January 07, 2019 01:56 PM UTC

Donald Trump is Not Really Just Like You

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• by: Colorado Pols

We are currently in the midst of the third-longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. Roughly 800,000 federal employees are not receiving paychecks.

President Trump says he can feel your pain.

Chris Cillizza of CNN finds this statement hard to believe:

But the most amazing trick Trump has pulled as a politician — and now as president — is to convince lower-middle class, predominantly white voters that he is one of them. [Pols emphasis]

I was reminded of that trick on Sunday when Trump was asked whether he can relate to federal workers not being paid due to the ongoing government shutdown. Here’s how the President responded:

“I can relate, [Pols emphasis] and I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments, they always do, and they’ll make adjustments. People understand exactly what’s going on. But many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100% with what I’m doing.”

Donald Trump was born into a wealthy family in New York City. After graduating from a private high school, Trump eventually ended up at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he had a part-time job at a family business called “Elizabeth Trump & Son.” After earning his undergraduate degree at Penn, Trump received a $1 million “loan” from his developer father, Fred Trump, to “get him started” in the business world. All told, Trump inherited somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million from his father, at least some of which was generated from questionable tax and accounting schemes.

Raise your hand if you can “relate” to any of this.