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The media establishment has erroneously labeled Donald Trump a “populist,” endorsing his absurd assertion that, while he might be a billionaire, he’ll be “our” billionaire, fighting for us commoners!
I’m not telling anyone how to vote, and I certainly understand the inclination to grab the biggest stick you can find to whack the bejeezus out of those political and corporate elites holding you and your family down – and Trump has sold himself as the biggest, baddest stick around. But I am here to say, don’t be a sucker. There’s not a single populist muscle in Donnie’s whole plutocratic body. He will sell out wage earners, small business people, and anyone else to serve his own needs or whims, as his lifelong record (as opposed to his recent rhetoric) reveals.
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Donnie learned to be self-serving from his father Fred, who became a millionaire by getting federal housing subsidies to build apartment buildings in New York City. Then, as landlord, he flagrantly discriminated against black people trying to rent an apartment. One of Fred’s tenants was none other than Woody Guthrie, who was so appalled by Daddy Trump’s greed and racism that he wrote songs denouncing him!
The Donald not only inherited Fred’s fortune, but also his business ethics, including engaging in wage theft, outsourcing his expensive Trump-branded products to such low-wage countries as China and Vietnam, and illegally using (and underpaying) undocumented immigrants to build his luxury projects. Also, he has been sued hundreds of times for stiffing cabinet makers, plumbers and other small business suppliers.
Donald J. Trump is a swaggering son of privilege who has never been on the side of working people and most certainly would not be a populist president. To the contrary, in his heart, mind, and whole being, he’s nothing but a Trumpist – of, by, and for himself.