NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 12: Trump Tower stands along 5th Avenue in Manhattan as police stand guard outside following an earlier protest against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in front of the building on March 12, 2016 in New York City. A member of the New York Police Department (NYPD) stated that the police will now keep an around the clock presence at the location due to the number of protests and threats against Donald Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Growing up, my parents always told me to tell the truth – no matter what. I took that advice to heart and even voted Republican once out of college because my parents also told me that Republicans believe in telling the truth and taking responsibility for their own actions. They also instilled in me the idea that Republicans are the party of business and personal success and that was all I needed to hear: Republican it was.
I also had a strange desire to be rich, famous, and even own a skyscraper someday, so it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that while I have a short attention span, I was able to read The Art of the Deal in one day. I soaked in every word of the book the way a sponge soaks up water. I wanted to know every detail. To this day, I still remember the passage where Trump tells his daughter Ivanka, as they proceeded down Fifth Avenue in New York, pointing to a panhandler on the street, that the ‘bum’ had more money than did her father at the time. Great stuff.
Fast forward to today, and I wish I still had the hard copy of that book, because if I did, I would burn it in a public ceremony where I would also denounce the “politics” of Donald J. Trump. If I view his descent from that once-high perch as a marketing phenomenon, I would say he has completely destroyed the brand of power and excellence he once so beautifully commanded. But when I look at him through the lens of a political observer, and someone who still very much values telling of the truth, I can’t help but feel Trump Tower has been completely demolished.
