Is Trump the Personification of a Glittering Generality?

“PHONY OR AUTHENTIC?”

by Ron Ewart, ©2015, President, NARLO

(Sep. 27, 2015) — Last week we took on the current frontrunner of the Democrat Party, one Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a not-so-kindly manner. This week we are going to look at the life of the Republican Party frontrunner, Donald Trump, and attempt to shed some light on his background, personality, goals and agenda. What we have said here is not meant to give Trump the green light or to say he isn’t qualified to be president. Our purpose is to inform, not to judge.

Yes, we know we are taking a risk of becoming unpopular for exposing some negatives on the conservative political party favorite and we may take some hits for so doing, especially since we write from a conservative perspective. But we don’t write articles to be popular; we write them to express an educated opinion. So before you jump on us, read the whole article.

We were watching Trump in his recent speech in Dallas the other day and all we heard was Trump talking about Trump and a plethora of glittering generalities. It raised some legitimate questions that we couldn’t answer. Is he a phony, or is he genuine?

A glittering generality is defined as: ” …. an emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason.”

This speech about himself in Dallas is not an isolated incident. Most of his speeches, since announcing his candidacy for president, in or out of the two Republican debates, revolve around Donald Trump, his accomplishments as a real estate developer, his wealth, his outstanding deal-making skills, his success as an entertainer and his position in the polls. Some might say, “Methinks He Doth Braggeth Too Much,” to borrow a phrase from the great English playwright, William Shakespeare, in Hamlet. Maybe this is just Trump’s own personal style. Whatever it is, there is no question that it has caught on. But why?

Trump’s Background:

The real Donald Trump is the silver spoon son of a successful real estate developer, one Fred Trump, who was the son of German immigrants, Frederick and Elizabeth Drumpf. When Donald’s grandfather, Frederick Drumpf, became an American citizen in 1892, he changed his last name to Trump for obvious reasons. Changing their names was not an uncommon practice with European immigrants to America.

Frederick Drumpf, now Trump, as a single man, moved to Seattle in 1891 to run a couple of restaurants in the Red Light District. The restaurants catered to mostly Alaska gold-seekers that were flooding into Seattle and were not places for respectable women. After the Klondike gold rush wound down in about 1901, Frederick headed for Germany where he married Elizabeth. The German government promptly expelled Frederick and his now pregnant wife back to America because Germany felt that Frederick was trying to avoid his American taxes and army obligations.

Fred Trump Jr., son of German immigrants Frederick and Elizabeth Trump, went into the real estate business at the tender age of 22 with his mother. He built single-family homes and pioneered the concept of supermarkets. During World War II, Fred’s company built barracks and garden apartments for U. S. Navy personnel. Fred and his mother became quite successful.

Donald Trump, one of five children of Fred and Mary Trump, joined the company in 1968 (Trump was just 22 at the time) and in 1971 was given control of the company, whereupon he changed the name of the Company to the Trump Organization. It was previously called the “Elizabeth Trump & Son Company.” True to his growing ego, Donald wanted to put his own brand on the company and drop the brand of his father and grandmother. The truth is, Donald Trump has lived a highly-privileged, upper-crust life, all of his life. Like most silver spoons, he is used to getting his way. But this in itself does not disqualify him to become president. Many wealthy people became president.

But not all was peaches and cream for “the Donald.” In 1973 the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division filed a civil suit against the Trump Organization, now under “the Donald’s” control, charging that the company refused to rent to Blacks. In any event, a settlement was finally reached between the Trump Organization and the Justice Department that required Trump to list all vacancies with the Urban League and advertise them in minority papers.

In spite of this setback, the Trump Organization has become a multi-billion dollar company under Donald Trump’s direction and has made Donald, now 69, a multi-billionaire in his own right. The Trump Organization has provided jobs and incomes for thousands of people of all races. He must be doing something right. Yes, some of his Atlantic City ventures went bust, but the real estate business always has been and always will be highly risky and prone to downturns and business reversals from market disruptions, competition, rising interest rates and unsustainable debt.

Trump’s personal life:

In 1977, Trump married Ivana Zeinickova, of the Czech Republic. They had three children. Ivana became an American naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988 with Trump at her side. But like many men with giant egos and a lot of money, one woman wasn’t enough for Trump. His affair with Marla Maples became fodder for the tabloids and he and Ivana were divorced in 1991. It was a very bitter divorce.

He married Marla in 1993 and divorced her in 1999 after an affair with model Carla Bruni. Trump and Marla had one child. During his marriage to Marla he dated model Kara Young. But he was obsessed with Lady Di and actually sent her expensive floral arrangements after Lady Di’s divorce form Prince Charles. His one regret was that he never got to “court” Lady Di.

Trump evidently has a “thing” for models and is taken with beautiful European women. Maybe he likes their accents, or maybe European women are more submissive than American women. He dated and then in 2005, married another European woman, Melania Knauss of Slovenia. She became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 2006. Trump and Melania have one child. As of this writing, they are still married.

