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Bill Katz's avatar

I didn’t like him in the late 1980s.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

Bill, I knew that he was sub-human in the early 70's, when he was evicting the elderly and racial minorities in his father's properties. At that point, he presented himself as a Democrat, since he had to please the Democrats in power in New York. He has always been a grifter, and we have only learned that he's also stupid since he has been on the world stage (unless you knew about his multiple bankruptcies once he was rubbing elbows with the mob while running his casinos into the ground).

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ronbo97's avatar

He also stiffed the hard-working blue collar contractors that worked to build his casinos. When they asked for payment, he said he wasn't paying them because they did shoddy work. They knew that taking on the Trump organization was a passport to bankruptcy, since the legal fees would crush the business. So they just walked away, unpaid.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

His reputation for that sort of thing is legendary. He did that in his real estate dealings, so the casino contractors should have been forewarned. Of course, anyone old enough to have been familiar with Trump prior to The Apprentice or "Art of the Deal" would never have voted for him for his first term, let alone this time. I hate paying for the stupidity of others.

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Maggie's avatar

Really! How incompetent does someone have to be for them to have how many bankruptcies - SIX? And CASINOS? Seriously - and he claims to be a "businessman"!

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J L Graham's avatar

The person who ghostwrote "The Art of the Deal" is regretful for participating in a fraud. He told anyone who would listen not to trust Trump well ahead of the election.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

JL, another example of money motivating what should have been a flat "no, thanks" right out of the box. Surely, the ghost writer knew exactly what he was getting into. He contributed to the arsenal of those who insisted that Trump was a genius and great businessman. If he'd thought of more than the cash he'd make, perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with the present disaster.

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J L Graham's avatar

Look up the real story behind Trump's media triumph "restoring" Central Park's Wollman Skating Rink. That's when I first heard of him in a media blitz.

We have waaay neglected the growing subversion of money over equal justice under law. Using his vast wealth Musk pushed out the creators of Tesla and used his "unlimited capital to build the brand". He attacked the originators.

++++

"Soon enough, Eberhard was out, and Musk was in. “It felt like a brick on the side of my head,” Eberhard said. 'It’s totally unexpected.'

Eberhard sued Musk for libel, defamation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, and failure to pay his wages, among other things. And while the two eventually settled, Eberhard accuses Musk of violating their non-disparagement clause — a fact he claims he’s powerless to prevent. (Musk still occasionally tweets about Eberhard to this day.)

'Although he’s been flagrantly violating that agreement over and over and over again, he’s also the richest man in the world,' he said. 'And if he decides to crush me with lawsuits, I can’t survive it.' ” https://www.theverge.com/23815634/tesla-elon-musk-origin-founder-twitter-land-of-the-giants

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Barbara Keating's avatar

🤬That alone should have shut him down with middle class voters. I know that fact, among all this other dastardly deeds, appalled me when I read about it years ago.

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Maggie's avatar

Same here - plus I worked for a contractor for almost 30 years - we took care of our subs & they took care of us! I already couldnt stand this twit, but reading about his "business" actions? Just solidified my feelings.

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J L Graham's avatar

He has had the best publicity money can buy.

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Yodagirl's avatar

Perfect summation, Nancy. I wasn't aware of the Mafia connection until a few months ago when another reader spent a LOT of time sending me info and links on that era of trumps.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

Yodagirl, I was almost finished with a response to your comment when it disappeared. I've read many references to his mob connections, but nothing that proves that theory. His employing Kellyann Conway is somewhat telling, since she is the granddaughter of Jimmy "the Brute" DiNatale, a reputed Philadelphia mob associate. He is also alleged to have been a Russian agent for years. All of this could be just false rumors, but I'm sure he thinks that these allegations polish his resume as a strongman and someone to be feared. If true, he wouldn't understand that he's simply a useful idiot to various puppeteers but thinks he's on top of the heap.

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Cindy Gailey's avatar

I have always wondered what hole Kellyann slithered out of!. Sick person.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

Cindy, they could be twins, separated at birth. She has no class, no conscience, wouldn't know the truth if she tripped on it. He is like fly tape, attracting the nasty insects from all corners. She is probably brighter than the orange menace, but only marginally.

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J L Graham's avatar

Like Musk was a environmental champion while building his EV brand.

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Nancy Fleming's avatar

JL, we both know that Elon has never been motivated by anything remotely connected to betterment of the planet - only his grandiose self-interest. At some point, I expect him to crash and burn - like his Teslas frequently do.

Except that this entire spectacle is so stress-inducing, I'm hoping to see him and tfg do battle. There's not enough oxygen anywhere to sustain both of them.

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Bryan Sean McKown's avatar

Goes all the way back to Daddy's Queens' home before Wharton.

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MLMinET's avatar

Curious—could you elaborate?

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Yodagirl's avatar

He's referring to where trump grew up in Queens NY, a borough in NYC. His "daddy", Fred Trump was an emotionally abusive monster and killed his 1st born then started on donald, giving us the crisis we have today. I hope Fred is rotting in hell.

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William Moore's avatar

No hope here, I KNOW Fred T. is rotting in Hell. One thing I love about Substack is that there are no censors lurking over the comments section!

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Yodagirl's avatar

Ain't THAT the truth WM-Yahoo is a joke when it comes to comments.

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Bill Katz's avatar

The blogger can ban us. I foolishly said something on Paul Klugman’sblog about each Trump wife pushing the other down the stairs. I apologized to him but it was too late. I’m banned for life or until I get a new computer.

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Yodagirl's avatar

Can you clear our cookies?

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Bill Katz's avatar

I would need to use a different computer, different email which I have for throw away stuff. Or use a VPN which I just don’t want to take the time l

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Bill Katz's avatar

If he doesn’t want me even after apologizing, fine I don’t need to post. I can still read he insightful blogs.

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Yodagirl's avatar

Does seem pretty harsh. Been there too but never got spanked to that extreme.

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Martha's avatar

I think Trump's mother sent him to military school because he was so disruptive she couldn't deal with him. Looks like his mother rejected him

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J L Graham's avatar

I get the sense that Trump's parent's were malignant narcissists and the acorn fell not far from the tree. They let you be a self-absorbed total creep when you are rich.

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Yodagirl's avatar

That's true Martha-it was in Dr. Mary's book about her uncle.

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Phyllis D's avatar

I was born in Queens, as well. But my family moved to Nassau County, Long Island. I spent most of my adult life watching his garbage. I can’t believe people actually believe his lies. I guess we can thank Fox lies for this, and people who don’t research what they read and hear. Thank God for Heather.

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Kathy Hughes's avatar

He didn’t impress me too much then, but I didn’t see him as a political figure, just a show off rich guy who loved having his name in the tabloid headlines. I didn’t start to really detest him until he rode down his golden escalator in Trump Tower, surrounded by paid actors applauding his decision to run for president. That is when he started his unfiltered nastiness run wild. By then, I was aware of his manifold business failures, stiffing his contractors, and scams; and I believed then as I do now that he would be just as unsuccessful as president as he was in business.

I believe one thing many people bought into was the character he played on the “reality show” “The Apprentice.” There isn’t very much reality in “reality shows,” and “The Apprentice” allowed Trump to curate his appearance so that he would look like the successful businessman he has never been. The image making in “The Apprentice” allowed people to buy into the false idea that Trump would be successful in business and political endeavors, and it has been a total scam.

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