1. truMp plays
his card
[Columnist] Ian Rainey, Former International Banker
Could Donald Trump become President of the United States?
Ian Rainey analyses the prospect.
The phenomenon that is Donald Trump and the
thought of him becoming US President dominates
the US press as probably no candidacy has done
beforehand.
Trump has built his cult personality on the back
of the NBC reality TV show “The Apprentice”.
Thank God we seem to be protected from
the likes of Alan Sugar touting for our Prime
Minister’s job. In America voters are angrier
than ever before with the political class in
Washington. Voters seem to loathe Barack
Obama and the Democrats with a passion and
despise Republicans in Congress for failing to
thwart him, despite controlling both the House
of Representatives and the Senate. Against this,
Trump is describing America as “a hell hole which
we are disappearing down fast. We can’t get
anything right. We’re a laughing stock all over the
world. The American dream is dead”.
Sophisticated reporters scoff that surely no one
would want this erratic tycoon’s fingers anywhere
near the nuclear button. Yet as of mid-October
he remains well ahead in the polls at a time
when the respected Huffington Post newspaper
announced that it would only publish stories
about Trump in its “entertainment section”. In
the New York Times Mark Leibovich refers to
a comment by Mario Cuomo, a former New
York Mayor and a Democrat who stated that
“a politician campaigns in poetry and governs in
prose”. Leibovich believes that this comment
does not include Trump whom he believes
“campaigns in poetry in much the same way as a
wild hog sips chardonnay”.
Those of us who would be aghast at such
a loud mouth being the GOP candidate can
take comfort in the fact that outsiders don’t win
presidential nominations any more. Ever since
George McGovern, an anti-war insurgent, won
the 1972 Democratic primary and then lost 49
of 50 states to Richard Nixon, every major party
nominee has been a former senator, governor or
vice-president.
Trump’s success can be put down to the fact
that America is so bereft of plausible candidates
that for the ninth time in 10 presidential elections
a Clinton or a Bush may be on the ballot. What
concerns the more intellectually sound Republican
voters is that should Trump win the Republican
nomination he would virtually guarantee victory
for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in next
November’s Presidential election.
Trump portrays himself as a “self-made” man
but even that is misleading. His father Frederick
Trump was a property developer who made
a fortune by building low cost housing in the
outer Boroughs of New York City. His obituary
estimated that he left around $300 million dollars
to his four sons. It is difficult to criticise Donald’s
success but it should be pointed out that he has
endured four insolvencies on his way to amassing
the $10 billion he claims to be worth. Forbes
Magazine estimated that his true net worth
is closer to $4 billion. He also claims to be a
graduate of the Wharton School of Finance which
somewhat disturbs me as I have had the pleasure
of graduating from that great school’s International
Finance Program.
Whether his fortune is $4 billion or $10 billion
he is not the only plutocrat in the race. Out
of more than 20 candidates still vying for the
nomination, 14 are worth more than $1 million
and 9 have fortunes of over $10 million and 5
are in the top 0.1 per cent of wealthy Americans.
This includes two women - on the Republican
side Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-
Packard who has amassed $58.9 million having
joined the company as a Secretary. Hillary Clinton
who claimed she and her husband were broke
when they left the White House has garnered
approximately $32 million into her fighting kitty.
There are many who believe she will need every
bit of it to fight the abuse she is likely to take for
using a ‘home brew’ internet server when she
was Secretary of State under Obama. However,
her performance in the Las Vegas debate on
13 October has been generally regarded as
outstanding. She has apparently been viewed
favourably by 79 per cent of Democrats in one of
the latest polls. The Rev Jesse Jackson said after
the debate that there was now “less of a call for
Vice President Joe Biden to come in and save
us” (in fact Biden has since confirmed he will not
stand for nomination). Or as the New Yorker
put it Hillary Clinton won the debate because all
of her opponents are terrible. For the very same
reason I believe she would walk the Presidential
election next November if Donald Trump is her
opponent.
“trump portrays
himself as a
‘self made’ man
but even that is
misleading.”
NI Chamber 73