Trump’s vile New York values: How The Donald represents the worst of a great city
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
I got my first glimpse of Donald Trump during my very first visit to New York City in 1988. To a 25-year-old Soviet chess champion, the flashy tycoon with his glamorous wife Ivana walking through the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel, which he had recently purchased, was the embodiment of my illusions about what was then to me a new and glamorous Western city. To someone like me, who had read a lot about America but experienced little, Trump seemed very impressive, a symbol of the wealth and opportunity, and of the capitalist West.
Trump owned the Plaza; the Plaza was a symbol of New York; New York was a symbol of America.
Looking back on that chance encounter in light of this year's presidential campaign, after nearly 30 years of visits and living in New York City, I realize that I was taken in by the same con game that Trump is still running today. Trump sells the myth of American success instead of the real thing.
He has proudly claimed, even branded "New York Values" — used as a smear by his chief opponent for the nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz. True to Trump form, he's selling t-shirts on his website.
It's tempting to rally behind him-but we should resist. Because the New York values Trump represents are the very worst kind. He exemplifies the seamy side of New York City - the Ponzi schemers and the Brooklyn Bridge sellers, the gangster traders like Bernie Madoff and the celebrity gangsters like John Gotti — not the hard work and sacrifice that built New York and America.
Born into millions, Trump wants us to believe we can follow in his footsteps if only we buy his book, go to his classes and, yes, vote for him. He stands for fake values and fake value, debt instead of cash, appearance over substance, gold paint instead of the real thing. Soon after that showy scene, the Plaza became Trump's second bankruptcy. But he was already moving on to the next headline, to his next performance.
He may have business experience, but unless the United States plans on going bankrupt, it's experience we don't need.
Trump's supporters praise him for his bluntness, for "telling it like it is." It's true that his language is startlingly vulgar — one of several traits he shares with his mutual admirer, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin — and it's easy to find this refreshing after years of politically correct jargon from career politicians.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGESStrongman
But what is the point of clear phrasing when the thoughts the words represent make no sense at all? What does "telling it like it is" mean when the meaning of "it" changes all the time? The most New York habit I can imagine is to tell someone exactly what you think. Trump tells people what they want to hear, a practice we already get far too much of from Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment