Readers: this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about the Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1. List and general description of entries to date.

Note: most entries are formatted as conversations. Characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations. Profile of characters (see link at top of page). You’ll catch on quickly. Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.

Scene: Jordan’s office in Washington, DC. Conversation begins Entry #279

Board Member:  “Mr. Trump, during the break did you think about your managers’ concerns?  What about their concerns was so unreasonable that you allowed the company to effectively shut down?”

Trump:  “You guys seem to exaggerate everything.  The company only closed for a few days.  You know, like a long holiday weekend.  What’s your problem?”

Board Member:  “Have the concerns of the managers been addressed properly?  Or is the company going to limp along from one shut-down crisis to another?”

Trump:  “You keep pointing the finger at me.  I haven’t done anything.”

Board Member:  “That’s the point…you haven’t done anything meaningful.  Might the Board remind you yet again, the CEO is in charge…”

Trump:  “…But I want…”

Board Member:  “…Excuse me but I wasn’t finished speaking.  Let’s see if you understand this.  ‘Little Donnie, quit whining like a brat, and be quiet until the adults in the room tell you it’s ok to speak.  Understand?’”

Trump:  “I feel like I’m in grammar school again.”

Board Member:  “The Board thinks you act as if you’re in grammar school.  As I was about to say, are you familiar with the sign President Truman kept on his desk?”

Trump:  “You mean ‘The Buck Stops Here’ sign?”

Board Member:  “Well, well, he does know some history.  Yes, that’s the sign.  And since you’re CEO, the buck stops where in this company?”

Trump:  “With me…I guess.  Is that what you want me to say?”

Board Member:  “Brilliant analysis on your part.  You’re a genius.”

Trump:  “Glad you think so.  I know a lot of other people think I’m a genius.  Now tell me where this conversation is headed.”

Board Member:  “Another insightful question from the genius.  What the Board wants to know is your plan to take the company forward.”

Trump:  “But I told you before about the plan to make the company great again.  Step #1 is to change the compensation structure.  The 1.0% management team needs more money.  The peons who work for the company don’t really deserve any more money but we can throw them a few crumbs for a while…then gradually take it back.  They’re too stupid to understand what’s really going on.  Step #2 is…”

Board Member:  “Hold on, Mr. Trump.  How will the company pay for all the extra money you’re going to give to the 1.0% management team?  And how much extra cash are you planning to take home?”

Trump:  “Don’t worry about my compensation.  I deserve every penny.  In fact, I deserve much more.  To pay for the well-deserved extra compensation for the 1.0% team, the company is going to borrow the money.”

Board Member:  “Really?  Borrow all that money?  Who will lend the company that much money?”

Trump:  “You forget, I’m the world’s best negotiator.  I’ll get my friends at Deutsche Bank to lend the money.  They’ve laundered money for me…I mean lent money to me before.”

Board Member:  “But what about their connections to shady Russian oligarchs, let alone Putin?  Associating with the Russians will compromise the company.”

Trump:  “You keep worrying about the wrong things.  The Russians are here to help.  Besides all the extra money paid to the 1.0% group will allow the 1.0%er’s to spend even more on luxury goods, yachts, country clubs…you know stuff that really matters.  And eventually, some of that money will find its way to those people…you know, the workers.  At that point the company will sell more product and we will pay back the loan.  See a perfect plan…pure genius.”

Board Member:  “The approach sounds like trickle-down economics.”

Trump:  “Same concept.  Did you know that Arthur Laffer and Ronald Reagan stole the idea of trickle-down economics from me?  Aren’t I a genius?”

Board Member:  “Mr. Trump, the trickle-down approach, which president George H.W. Bush called voodoo economics, has never worked.  He was right.  Trickle down has never worked in the US or anyplace in the world.  The trickle-down approach slows economic growth, not accelerate it.  You know that don’t you?”

Trump:  “Fake news.  I know it works.  Trust me.”

Board Member:  “And what if it doesn’t work?”

Trump:  “We’ll cut the worker bees’ compensation.  We can reduce their medical benefits and cut their retirement benefits.  Those peons aren’t entitled to those benefits anyway.”

Board Member:  “You realize, of course, the workers contributed to their medical plan and their retirement plan.  And they’ve done so for a long time.  Your plan will basically screw them.”

Trump:  “Not my problem.  They didn’t contribute enough.  I deserve the money and they don’t.”

Board Member:  “Workers contributed what the company asked them to contribute.  You set the amount that was to be withheld from their paycheck.”

Trump:  “I don’t care.  They should have paid more.”

Board Member:  “So you want to harm the workers for your inept management of the medical and retirement programs?”

Trump:  “Don’t blame me.  You need to blame the guys that came before me.”

Board Member:  “One more time.  What did the sign on President Truman’s desk say?”

Trump:  “’The Buck Stops here.’”

Board Member:  “So, let’s talk in more detail about your performance this past year and how you’re going to lead the company going forward.”

Trump:  “Why is the Board questioning me?  Seems like a witch hunt.  The biggest one in history.  You want to find something wrong so you can get me out of office.  I haven’t done anything wrong.  Trust me.  I’ve accomplished more than any CEO of this company…ever.”

(Continued)