The president should try being as kind to America’s friend as he is to Putin
||| FROM MICHAEL RIORDAN |||
I WILL NEVER FORGET my first and only encounter with Trump. It occurred in May 1987 at a publication party for him and his book The Art of the Deal at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I had traveled there for the annual American Booksellers Association Convention, to try to help Simon & Schuster promote my own forthcoming book, The Hunting of the Quark, due out that fall. But since my publisher had no interest in throwing such a party for us, I managed to wangle an invitation to the sumptuous Trumpfest being sponsored by Random House.
We never once spoke, but I could observe Trump up close at a long table laden with hors d’ouevres, other tasty foods, and lavish wines. Bloviating away nearby, the Manhattan real-estate mogul was holding court with a clutch of attractive, admiring female editors and publicists — the likes of which I wished I could have been courting myself. But I had to be content talking with the aging British publisher who had gotten me in the door as her escort.
Finally I decided I’d had enough wine and chat, and headed for the exit, walking out past the crowded rows of roulette wheels and craps tables aswarm with eager bettors. Suddenly, Trump somehow appeared right before me, headed in the same direction, probably with the same intent to leave. And on his right and left were two burly, broad-shouldered toughs in well-tailored Italian suits, looking like they’d been spending hours every day in the gym.
One telling word immediately flashed through my mind: Mafia.
Of course, anyone who wanted to succeed in the rough and tumble of Manhattan real estate had to deal with the Mafia at some level if they wanted to obtain concrete and have their dumpsters full of refuse hauled away. But Trump seems to have done so with abandon in New York City and at his Atlantic City casinos. Why else did he hire notorious mob lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn as his personal attorney?
It all made sense. And this Las Vegas apparition put an indelible exclamation point on my perception of Trump. But I never then imagined this closet mafioso would one day become a White House occupant. That was completely beyond my comprehension in 1987.
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It’s a good piece, Michael, and the personal anecdote is quite interesting. I have one quibble though:
“Unlike Trump, he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but there were several telling similarities.”
Musk grew up stupendously rich. His father once bragged that:
“We were very wealthy. We had so much money at times we couldn’t even close our safe.”
Another source states that by 1976, when Elon was 5 years old, his father was already a millionaire (a million bucks was a lot of money back then).
“While the money was streaming in, Errol acquired a lot of properties such as a yacht, a private jet, posh houses, and the likes. It was also reported that he retired early and spent most of his time traveling.”
Even so, his father was (in Elon’s own words) a “terrible human being” who had done ”almost every evil thing you can possibly think of,” including fatally shooting three intruders at his home in South Africa.
Despite having all the money anyone could possibly need, people like Trump and Musk are still miserable – and now they’re hellbent on stepping on the rest of us in their quest for dominance.
Point well taken, David, but I think the Trump family wealth was much greater than that of the Musk family at an equivalent point in their youths. They both did, however, attend private male-only high schools, another similarity. And they are both singularly lacking in the crucial quality of humanity.
What I’m hoping readers will understand is that we now have a Mafia-style governance structure at the core of American power, with Mafia Don at the apex and Elon Musk as his Chief Enforcer — essentially unanswerable to nobody, unless the Courts step in.
Thank you Michael. I read this opinion piece as an accurate and very well penned caricature of the farcical deconstruction of our government by the Sociopath Bros Prez Trump (AKA the most powerful person in the world) and untitled, unelected Musk (AKA the richest person in the world). As a social liberal and fiscal moderate with a couple of threads of libertarian leanings I would very much like to see all of our government slimmed down substantially and refocused for the good of common American citizens. What is happening so far – and I am disheartened and fearful of what may lie ahead – can in no intelligent or common sense way achieve the greater common good or promise a reasonable quality of life in the unfolding disaster of accelerated climate change. In terms of causation for this debacle, Pogo of comic pages fame is again right on the money.
Everybody is locked into the moment, forgetting that everything has a caveat… everything. It all depends on which station you’re listening to. “The weather is sure nice today.” “Yes, but it’s supposed to rain and blow tomorrow.” “I’m sure glad the Palestinians had a ceasefire.” “Yes, but the Israelis violated the ceasefire over 200 times, they’ve refused to extend the current “ceasefire,” or, as agreed to, start phase 2, and Trump just gave Israel $3B more in weapons and the greenlight to resume the genocide.” “The Trump administration is greenighting the release of the Jeffrey Epstein and JFK assassination archives.” “Yes, but they will be so redacted that they will reveal nothing of importance.” “Well I guess it could be worse… and it’s gonna be.” Everything has a caveat.
Not discounting the crisis of the moment, everybody has a tendency to think everything’s going to be O.K. as long as “their party” is in office, and then once their party is no longer in office they tend to blame the new administration for all the ills of the time. Though it’s true Trump, et. al are terrible human beings that are, seemingly, hell bent on destroying our “once great democracy”, (if you call colonizing, land theft, rape and murder, or spying on, strong-arming, and interfering in other nations democratic elections in an effort to promote “our interests”, or state sponsored terrorism and support of ethnic cleansing and genocide abroad… “democracy”)… the precedent was set many years ago, and without examining how we got where we’re at today there can be no basis for knowing how to avoid the pitfalls awaiting our future. It’s a bit like looking at climate change without analyzing ecological overshoot, with the resulting response then being a knee jerk reaction to the moment falling far short of what is needed to avoid even larger (avoidable) problems into the future.
Though the connections are obvious, and dangerous indeed, you, Michael, speak of Trump and the Mafia as if he was the originator of the close relationship between organized crime and the U.S. government, in reality, a relationship that goes back much further in time with organized crime family’s cleaning up their act decades ago with each crime family getting “their man” in office at every level possible whenever the opportunity presented itself. Though much disinformation exists on the subject, and most status quo (mainstream) news sources will deny it, the Kennedy, Trump, and Bush families all have long ties to organized crime; the U.S. government, the CIA, and the FBI (the *deep state”) all have long-term close relations to both U.S. and foreign (Italian, and Israeli) organized crime entities, (with resulting efforts responsible for assassinating world leaders both abroad as well as here at home).
Again, though there has been a concerted effort to misinform the public, the writing has been on the wall for decades with many of the days great minds speaking out and penning these connections in an effort to forewarn the American people of what is coming. Over time we’ve witnessed laws being passed by sucessive administrations (both D’s and R’s) that have resulted in giving lopsided power to the executive branch, granting a president the ability to enact war powers, emergency measures, and martial law with impunity. Like waiting until somebody is killed at a known dangerous intersection before enacting legislation allowing a traffic signal, we now stand at the juncture of losing what little democracy we have left under the current extremist administration. America was ripe for a populist movement, (and leader) to take over…. it was not a question of “if”. Only a question of “when”. We were forewarned, but the people were asleep and now we’re suffering what to many, is the unthinkable.
Good article Michael… though a bit one-sided and lacking in context. You did, however, fail to disclose Trump’s close relationship with Erik Prince (owner of the largest private army in the world). Did I mention, “things could be worse?”
“We” don’t run this country… the Israelis do. Jeffrey Epstein (to half the members of congress): “Great party last night, eh? Don’t forget, we took photos.”
*Deep state
an alleged secret network of both elected and nonelected government officials, (and private entities, as in the financial services and defense industries) operating extralegally to influence and enact government policy.
The power of the deep state comes from experience, knowledge, relationships, insight, craft, special skills, traditions, and shared values. Together, these purported attributes make nameless bureaucrats into a supergovernment that undertake special, illegal operations in the political interest of the country’s ruling elite, and are accountable to no one.
The only thing worse would be having the Democrats in power.