Donald Trumps perverted populism: His cabinet is based on the myth that the wealthy are more virtuo

[applegrove]

Donald Trump’s perverted populism: His cabinet is based on the myth that the wealthy are more virtuous

by Simon Maloy at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/28/donald-trumps-perverted-populism-his-cabinet-is-based-on-the-myth-that-the-wealthy-are-more-virtuous/

"SNIP..............



Here’s what Kudlow wrote in a National Review piece a few days ago:

Since the election, I have argued that the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton war against business will come to an end, and that America will once again reward success, not punish it. And while the Left has demonized Trump’s cabinet appointees as a terrible group of successful business people, free-market capitalists such as myself regard this group as very good indeed.

Why shouldn’t the president surround himself with successful people? Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption. Their business success demonstrates that they know how to achieve goals and convince skeptics that good deals can be made to the benefit of both sides. Isn’t this just what America needs?

“Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption” is a ludicrous assertion on many levels. The first thing to point out is that this is a real-world expression of a satirical concept known as Worthington’s Law, which determines human worth according to a simple formula: More money = better than. It’s a joke that’s meant to expose the shallowness of valuing a person based on their personal wealth, but Kudlow is putting it out there as the unofficial motto of the incoming administration.

And, of course, the entirety of human history is studded with people who have amassed wealth through corruption and theft. Among the most prominent people in this category is the incoming president himself, who just recently agreed to an eight-figure settlement in a fraud lawsuit related to the fake university he founded in order to scam vulnerable people out of their life savings. The fabulously wealthy president-elect also admitted to violating self-dealing rules related to his charitable foundation, which is under investigation by the New York attorney general’s office amid allegations of corruption. Trump himself boasted on the campaign trail of throwing money at politicians so that they would do favors for him whenever he asked.


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[applegrove]

1. They use dataism to erase values attached to some emotions over others (like love used to

be valued and compassion) and then they replace those old humanist and monotheistic values with this ****. Do the Christians know about this? It is a values bait and switch. Dataism says that emotions are nothing more than algorhytms of data.

[dumbcat]

2. I don't think it has anything to do with virtue at all

The myth they seem to accept is that the wealthy are smarter.

[Generator]

3. I think they are more evil

I come from lower working class parents (steel mill and secretary) I will never understand the adulation of those with that are wealthy. It just means they steal and were lucky. Because I wasn't that lucky I don't think they are that great of people. It poisons them.

WAR against business-yeah Kudlow creep little children can't work in factories and they can't dump sludge on the streets. Boo hoo. What assholes.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Well, that's the philosophy underpinning the whole Republican Party.

Wealth = success = reward for virtues like hard work and good judgment. Conversely, poor people deserve their misery for being dumb and lazy.

In the real world -- which lies well outside the Repuke worldview -- it's more usually true that "behind every great fortune lies a great crime".