Trump And The Plutocrat's Humbris Epstein Summary

In the article “Trump and the Plutocrat’s Hubris,” published in the Wall Street Journal, Joseph Epstein discussed the issues with businessmen, focusing on President Trump. Epstein focused on the arrogance of the modern businessman and his focus on wealth. While Epstein attempted to be objective with his article, he allowed his personal opinion to influence his criticism of both our president and businessmen in general.

Epstein chose to begin his article with a personal anecdote that told his experience and exposure to businessmen in his childhood. He gives businessmen the image of an arrogant, self-concerned, egotistical person whose only desire in life is to accrue wealth. He then goes onto give examples of businessmen assuming they are more knowledgeable because of their monetary status. While there might be some truth to this, it paints the image of businessmen being superficial and generally unkind. Presenting this directly before writing about a businessman makes it
appear that Trump portrays these qualities because he is wealthy and successful. Epstein intentionally included the anecdote to make Trump look bad, this makes his argument subjective because he presents his opinion, not the facts.

The article rhetorical questions throughout, they are used to influence the reader by making them critical of businessmen. Epstein began his talk of trump by asking a rhetorical question, he said, “The guy’s a multibillionaire, cleaned up in real estate, so why shouldn’t he know about health care, immigration, life in the inner cities?” This is intended to make the audience question the correlation between business and understanding the issues of the lower class. It cements the idea that Trump lacks the ability to be a politician because he only knows one lifestyle and the business world. Epstein clearly has the motive to make Trump appear arrogant and egotistical, it makes him appear to only understand business and nothing about society. Epstein furthers the idea that this article is subjective by pushing using rhetorical devices to influence the audience to being critical of Trump’s abilities.

Lastly, Epstein has a critical tone, both of Trump and the successful entrepreneur.
While discussing Trump’s business acumen Epstein felt it was necessary to establish that business success doesn’t correlate to political success, however, the two are not mutually exclusive and Trump could be multi-talented. The article also felt it was necessary to mention that Epstein had never read Trump’s book, it also then goes on to criticize the book by stating he has no interest in reading “The Art of the Deal.” This unnecessary and critical comment further enforces the idea that Epstein believes Trump is not fit to be president. In the concluding paragraph Epstein cements the idea that financial success does not transfer to political success. He then goes on to criticize Trump calling him arrogant and claiming his business prowess won’t transfer to his political career. Some of these statements may be based off of truth, but, to be a subjective article one can not put personal opinion in their
argument.

Through the use rhetorical questions, an anecdote, and a critical tone Epstein conveys his point that Trump is not qualified to be president. He also illustrates his bias by incorporating his political opinion into his article making it subjective. Epstein made some valid points and being subjective is common in today’s media, however, it does weaken his argument when he focuses more on his beliefs than the facts of the situation. Overall, it was a well written and convincing article that accomplished its goal of portraying President Trump as an unqualified and arrogant businessman, posing as the President of the United States.