I caught myself watching Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” the other night. This show is trash – but in its best moments it gives us a glimpse into the way these “successful” people think about themselves and others. I thought there was a revealing moment when Trump was talking to celebrity welder and motor-enthusiast Jesse James.
Jesse James – In-Crowd Outlaw?
Personally I don’t know what to make of James. On the one hand he claims to be a representative of the “working class,” but on the other hand he has capitalized off of his name and his genetic link to a famous bandit from the wild west – and he has used that link to catapult himself into the limelight; resulting in his owning a slew of successful businesses including body shops and restaurants; and he is married to one of the most successful and powerful actor/producers in Hollywood, Sandra Bullock. So this whole “working class hero” thing leaves me feeling a little suspicious of the guy. But whatever – that’s not the point I am trying to make here.
The point I am attempting centers on Trump’s assessment of James. James managed to get himself into the final 4 on the show by working hard, keeping his head down, and not making himself a target for firing in the infamous “boardroom.” But Trump can’t figure James out because he isn’t particularly ambitious, he won’t use his celebrity connections to raise money for his charity, and he essentially didn’t raise a thin dime for the cause he claimed to represent. As far as I’m concerned, James failed completely to understand the point of the game he signed up for and in the process demonstrated a sort of blandness of personality. I found James to be ineffectual and basically a worthless player who was never in a million years going to win the game. But Trump can’t accept this because Trump believes, like many rich and famous people, that other rich and famous people are necessarily gifted in some special, supernatural way. Trump comes back time and again to this idea that “Sandra Bullock sees something in you, and because she is so successful, you must also be an especially gifted person.”
God Favors Me…
This is how rich and famous people justify their lives of wealth and privilege. I believe it is pathological. When they look around in a world filled with people suffering and scrambling just to get by, and they live in a penthouse surrounded by servants and sleeping on a mattress filled with thousand dollar bills, their every whim and desire is catered to, they have to justify this to themselves. The way rich people justify their wealth is to say to themselves: “there must be something innately special about me personally that has allowed me to be so successful.” Essentially they come to the conclusion that” “God must favor me. And conversely: “God must disfavor those who live in squalor and suffering.”
This is the Protestant work ethic. I think it is a sickness passed down through generations of Americans; and a testimony to greed, pride, and gluttony – three of the 7 deadly sins.
Pete Does it His Way
As a really interesting contrast to Trump and his pathological cronies – Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday was on the same Sunday that the Celebrity Apprentice aired. I wonder how Trump rationalizes a man like Pete Seeger – a musician who has had a long and successful career without seeking the spot-light; Seeger is loved, and represents in his music and his life all the virtues that Trump would scoff and eschew. Trump equates winning with accumulating wealth and accolades. But Seeger is a successful person who has done it on his own terms and his own way. To my way of thinking Seeger is the winner, and Trump is sort of a pathetic loser. He’s got this over-blown ego, can’t maintain a relationship to save his life, and he doesn’t have a wit of taste or class. He has to know deep down that no one really genuinely likes him – they just suck up to him because of his wealth and power. Aside from that, Trump has played by the rules of the game as it is laid out, while Pete Seeger has shown the true courage and creativity it requires to live a life that is unbounded.
I run into kids once in awhile who have placed a high level of personal value on material wealth – they brag about BMW’s and how they can “do whatever they want” because they have a lot of money. They’re living in an illusion and I feel badly for them. Material wealth comes with its own demands and chains. Success doesn’t have the first thing to do with how much crap we can accumulate.
madbob@madbob.com
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