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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Donald Trump vs. El Chapo

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's escape from a Mexican prison came at an opportune time for Donald Trump, who has attracted a lot of attention for his comments about illegal immigrants.

After the escape, Trump tweeted, "Can you envision Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton negotiating with 'El Chapo', the Mexican drug lord who escaped from prison?…"

(In a roundabout way, Trump was actually complimenting El Chapo here, by suggesting that the other American Presidential candidates were not the drug lord's equal.)

Trump, however, then followed up with, "…Trump, however, would kick his ass."

A Twitter account claiming to be El Chapo's then responded, "Keep screwing (with us) and I'm going to make you eat your fucking words you lousy white faggot."

(This response is more likely to have come from one of El Chapo's sons. Whoever it was who tweeted this evidently has not yet been swayed by the Norte Americano movement for gay liberation.)

All in all, it's made for a pretty entertaining mano a mano confrontation. This calls for a comparison between the two men on the various measures they seem to care about.

Net worth

Trump boasted about his net worth of 8.7 billion when he announced his candidacy last month. But Forbes magazine, a more impartial source, recently listed his net worth as $4 billion. El Chapo is said by Wikipedia to have a net worth of one billion; but that, too, seems inaccurate. Anybody who keeps $207 million in cash lying around one of his houses likely has a net worth far, far higher than that. And El Chapo's power has been said by some to exceed that of Pablo Escobar, who at his peak was supposedly worth $25 billion.

This one goes to El Chapo (with a low degree of certainty).

Real estate

Here, too, it's a little hard to compare. The only picture available of one of El Chapo's houses was this one of the Mazatlan vacation home which was raided:


It featured a manmade cave with hot tub:


And a private zoo with well-cared for exotic animals, including these black panthers:


El Chapo reportedly owns fifteen other houses as well as four farms, but pictures of those are not available.

Trump's most famous house was Mar-a-Lago:


But Trump often buys real estate as an investment rather than a place to live. He bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985, had it renovated, and in 1995 turned it into a club with paying guests.

His main residence is a three story penthouse at the top of Trump Towers...



….decorated, of course, in Louis XIV style.

This one goes to Trump, though also with a low degree of certainty since information on El Chapo's other residences or farms is hard to come by.

Dress

Trump dresses nicely, as befits a successful businessman. But his well-cut suits usually get overlooked because one's eye is inevitably drawn to that swirling monstrosity on top of his head:


It's also hard to get beyond his facial expression, which almost always seems to radiate unbridled egotism.

El Chapo often dresses in such a way that he would be indistinguishable from the mass of day laborers you'll find standing on street corners in many American cities:




Of course, Trump pretty much has to dress the way he does, whereas Guzman has no need to impress his cohorts with his duds.

Trump certainly gets the nod for fashion sense, but El Chapo is the better man for his evident lack of vanity.

(Since we're basically talking machismo here, the latter is probably more important.)

Personal taste

El Chapo's artistic tastes seem to run to gold-plated weaponry:



But if Louis XIV had had an AK-47, he'd probably have had it coated with gold leaf as well. And Trump, after all, did own the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City...


…which even Louis might have found a bit garish.

So this one is a tie.

Their women

Here's is El Chapo's current wife, Emma Coronel:


And Trump's current wife Melania at a similar age:


But here's Melania now, Botoxed beyond recognition:


Mrs. Guzman is certainly more attractive than the current Mrs. Trump (currently). Then again, the second Mrs. Trump, Marla Maples, may have been better-looking than either:


Still, it's now that counts, so by that measure, El Chapo wins.

Firepower

When it comes to who could more easily order a hit on the other, there's no question: this is El Chapo's world.

Of course, if Trump gets elected President, and has the US military at his disposal, the odds shift drastically. The Donald's election seems doubtful, despite recent polls, but if he ever did find himself in the White House, he would have the capacity to reduce all of Mexico to smoldering ruins. (And, truth be told, he does seem inclined in that direction.)

But, once again, it's now that counts, so El Chapo wins.

Freedom

Here, of course, there is no question: Trump is free to appear in public, and speechify to his heart's content, whereas El Chapo is wanted, and must scurry through various dirt tunnels in order to stay out of -- or escape -- prison.

Evidently one of El Chapo's biggest weaknesses is fine food. Often diners in some of Sinaloa's finer restaurants would occasionally find themselves surrounded by gunmen who would politely ask them for their cellphones. Then El Chapo would come in and order a meal with his henchmen. Once he finished, he would always foot the bill for the entire restaurant as a way to repay the diners for their inconvenience, then return their phones.

Still, Trump, who also has the look of a man who appreciates food, is the winner here.

Respect

The final, and perhaps ultimate measure, is how much respect each man commands in his own country.

In this country, Trump is widely viewed as a buffoonish blowhard, and his candidacy as an exercise in vanity. All sorts of people feel free to mock his hair, and even question whether it's his own. The now defunct Spy magazine regularly referred to him as a "short-fingered vulgarian." And how many headlines will read, "You're fired!" if Trump eventually drops out of the Republican race?

In his country, El Chapo is a folk hero who has had songs written about him.

Niccolo Machiavelli once said, "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."

El Chapo actually seems to have pulled off the trick of being both feared and loved in his own country.

Trump inspires neither emotion.

Winner on this count, and also overall: El Chapo.

11 comments:

Mark Caplan said...

