Do Your Civic Duty, America! Ignore Donald Trump.
Elise Patkotak
Alaska Dispatch News
July 21, 2015When Donald Trump entered the presidential race, I reacted as many columnists did. We tried to suppress our glee. But he keeps crossing lines that make me feel as though the fun we’re having watching this blowhard is now tainted by the nasty, ugly content of his message and, perhaps even more troubling, the acceptance of that ugliness by way too many people.
Donald Trump comes from the same part of the world in which I originated, so I am perhaps more familiar with his type of bloviated ego and strange hair than others. The first casino he opened in Atlantic City was about two blocks from my childhood home. His name, in huge red letters, lit up my mother’s living room. She called it her nightlight as it definitely took the darkness away. But then she sent him a letter asking if he was interested in our property, and he declined the offer. My mother posted that letter on her bulletin board. From that day until she died, she never mentioned his name without looking like she was about to spit but was too ladylike to do that.
For all his bragging about how rich and successful he is, Trump’s first casino in Atlantic City was also one of the first to close down. By then his partners had pretty much pushed him out the door for dragging the property towards bankruptcy. His only remaining connection was his name on the property, which I assume was left there because it would have been too expensive to remove those gigantic letters on the side of the hotel. His other casino, Trump’s Taj Mahal, is about to close. He managed to drag that toward bankruptcy too until forced out by his partners.