WAPO Reporter David Farenthold re: Trump: Call him President Bubble Boy

[kpete]

From a long, fascinating story by Washington Post reporter David Farenthold on his long efforts to find out about Trump’s claims to have given millions to charities:

By the end of the election, I felt I’d done my job. My last big story about Trump started with an amazing anecdote, which came from a tip from a reader. In 1996, Trump had crashed a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a charity opening a nursery school for children with AIDS. Trump, who had never donated to the charity, stole a seat onstage that had been saved for a big contributor.

He sat there through the whole ceremony, singing along with the choir of children as cameras snapped, and then left without giving a dime.

“All of this is completely consistent with who Trump is,” Tony Schwartz, Trump’s co-author on his 1987 book “The Art of the Deal,” told me. “He’s a man who operates inside a tiny bubble that never extends beyond what he believes is his self-interest.”

“If your worldview is only you — if all you’re seeing is a mirror — then there’s nobody to give money to,” Schwartz said. “Except yourself.”

https://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2016/12/29/quote-of-the-day-call-him-president-bubble-boy/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/david-fahrenthold-tells-the-behind-the-scenes-story-of-his-year-covering-trump/2016/12/27/299047c4-b510-11e6-b8df-600bd9d38a02_story.html?utm_term=.3c7679b1ffcc
http://www.fxtribune.com/breaking/despite-boasts-little-proof-of-trumps-big-giving-h323038.html

[Achilleaze]

1. The Republican "family values" role model for generations to come

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Often thought Bubble Boy

wanted to be the modern day Howard Hughes. Then it hit me,Hughes had more Brains and Sense in his Pinky Finger than Trump Nuts has in his whole bigly person.

[gratuitous]

3. A little more publicity about this might have been nice

But the popular media were completely preoccupied with Secretary Clinton's e-mails, Benghazi, and Trump's stubby-fingered tweets. There was very little analysis of what kind of person the Republicans had nominated, how venal and self-absorbed he is, and the very real likelihood that the United States will get drawn into a shooting war over some perceived slight to Donald Trump.

Well done, Fourth Estate.

[LisaM]

4. My thoughts exactly.

He might have chased the story down, but unless it got airplay, he hadn't done his job.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. So reporters are now also responsible for how other media run with their stories?

Wow, you don't think that maybe that's shifting the blame a bit?

We noticed it on DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028260267

but that was a day after Comey pulled the "reopening the investigation" crap.

Do you really think that after all the self-serving crap Trump pulled over the years - including likely illegal stuff like using his 'charity' to pay money a court ordered him to pay in compensation, revealed by the same Farenthold - that Trump claiming credit for charity giving he didn't do would actually have made much difference? A large part of the USA had by that stage decided he was their wanker and crook, and didn't give a toss what he did. They were just indulging in an extended hate session for Hillary, and liberals in general.

[LisaM]

7. No, I don't necessarily think that.

But I do think it's going a bit too far to pat himself on the back for doing his job when no one was talking about this story. That's all.

[usedtobedemgurl]

5. The video is out there.

I am not sure if I saw it here or on FB but I watched it, with disgust, several times.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. K&R

[Mc Mike]

9. Thanks, Mr. Farenthold. nt.

[SidDithers]

10. "The Moops"...

Sid

[gulliver]

11. It's more like a fortress than a bubble.

Trump knows he is wrong. A lot of Republicans know it too. They are acting as if they believe their own bullshit to excuse the immoral and unethical actions they want to take.