Trump is not a businessman that is qualified to be President of the United States or hold any public office. Yes, he is rich and I’ll give him credit for having more money than me and lots of other people. But simply being rich doesn’t mean you’re qualified to hold public office and being a businessman doesn’t mean your good at it. Bernie Madoff, Jeffery Epstein and Al Capone were once successful businessman. But eventually things didn’t turn out well for them. Thinking of today’s richest and most successful businessman, how many people think that Elon Musk, Jeff Bazos or Mark Zuckerberg would make a good President of the United States?
Most Trump supporters see him as the TV businessman who starred in The Apprentice. His episodes were scripted and “made for TV”. I too watched the show for several seasons before realizing that Trump fell way short of what I admired in a leader. I’m curious as to how many “winners” of the Apprentice still work for the Trump Organization. I’m willing to bet none. Trump doesn’t deny he used his father’s money and assets to begin building his organization. Trump also freely admits he has filed bankruptcy multiple times and takes pride in the fact. He’s also had multiple businesses bearing his name fail including an airline, casinos, magazines, financial institution, branded food and beverages, a university and others. While he promotes his name on fixtures and amenities in his hotels and golf clubs, so does every other owner/operator of hotels and golf clubs. Private branding or cobranding is common within the hospitality and leisure industries. I have no doubt that many of his development projects, as well as existing operations are on tight credit restrictions with contractors and suppliers due to his credit and payment history.
So, if Trump is such a successful businessman, then I ask these questions along with some answers –
- Why is he reluctant to release copies of his tax returns (like every other presidential candidate and many other public officials have) to prove his claimed wealth? Because then people will see he is not as wealthy as claimed as well as how, where, and from whom he received his income.
- Why did he not take the Trump Empire public and sell stock? Because he could not meet the transparency requirements of the SEC and other government regulators. Meaning he would have to disclose his business operation balance sheets for investors. Also, he would be at the mercy of the stockholders and Board of Directors every time he embarrassed the company and crossed the line with his crazy statements and antics.
- Name me one Trump non-affiliated business that Donald Trump has served as a board member? Probably none as most companies would not want his disruptive style to interfere with legitimate operations.
- Name me one nationally recognized business that would love to have Donald Trump as their president or CEO? He would not be able to retain any management position (or in some cases, any hourly position) in most companies as he would be constantly violating their code of conduct or ethics policies. In fact, Trump would not be able to retain a job with Fox News (see Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, Eric Bolling, etc.)
- How many businesses would would hire an executive whose resume included “filed for multiple bankruptcies”, “sued by multiple woman for sexual harassments”, “audited by various federal, state and local agencies”, etc.?
- And finally, with an unrelated question; would you want your children to grow up and emulate his character?