The Glittering Generalities:

But let’s get back to the glittering generalities. Trump constantly says, “I am going to make America great again.” He says his victories will just keep on coming, to the bewilderment of all Americans. He will make our military stronger than ever. He will build up our economy beyond our wildest dreams. He personally will negotiate deals that will make our heads spin, because he is the great deal-maker. He will deport all illegal aliens, even their 14th Amendment children. He will show our enemies, including Russia’s Putin, that when he draws a red line and it’s crossed, there will be severe consequences. The question is, can he deliver what he is promising? It’s a tall order.

So far, Donald Trump has said what he is going to do as president but not how he is going to do it. Many of his overly confident assertions would require that he become King and forego all that messy stuff like constitutional law, federal statutes, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, much less the American people. He says those details will be forthcoming, but currently his popularity is riding on his “glittering generalities” and the rising anger in the American people over just about everything, especially on the conservative side. We understand the anger, but the people are looking for solutions. Can Trump deliver those solutions?

Let’s take a look at his unwarranted, childish and third-grade ad hominem attacks on the other Republican candidates, individuals in the news media like Megyn Kelly and other politicians, like John McCain. Trump is either so thin-skinned that he must lash out at criticism, or this is a purposeful, premeditated strategy to take down his perceived opponents and put them on the defensive. In the art of the deal, putting the other side on the defensive is a powerful negotiating tool. The side on the defensive is more likely to make mistakes, give away the ship, or capitulate than the side going on the offense. Negotiating from strength always produces a more positive outcome than negotiating from weakness, as Obama did in the Iran nuclear deal.

Is this a premeditated Trump strategy, or is he thin-skinned? We’ll let the reader decide.

Having said all this, it takes a rough and tough man and a statesman to be president of the United States and not be pushed around by special or political interests or by foreign interests. That man must also exhibit qualities of good character, sound judgment and possess an intimate knowledge of the foundation and limits on his power. The question is, is Trump that man?

One of the qualifiers to be president is he must be a statesman. A statesman is defined as:

1. a person who is experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs.

2. a person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of a government or in dealing with important public issues.

So let’s ask these ten questions:

1. Is Trump a man of good character and is he honorable?
2. Does Trump understand the foundation and limits on his power, if he becomes president?
3. Does Trump exhibit sound judgment?
4. Is Trump a statesman?
5. Is Trump experienced in the art of government and the administration of government affairs?
6. Is Trump thin-skinned and prone to irrational outbursts in retaliation to criticism?
7. Is Trump a man of great wisdom?
8. Is Trump a phony and a con man like Obama, or is he authentic?
9. From the perspective of a conservative, does Trump truly believe in conservative principles?
10. Will Trump, as president, promote these principles to the Congress and the American people?

These 10 questions could be applied to any conservative candidate, not just Trump. If the reader can answer most of these questions in the affirmative, then Trump is your man. However, if you have concerns that Trump does not meet the minimum standards to be president, perhaps he is not the man to beat his eventual Democrat opponent. The voters will decide, and we hope that they decide wisely.

The next question to ask is, can Trump beat a Democrat in today’s welfare state where those on welfare or other government subsidies or illegal aliens get to vote? We will know soon enough.

With respect to the other Republican Presidential candidates, we see a lot of wannabes, but no particular standouts that have the aura and strong personalities to stand up to the Congress, the news media and foreign leaders like Russia’s Putin, China’s Chairman, North Korea’s Dear Leader, Iran’s ayatollahs, Syria’s Assad, or ISIS. America needs a strong conservative leader, probably more than any other time in history. Maybe Trump is the man to be that strong, conservative leader and what we see in his campaign personality is not the Trump that would be president. But how do we know? Like so many things in life, we throw the dice and hope for the best.

Nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, in spite of what we have portrayed here, Trump might be the catalyst to lead this nation in the right direction. And then again, he may not. The proverbial pendulum has the strange propensity to swing the other way when we least expect it. We can only hope that this is one of those times and that Trump has finally started the pendulum swinging the “conservative” way.

We have established a Trump website and provided additional information about Trump HERE. We will continue to update the website as the campaign progresses through the debates and primaries in 2016.

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Our organization, the “National Association of Rural Landowners,” is a beacon of conservative principles, and although we are advocates for the American rural landowner, there is something for every conservative on our website. Hundreds of our conservative weekly columns are posted on this site HERE, as well as other valuable resources.

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NOTE:  The foregoing article represents the opinion of the author and is not necessarily shared by the owners, representatives, employees, or agents of the publisher.

Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and speaker on freedom and property rights issues and author of this weekly column, “In Defense of Rural America“, is the president of the National Association of Rural Landowners (NARLO) (http://www.narlo.org), an advocate and consultant for urban and rural landowners and a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State.  He can be reached for comment at: info@narlo.org.