America, the Next Venezuela

Most of us are quite familiar with the mouth-breathing Neanderthals wearing their little red hats and screaming at the hate-fest rallies; but what about the more intelligent Trump fans. I recently read a post from a Trump supporter that I know to be an intelligent person and one whom I don’t believe supports the racist slant of this administration. In that post, this person indicated that they were willing to put up with Trump’s many faults because they didn’t want the U.S. to become another Venezuela. I can only assume that this otherwise bright individual thinks that electing a Democrat would put America on a path toward socialism and this would mean that America would suffer the same ruinous fate as Venezuela.

Venezuela and America

I feel that this misguided sentiment is shared by many and especially among those with Hispanic roots.  While most Hispanics lean politically to the left, those with experiences from Cuba or Venezuela are often extreme right-wingers. They see socialism as the personification of evil. What most fail to see however is that these countries were led by dictators who used their authoritarian powers to feign a policy of socialist equality while actually maintaining a wholly undemocratic regime that benefited the rich.

Venezuela was a one-trick pony whose financial well-being was directly tied to the price of oil. Venezuelan dictators could spread some cash around with social programs that made it look like everything was rosy until the price of oil dropped off a cliff and took their economy into the abyss. Cuba, on the other hand, aligned itself with Russian communism and then used the powers of their authoritarian regime to benefit the rich and force a large part of their society into abject poverty.

What this group of Trump supporters fails to see are the similarities between these two disastrous regimes and the direction of this president. Trump is also ignoring the well-being of our citizens in favor of his rich friends. His corrupt knee-jerk policymaking decisions and other erratic behavior have ignored the rule of law and have placed our great democracy in peril. Trump is a wannabe dictator who is using the power of his office for personal gain.

Under the guise of guiding our economy to greater heights, he has placed that economy in great jeopardy. To trust a man could take three casinos into bankruptcy defies all logic. The house always wins, unless of course that house is run by Trump. Yes, in Atlantic City, the Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel is now closed. The salt spray from the Atlantic has clouded its windows.  There is only a faint outline of the gold letters that spelled out T-R-U-M-P on the exterior of what was once this city’s premier casino. Not far away, the long-failing Trump Marina Hotel Casino was sold at a major loss nine years ago and is now known as the Golden Nugget. Then there is the Trump Taj Mahal under new management and trying to make ends meet with people playing the penny slots. Under the Trump watch, these casinos ran up huge debts and not enough revenue to “cover the vig,” to use a mob term.

The house always wins, unless that house is run by Trump.

As American mobsters go, Trump and family have been successful. He has managed to live the high life without yet going to jail. Any mobster would count that as a success. His casino companies used the protection of the bankruptcy court on four occasions while Trump piled up even more debt at high-interest rates. During this same time, other casinos were making money. Trump was forced to go public and managed an initial public offering that topped out at $14 a share only to see that investment end up around $0.88. Your $10,000 investment would now be worth $636.

Trump’s supporters only hear his rhetoric claiming to be a financial wizard who graduated top of his class at Wharton. Just don’t go asking for a copy of his academic achievements at Wharton or any other school he attended or his gang of lawyers will attack. You’ll just have to take his word on that one.

Burning Brimstone

I for one, refuse to take his word on anything. I’ve seen him lie in the morning and deny he ever said that lie in the afternoon; even when the lie was featured on a video recording. It’s all fake news. As for socialism, we’ve had it for decades and it isn’t going away. This is not the socialism of Cuba or Venezuela but the socialism that got us out of the Great Depression and provided financial security for our senior citizens. Ours is the socialism of conscience where we place humanity above the obscene wealth of a few. For those Hispanics who have been blinded by the rhetoric of socialism being the root of all evil, it is time to wake up and smell the brimstone being burned to fire the furnaces of greed and corruption of this administration.