Response to The Rationale Evaporates

(See: Just Above Sunset: The Rationale Evaporates)

On an afternoon centuries ago, sitting in my 10th floor apartment on Manhattan's West 76th Street, I hear a knock on my door from my downstairs neighbor, offering me a steal of a deal. Literally.

I can't remember his name, but I do remember he was a very nice guy, someone always with a recommendation of books I should read (he put me onto "Rosemary's Baby" and "Time and Again", both of which I really liked.) On this day, he said he met someone selling very expensive color TVs for under $100 apiece, and he was knocking on doors, persuading his fellow neighbors in the building to join him on the deal.

I asked him why they were so cheap, and he said, with a wink, "Let's just say they 'fell off some truck.'" (If you've not heard this phrase, it's New Yorkese for "stolen property".)

I said I would not be in on the deal; he asked why; I said you're just encouraging thieves to steal TVs, and what if it had been your TV they stole; he said, "But it wasn't!" I said nothing good would come of dealing with thieves. He smiled and said I'd be sorry as he moved on to the next door. Many others in the building, being more "pragmatic" than I, were less shy about taking advantage of a good deal, and handed over their cash.

Of course, on the designated day, nobody showed up to deliver the TVs. My friend had to pay off the other residents, dimes on the dollar, from his own pocket, with all the money he had. The next month, penniless, he moved out.

I think back on this every time I hear Donald Trump say, yeah, he had his suits and ties made overseas, and bought lots of politicians, and paid no taxes some years, and admitted he didn't pay small vendors for the work they did, because he was a businessman, doing what businessmen have to do to make lots of money, but promised if we elected him president, he'd put all his wheeling-dealing skills to work for us, the American people!

Here's another tip-off:

Have you ever seen those late-night commercials with slick-looking guys with way too much enthusiasm, trying to get you to give them money to tell you their "secret" to making millions in real estate? You think it's a coincidence that they're always posing with a beautiful girl on each arm, standing next to a private jet?

These people are all grifters ("A practitioner of confidence tricks; one who befriends another to take advantage of them, or gain something from them.") Maybe not the kind of grifters we came to love in "The Sting", but you can tell from their constant senseless chatter that boils down to nothing but "Trust me! I'm a winner, and so can you be! Just trust me!", that these people have been doing this for awhile, are professionals, and they're up to no good.

And if you want a hint at what Trump might be up to, scope out these details from the Washington Post:

There is also growing scrutiny of his heavy use of Trump-owned companies as vendors. Of the $63 million his campaign spent through May, more than $6 million – close to 10 percent – went to pay Trump properties or reimburse Trump and his family for expenses, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. That includes $4.6 million paid to his private jet company, TAG Air, and $423,000 that went just last month to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Okay, first, let's just say I am the sarge in charge of how some presidential campaign spends the campaign funds that comes from outside donors. Is it okay for me to have it rent its jet aircraft from a company I happen to own, or is that considered an illegal kickback?

Don't get me wrong! I'm not a lawyer, and I don't really know if that's breaking the law, but if it's not, you might think there would at least be people asking lots of ethical questions.

But wait! There's more!

Secondly, just for fun, what if I am not only spending those outside donations to lease planes from a company I happen to own, but am also spending the money that I myself loaned to the campaign! What's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that, legally, the campaign has to repay any loans it receives.

So it seems that Trump is not only redirecting some of those outside donations back into his own pocket, but also maybe to be immediately turning around some of that money he himself loaned the campaign, back into his own pocket, and then can just sit and wait for the campaign to repay him the money that he loaned it.

Am I imagining all this?

The thing about grifters is they prey on victims who think they're so smart that they're gaming the system. Maybe I got this three-card monty-looking scheme of Trump's wrong, and just maybe he has a simple explanation for it, which is something I would like to hear.

But if this play really is the scam it looks to be, somebody might actually be going to jail, and I doubt their name will be Hillary.