SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA—Billionaires tend to enjoy cozy relationships with presidents and strongmen of the world’s big and small economies, the Philippines included.
That’s true in the era of Donald Trump, the current POTUS (President of the United States).
Trump has stacked his Cabinet and advisory groups with fellow billionaires partial to big business after his surprise election supported by billionaires.
But even if Trump came to power with the backing of those flush with cash, there are other billionaires that think he is unfit to lead as commander in chief.
Hedge fund mogul Tom Steyer has taken Trump head on. Mark Cuban, majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks appears to be eyeing the presidency in 2020.
Steyer is spending $10 million on a national TV ad campaign to call for Trump’s impeachment. The chief executive, he says is a “clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons.”
Predictably, Steyer, a Democratic Party mega-donor who entertains thoughts of running for US senator not for president, has drawn the ire of Trump.
“Wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me and my Make America Great Again agenda from beginning, never wins elections,” Trump tweeted recently.
Cuban says that right now, the odds he will challenge his fellow Republican and loud billionaire in three years is at 10 percent, “maybe 11.”
“I’m considering it, yes,” he told the New York Times. “I would put the odds against it right now for family reasons, but there is still plenty of time.”
This early, critics are lining up against Cuban, star of the current ABC TV reality show “Shark Tank.”
They say if Cuban, the Mavericks owner since 2000, still has troubles with that job, what more if he was in the White House?
Nevertheless, the 59-year-old ex-bartender who made his fortune with one of the first online streaming companies earns brownie points from political pundits.
The experts consider Cuban a big threat to Trump because he appeals to Republicans and independents.
A carefree tycoon who prefers t-shirts and slacks to business suits, Cuban is also sketched as “Trump without the crazy.”
The Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, at Dodgers Stadium last night in a winner-take-all seventh game to win the World Series for the first time in their 56-year history.
The Dodgers were trying to win their first world title in 29 years.
This year’s Fall Classic was so good TV analysts wished it was played in nine games instead of seven.
“Sayang di ipinalabas sa mga sports channels dito sa Pilipinas ang World Series,” (Too bad the World Series was not shown by sports channels here in the Philippines,” reported ex-Manila sports columnist Fred Lumba in a Facebook post.
“Puro basketball na lang,” (Nothing but basketball), rued Lumba, a former LA resident who watched the Dodgers in person at their home stadium when they last won the World Series in 1988.