When Donald Trump’s handpicked White House photographer Shea Craighead asked him to write the foreword to her book of Trump-era White House photos, he had one thought: How can I make money off this?
Trump’s first idea, according to a New York Times story, was to take a cut from Craighead’s royalties. In the end, the former president decided to simply beat her to market by publishing his own book of photos and pocketing millions in royalties himself.
Craighead put her book on ice when she learned she would be competing with Trump.
The reaction today, to the Times piece and other stories about this incident, is that Trump ripped her off. Some of the people who feel Trump mistreated Craighead are former Trump employees:
“Shea’s a very talented photographer and this was really all of her hard work,” Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former press secretary, told the Times. “I just keep thinking: What a shame that he is actually now profiting off of it. But then again, this is the guy who is hawking caps and all kinds of stuff right now to raise money for himself.”
Other critics are former Trump supporters:
Yeah, Trump really loves the little guy.
Thief.https://t.co/qF8FAnPIDV
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 1, 2022
Ann Coulter is right. Donald Trump never looks out for the little guy, the working man, or even his own supporters. He occasionally acts as if he does but really only to benefit himself. Politicians being greedy and turning their power into personal wealth is nothing new, but Trump is more blatant and more greedy than his predecessors on this score.
His campaign spent millions at his own hotels, thus funneling donor money into his own pockets. As president, he made it clear that anyone seeking his favor would stay at his properties — again, converting his position of public trust into his own private profit. And after he lost the election, he has continued his charade partly in the service of filling his own bank accounts. He gets supporters to donate to what they think is a cause, but is really just him. As Grisham points out, selling Trump merchandise seems to regular supporters like a way to support a political cause, but Trump uses it simply to further enrich himself.
Nobody should be surprised. Donald Trump is a conman and always has been a conman. Since 2015, he’s just added tens of millions of new marks. And now his former photographer, Shea Craighead, is just the latest in a long line of people, including his wives, who have learned that if you get in business with Trump, you end up losing.
