A real-life ‘Roger Rabbit’
In the 1988 film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” a down-on-his-luck private eye, Eddie Valiant, gets hired by cartoon producer R.K. Maroon to investigate a scandal involving Jessica Rabbit, the wife of Maroon’s biggest star, Roger Rabbit. But when Marvin Acme, the owner of Toontown, is found murdered, Judge Doom vows to catch and destroy Roger.
If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s time because the country is currently going through a similar experience with the former president. Our country may be Marvin Acme, and the January 6 committee Judge Doom, but who is the real villain?
Donald Trump has had some horrific luck during his lifetime where, even though he questionably inherited many millions of dollars from his real estate-mogul father, there are those who have analyzed how those funds were used and claim his life would have been better, he would have been wealthier, and even more positively perceived by everyone if he had just invested that inheritance and lived comfortably from the interest generated.
If you look at his history of failed businesses, it’s a lot longer than even his history of failed marriages. I’m sure just paying off his ex-wives, his other misadventures with the ladies, and his myriad lawsuits from not paying contractors and craftsmen for the work done on his various bankrupt buildings, he could have lived luxuriously forever.
Stack on top of that the failed Trump Airlines, Casinos, University, Steaks, the Trump Game, Trump Mortgage Co., Trump’s Corporate Communications Co., Trump Travel Site, Trump Tower Tampa, Trump Mattresses, Trump Vodka, and even Trump Cologne. Per Forbes, “Trump claimed that his brand and brand-related deals were worth some $3.3 billion. Forbes valued his brand at less than .04% of that amount.” The poor guy just can’t catch a break.
Unlike Eddie Valiant, however, the former twice-impeached president had been exposed to a philosophy of living from, among others, his famous pastor, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale and other mentors and influencers such as his attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Roy Cohn, chief counsel to the infamous U.S. Rep. Joseph McCarthy. Philosophically, he believes whatever the outcome is, never admit defeat. Not unlike Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s chief propagandist who succeeded Adolf as Chancellor of Germany for one day before he and his wife committed suicide, after poisoning their six children with cyanide, Trump discovered you can win over the masses by using provocation to bring attention.
There was a link between all these men that inhabits our former president’s psyche. If you do fail, never admit you failed. That was Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking on steroids. Then, make sure there are people upon whom you can place blame, even if you have to fictitiously create some of them, and Goebbels’ if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it no matter how absurd it is because they want to.
Well, the January 6 Committee is carefully peeling the Trump onion by using not only his closest advisers, appointed leaders, and former allies, but also his oldest daughter and her husband to demonstrate what he knew, when he knew it, and how he selectively chose to ignore them.
He semi-skillfully perpetrated the greatest scheme in American history by refusing to accede power and step down as president while igniting the ire of the masses via his contentious statements about a stolen election.
In addition, according to the witnesses, he also used his accusations and provocations to generate a quarter of a billion dollars supposedly designated to defend his presidency but instead spent it on his hotels, and to elect and fund candidates loyal to him. (His Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows’ foundation received $1 million.)
We don’t know how this real-life movie will end. Will Judge Doom or Merrick Garland press charges? Will autocracy replace democracy? Will Eddie Valiant once again save Roger? In this case, it’s up to you.
Nick Jacobs of Windber is a health-care consultant and author of two books.