Politics and Business

The primary race for the U.S. presidential election is just beginning as both Republicans and Democrats announce their candidacies for their parties’ nomination to the White House.

The Republican Party has 16 candidates seeking the nomination. The majority of these candidates are senators, governors, independently wealthy or have the support of wealthy leaders in the party due to the lifting of campaign finance restrictions by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010.

Typically, senior financiers prefer to work behind the scenes and support the candidate who represents them, their interests and their profits. They consider who once in the White House will justify his investment in the end.

Remarkably, one of the 16 Republican candidates, billionaire Donald Trump, who was one of the first endorsed by Wall Street, pulled no punches as he attacked everything in American life in his speech announcing his candidacy, from politicians, to White House domestic policy, to allies of the United States such as China, Japan and Mexico.

As a candidate for the U.S. presidency, Trump presents himself as a successful entrepreneur who has the ability to manage the United States and establish its undisputed political, military and commercial domination throughout the world. Talk about the billionaire centers around his personal fortune, possessions and estates. He is, in fact, proud of his wealth. He claims he’s worked miracles. With a business mentality, he’s made the impossible possible. But is success in the business world enough to succeed in the political world?

Although Trump’s fortune has reached $4 billion, ranking him 405 on the list of 2015 billionaires in the world and 133 in the United States, and he is ranked at the top in Republican polls, that is no guarantee he will make it to the White House in the end, especially as the campaign season is still in its infancy.

As a billionaire who made his fortune from real estate and television, he has the financial and media power to make himself known. He does not need the support of the party’s internal forces. This type of candidate is unacceptable to his very party, which prefers a candidate who is more respectful and politic.

Trump is a hostile narcissist with an inflated ego and sharp tongue. He isn’t your typical Republican and will harm his own party. As his actions continue to aggravate the Republican Party, it seems a third-party run is inevitable.

He has the money and media to attack others but should remain silent; people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

American elections are not purely about policy. They are in part entertainment. Trump appeals to this television mindset to which the United States is addicted.

Trump is a phenomenon, but no one takes him seriously. He is considered by everyone to be a clown, a performer and abominable. He flaunts his money and markets himself as he likes, but will it ultimately be enough to buy hearts, minds and votes? Politics is not business and reality is not reality TV.