Trump Gets A Pass In The Media For One Reason: He's Rich

[stopbush]

And being rich makes him a celebrity in this country, and if you're rich and/or a celebrity in this country, you and your opinion are held in higher regard than are regular people and their opinions.

It goes back at least to the Reagan years, where that poor excuse for an American said that he believed that America was still a place where anyone could become a millionaire. Not that they could become a great teacher, or scientist, or lawyer, or humanitarian...or grow up to be president. A millionaire, like making money was the defining trait of what it means to be American.

Since then, we have seen the adulation of the rich grow from a cottage industry into a full-blown political leg of American life. The rich are paraded on TV to opine on every subject imaginable. I guess the idea is that if you've figured out how to be rich, why, you must be smarter than the vast percentage of Americans who aren't rich. It matters not if your wealth was inherited (like Trump) or earned by the sweat of your brow, or because you came up with an idea at the right time that just took off (Facebook, Apple). If you're rich, well, we want to hear from you!

I'm convinced that the disdain many R pundits hold for poor people is based on the fact that they themselves are rich, rich simply because they toe the RW line, spew the lies and are well compensated for their lies. Deep down inside, they realize that they're not worth all that money. They realize that their careers are something of a sham. But realizing this, they can't believe that all those poor people haven't been able to figure out how easy it is to get rich. Hell, look at me! I really have nothing to offer, and yet, I'm filthy rich. How hard can it be? If you can't figure out how to get rich, fuck you.

And that's why the media built up Trump the way they did. That's why they continue to treat him like a serious candidate. He's rich! He's worth talking to and talking about!

[bemildred]

1. Yep, he is a member of the class, so he has class protections. nt

[clarice]

2. If I'm not mistaken....the other candidate is rich as well.nt

[stopbush]

5. The other candidate is not known for being rich, as is Trump.

And the building up of Trump by the media took place during the R primaries more than anything. Sure, Trump was up against a bunch of millionaires, but like Hillary, they aren't known for being millionaires.

[clarice]

6. I have included a link below that I think comes from a reasonable source...

My point here isn't to demonize Hillary for her wealth... it just goes to the point that mostly ALL politics is about money.
Note to mods..... I not sure if this post belongs in DUP or not, please forgive me, and if you would like, I will move thread there.
Thanks for your understanding.



[link:http://moneynation.com/hillary-clinton-net-worth/|

[clarice]

7. What did you think of that link? nt

[clarice]

9. Hello? nt

[CrowCityDem]

3. I think it was more because he was so outlandish it was entertaining (at first) and drew ratings.

[mnmoderatedem]

4. I don't know if it is wealth or celebrity or what

but he gets a pass time after time after time. Not so much from the media, but in the way nothing seems to impede his election progress. I've maintained all along that his remarks regarding John McCain would have eliminated any other candidate not named Trump. Gone right then and there no matter how hard he tried to walk it back. I mean a person of priviledge who never served in the military, passing judgement off someone who DID serve, and who was repeatedly tortured while in captivity - cripes the right wing would blow 10,000 gaskets if a democrat would have done that.

Trump? Some criticism, really not much more.

[HughBeaumont]

8. It's the "Wanting It Bad Enough" canard.

. . . which, of course, has its merits if you discount insanely lucky circumstances . . .

The idea of "wanting it bad enough" as a route to success is very attractive to large numbers of people, since anyone is able to want something, and everyone likes to believe that their own dreams are uniquely powerful and thus more likely to come true. Unfortunately, while there is an abundance of testimonials from successful people endorsing the power of "wanting it bad enough," the sample tends to be somewhat self-selecting: only people who have already tasted success have the platform to tell their success story. While Britney Spears has undoubtedly had a level of success that must have been due in part to wanting success, history does not record how many other little girls from the American South might have wanted to become famous pop singers just as badly as, or even worse than, Spears, yet somehow ended up with only multiple divorces, drug problems and bouts of pant-mislaying insanity to show for it.

Myth?

If we accept that "wanting it bad enough" is something of a myth, its piquant cruelty begins to become apparent. If a person fails to achieve what they want, they first blame themselves, believing that it is entirely their fault. They didn't want it bad enough! There are two possible responses to this crushing epiphany:

1.Persist in the delusion, secure in the knowledge that since you definitely do want it really, really badly, you will succeed eventually.
2.Somehow try to make yourself want what you already want even more badly, despite the fact that a person who somehow managed to achieve such mastery of their own desires would be better advised to focus on wanting things that were very easy to get, or ideally that they already had.

[clarice]

10. If I may...have you read any of the recent findings by physicist Roger Penrose....

about the seemingly quantum connection between thought and outcome?