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For the past few weeks I've been hearing all about how The Donald is thinking about running for president in the Republican primaries. In fact, Donald Trump is currently stalling renewal of his NBC contract while he is mulling over the idea of running for president. Okay, I have no beef with that since it's his life, he can do whatever he wants, and it's up to the American people to decide whether he should occupy the White House or not. But I definitely have a beef with how he's running his preliminary campaign for the 2012 Republican primary campaign for President of the United States.
From day one, he has aligned himself with the birthers to the point where he's fanning the flames of what should've been a dead issue in mainstream American politics. But this strategy is actually working. According to this recent poll, Donald Trump is leading the list of potential GOP contenders. At this point I would say that I'm totally disappointed that someone who is well known in the business community should stoop to such birther nonsense for the sake of exploring a possible run for political office and talk about how disillusioned I feel towards him.
Except for one thing: I never held Donald Trump in high regard in the first place.
During one of my many trips to New York City a few years ago, I remember my husband and I were stuck in the usual traffic jam coming into Lincoln Tunnel when we came across a billboard advertising the Trump Taj Mahal hotel/casino resort in New Jersey and there was Donald Trump wearing an arrogant shit-eating grin being flanked by two flashily-dressed chorus girls young enough to be his daughters. He looked so ridiculous that I pointed at the billboard to my husband and I said "He's a buffoon!" My husband's response: "But he's a rich buffoon!"
I remember when Trump hyped his first book and he would brag about how rich and successful he is, I was totally turned off by him. Don't get me wrong, I know there are other rich and successful people in all kinds of other fields and some of them court the media. The big difference is that, unlike The Donald, they rarely talk openly about their wealth to the media. He also struck me as an attention whore in that he was always courting the media for any reason. I remembered rolling my eyes when The Donald, who once bragged about his successful marriage to Ivana, left his wife for Marla Maples, then dumped Marla in turn. He didn't seem to care how much of a joke he appeared to the public since he really only cared about his one true love: Money.
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When Donald Trump filed for bankruptcy in 1991, I felt a sense of schadenfreude since I thought that it would be the last time I ever heard from The Donald. Well, like a weed that bounces back soon after it is pulled from the ground, The Donald managed to make a comeback.
Ever since the 1980's I've kept on hearing about the trials and tribulations of The Donald. I even watched the first few episodes of the first season of The Apprentice and found myself pleasantly surprised as how absorbing it was. (I eventually stopped watching that show when the product placements were so frequent that it became annoying. I have watched various episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice but it really depends on which celebrity is competing. ) One year I even purchased a 12-inch Talking Donald Trump doll as a gag gift for my husband for Christmas. (Yes, those are the photos of that doll you see in this blog entry.) He's the only celebrity doll I have in my home. I usually tend to be creeped out by dolls based on famous people but I didn't have that kind of squeamishness when it came to Trump because, in my mind, he has made himself to be a cartoon character so buying a Trump doll is no different in my mind from buying a Mickey Mouse doll.
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Okay, it's obvious that he's an attention whore but why the media holds him up to be a successful New York businessman is beyond me. I've been to New York City enough times and spoken to New Yorkers to know that, despite the numerous buildings bearing the Trump name, he is not loved by many New Yorkers. There are many reasons but I'll just mention one here. I know a couple who lives in a condominium on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They have a balcony in their condo that overlooks a parking lot and three other condo buildings that circle that parking lot. Once upon a time, one could look a little bit to the left of the condo building opposite the building where this couple lives and get a tiny glimpse of the Hudson River. Okay, so it wasn't exactly waterfront property but this couple was happy with just getting a tiny peek at the river. The reason why they had that view of the Hudson was because there was an open green area—one of the last open green areas in the Upper West Side.
All that changed when Donald Trump expressed interest in building this gigantic project that would be the latest to bear the Trump name. This couple and other people in the affected areas were against that idea and so they organized lobbying efforts to the New York City Council and other agencies against Trump's plans.
Unfortunately they lost and Donald Trump went on to build this behemoth of a building that has totally obstructed the couple's tiny view of the Hudson River. To say that they are totally bitter and peeved at The Donald is a total understatement. I understand why they don't watch either The Apprentice or The Celebrity Apprentice nor do they visit any building that bares his name. I can also safely say that if The Donald somehow gets his name on the ballot for president, this couple will vote against him.
So now The Donald is going all over the media talking about how he maybe running for president while saying birther bullshit about President Obama not being born in the U.S. He may be ahead in the polls for now but, in the long run, he's making an ass of himself. He is relatively ignorant about how the American government works while talking about how he has this great "relationship with the blacks".
For his attention whoring efforts he has been derided as The Wigster, has become fodder for comedians like Lewis Black and Jon Stewart, has been the subject of his own comedy roast, and is generating laughs from as far away as Taiwan. There is even a contest for sending in the most absurd Trump campaign slogan that you can think of. With so many people who don't like or respect him, I can't imagine him ever winning the Republican nomination, much less occupying The White House. If he runs the United States the way he runs his businesses, I would definitely fear for the future of the U.S. as a viable nation.
I'm hoping that my fellow Americans will eventually wake up and realize that Donald Trump is basically an attention whoring buffoon-in-chief. I find it hilarious that The Donald is siding with Tea Party, a movement whose rank-and-file members (I'm not talking about people like Michele Bachmann or Dick Armey) are in a kind of the social class The Donald would never willingly speak with if he didn't have to mainly because they lack the one thing he values the most: Money.
I don't think The Donald will ever read this but if he does, I have this message for him: Shut up before you humiliate yourself further. Wait a minute. On second thought, keep on speaking freely. The more you speak, the more irrelevant you'll become to the point where just mentioning the Trump name will bring on lots of laughter. In fact, I have a new slogan. Donald Trump: Attention Whoring Buffoon-in-Chief.
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Note: This entry has been cross-posted in the Sagittarius Dolly blog.