These incidences in the Cohen book are factual and easy to corroborate. Trump followers and the weak Republican Congress don’t seem to care that he is sexually sleazy, misogynistic, a financial/ business criminal scammer, and a mean-spirited narcissist. The fear of retaliation by him or the gratification they feel from his corny, vicious rhetoric is obviously more important to them than defending the Constitution against his assaults. However, reading about these incidences in the Cohen book makes Trump’s unfitness to be president alarmingly disturbing.
Miss Universe Pageant Las Vegas 2012
Cohen describes a trip to Las Vegas with Trump, a cadre of friends, and 2 Russian oligarchs, Aras and Emin Agalarov. The trip included debauchery at a sex club and peeking in on contestants getting dressed for the 2012 Miss Universe Pageant. Cohen reveals Trump often talked about women in crude and sexually objectified ways. His extreme vanity was revealed by providing a detailed description of the elaborate efforts to create the comb-over to hide his baldness.
His comb-over protocol is disturbing because it is a metaphor for his pattern of hiding the truth to create false realities. It makes all the claims about his illegal, unethical schemes credible. Additionally, the book offers details of how pervasive Trump’s obsession is with a woman’s appearance. Cohen said Trump had no interest in a woman’s intellect, accomplishments, or wit, but only focused on what she would be like sexually and if he could “get some of that.” The sleaze of Trump was oozing from the pages in this book. Cohen added that most women with looks and stature showed no romantic interest in Trump, so he focused on models and porn stars. Cohen recalled when Trump bestowed the honor on him of being a member of the Miss Universe Organization; he said, “wait until you get backstage as these beauties are getting dressed. They are the finest pieces of ass from every state and country.” He also inferred it might be difficult for Cohen’s marriage because of the opportunity to cheat. Melania is so publicly humiliated by his blatant cheating; it explains why she always looks disgusted at the sight of him. Trump told Cohen that if Melania ever found out about his cheating and threatened to leave, he would tell her to go ahead and leave. “I can always find another wife, ” he told Cohen.
Trump University Fraud Scandal 2013 page 148-151
Trump University was a scam to make money for the family business. The curriculum was substandard, consisting of photocopies of basic real estate information attainable on the internet. Complaints from students got the attention of New York prosecutors. Trump was charging 1,500 for a weekend seminar and $35,000 for a ” gold- plated degree that was akin to what Cohen described as a mail-order degree.” No legal or regulatory approvals had been obtained, so basically, Trump was scamming students for his personal financial gain.
Additionally, the always cheap, dishonest Trump defaulted on repaying investors and tried to bribe students with a university degree if they wrote positive reviews about the universities’ practices. Although many accusations of unethical, criminal behavior towards Trump are minimized as ” fake,” the Trump University scam, legally and publicly, revealed him as a crooked, money-grubbing scam artist. His only defense was that all the FACTS were false. Ultimately the University was shut down, and Trump had to pay a $25 million settlement to the former students he had duped.
CNBC Poll For The 25 Most Influential Business People Alive page 169
Cohen’s account of this episode begins with Trump finding out he was number 187 on the list of 200 contenders being for the honor. Trump reportedly was livid and instructed Cohen to “see what you can do about this poll.” Cohen knew this meant to find a way to cheat. He contacted a friend who specialized in search engine optimization. Cohen’s friend manipulated the algorithms to move Trump up into the top ten on the list. Trump was thrilled with the method used to cheat because he got the result he wanted. The only concern he expressed was whether he could get caught. Cohen noted at the time Trump experienced the fake poll results as if they reflected a legitimate ranking. Ultimately, his scam failed because CNBC removed him from the list without revealing the reason. Because his scam failed, he decided not to pay Cohen’s friend, who had completed the goal he was hired to do.
Trump’s obsession with money and his pathological vanity are the main influences of how he governs, treats people and views himself. This is dangerous and how it relates to the average American voter is what must be made clear by the press, government officials, legal experts, and mental health professionals. A person with a weak ego lies and is easy to corrupt. It is dangerous for citizens not to be told about public health, national security, and legislative goals. The average American lives can be severely damaged by a president who governs based on fulfilling personal, financial, psychological, and political needs. A president with a fragile ego is driven to align with world leaders who make them feel powerful and revered. Unfortunately for Americans, Trump’s ego appears to be bolstered by autocrats who are willing to kill or take away its citizens’ personal freedoms to retain power. If a Trump supporter doesn’t understand how the danger of these character flaws affects their lives, they are probably mentally indoctrinated into the Trump myth to reason and think logically.
Trump’s takeover over the Republican party may go down in history as one of his greatest accomplishments. For a known racist, adulterer, scam artist, and liar to become the leader of one of America’s major political parties is an unimaginable accomplishment. It indicates the party was already flawed and fragmented before Trump became its leader. Republicans have continued to look the other way while Trump breaks laws and trounces on the ethics and morals that make America authentically great, not Trump’s version of a fake great America.
