Post-election Ponderings
A woman wearing a hijab at San Diego State University reports being robbed by two men who mentioned Trump and Muslims, before they took her belongings. Other Muslims report having their hijabs forcibly removed. A young black girl says she was told by some of her high school classmates that she should move to the back of the school bus they were riding on. Just a few of the anecdotes pouring in during the first two full days following the election of Donald Trump. Then there was this:
Do we need to be alarmed? Yes. Are most of the stories of hate being shared around our nation true? Probably. Are they all true? I don't believe so. That's because we live in an age where people who want to send messages will create things like this:
That's a photoshopped image that was posted online back in March. The original had the person whose shirt reads "WHITE" in that photo showing the word "GREAT" instead.
We know that hatred is on the rise. We don't need false memes to make things seem worse than they already are. Things are bad enough already. I remember creating my version of Trump's hat long ago. Was I prophetic:
* * *
In September of 2015 I wrote a blog about Donald Trump and the difference between management and leadership. In it I described an incident where an audience member at one of his rallies shouted the lie that President Obama is a Muslim. A manager would remain silent and not correct the error, as Donald Trump did. A leader would set an example and correct the error.
As we watch the rise of hate speech, the one man who must step forward and say loudly, with conviction that this is unacceptable, is the President-elect. He must set the example and make it clear that making America Great again instead of making America Hate again is to unite, not to divide us.
That's what a leader would do. What Donald Trump will do remains to be seen.
* * *
Jon Stewart
Chelsea Handler
Neve Campbell
Lena Dunham
Keegan Michael-Key
Al Sharpton
Eddie Griffin
Amber Rose
Samuel L. Jackson
Cher
George Lopez
Barbra Streisand
Raven-Symone
Whoopi Goldberg
Miley Cyrus
Ruth Bader-Ginsburg
Amy Schumer
A partial list of the celebrities who said they would move out of the United States if Donald Trump were elected president.
So far Whoopi has already reneged on her pledge to move. I expect most of them will do the same. It was a lot of hyperbole, something that Donald Trump is a big fan and user of. Still, it will be interesting to see what they will do in terms of walking back their words. In Cher's case, since she'd promised to move to Jupiter, I think we can conclude she wasn't serious.
* * *
There is now talk of a settlement looming in the Trump University lawsuits. Could this be related to a desire by the President-Elect to not have his campaign statements dissected in the courtroom? The judge in the case had denied a defense motion to exclude those statements.
Or is this just a move that he might be undertaking in order to not be the first president to take office and immediately have to go to court to defend himself against allegations he engaged in a fraud scheme?
* * *
In 2000 when George W. Bush was elected president his net worth was over $150 million. He put his assets into a blind trust. When Mitt Romney ran in 2012 his net worth was over $250 million. He had promised to put his assets into a blind trust if he was elected.
Forbes Magazine says that as of today, Donald Trump's net worth is $3.7 billion. That will make him the richest man to ever be president. That's a distinction that has belonged to our nation's first president, George Washington, whose net worth when he took office was the equivalent of more than $580 million in today's dollars.
Donald Trump is on the record as saying that he will not put his assets into a blind trust. In an NPR article on the subject, he is quoted as saying, "
Given that one of the main allegations made against Hillary Clinton by the Trump campaign was that she allegedly engaged in a "pay for play" scheme while Secretary of State, it seems quite hypocritical for President-Elect Trump to take this position.
I'm going to consider this for a day or two, but I think I may start a petition calling on Donald Trump to put all of his assets into a blind trust; and insist that the trust be administered by someone who is not a member of his extended family, or an employee of any company owned or contracted with the Trump Organization.
Do we need to be alarmed? Yes. Are most of the stories of hate being shared around our nation true? Probably. Are they all true? I don't believe so. That's because we live in an age where people who want to send messages will create things like this:
That's a photoshopped image that was posted online back in March. The original had the person whose shirt reads "WHITE" in that photo showing the word "GREAT" instead.
We know that hatred is on the rise. We don't need false memes to make things seem worse than they already are. Things are bad enough already. I remember creating my version of Trump's hat long ago. Was I prophetic:
* * *
In September of 2015 I wrote a blog about Donald Trump and the difference between management and leadership. In it I described an incident where an audience member at one of his rallies shouted the lie that President Obama is a Muslim. A manager would remain silent and not correct the error, as Donald Trump did. A leader would set an example and correct the error.
As we watch the rise of hate speech, the one man who must step forward and say loudly, with conviction that this is unacceptable, is the President-elect. He must set the example and make it clear that making America Great again instead of making America Hate again is to unite, not to divide us.
That's what a leader would do. What Donald Trump will do remains to be seen.
* * *
Jon Stewart
Chelsea Handler
Neve Campbell
Lena Dunham
Keegan Michael-Key
Al Sharpton
Eddie Griffin
Amber Rose
Samuel L. Jackson
Cher
George Lopez
Barbra Streisand
Raven-Symone
Whoopi Goldberg
Miley Cyrus
Ruth Bader-Ginsburg
Amy Schumer
A partial list of the celebrities who said they would move out of the United States if Donald Trump were elected president.
So far Whoopi has already reneged on her pledge to move. I expect most of them will do the same. It was a lot of hyperbole, something that Donald Trump is a big fan and user of. Still, it will be interesting to see what they will do in terms of walking back their words. In Cher's case, since she'd promised to move to Jupiter, I think we can conclude she wasn't serious.
* * *
There is now talk of a settlement looming in the Trump University lawsuits. Could this be related to a desire by the President-Elect to not have his campaign statements dissected in the courtroom? The judge in the case had denied a defense motion to exclude those statements.
Or is this just a move that he might be undertaking in order to not be the first president to take office and immediately have to go to court to defend himself against allegations he engaged in a fraud scheme?
* * *
In 2000 when George W. Bush was elected president his net worth was over $150 million. He put his assets into a blind trust. When Mitt Romney ran in 2012 his net worth was over $250 million. He had promised to put his assets into a blind trust if he was elected.
Forbes Magazine says that as of today, Donald Trump's net worth is $3.7 billion. That will make him the richest man to ever be president. That's a distinction that has belonged to our nation's first president, George Washington, whose net worth when he took office was the equivalent of more than $580 million in today's dollars.
Donald Trump is on the record as saying that he will not put his assets into a blind trust. In an NPR article on the subject, he is quoted as saying, "
That's troubling given that federal law prohibits any officer or employee of the executive branch of government makes it a crime to engage in any conflict of interest. Given Donald Trump's vast financial empire, it would seem that a blind trust is barely scratching the surface in terms of preventing conflicts of interest."If I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same — up here, whatever it may be — to make America rich again, and to make America great again. I have Ivanka and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company, kids. Have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. ... I would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. But — is that a blind trust? I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives. And I wouldn't ever be involved, because I wouldn't care about anything but our country. Anything."
Given that one of the main allegations made against Hillary Clinton by the Trump campaign was that she allegedly engaged in a "pay for play" scheme while Secretary of State, it seems quite hypocritical for President-Elect Trump to take this position.
I'm going to consider this for a day or two, but I think I may start a petition calling on Donald Trump to put all of his assets into a blind trust; and insist that the trust be administered by someone who is not a member of his extended family, or an employee of any company owned or contracted with the Trump Organization.
posted by me at 9:37 AM
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