary.
What if Donald Trump’s presidency wasn’t just one huge lie? What if it wasn’t just a joke, just a reflection of a caricature of an unbelievable and misinformed president? Following more than half of his term and ahead of the crucial Nov. 6 elections, which will change Congress, an affirmative response to the original question is permissible. If all goes well for the Republicans, there will be the possibility that what until now has been unthinkable may be a possibility. Trump may serve another four years after winning the White House again in 2020. There may be more to his presidency. And it goes on.
This is because the president makes sure that his electoral base of white, poorly educated workers stays virtually bulletproof. The fact that many of these voters deserted the Democrats because of economic discontent and their faith in the protectionist promise of “America First” was a surprise in 2016. Who was left behind during the Obama years? These workers, aged between 25 and 54 years, lost 6.5 million more jobs than those that gained jobs during that period: Hispanics gained 3 million, Asians a million and a half and blacks, a million.
Trump goes from strength to strength. There was the renegotiation of North America’s crucial free trade agreement, imposing its conditions upon both bordering neighbors, Mexico and Canada, applying strong negotiating pressure to achieve a zero-sum game, in which the superpower wins and the others lose. A second achievement was even more important. Trump and the Republicans control the presidency and, for the time being, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They have now gone on to control the judiciary, the final power symbol that escaped them, by placing Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the marble temple of the high court in Washington in a lifelong appointment, and to consolidate a conservative majority for many years to come — five votes against the liberals’ four.
Trump’s invincibility grows, shielded by his astute handling of the digital masses, faced with the most serious criticism and allegations from the media, who are thoroughly investigating the current administration. The extraordinary investigation by The New York Times, which consists of more than 50,000 words (10 pages of this newspaper), has gone virtually unnoticed. They report on the falseness of the story of Trump as a self-made businessman with a million-dollar inheritance* from his father.
Another lie. Daddy Fred lent him at least $413 million in today's dollars over time for his real estate business in Manhattan and his Atlantic City casinos. After receiving the money, Donald worked with his father to implement fraudulent tax deductions. On a fortune of more than a billion dollars inherited by Fred Trump’s children, which should have been taxed at the rate of 50 percent, some $550 million, they only paid $52 million in taxes, just 5 percent, according to evidence provided by The New York Times.
In this regression to dark times for democracy that we are experiencing (Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Brexit, Italy), where the example of the U.S. president is important, we need to take Trump seriously.
*Translator’s note: Trump has claimed this was a loan, not an inheritance.
What if Donald Trump’s presidency wasn’t just one huge lie? What if it wasn’t just a joke, just a reflection of a caricature of an unbelievable and misinformed president? Following more than half of his term and ahead of the crucial Nov. 6 elections, which will change Congress, an affirmative response to the original question is permissible. If all goes well for the Republicans, there will be the possibility that what until now has been unthinkable may be a possibility. Trump may serve another four years after winning the White House again in 2020. There may be more to his presidency. And it goes on.
This is because the president makes sure that his electoral base of white, poorly educated workers stays virtually bulletproof. The fact that many of these voters deserted the Democrats because of economic discontent and their faith in the protectionist promise of “America First” was a surprise in 2016. Who was left behind during the Obama years? These workers, aged between 25 and 54 years, lost 6.5 million more jobs than those that gained jobs during that period: Hispanics gained 3 million, Asians a million and a half and blacks, a million.
Trump goes from strength to strength. There was the renegotiation of North America’s crucial free trade agreement, imposing its conditions upon both bordering neighbors, Mexico and Canada, applying strong negotiating pressure to achieve a zero-sum game, in which the superpower wins and the others lose. A second achievement was even more important. Trump and the Republicans control the presidency and, for the time being, the Senate and the House of Representatives. They have now gone on to control the judiciary, the final power symbol that escaped them, by placing Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the marble temple of the high court in Washington in a lifelong appointment, and to consolidate a conservative majority for many years to come — five votes against the liberals’ four.
Trump’s invincibility grows, shielded by his astute handling of the digital masses, faced with the most serious criticism and allegations from the media, who are thoroughly investigating the current administration. The extraordinary investigation by The New York Times, which consists of more than 50,000 words (10 pages of this newspaper), has gone virtually unnoticed. They report on the falseness of the story of Trump as a self-made businessman with a million-dollar inheritance* from his father.
Another lie. Daddy Fred lent him at least $413 million in today's dollars over time for his real estate business in Manhattan and his Atlantic City casinos. After receiving the money, Donald worked with his father to implement fraudulent tax deductions. On a fortune of more than a billion dollars inherited by Fred Trump’s children, which should have been taxed at the rate of 50 percent, some $550 million, they only paid $52 million in taxes, just 5 percent, according to evidence provided by The New York Times.
In this regression to dark times for democracy that we are experiencing (Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Brexit, Italy), where the example of the U.S. president is important, we need to take Trump seriously.
*Translator’s note: Trump has claimed this was a loan, not an inheritance.
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