On June 24, 2016, Donald Trump will travel to Scotland to promote his new golf resort. Though trips like this may seem normal for any old billionaire, is this something we should expect from a billionaire/presidential candidate?
Donald Trump has not distanced himself in any way, from his status as the Republican candidate for the general election in 2016. Despite providing his own security for years, Trump has embraced the service of the Secret Service. The same day of his trip is also the day that the United Kingdom decided whether or not to stay in the European Union. The United Kingdom is an ally to America, so a candidate traveling to that area for the big decision doesn't seem too strange, though that is not what Trump is doing. Trump is promoting his own business while the United Kingdom makes a choice that could change European politics, and the entire world's economy, forever. Is it a betrayal to the United Kingdom? Is this acceptable from a presidential candidate?
Even while in America, Trump cannot refrain from selling himself. Politico's Norm Ornstien says, "In March, after Trump won primaries in Michigan and Mississippi, the candidate appeared at a Trump-branded golf course arrayed with tables displaying a range of Trump products—Trump steaks, Trump water, Trump wines." If Trump were to become president, would he serve insist on Trump brand water in the fridges?
Donald Trump's campaign is unprecedented. The closest comparison I can draw is between his campaign and that of President John F. Kennedy. The Kennedys were a very rich family, and no matter how Kennedy did as a president, he knew very little in the beginning. John F. Kennedy has less money than Trump, and he did not make his own money. Though Kennedy was successful, it was his family money that is so notorious, unlike Donald Trump's "self-made" billions. Trump did not make billions from nothing, though he did turn his father's "small" loan into a brand. Trump has essentially commodified his own lifestyle by opening hotels and golf resorts. Is a Trump presidency the natural next step in this commodification?
Putting political opinion aside, after leaving a mark on the labor sector, the leisure sector and even the education sector, is the political sector next?
I provide my opinion hoping that someone will explain to me an opposing point of view. My thoughts on this matter are not based on Trump as a candidate, nor as a businessman. I think purely about what the founding fathers intended when structuring the government. The original purpose of the presidency was not meant to be a literal face of the country. America was not supposed to be defined by the president, and I feel that Trump promoting his own brand while campaigning portrays America as "Trump's Country." We think of Canada as just that, Canada, not "Justin Trudeau's Country." I am concerned that Trump's campaign will cease America existing for its own values and principles, and rather convert it to another conquest of the notorious billionaire.
