The House of Trump
That which has a name exists. A house stands for a clan.
November 11, 2023–It is tempting for me to keep describing Donald J. Trump as a Marvel comics super hero like Superman, Man of Steel, or Atlas of Greek mythology who bears the weight of the world on his shoulders, or Rocky Balboa of film, the down-and-out prize fighter who triumphs, or as a real life John Galt, Ayn Rand’s main character in her final novel “Atlas Shrugged” who is a capitalist battling totalitarian forces in a dystopian America set in a nebulous time period.
These are easy epithets to latch onto. We are experiencing more than merely nicknaming Donald Trump for an action here as he does the characters in this political drama so well himself. He’s not little, or sleepy, or sanctimonious; and he’s no birdbrain either. He stands head and shoulders above every other leader in America if not the world. That is a somewhat sad fact.
We all agree: Donald Trump looms large; he has attained almost mythical status in our popular culture. We all see him as some kind of hero we just don’t know which one.
How else can one explain how he can seamlessly exit a rally – as he did late Wednesday night in Hialeah, Florida – only to appear ‘like a flash’ early the next morning in a Manhattan courtroom fresh as a daisy appearing before cameras?
It can’t all be due to the fact that he has Trump Force One (a stock character in this drama) at his disposal can it? Maybe yes, maybe not.
Something else must be at play with Donald Trump. More and more people will say that they can see his super human physical drive that keeps propelling him forward against all odds. They can see the indomitable will etched on his face.
His eyes are always clear and focused. At every podium, he offers an exhaustive list of fixes for America with his trademark intense stare and precise gestures. Every syllable is punctuated for maximum effect. His voice goes instantaneously from a rough bellow as if he is speaking the impolite all caps to a more intimate conversational tone and then he repeats the riff until after two hours he finally finishes. At 77, his legs never seem to buckle unlike ‘the current occupant.’
Evangelicals in his circle say Trump’s role as a leader is ‘providential.’ Trump, in rallies and sometimes in interviews, touches lightly on this possibility as he should. He’ll say, “I’m just the messenger; I’m working for you.” He lets us draw our own conclusions.
But What If the House of Trump is Toppled?
No matter how many books are written about Donald Trump, we may never know what accounts for Donald Trump’s courage in fighting the forces arrayed against him. It might be instructive to see him and his family in the context of the house or the structures he has built as a source of his strength too.
“In the name of the father, the son and the House of Gucci,” was the only memorable line in the over-hyped film “The House of Gucci” but it points to the importance a ‘house’ traditionally means to a family or clan.
The former president built The Trump Organization into a luxury real estate empire worth billions (yes, after he took the reins of what his father, Fred Trump, had achieved) in the decades before he took office and now he and the real estate house he built is fighting for its life
It is all because New York State’s leftist activist AG, Letitia James, ran for office on a promise to destroy the Trump Organization in what can only be called a ‘political witch hunt’.
There are royal houses, and publishing houses, and houses of couture — it is a designation dating back millennia. The ‘house’ is a brand. The ‘house’ stands on a foundation. It stands on a principle. It was built by a founder. It is owned and operated by the head of the ‘house.’ It continues because the family carries on its traditions and mission into the future.
Nothing the Trump Organization has achieved in business matters to the Marxist Democrats who run New York City and New York State.
NYC leftist Judge Arthur Engeron, who posts nude selfies to his high school reunion page, has been tasked by James to get Trump. Engeron issued a ruling before the bogus trial even began declaring that Trump committed fraud by over-valuing his properties. Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s home for most of the year in Palm Beach, Florida, has been valued at a laughable $18 million. He has probably invested more at Mar-a-Lago in golf carts than that.
The State claims these valuations secured better loan and insurance rates for the company and therefore Trump must be punished. He and his company defrauded The State, they say.
James, for her part, accuses Trump of bullying her whenever he opens his mouth; and Engeron in his jury-less kangaroo courtroom tells Trump he doesn’t want to hear from him; and, then yells at his lawyer, Alina Habba, telling her to sit down!
The media reports that the court seeks $250 million in damages plus it will revoke the Trump Organization license to practice real estate in NYC for five years.
How is this possible in the United States of America?
This is a victimless crime with the loan principal plus interest paid in full according to papers and to bankers who are set to testify to this fact next week. We wonder who or what entity will be awarded the multi-millions when there is no victim? And, wouldn’t the Trump Organization have paid higher taxes on the higher property valuations? And, wouldn’t the Trump Organization have repaid more principal and interest on the higher valuations?
The court hauled Trump’s oldest children who are executives at the Trump Organization before it to testify last week. Don Jr, and Eric Trump are co-defendants. Ivanka is not. No one in the media has bothered to enumerate what their punishment might be.
With all the turmoil from violent anti-Semitic activists in the streets of New York (and around the world) in the wake of the brutal attack carried out by Gazan Muslim extremist group Hamas on Israeli citizens there, is it beyond imagination that these rabid domestic extremists would be told to light Trump Tower on fire?
Oh, but then The State would not get to prolong its torture of the Trump family. And, The State would not rake in all that cash which might go right into their pockets. And, The State would not have the smug satisfaction of denying this family their license to do business in the great State of New York, the Empire State!
Donald J. Trump is a former President of the United States and a native son of New York. He grew up ironically off Utopia Parkway in Queens. He should have been given a ticker tape parade down Broadway like other heroes when he was elected. Looking back, it was an ominous sign that he was never honored by his hometown in this way.
“My Father’s House” is a poem I came across a poem the other day written by the famous Basque poet, Gabriel Aresti in 1963. According to Basque tradition – people come and go – but a ‘house is always named and a house must always stand.’
Aresti’s poem expresses what I sense the Trump family must be feeling now.
MY FATHER’S HOUSE
By Gabriel Aresti
I shall defend
The house of my father.
Against wolves,
Against drought,
Against usury,
Against the Justice,
I shall defend
The house
of my father.
I shall lose
cattle,
orchards,
and pinewoods;
I shall lose
Interests,
Income,
And dividends,
But I shall defend the house of my father.
They will take away my weapons
And with my hands I shall defend
The house of my father;
They will cut off my hands
And with my arms I shall defend
The house of my father;
They will leave me
Without arms,
Without shoulders,
And without breasts,
And with my soul I shall defend
The house of my father.
I shall die,
My soul will be lost,
My descendance will be lost,
But the house of my father
Will remain
Standing.
