Mark Cuban, a fellow billionaire, has been invited to attend the presidential debate on Monday. His attendance at the debate has gotten Trump all hot under the collar, and he’s developed an itch elsewhere.
For those who don’t know much about him, Mark Cuban is younger (age 58 vs. Trump’s 70), fitter, prettier, sports much better natural hair than Trump, with fewer wives (two less) and children (two less), though he is a little less wealthy (about $1 billion less, according to Forbes rankings). Cuban is also a true major sports entrepreneur (owner of the NBA basketball franchise team, the Dallas Mavericks)*; this is a coveted achievement which has completely eluded Trump for his 70 years. Cuban has also won two Primetime Emmy awards (2014, 2015) another feat that has proven impossible for reality TV self-proclaimed megastar Trump to perform.
Donald Trump speaks during the family leadership summit in Ames, Iowa Saturday Aug. 10, 2013.. (AP Photo/Justin Hayworth)
For whatever reason, Trump has decided that the Cuban invitation (and taunting tweet that resulted) is more important then addressing our nation’s serious political concerns in a sober and responsible way.
As such, Trump has been virtually compelled by his political opponent, Hillary Clinton, to defend his personal honor and issue a powerful and resounding response. Trump’s solution? He has threatened to invite Gennifer Flowers, a faded and largely forgotten figure from more than 25 years ago (associated with Bill Clinton, not Hillary) to attend the presidential debate as his personal guest and sit in the front row, in order to make his point forcefully.
The scope of Trump’s rapid retaliation is breathtaking. We all know by now that Trump insists on striking back when he’s been insulted, and to never miss the opportunity for revenge.
Gennifer Flowers has no direct personal connection with Hillary Clinton. They were not lovers, or rivals, or involved with each other in any significant way. Similarly, Mark Cuban has no direct relationship with Donald Trump. They’re not lovers or friends or business associates involved with each other in any meaningful personal way.
So, the question is what significant political point is Trump trying to make by responding so promptly and vigorously to Cuban’s audience attendance at a public presidential policy debate?
Flowers’ accusation was notorious in the press during the early 1990’s for a brief adulterous affair with the spouse of Hillary Clinton (in the 1970’s). Voters were fully titillated at the time by lurid press reports, and had the opportunity to consider her past relationship with Bill (and vote on its relative importance) on four separate occasions in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2006. The first two times occurred when Bill Clinton ran for president, and the second two times happened when Hillary Clinton ran for senator from New York on her own behalf. The Clintons were victorious all four times. This is stale, old news fit for the fishes.
Trump is not subtle, and goes for the direct stick. Therefore, the conclusion must be that since he is bothered by Cuban and responds by inviting Gennifer Flowers, who had a past inappropriate sexual relationship with his opponent’s current husband, that perhaps Trump is attacking in equal measure. A proportional graded response to the assault on his previously unsullied manhood.
This must mean the Trump is telling us that Mark Cuban has had an inappropriate personal relationship at some time (perhaps of a sexual nature), with Trump’s own current third wife, Melania, a former European model and visual stunner, as Trump is ever quick to point out.
This would make sense, in a strange celebrity kind of way, since Melania is 24 years younger than Trump (age 46), and much closer in age to Mark Cuban (age 58). Such a relationship between the two has not previously been reported in the press, and there is no smoking gun evidence of a liaison otherwise known so far.
Is Trump previewing in a left-handed way, in advance of the debate, that where there is smoke there is fire?
A Double Autographed National Enquirer Cover: Marla & Trump
Enquiring minds want to know. From one of Trump’s favorite news sources (The National Enquirer).**
An Alternate Reality
Of course, whimsy and fantasy aside, what was Trump thinking? Probably not too much, and certainly not too clearly.
Ms. Flowers, longing for another go, quickly tweeted back her love and support for Donald, “I’ll be there.”
On Sunday adult campaign supervisor and Trump minder, Kellyanne, arrived on TV armed with the crafted Campaign reparative answers, it was Trump’s idea of a joke, to make fun of Clinton, don’t you know. He didn’t mean it. Trump seriously wanted to address the issues, so he just had to get the Flowers issue out of the way before hand. And the media are biased against Trump’s serious policy ideas, see all the publicity about Flowers, which is after all Clinton’s fault for coming up now. Actual invitation to Flowers was ever really made. It was just a “ passing thought”.
To hammer the point home, Mike Pence was trotted out as backup to intone that Flowers’ attendance would not be happening.
In all likelihood, what really happened was that Trump was temporarily off his meds or his Kellyanne talking therapy early in the weekend, and just lost it after seeing Cuban’s tweet. As so often the case, he had a posterior brainstorm, and tweeted back on the fly, sans consultation and from the gut.
Trump had already made his point for the assorted crazies in his supporter basket who relish and recall Flowers and her blondness. Kellyanne showed up to douse the political fire Trump had ignited, and the campaign could return to their fire watch tower positions.
