He's Not Even That Successful A Businessman

One of the important things the recent tax record revelation should remind us of is this--Trump is not actually a particularly successful businessman. He talks a good game, but he built his business on the back of a wealthy father--who not just left him a fortune, but used his fortune to prop him up when he needed it. But the reality is, Trump has a bad attention span, and has tried and failed at all kinds of things. His is not an actual success story, but rather a story about how privilege saves the ass of the protected and mediocre.

It's a propped-up success story, some part self-promotion, and some part OPM. Like loans from Deutsche Bank. We've made a lot of noise over the degree to which he could be baited with a Tweet, but it is also true he could be blackmailed with his outstanding notes. This is a leveraged individual, and his independence is held liable because he is personally extended. There is nothing equivalent to his various forms of financial dirt in Clinton's history. His level of systemic financial abuse seems to me quite rare--his pattern of non-payment and renegotiation suggest he should have been able to be profitable--but the tale of the tape kind of implies he behaves abusively in the courts and seeks assorted name-leases because he is cash poor and debt-ridden.

And you know what? I don't think running the hell for president to highlight these failures actually has helped him any. Making him basically the King of Bad Decisions. I hope that idea sticks a little. Because knowing is more than half the battle.