Gimme.
April 22, 2024
Another in a series of observations of life as I know it.
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we
are. They are different.-F. Scott Fitzgerald
~~~~~
This past October, I was at the Vatican Museum waiting in line, as one does when in Rome. I was reminded of that experience recently. A rather down and out fellow struggled down the Viale Vaticano, in full view of tourists from all nations. Clothed in ragged attire, he was bent and bowed at the waist and suffered with a withered leg and twisted foot. As a result, he walked with a halting, shambling gait, dragging a pack behind him. He’d stop every so often to rest, placing his hat on the ground. Euros, pennies, dollars and all manner of currency were deposited. Then after a time, he’d roll up the hat, and move painfully down the street. The museum line was long and ponderous, so I was able to observe the ongoing drama. After several hours, the gentleman dragged himself to a far corner, hidden in the shadow of the Vatican. Where he drew himself up to his full height, adjusted his pant leg, and strode away at full speed. A miracle or a well rehearsed scam. You decide.
Things (and people) are not always what they seem on first view.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Or something like that. In this vein, I find that members of the public are still continuing to fall for the panhandling grift of the man about to go on trial for 34 counts of fraud perpetrated to change the course of a presidential election. Which I might add, worked. He won. But now, many years later, he is about to face the music. Maybe.
But returning to my premise. Like the fellow in Rome, he is systematically grifting, begging, hawking and pulling the verifiable wool over the eyes of his gullible acolytes. To pay his mounting bills. The self described billionaire is flat broke. Boo hoo. His legal woes alone are akin to the GNP of some third world nations. Most New York lawyers don’t work pro bono, at least not for folks who sit on gilded toilets. He’s paying full price, something that is rather foreign to him. As a result, his cash cache has dwindled. Loan companies cannot offer sufficient collateral to meet his recent bond needs. And the one that stepped up to cover him is seriously low on funds as well. Tish James is maybe gonna get her fire sale after-all. This is sort of like the poor children of Princess Margaret of Great Britain. Upon her demise, it seems she owed $2 million in death taxes. Queenie couldn’t or wouldn’t forgive the fees. So the kids had a bona fide “estate sale”. Everything must go! Diamonds, tiaras, ruby brooches, emerald rings. It was a veritable boondoggle. The Snowden offspring paid the taxman and had plenty leftover.
I suggest that AG James start with the big ticket palatial properties. No returns! All sales final! That might take care of his civil trial verdicts. However, he has tranches of attorneys. Oodles of them. Entire law firms of men and women wearing bespoke suits. At day’s end, they tally billable hours by iphone bluetooth. The numbers are staggering. I just hope they asked for large retainers upfront.
The orange grifter is stealing the pennies from dead men’s eyes in plain sight. And there’s a sucker appearing every minute to send him pocket change. He’s getting gobs of donations from the faithful. He’s fooled them every single time. Shame on all of them.