The Billionaire Irony: Vance Missed It Totally

So Trump believes he is a billionaire. We can question the veracity of that assertion (clever accounting; even more clever valuations; even more clever still odd corporate structures; and finally even more “clever” potentially phony bologna numbers). But, he repeated his financial worth during the debate. Let’s assume he is a billionaire with a capital B.

Now along comes Swift, a billionaire for real in many senses. Her music and persona have captivated large segments of the global population. Her $$ billions support a combined billions consisting of the aggregate of fans, records/streaming sold, tickets sold over her career, bracelets and other memorabilia sold…..

Now post the recent Swift endorsement of Kamala Harris, JD Vance stuck his omnipresent foot in his omnipresent mouth yet again, asserting that no one listens to celebrity billionaires — he was referencing Taylor Swift. Billionaires, he observed, are disconnected from the problems of real people.

Whether that statement is actually true in Swift’s case is another question for another time. But guess what? His running mate is a billionaire who is clearly not in touch with real people, let alone reality. How ironic to issue a completely totally spot-on critique unintentionally of your fellow running mate who self- describes as a celebrity billionaire? An out of touch billionaire celebrity.

But I have a deeper concern. Given Trump’s age and seeming declining capacity to articulate cogent arguments let alone sentences, there is a real possibility if he wins that he won’t have his hands on the actual wheel of power for 4 years. Death, incapacity or mental decline could well occur and take his actual power as a president away.

And who will be the recipient of that presidential power? Vance will. As Heather Cox Richardson observed (I think it was her), it is Vance who should worry all of us if Trump wins.

We’re in quite the mess if a celebrity billionaire wins the 2024 election. I hope another celebrity billionaire has enough clout to move the needle toward Harris/Walz to prevent that other $$$$$ guy from winning. I’ll sing a tune (Swifty tune) to that and buy a Swifty bracelet …. Or two.