It has concerned me that those who voted for President Donald Trump because of his experience as a businessman might have been according him attributes that have more to do with their concept of a successful entrepreneur rather than the truth of his business history. He is not the local good citizen who runs an honest shop, pays taxes, donates to charities and builds goodwill. On the contrary: His style is to make “deals,” by which he means taking from others while giving as little as possible in return.
His own charities only benefited others when he was called to task, and this was after he appropriated donated funds for his own use. His tax payments — if there were any, we may never know — were most assuredly minimized by bending every loophole to get out of paying what was owed. The average small-business owner in Anchorage probably paid more to the IRS than Mr. Trump in any given year. He has crowed about winning, which he defines as taking advantage of others. He has a record as a developer of not paying workers. He shrugs off bankruptcy, although it meant short payments to creditors and workers who lost their jobs.
Mr. Trump is only out for his own benefit. His recent attempt at bribing a foreign power for his own political gain is standard operating procedure as far as he is concerned. It is not surprising that he adopts an air of injured innocence — he really does not believe he has done anything improper or illegal. In his world, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” is the norm, with “gotcha” the refrain.
But he is not a private businessman seeking to get the best of a deal. The assets that he uses as bargaining chips are not his own; they belong to American citizens. The benefits derived from bargaining should be for the country, not for his political advantage. He has tried to blur the line, to use the perquisites of his office as if he were royalty. This former business executive has never even answered to shareholders, and this time we are the shareholders. We deserve better.
— Sue Ellen May
Eagle River
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