My Conversation with the brilliant David Frum from the Atlantic on why Billionaires Go Bonkers
David and I go back to my Daily Beast years and we’ve remained friends ever since. A one-time speechwriter for President George W. Bush, David has written ten books and is a longtime staff writer for the Atlantic where he makes sense, not noise, about everything from the “Trump Presidency’s World-Historical Heist” to Covid deniers.
I had the fun of talking with him (we recorded this last month) on his new weekly podcast The David Frum Show, where we dove into how extreme wealth recircuits the brain in weird ways, why philanthropy does not buy a license to bully, and my character-revealing, personal stories about Trump in the 80s and 90s in NYC.
I think your insight on Trump's moment of going into a full blown neurosis is dead on. I think that we are witnessing the revenge of the losers in the right wing movements around the globe. It brings up an ethical question of how to make everyone doing a job feel valid.
I worked for a two and a half year period in the household of a billionaire. I can say, quite easily, both love and hate emotions abound when dealing with folks of extreme wealth.
My own ego held me apart, especially during moments of extreme frustration, and often I cast myself as above these folk. These remembered moments show me my own hubris. I am embarrassed by my former reactions to this family and their level of power. I don’t know if I would do better now, probably not.
I remember with much fondness, shared humor with the primary billionaire. Smart people can have terrific senses of humor, and those moments are what I remember most, twenty years later.