The Donald Trump - Arnold Schwarzenegger Likeness - Portrayed by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The following is the video and a word for word excerpt of that video of one of the upcoming popular commentators on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell. He portrays Donald Trump in his attempt to show who Donald Trump really is and compares him to Arnold Schwarzenegger. For me, it is very entertaining, as Lawrence O'Donnell usually is, but he highlights some sobering facts, in a light about Donald Trump that I really never looked at before and most people who also know of him most likely are in the dark about him too. It also made me realize how rash some of the political statements made by political figures may just not be anywhere possible to follow through, but the people who are entertained by them actually believe their message.
"It is time to write the meaning of the Trump brand. I don't mean the trump brand as it relates to the various businesses that carry Donald's name, I mean the Trump brand as it relates to the fictional character Donald presents publically as 'himself'. I don't know the real Donald Trump. He may be a perfectly good person, in most ways we measure that. I don't know the person his children know as their father. I don't know the man his wife's known as their husband. I have no idea on how kind and indeed lovable he may be to the people closest to him, and to the people most important to him. I know only what I see, the fictional version of himself that he delivers on TV screens. As I've said here before, the people you see inside this glowing box you are watching right now including me, all represent the television version of ourselves. No matter how often you watch me read this teleprompter, you will never get to know the real me. The real me lives outside this box, and doesn't wear makeup; ok, doesn't wear as much makeup. So we can never get to know the real Donald Trump by watching him on TV. On his fake reality show, he plays the fake boss of mostly tragic former celebrities, who pretend to try to please him as he methodically following the ratings appeal of each former celebrity, sequentially pretends to fire them. When he shows up on the 'Today Show', and other venues to promote his businesses and his TV show, he delivers a fictional version of himself full of bravado, that he hopes he is conveying confidence, boldness, and toughness and truth telling. But as every psychiatrist and fiction writer knows, inside every braggart, is a desperately fearful coward. I for one never had any interest in Mr.Trump until he stepped into this shows jurisdiction, by talking about politics and government. Along with many others, I remarked on the obvious, ugly racial elements in much of what he was saying about Barack Obama, which left little room for comments on the few things that Donald Trump had to say about government. The Trump message on governing was "that it's easy". Just let the tough talking Donald Trump have a few minutes alone with OPEC, an you would be back into paying 3 bucks a gallon at the pumps tomorrow. If the Chinese don't do what President Donald says, President Donald will slap a 25% tariff on everything that China sends to the United States. The sad truth of the governings' easy message is, that that view is actually shared with something close to 50% of the electorate. Some 60 million people who vote in this country are at least as ignorant about tariffs as Donald Trump is. Trump, who got caught not knowing how many there are in the House of Representatives, obviously has no idea the tariffs are set by Congress, not the President. He also obviously has no idea who would pay a tariff set on Chinese products. The 25% tariff he would set on Chinese products would be paid by Americans. A tariff is simply a sales tax, imposed by the Federal Government. Trump was actually advocating a 25% sales tax on everything we import from China. No-one who liked the idea of Trump's 25% tariff on Chinese goods understood that. It sounded to them like a penalty on China, instead of a penalty on them. Every single think Donald Trump suggested about governing was as simplistic and harmful to Americans as his 25% tariff idea.
The Trump fake candidacy performance was inspired in may ways by this man (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He ran for governor in the biggest state in the Union, claiming that governing "was easy". California was then running a debt of about $22 billion dollars, and an annual deficit of $14 billion. This great body builder, turned bad actor, told Californians they can make that debt and deficit go away just by electing him. It would be that easy. He would go to Sacramento and clean up the system. He campaigned with a broom; actually had a broom at rallies, and use the broom to symbolize how he would simply sweep clean the mess of California governance. During his campaign in 2003, he literally dropped a wrecking ball on an Oldsmobile spray painted with the words, "Davis Car Tax", an over simplified demonstration of what he would do to California's so called 'car tax'. And at the end of this amateur's time as governor, California was in much, much worse condition than when he lied his way into office by convincing enough Californians that 'governing was easy'. The debt when from $22 billion dollars to $34.7 billion dollars with the annual deficit jumping from $14 billion dollars to an unimaginable $26.6 billion dollars. The California voters reaction to their Governor Schwarzenegger's mistake was a return to competence. Instead of electing another well-financed governor to the governorship, not to the more competent governor that should have replaced whom Schwarzenegger, Ray Davis, but to the governor who 24 years before, actually hired Ray Davis as his Chief of Staff in his governors office. Two term California governor for the 1970's and 1980's Jerry Brown is now Governor again at the age of 73. He is using his hard earned governing expertise and experience to try and repair the damage California voters did to themselves by believing the dangerous lie that "governing is easy". What is true about both of these men, the movie star, and the reality TV star is that they were ignorant enough about governing to actually believe what they were saying about it. Noone, no republican or Democrat who has ever taken an oath of office as Mayor, governor, Senator or congressman believes that governing is easy. Office holders who know better in both parties have trafficked in that line. Their political sin is much greater than that committed by Trump and Schwarzenegger. The Trump and Schwarzenegger character brands are actually strikingly similar, bravado, confidence, boldness, toughness. We now know better about both of them. Historically, Trump has viciously attacked anyone who has publically criticized him in any way. Who can forget his 'from the gutter' attacks on Rosy O'Donnell. Trump said " I've known Rosy for a long time. I've always felt to myself that she's a degenerate. She shouldn't..I really understand her. Have you ever watched her act?" That's classic Trump. He doesn't even seem to know what he really means. It doesn't seem to come from a real place of hatred, it just seems to come from where he thinks is a zone of entertainment. Rosy O'Donnell is by the way one O'Donnell I do not know. And if we are distantly related, I might have to go back a thousand years to find the link. During his fake campaign period, Trump eventually gave up his fight against every word of criticism against him. He has never tried to respond to a single thing I have said about him publically. We now know the toughness, in the Trump brand is fake. This man was tough enough to run for President, Donald Trump isn't. We now know the confidence is fake too. Donald Trump will never again be able to create a blip on our political radar screen. But a Trump like candidate, a Schwarzenegger candidate will present himself or herself again, and that is the only reason I am revisiting the Donald Trump candidacy yet again tonight. It is simply to make this point, that the Trump, Schwarzenegger like candidate that comes along next will offer simple sounding solutions to very complex problems that that candidate does not and cannot understand. That candidate will brand himself or herself as confident, bold, tough and truthful. That candidate will not have the experience to be able to tell the one simple truth we know about government. To govern is to choose, and the choices are never easy. These men, have taught American voters everything they need to know, to never, ever, make the Schwarzenegger mistake again."
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