The Sordid Saga of Donald Trump w/ David Cay Johnston

On this edition of Parallax Views, much has been made of the scandal-ridden Presidency of Donald Trump. But how deep does the rabbit hole go and do the sordid saga of Donald Trump have a prequel in the form of his time as celebrity businessman? For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist David Cay Johnston of the DCReport (and author of the books The Making of Donald Trump and It's Even Worse Than You Think has been on what could be called the "Trump Beat". He joins us on this edition of the show to discuss the whole saga of Donald Trump including:

- David's penchant for covering stories that challenge the powerful; from exposing tax cheaters to taking on the LAPD
- How David first met Donald Trump while covering casinos in Atlantic City and his impression that Donald was a "P.T. Barnum" character
- Trump's relationship to Iran/Contra arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi
- Trump's ties to organized crime families, including the Gambino Crime Family and Genovese Crime family, and dealings with the mob
- A story that indicates Trump protected a drug trafficker, Joseph Weichselbaum, who worked at Trump's Atlantic City casinos. Johnston maintains that this story connects Trump to the international cocaine trade
- Trump's "Outsider" status among elites in terms of cultural and social practices
- The financial chicanery of Donald Trump
- Donald Trump's awkwardness and how it has repelled people over the years including women he took on dates; his inappropriate comments about his daughter Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump
- Trump as a "cash extractor" rather than a businessman
- Trump's forebears, including his grandfather Frederick Trump and
his father Fred Trump, and the skeletons in their closet
- David's thoughts on Trump supporters and how Trump takes advantage of them; David argues Trump took the economic ideas of his campaign from his work.
- David's thoughts on tax issues and rising economic inequality in this country

This Episode Brought to You By:

The War State:
The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963
by
Michael Swanson
of
The Wall Street Window