The Donald J. Trumps – I Pity Them, Each And Every One

I had what would be described as a pretty average childhood.  There were five of us in our family, before and after our divorce.  I have one younger and one older brother, a mother, father, and later a step-father.

Initially, before our divorce, we had a small home in southeast Portland on Stephens Street.  I even have a congratulatory letter from one of our neighbors at the time to my parents on the occasion of my birth!  That’s pretty cool, right?

We lived there during what was known as the Columbus Day Storm.  It formed on October 3, 1962 and dissipated October 17, 1962.  Damage estimates were at $230 million in 1962 dollars.  The storm was known as “The Big Blow”, and originally “Typhoon Freda”.

This is not SE Stephens Street, but very similar as the homes were very modest, one and two story houses, downed trees, and rain soaked streets.  That storm was so intense that my older brother, in 2^nd or 3^rd grade at the time, was sent home as the schools closed citywide.  That neighbor who wrote to my parents about my birth, their brick chimney toppled into our driveway and through the driveway level window and into our basement. Bricks were everywhere!

But, enough about my childhood.  The real reason for this piece is to focus on the Trump Family and why I truly pity them.  Oh, sure, they’re filthy rich, (NOT in the multi-billions of dollars, by the way), have lived a life of comfort and leisure, and seemingly had it all.  Who wouldn’t want that life, right?   

No.  Hard stop. NO.

Think about this for just a moment:           When you were little, maybe you and a sibling or neighbor kid ran around on the grass, fell down, got grass stains (much easier to get out of clothes now than 60 years ago!), made mud pies with real mud and dirt, jumped in and out of puddles, skinned your knee(s), and basically what kids leading a normal life did or would do. 

Little Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric Trump

The Trump children, by contrast, Don Jr. , Eric, Ivanka, Tiffany and Barron, never did those things.  They never went to the pumpkin patch in early October to get a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  They never tromped through the woods to get a tree for their living room for Christmas.  They never went to the grocery story with mom, sat in or under the shopping cart while the youngest terrorized the rest of the shoppers… mom feeling, well, just beside herself.  They never went on camping trips in the woods. They never roasted marshmallows on sticks around a campfire on the beach, or made sand castles.  

Pretty much all of those things that we do with our families – kids, pets, parents – all of those things, the Donald J. Trumps, never did.  Begs the question, “Why?”

Little Donnie J. Trump... as a child.

Well, something else to think about:           Military draft dodger, Donald J. Trump, who idolized his father, Fred Trump, got the “money bug” rather early in life, loved it, and spent the next 40 + years “building an empire” at the expense of his family, even little Barron.

Now, could Ivana Trump have taken those little ones on outings into the woods for nature walks?  Of course she could have, however, as she was not born here, she probably had no clue about what American children liked to do as families. 

And no, that doesn’t make Ivana a bad parent. No, that honor falls on daddy Donald J.  Oh, we’ve heard countless “stories” about his life growing  up at his daddy’s bosom, the young Donald inheriting $14 million, give or take, and turning it into who knows how much.  (Again, not the “billions” he now asserts.)  Daddy Donald easily could have suggested, even accompanied his little tikes on picnics, nature walks, and so on, but he couldn’t be bothered because his real family, the almighty dollar.  That’s where his love lies.  That, and lots and lots of materials “stuff”.  Do a Google search sometime of images inside his Trump Tower home… it’s just gaudy and extremely tacky, sort of like The Beverly Hillbillies, but without the warmth and charm.

Even Ebenezer Scrooge looks better than Trump.  At least old Ebenezer didn’t just flaunt it and rub it in peoples’ faces.  Yes, Eb was a greedy miser, but less conspicuous and more modest.  Oh, not our Donnie Trump.  He insists that the entire planet knows who filthy rich he is… or purports to be.  For me, when he ponies-up those tax returns, then I’ll believe it.

Eric, Tiffany, Barron, Ivanka and Don Jr.

And I don’t know that I pity him, per se, as much as I do his children.  They lost out on countless opportunities at the expense of their father’s purported wealth.  Likewise, however, now that they are adults, those Trump children haven’t given their kids any of the opportunities they missed out on as youngsters.

With the exception of Tiffany and Barron, there's simply no excuse why Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric couldn't be doing some of those more typical outings with their kids, rather than continually rallying around Daddy Donnie and the Trump Corp.

The Trump children, Donald's kids, aren't doing their own youngsters any favors by deliberately and purposely keeping their children from experiencing life.