DONALD TRUMP SNAKE OIL SALESMAN

Having nothing better to do this morning I thought I would roast The Donald.

A few evenings ago I was channel surfing, something I do a lot of because despite shelling out $80/mo. for a bazillion channels from Dish it’s hard to find anything I haven’t seen before. Whilst I was engaging in my flipping frustration I happened to come across Piers Morgan whom, I guess, has taken over for Larry King. Donald Trump was on so for a lack of anything better I decided stop and watch.

What a self-aggrandizing, self-serving fop this man is. I bet he notified the audience five times about how bright a guy he is. Funny thing, it has been my experience that anyone who has to keep reminding others how sharp they are has some serious doubts about himself. I actually find him a little hard to look at with that ridiculous comb over hairdo. You’ve got to hand it to the The Donald though. Most people who looked so absurd would never be able to be taken seriously. I marvel at how popular and seemingly respected such a buffoon can be.

Piers was asking Trump about his opinion regarding the Republican presidential candidates. Trump had nothing but glowing, loving things to say about them all. When asked about his own aspiration regarding a presidential bid Trump said he would only run if he were sure he could win. I seriously doubt he has any intention of running.

Piers went on to asked Trump what he would do to fix our current economic troubles. Trump launched into a diatribe about the permitting process and how it was nearly impossible to get anything done in this country. I’m inclined to agree with this point of view but gee I wonder why a real estate developer would be so worked up about getting more relaxed permitting?

His next big idea was to promote energy self-sufficiency in this country. He pointed out that the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal and that instead of using it here we ship it off to China. And big oil should be allowed to do its thing, cleanly of course. Once again Trump reminded everyone what a penny he is and noted he had looked into alternative energy knew all about it. He said alternative energy just wasn’t viable. He specifically spoke of solar energy saying that it was ridiculous because it would take thirty years for payback and the panels only last fifteen before they become junk. Let me tell you the man is either intentionally feeding the public misinformation or his is not nearly as bright as he thinks he is.

I know a little something about solar energy as I invested in a system this summer and learned quite a bit about the subject. To say out of hand that the payback is thirty years is misguided. There are many permutations of installations. I would venture to guess that a grid tied system mounted on a roof in Phoenix would be able to do considerably better than that. Costs are coming down all the time. Solar panels today come with a 25-year warranty. Here’s a link to the Sharp panels I purchased.  I paid around $600 for them back in May. It looks like today you can get them for $429. Now, you may be able to find solar panels with only a 15-year warranty but that wouldn’t make you very smart would it?

Basically Trump spent the whole interview feathering his own nest. Making nice to all the candidates so no matter, which one wins, he’ll be on the right side. I doubt he will endorse anyone outright until he knows “for sure” who is gong to win in the primary. And, making nice for big business because guess who leases all that square footage he develops.

It’s not the Donald’s fault, really. Donald Trump gets on television because people watch. What baffles me is why people watch. The guy is a snake oil salesman, a master promoter and nothing more. I’ll bet you his hero growing up was P.T. Barnum who so adroitly said, “Every crowd has a silver lining”.  OK, so watch the guy for entertainment but for heavens sake don’t mistake his motives. Trump is  all about the Donald.

©Kinsey Barnard

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