Understanding America

 I guess I just do not understand. It seems less than a mystery to me. Donald Trump experienced six bankruptcies. Now what does that mean exactly? Well, he started in or took over six different commercial entities. He ran them for some period, and then gradually ran out of money to continue them, so he had to close them and declare bankruptcy.  Here is the fact check on his bankruptcies:

“Let’s do some fact checking about how many times Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy protection and why  there is some debate over this number.  During the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton correctly pointed out that Donald Trump had filed bankruptcy 6 times. Here is a quick breakdown of the six Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by companies owned by Donald Trump.  All six of Donald Trump’s bankruptcy filings were prior to him becoming our current U.S. President.

1.      1991: Trump’s Taj Mahal

2.      1992: First of two Atlantic City casinos owned by Donald Trump.

3.      1992: Second of two Atlantic City casinos owned by Donald Trump.

4.      1992:  Trump’s Plaza Hotel in New York City

5.      2004:  Trump’s Hotels and Casinos Resorts

6.      2009:  Trump’s Entertainment Resorts

Since each bankruptcy case is assigned a unique case number and takes on it’s own life, there should be little disconnect between the number of filings related to any one person or entity. So Hillary Clinton claimed that Donald Trump filed for bankruptcy relief six times, while Mr. Trump rebutted with the number of four such filings.  One possible reason for such a disconnect is whether Donald Trump recognizes his 1992 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings as one, two, or three.  The correct number of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings related to Donald Trump in 1992 would be three, while Mr. Trump may perceive them as one larger event.”

So, The Donald was in bankruptcy six times, which defines just how incompetent he is as a businessman. And it’s curious. I commented recently on Facebook that Trump had experienced bankruptcy six times, and one person remarked that I obviously did not understand business. He remarked. . . . “ six bankruptcies out of how many businesses?”  It was as though, it was OK if Trump had created, say, 20 businesses and ONLY experienced bankruptcy six times.  Well, sport, that is not OK. To me, it is pretty obvious that Trump is completely incompetent at running businesses. So, why should we expect him to be able to lead our Nation as President? Is that LESS COMPLEX?

So, we know he is incompetent as a manager. Well, then, what is it he is good at that might resemble the Presidency? Oh, but before that, we also know he has failed at the marriage game two times and maybe even three times, depending on your view of his marriage to Melania.  Now, to me, that strongly suggests he is also lousy at managing personal relationships.

So remind me again why he might make a good President? Or is it the case that the folks who voted for him were actually unaware that he is incompetent as a businessman and incompetent as a husband? They didn’t know? Really? But it seems that everyone on the planet knows, just not American voters?

Well, is there something else that recommends him to be President? Well, he was good at acting out The Apprentice, right? Well, that depends on whether you ever watched it.

Oh, but then he was actually President once before right?   The Pew research Center wrote a piece examining Trumps’ first Presidency. See -- How America Changed During Trump’s Presidency | Pew Research Center. It would seem his first go was not a marvel of the universe. His presidency ended as the most unpopular in our history, Partly, I suppose, his complete incompetence at managing that nasty COVID attack that emerged in China and then arrived to kill thousands of Americans, at least in part because of Trump’s incompetence at overseeing and directing a National response.  Did he actually tell Americans to drink bleach? Well, Yes and No. Here's what he said:

"A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To Bryan) And I think you said you’re going to test that, too. Sounds interesting, right?"

He continued.

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful."

Classic Trump.

But thousands of Americans died as a result of the incompetence of his Administration’s response.

So, he ended his first attempt at being President with a massive Public Health crisis wherein thousands died.

He had other questionable approaches during his Presidency, but little that he said or did should have encouraged folks to vote for him.

So, now he is appointing people to run our government who seem completely incompetent and maybe even simply dangerous—Gaetz as Attorney General springs to mind, although Rober Kennedy, Jr. seems as potentially dangerous at managing our Health Care Structure and systems.   Also, his promises to fire thousands of Federal career civil servants to replace them with Trump loyalists seems to me to be autocratic to the point that I now wonder whether he sees himself as King, rather than President.

So, that is why I keep looking at places to retreat—New Zealand anyone?  See. But I am way too old to move to New Zealand. At 90, I ain’t going anywhere. But trust me, were I 30, I would now be actively looking to move my citizenship to someplace more civilized and intelligent.

But I guess I will have to sit back and watch America disappear as a civilized society.

And if you disagree with me, well, good on you. But don’t just sit there in your comfy chair with a nice cold beer. Get off your ass and do something to defend our Democracy. Maybe impeach him??? Sure, why not?

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