Trump may or may not be done with Gennifer Flowers for tonight’s debate. Who can tell if another brainstorm will wash over him in the next few hours? Will she or won’t she?
Perhaps he was playing the press again, and wanted to warn off potential debate attacks on his spouse: like the plagiarism inserted in her convention speech (by one of Trump’s own book ghostwriters), or Melania’s bogus educational claim of a college degree on her website (now offline and dark), or her sketchy non-documented H1-B visa and immigration history.
One day, we may learn the inside story details from the tell-all political books sure to result after Trump’s campaign is over. Non-disclosure agreements be damned.
Anyway, stay tuned for the debate fireworks in a few hours.
Who can say what they will be, but count on some colorful moments.
There might even be a pertinent question or two that gets asked and answered at some time during the 90 minute format.
But don’t count on it from the Entertainer in Chief.
*Mark Cuban has owned the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks since 2000. His team won a coveted NBA Championship series in six games from the Miami Heat (and LeBron James) in 2011. The team is estimated to be worth about $1.4 billion dollars today. Since Cuban paid about $285 million for it, he rates as a pretty fair deal-maker (a 400% profit), and a huge winner over Trump in sports ventures. Just so you know, the Mavs have the longest current sold out streak among all major sports franchises in the United States: 477 consecutive games since December 2001.
Dallas Mavericks 2011 NBA Championship Logo
Also for the business record score keeping types among you, Trump’s pride and joy, the Crown Jewel of his business empire, New York City’s own Trump Tower is worth $530 million after debt, according to a Forbes magazine analysis in November 2015. Which of the Bros is bigger?
** From the Washington Post July 22, 2016:
Donald Trump seems to say whatever is on his mind, and at a Friday morning news conference in Ohio, he shared a thought that has apparently been in his head for a while: “I’ve always said, ‘Why didn’t the National Enquirer get the Pulitzer Prize for Edwards?'”
He was talking about John Edwards, of course, the former senator from North Carolina and 2008 presidential candidate whose love child the supermarket tabloid was first to expose. Trump brought this up to argue that the National Enquirer ought to be “respected,” and he raised the subject of the tabloid’s credibility because he felt compelled on the day after accepting the Republican presidential nomination to defend his decision in May to cite a National Enquirer story linking Ted Cruz’s father to then-President John F. Kennedy’s assassin. All of this stems from Cruz’s refusal to endorse Trump at the just-ended Republican National Convention.
Make sense?
The tabloid’s reputation was the second major problem. It was right about Edwards but is so often wrong about the sensational gossip it publishes that it just doesn’t have the same authority as the news outlets that topped it in the Pulitzer contest. What’s more, it openly practices what it calls “checkbook journalism” — paying sources for tips. That’s a no-no in mainstream American journalism, where the prevailing thought is that readers will question the motives of people who accept money in exchange for information.
Here is a RealClearPolitics story about the comfortable recent entwining of Trump and the National Enquirer.
And a helpful March 2106 hard hitting expose by this paragon of journalistic excellence worthy of the best prizes:
Ted Cruz says a National Enquirer story accusing him of having affairs with five women is “garbage” and the work of “Donald Trump and his henchmen.”
Speaking in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Friday, Cruz called the Enquirer story “complete and utter lies” and a “tabloid smear.”
“And it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen,” he said.
Cruz noted that the Enquirer story came after a tweet in which Trump threatened to “spill the beans” about Cruz without specifying what beans he meant. It was unclear if the Enquirer’s beans were the same beans that Trump had claimed to be holding in reserve.
As many mainstream media outfits avoided the story, #CruzSexScandal became the top trend on Twitter. The cat — or rat? — was out of the bag, and Cruz elected to address it head-on.
This is how Trump deals, in a honorable way, with his fellow Republicans. After all, what’s a little slanderous sex lie among bosom political friends? Cruz has just made peace in the last week with his conscience and core principles by endorsing Trump as the only choice in 2016. Cruz’ cheeks and lips are still flushed and burning from bowing and kissing the Trumpian ring. Today, it is reported that Cruz has rented out his mailing lists of supporters to Trump multiple times since June 2016 (more than 30 times). What an honorable warrior Cruz has turned out to be for true conservatives this year. Lining his pockets for Trump’s chump change.
It’s almost enough to make a real Republican hang his or her head in shame and decide to just sit this one out. Plan for a 2020 reboot with better candidates and more backbone. The Senate and House can certainly moderate Clinton for the next four years.
Trump’s relations with The National Enquirer have not always been Peaches and Cream, as they are now. During Trump’s Marla ride, he scored a few cover stories himself. Maybe he was just getting even with Ted 25 years later, on the rebound.
How can two Presidential and Pulitzer Prize worthy entertainment buddies better combine to Make Our Country Great Again?