Donnie Is A Trumpist, Not A Populist - by Jim Hightower

To many hard-working people, this is a time of economic uncertainty. Thus, it is important to point out that America’s superrich are intentionally and brazenly knocking down the middle class and poor to further enrich themselves. They are aided by clueless, corrupt politicians who don’t care about the future of ordinary Americans or of America itself. In these hard times, along comes Donald J. Trump, a swaggering billionaire braggart promising greatness by goading working-class white people into mollifying their pain and anxiety by despising those “other people” situated near them on the social-economic ladder.

The media establishment has erroneously put the “populist” crown on Trump, endorsing his absurd assertion that he might be a billionaire, but he’s “our” billionaire, fighting for us commoners!

I’m not telling anyone how to vote, and I certainly understand the inclination to grab the biggest stick you can find to whack the bejeezus out of those holding you and your family down. Trump has sold himself as the biggest, baddest stick around, the “outsider” who pummeled Jeb!, Marco, Ted, and the entire Republican establishment. But I am here to say, don’t be a sucker. There’s not a single populist muscle in Donnie’s whole plutocratic body. He will sell out wage earners, small business people, and anyone else to serve his own needs or whims, as his lifelong record (as opposed to his recent rhetoric) reveals.

Donnie learned from Daddy Fred, who built his son’s inherited fortune by milking federal housing programs in the 1940s and ’50s, and then — as the landlord of these New York City apartments — flagrantly discriminated against black applicants. One of Fred’s tenants was Woody Guthrie, who was so appalled, he wrote about Trump’s greed and racism. Donnie has enhanced his fortune by emulating his father’s business ethics, including engaging in wage theft, outsourcing his clothing line and other brand-name products to such low-wage countries as China and Vietnam, and underpaying undocumented immigrants engaged in dangerous construction work on his luxury projects. Also, as of this summer, Trump or his companies were defendants in 1,300 lawsuits — many of which were over stiffing cabinet makers, plumbers and other small business suppliers.

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http://www.nationalmemo.com/donnie-trumpist-not-populist/