#110 - You Get What You Pay For

I know my wife thinks I am cheap sometimes. She never says it, but I know. But I like to think I am a just a value shopper.  I want to get my money’s worth. I want to know that as the years go by, I won’t look back and be unsatisfied with my purchase.   I don’t want to suffer… any buyer’s remorse.

But Donald Trump, Donald Trump wants a steal. Life is a series of transactions for the Donald, where he expects to be the undisputed winner.  The Art of the Deal guru likes to go mano a mano and come out on top, every minute of every day.  Whether it’s the venders he has abused over the years, the students of Trump University he defrauded or the debt holders he stiffed in his bankruptcy filings, Donald is always looking to take advantage of an opportunity, or an opponent.

So when Paul Manafort offered to work for the Trump’s Presidential campaign for ...FREE, Donald Trump didn’t think twice.  This  smooth talking operative with GOP street cred dating back to Ronald Reagan, who had the smart sense to actually own an apartment in Trump Tower, and who, most importantly, looked damn good in his very expensive, custom made, suits would be perfect for the Trump campaign.  As to his willingness to work for free?  Well, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work for….the Donald?

Donny’s dad clearly never had the “Nothing in life is free, my son” speech that every other red, white and blue American received at some point during their formative years from one of their parental units.  And so, without a moment’s hesitation, Donny boy made his purchase, and now he was joined at the hip with this man.

Fast forward two and half years, on the day that Hurricane Florence rocked the North Carolina coast, Paul Manafort rocked the political world

In a case involving Manafort’s work as a political consultant in Ukraine, where his 10+ years of criminal activity would have put him away for the rest of his natural life, Manafort agreed to tell all he knows to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as part of a plea deal that could put together any missing pieces to the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  Manafort agreed to an open-ended arrangement that requires him to answer “fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly” questions about “any and all matters” the government wants to ask…without his lawyers present. 

BINGO.  I’ve got BINGO.

Now, now.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  And that’s exactly what I don’t want.  So, Instead of looking ahead, let’s just look at where we are.  Let’s just look at what we know.  Let’s just look at the facts.

Manafort is the fifth player in the Trump campaign, and the undisputed crown jewel, to plead guilty to criminal activity and to agree to cooperate with the Federal Government.  In addition to Manafort, Trump’s second campaign chairman, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, national security adviser, personal lawyer and foreign policy aide have all become founding members of the Trump Campaign Choir, and have all agreed to sing loudly and long to the sweet sounds of truth, justice and the American way.

In truth, we don’t know if the President is guilty of anything at this point.  But at this point, does it even matter? This is the guy who promised us, he would run the country like a business, and he would hire the best and the brightest, Really? Out of 330 million Americans to choose from, these are Donald’s go-to guys? 

There is so much that is wrong with the Trump Presidency, it will be a gold mine for presidential historians for years to come, and this is just but one sorry symptom.   In Paul Manafort, Donald Trump got what he paid for, because… he didn’t pay a thing, and now, he may pay the utlimate price.

In the hiring of Paul Manafort, we have a metaphor for the entire Trump Presidency. Just think about the buyers’ remorse of the long time Trump supporters, who thought they were buying in to the man who would make America great again, who would drain the swamp, who would repeal and replace, who would eliminate the deficit who would…unite the country.

They were as guilty as Trump was.  They fell for the equivalent of an ordinary shyster’s get-rich-quick scheme.  They bought into the magic elixir that would cure all their ills.  The decision seemed simple,  Donald Trump was the quick, easy fix.  They never considered the down side, they never considered the hidden cost.  They too forgot that.. nothing in life is free.  They too forgot, that…you get what you pay for.  

The desk in the Oval Office of the White House is supposed to be reserved for the best and brightest our country has to offer, for real leaders who are battle tested and who will represent all Americans. It is supposed to be reserved only for those who truly understood that the office of the President is so much bigger than the man sitting in it.  

In Donald Trump, we bought ourselves a tin can version of a president.  In Donald Trump we bought… a lemon, but sadly there is no lemon law for the buyers' remorse that comes with the purchase of an incompetent and immoral president. 

It is a fixed four year lease, and we own it.