Fill in the blank: Donald Trump is a _____developer.
You may be disappointed to learn that I’m not writing today about what word should go in the blank, though I’m sure we could have some lively discussions about that. I’m also not here to debate whether Trump is a malignant narcissist, a deity, or suffering from dementia, despite the multitude of opinions on those subjects.
What has taken up residence in my mind is the idea that Trump is simply being who he’s always been, including the part where he uses not-so-subtle marketing to persuade voters (his customers) to believe that he fervently supports policies and values that are important to them, so that they will support his current deal (becoming Emperor of the Universe).
I remember when this idea first occurred to me, back when the Environmental Protection Agency was being gutted and the sale of massive tracts of public lands was being discussed. I visualized the land: in my mind it was in the west and included mountains and vast forests. To me, it was awe-inspiring and breathtaking.
I realized it was very likely that Trump shivered just like I did when he saw those millions of acres of National Forests and National Parks, but it wasn’t for the same reason. He is first and foremost a developer; he saw mines and logging trucks and shopping malls and highways and housing developments. His shiver was about how lucrative those projects could be, and how the money they made could finance even more grand and extensive growth, all named after him!
Trump has always enjoyed power, and he doesn’t seem to have been phased by things like his six bankruptcies that might have dampened a less driven person. Imagine the euphoria he must have experienced when he basically stumbled his way into the Presidency in 2016, with a little help from Vladimir Putin, and learned what it was like to have power like THAT! And other people’s money to use!
But he also learned that he could lose that power, which triggered the rage that has driven the entirety of the past five years. This time, he has been taking directions from a more sinister group of coaches, who have recognized his talent as a huckster, his love of gold in all forms, and his weakness for flattery and need for adulation.
The team’s first job was to get him re-elected, which became much easier when Joe Biden flamed out in the first debate. All that was needed was a couple of issues everyday folks could be scared about. I haven’t read The Art of the Deal, but I wonder if that’s an early chapter: how to hook your targets and make them want what you’re selling.
Immigration and the economy were the perfect vehicles for promising everyone prosperity and safety from crime. Like a barker at the midway of a county fair, calling out to anyone who passes by, Trump talked incessantly about groceries and about the “violent criminals” who were invading our country and eating our pets. He promised to fix both problems with almost magical ease: just bring down prices and deport the criminals.
The question of why people believed him has several answers, depending on what people you’re talking about. The businesspeople and billionaires tended to appreciate his anti-regulation philosophy and didn’t really care about the groceries and the immigrants.
Thoughtful conservatives were frightened by Kamala Harris and some of the culture-war issues that Trump exploited just for the purpose of creating fear.
Young people and many Blacks and Hispanics were not experiencing the benefits of the Biden economy even though the gains were real; the rich were the ones who kept getting richer.
The bigger question may be whether enough Trump voters are realizing he didn’t mean a word of it. The billionaires are fine as long as they can “pay to play” and it’s all about money. The thoughtful conservatives are starting to see that their hopes for limited government and sound fiscal policy were illusory. The Blacks and Hispanics have become very clear that Trump was just playing them; they began returning to Democratic candidates in last November’s elections.
Another compelling theme of Trump’s sales pitch was “America First” and the promise to keep our nation out of foreign wars. Now, one year into his term, the nation watches, horrified, as he threatens NATO allies, kidnaps foreign leaders and promises to invade any country that doesn’t want him to be its “Daddy.”
He looks at a map of the globe and naively imagines himself dividing it up with Putin and Xi. He creates a “Board of Peace” and invites Putin to join even as Putin is trying to eat Ukraine alive.
I have nothing against developers, as long as they are constrained by laws designed to protect the Earth and the human beings who live here, not as customers or dots on a map but as living, breathing, loving and hurting beings who have much more in common than they do differences.
Developers like Trump, who will say and do anything to get their way, and who will attack anyone who questions or seeks to limit them, may be a necessary evil in a capitalistic society like ours, but they don’t have any business at the head of the table.
Our leaders need to be people who know that caring for each other can’t be optional or strategic. A developer who treats leadership as a transaction, and the public as a market to be managed, will eventually find himself alone, surveying the ashes of what he claimed he would build.
Susan Hull is a retired clinical psychologist, a horse trainer, and an Independent voter. She must acknowledge that the wrecking ball battering our nation is creating some space for a new generation of political leaders who have sworn to do better.
.png)