I can't imagine Hillary Clinton even saying El Chapo. She'd probably say, "El Vertically Challenged-o."

Trump recently discovered he is pro-life. I'm guessing that the other chap is pro-choice since Mexican rebels tend to be anti-clerical and so far Chapo isn't running for president on the GOP ticket.

John Craig said...

Mark --
Ha, yes, or Hillary would just pretend he doesn't exist since she's pro-immigration.

Hadn't heard that about Trump. The Sinaloa cartel, like a lot of the cartels down there, has actually practiced a fair amount of retroactive abortion on its foes.

Mark Caplan said...

In that famous tweet, Señior El Chapo called The Donald a "cagaleche." I gather that translates as "milk-shitter," which I suppose is graphic Mexican slang for a limp-spined, irresolute, finger-in-the-wind politician.

John Craig said...

Mark --
Yes, that's the way it was translated by several services. The thing is, that's one thing he is not. Of all the people in both primary races, he is the MOST outspoken, and the most honest, which will of course be his downfall. They also called him a "faggot," which is obviously also untrue. I did give El Chapo the victory in the machismo contest, but I have to say, the insults they are hurling northward are not accurate.

They may be taking their cue partially from the fact that Trump LOOKS like such a soft, doughy guy.

Steven said...

Did you see this John?

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/12/10/looks-like-it-on-chapo-guzman-threatens-war-on-isis-after-terrorists-destroy/

John Craig said...

Steven --
Yes, thanks, I did (in the NY Post), as a matter of fact I was just debating whether to put up a short post about it. I probably will.

John Craig said...

Steven --
PS -- It turned out to be a hoax.

Unknown said...

This author seems to have a passionate love for El Chapo. I bet he would suck his dick if he had the chance.

John Craig said...

Unknown --
Would I ever!

Actually, it's sort of funny, but the vast majority of insults I get on this blog are from people who are projecting. I've had Aspies accuse me of having Aspergers, sociopaths accuse me of "getting a thrill out of others' misfortunes," and now....you.

Anonymous said...

One thing I wish Trump had was speech abilities. Every single president it seems after the 50s or whatever never had that same gravitas. And that goes for many politicians all over the world.

Listen to FDRs speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK8gYGg0dkE

Churchill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc

Hell I don't need to link Hitler, yeah he was evil whatever but he was a master of speaking to the masses, he could even manipulate them. What's funny is how his regular speaking voice sounds different and has such a strong Austrian accent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjpqviFC9k
Scene from a movie with a real speech. His low nasally voice and accent is very strong when speaking.

Funny, is Stalin wasn't so good, but that could be excused maybe by Russian not being his native language:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9PDj1jqRU
He had an outrageous Georgian accent. People were shocked when they first heard his voice, his Russian was sometimes broken too. People in Russian make fun of Georgian and other Caucasian accents (Caucasians like Chechens and Armenians are the Latinos of Russia.)

You don't even have to know Russian to know he isn't native.
They are frequently the butt of many Russian jokes, stereotyped as liking walnuts and turkey meat, and flower sellers, being petty and hotblooded like this translated Russian joke from wikipedia:
"In the zoo, two girls are discussing a gorilla with a huge penis: "That's what a real man must have!" A Georgian passer-by sarcastically remarks: "You are badly mistaken, its not a man, it is a male. This is what a real man must have!" (stereotypical grammatical errors), and produces a thick wallet."

Georgian is weird as a language, almost every single verb is irregular and insanely complex unlike straightforward Spanish or Japanese, and can be an entire sentence:
ameshenebinos "That he should have built it"
It also allows weird clusters like "ɡvbrdghvnis" "I peel you". Words come out in a single smooth pattern, clear not like Russian or American English where "I don't know" sounds like "Ahdunnow". Their Russian comes off as fruity, robotnic, and unmasculine.

Wait where was I?
Oh yeah, speeches. I am disappointed with the current state of public addresses, they are doing better in Russia, most schoolchildren can recite Pushkin or lines from Pasternak, but we in the US can't even recite Shakespeare and not a single person can approach the humorous style of Twain or write/say anything as descriptive as Hemingway or Fitzgerald.

I didn't expect Trump to be Churchill or either of the Roosevelts, but when I first saw him on The Apprentice, his verbal ability and communication skills looked better than what it is now. He had a firm and direct coherent way of coming across. I thought as president he would be the same when speaking. But his ADHD is costing him, his public image is being hampered by the way he talks now compared to before. (Why?)

From LBJ Johnson, to Reagan, to Carter, to Ford, to both Bushes, to Clinton, to Trump, to Obama, to Nixon, whoever, they are not Churchill or a Roosevelt. Obama wasn't too bad, but still something was lacking, it was not inspiring and felt faked, the content of Trump's speeches seem okay but the way he presents it doesn't feel right, Carter was a joke, and Nixon sounded weird to me. And not just Presidents, I haven't heard a good speech on public television that can compare from anyone. I want someone to bring the art of oration back.

-Ga

John Craig said...

Ga --
It's true, Trump is not verbally adept. He evidently almost never reads, not even the daily briefing that's prepared for the President. But don't make the mistake of comparing other Presidents reading speeches to Trump when he's off the cuff. People used to talk of Obama's "soaring oratory," but he was only good when reading a speech written by a speechwriter. With the Teleprompter turned off, he was not good, in fact he was embarrassing at times. I wish Trump would rely on the Teleprompter more often than he does.