2016 Feb 26^th

It is now about 2:30 PM EST. I mention that because a simple date is no longer adequate to define the political news; we need the hour as well.  Not long ago, to Donald Trump’s obvious delight, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie endorsed him for President. Isn’t that amazing; these former enemies now have nothing but nice to say about each other. Let’s face it Christie had been out of the limelight since Feb. 10^th when he “suspended his campaign.” Settling for fame in poor little New Jersey for all of two weeks just didn’t cut it for Christie. He’s back on the national news blowing away Rubio’s aborted victory lap from his last night’s skewering of Trump. I guess Cruz can now forget any hope of getting Trump’s V.P. nod. Christie has that sewed up.

The “debate” was the usual yelling match and Rubio had, for a change, done some homework. He went after Trump on several counts: Back in 1980 it was necessary to demolish the building now occupied by the famous Trump Towers. The company hired to do that, presumably the low bidder, employed a number of immigrant Polish workers at wages at less than half the union scale. Even working these men 12 hours a day in brutal conditions the demolition fell behind schedule. The workers, in fear of deportation, did not complain and in some cases were not even paid the below par wages they were owed. Enter Trump who decided to speed up the lagging demolition. At that point he became knowledgeable of the working conditions and subsequently he was sued. The legal action has now been bounced around from one judge to another; it has been thirty-five years since this mess started and many of the principals are now dead. Still it continues with no end in sight. Trump maintains that he has done nothing wrong and refuses arbitration. (You may remember that when he was asked if he ever asked God for forgiveness he said that he very rarely did anything wrong and when he did he always tried to correct it himself. What a guy!)

Rubio brought up the Trump University scam. Trump University, now renamed Trump Entrepreneurial Initiative, as a result of legal action, is an interesting money making idea from Donald Trump. Initially, before the New York Attorney General got involved with charges of fraud, Trump University was offering business students an opportunity to listen to famous  real estate friends of Donald tell them how to make money in real estate. The fees for this opportunity ranged from 15 hundred dollars to 35 thousand dollars. The problem was that this was not a university; it was never approved, licensed, or otherwise certified by any state agency. Trump discovered that you can’t call any old enterprise a university and start charging a ridiculous price for students to simply sit in an auditorium and listen to speakers. New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is even now suing Trump for 40 million dollars for defrauding some 5,000 students who paid up to 35 thousand dollars each to participate in these “classes.” Trump, as is typical for Trump, claims that Schneiderman is, “a political hack looking to get some publicity.” Trump recently had to take some time out to give a deposition in this case. Maybe Trump’s candidacy will be stopped by his own greed.