No such thing as bad publicity

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Most of the world’s media is focussed on that always entertaining, often nauseating and frequently irritating guy who resides in the White House. Every newscast, whether local, national or international, has a story about President Donald Trump either imposing trade tariffs, avoiding questions about Jeffrey Epstein, ranting about illegal immigration, or making his opposition look totally inadequate as Democrats founder onto the rocks like a rudderless ship. Recently he hosted President Putin in Alaska, and then several European leaders in Washington a few days later, trying to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The Alaska Summit was announced a week before it took place, and every news outlet speculated constantly about the outcome. After a grandly choreographed arrival in Anchorage, the meeting was shorter than expected, with both leaders simply declaring that it had been successful, but inconclusive, thus triggering more speculation about what transpired behind closed doors. Then came the Washington Summit, where every European leader tried to outdo each other with exaggerated public subservience to President Trump. The outcome was again inconclusive, with vague plans for future meetings.

Donald Trump says that he hates that so many die in wars, despite supplying Israel with unlimited weaponry and funds to continue the total destruction of Gaza and its people, but that’s a story for another day. In this age of disinformation going hand-in-hand with Social Media, many are very sceptical of Mr. Trump’s claims of ending several other wars since January, insisting that it’s really a quest to have his name emblazoned on the Nobel Peace Prize. His frayed relationship with most media is in response to the vitriol that he has spewed towards reporters and publishers in recent years, but it wasn’t always like that with the man they fondly called “The Donald”.

Back in 1971 at age 25, he took control of his father’s real estate business after joining just three years earlier, and renamed it the Trump Organization. He became a media magnet just a few rungs below the likes of Princess Diana and JFK Jr. , with spectacular Manhattan land developments, casinos in New Jersey, an air shuttle and a mega yacht, and so many other Trump-branded endeavours like sports teams, universities, major golf courses, etc., etc.. Several business dealings ended in bankruptcy, with many personal scandals and peccadillo covering tabloid front-pages for decades. He transitioned into a top-rated television celebrity as star of “The Apprentice” for many years. All this before being twice elected to the world’s most powerful political office, and he would agree with a similar showman from yesteryear, P.T.Barnum, who once said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada