The Business of Politics
With sixty days left until the U.S. elections, the campaign for president has turned into an unprecedented circus of vicious personal attacks, bombastic jingoism, and racist rhetoric largely as a result of the deranged behavior of Donald Trump.
One of the factors repeatedly cited by Mr. Trump as a justification for his candidacy has been his skill as a business man. Though it has never been shown exactly how business success translates into effectiveness as a statesman, this belief continues to be widespread, even when a business person has demonstrated questionable business ethics.
Mr. Trump's business acumen has been shown in the four bankruptcies he has accumulated, in the lawsuits brought by numerous building contractors, trades-people and small businesses that Trump refused to pay over the years, and by students who were denied tuition refunds when Trump University shut down in 2012.
In the run-up to the presidential race, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with sycophants, political "yes men" and others more than willing to do the bidding of the billionaire. None of this has made him a good candidate. Unable to articulate a cogent program of domestic or foreign policy, Trump changed campaign managers several times during the summer, ending up with Kelley Anne Conway, a former lawyer and CEO of a well-known Washington political polling company.
A long time conservative GOP operative, Conway is credited with helping the New York real estate executive be more appealing to voters. Her task has been to change his public persona from that of an ill-informed insult comedian to a serious politician. Conway seemed to be on a successful path when she got Trump to "express regret" over some of the things he has said during the campaign.
As the race sprints into the homestretch, the Trump machine has seen growing numbers of advisors, policy experts and on-the-stump surrogates abandoning ship. During August, Trump's campaign organized a policy advisory group that worked behind the scenes in Washington. Intended to educate the candidate on the key issues of the day, it would soon disband, falling victim to neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. But that was just par for the course for the candidate businessman doing the business of politics.
One of the factors repeatedly cited by Mr. Trump as a justification for his candidacy has been his skill as a business man. Though it has never been shown exactly how business success translates into effectiveness as a statesman, this belief continues to be widespread, even when a business person has demonstrated questionable business ethics.
Mr. Trump's business acumen has been shown in the four bankruptcies he has accumulated, in the lawsuits brought by numerous building contractors, trades-people and small businesses that Trump refused to pay over the years, and by students who were denied tuition refunds when Trump University shut down in 2012.
In the run-up to the presidential race, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with sycophants, political "yes men" and others more than willing to do the bidding of the billionaire. None of this has made him a good candidate. Unable to articulate a cogent program of domestic or foreign policy, Trump changed campaign managers several times during the summer, ending up with Kelley Anne Conway, a former lawyer and CEO of a well-known Washington political polling company.
A long time conservative GOP operative, Conway is credited with helping the New York real estate executive be more appealing to voters. Her task has been to change his public persona from that of an ill-informed insult comedian to a serious politician. Conway seemed to be on a successful path when she got Trump to "express regret" over some of the things he has said during the campaign.
As the race sprints into the homestretch, the Trump machine has seen growing numbers of advisors, policy experts and on-the-stump surrogates abandoning ship. During August, Trump's campaign organized a policy advisory group that worked behind the scenes in Washington. Intended to educate the candidate on the key issues of the day, it would soon disband, falling victim to neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. But that was just par for the course for the candidate businessman doing the business of politics.
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