Douglas Whaley

                                    I have always been an optimist, and sometimes had to deal with ribbing about this.   But 2020 has stripped away that sunny view of the world, and Donald Trump (sigh), more than the virus, is the reason why.        I’ve known for some time, of course,   that the man is a charlatan, cheating his way to the top, being so bad at running businesses that they always ended up in bankruptcy, succeeding only because his father’s death dumped a fortune into his hands just as he became a TV sensation for a weekly show demonstrating his cruelty.   When Trump made business deals he subsequently told the other side that he would only pay a portion of what he had contracted to pay—take it or leave it—and that trying to sue him would only cost more than accepting his current offer and writing off the rest.   Great way to do business.   When Trump had a best seller with “The Art of the Deal” it subsequently turned out that he hadn’t actually written any of it;