Finally, mainstream media outlets may be ready to give Donald Trump’s shady past the attention it deserves. Salon.com reproduced a Politico story this morning spotlighting his long and close connection to the Mafia. And I heard the story mentioned on MSNBC last night.
This could be just the beginning. Trump’s dirty laundry could be in for a lot of public exposure.
Trump is a despicable human being. He has no scruples, no conscience, no shame. Lies and the truth are all the same to him, and criticism just rolls off his back. As a child he was so unruly his parents felt obliged to send him to a military academy.
As a businessman, he used bankruptcy laws repeatedly to cheat his creditors, some of whom were in the financial underworld. It’s a wonder he is still alive. As a reporter, I once wrote about a Florida businessmen who did the same kind of thing and wound up on a swamp trail, sitting dead in his Escalade, with a bullet hole in the back of his head.
In one of those primary debates, Trump candidly admitted who his creditors were. He said:
These lenders aren’t babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people.
I can only surmise that the “killers” Trump welched on had some reason to keep him alive.
Do you suppose they figured he would be more useful to them as President of the United States than buried in a shallow grave?
Trump could certainly become President. The polls show him in a dead heat with Hillary Clinton.
And I doubt revelations of his checkered past will have much more impact than the recent fuss about his tawdry relationships with women.
I wish that Americans were still innocent enough to be swayed by damning disclosures about political candidates. But the electorate’s prevailing mood is deeply cynical. As I heard a politician declare on TV recently, the public thinks all politicians are crooks and liars, anyway.
But, even so, could voters be prepared to accept as President a vulgar charlatan who owned casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and cozied up to the mob to build his real-estate empire?
They could if they figure he’s the best of a bad lot.
And you can be sure the right-wing propaganda mill will be working overtime to make sure that’s what voters think. .
The smears against the Clintons have already started, and there will be much, much more to come. Sadly, the right-wing propagandists don’t give a damn about the truth. They will make up any facts they need to get the job done.
So, be prepared for the mother of all smear campaigns. Be prepared to reject an avalanche of lies about the Clintons, designed to counter the awful truth about Trump.
