Love For Sale

"Smitty" Trump's most enduring legacy: Pimps up, hoes down.

For Sale

I have been what has been described as “an old soul” my entire life. Born in the 60’s, I am long removed from Samuel Clemens, Edgar Allen Poe, Aldous Huxley, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ralph Ellison, World War II, big bands, ballroom music, Martin Luther King and my hero, Malcolm X. Yet, I have an affinity for all of the aforementioned.

Funny, that.

As a five year old I was listening to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Nina Simone, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra and a plethora of others. Thusly, it is little wonder that, at some point in my life, I became a mediocre jazz musician and a most formidable audiophile. I used to sit in this huge chair (of course damned near everything is huge when one is five years old) and would read a dictionary from cover to cover as I listened to this music.

Que sera, sera. Nonetheless, and whatever, stay with me on this one as we come full circle with regards to the Trump nexus. Or, in the words of the 70’s British rock band Supertramp: “Take the long way home.”

Ella Fitzgerald was no less than mesmerizing to me and she remains so. She was a significant “sound” of World War II, providing entertainment and comfort through her popular songs, radio performances and her music was sent to troops as well as civilians. Additionally, Ms. Fitzgerald was a featured performer and popular artist on the Armed Forces Radio Network’s Jubilee show which was broadcast to entertain, inform and boost troop morale during the war. During the German bombing campaign in London, Fitzgerald’s records were sent to provide entertainment for civilians in air-raid shelters, helping them endure the long and frightening hours.

One of my favorite songs by Ella Fitzgerald is one titled “Love for Sale.” The song is about a prostitute advertising her services. Written by Cole Porter, it was a scandalous hit when it debuted in the 1930 musical The New Yorkers. Ella Fitzgerald later recorded her acclaimed version in 1956 in the Cole Porter Songbook.

When it premiered on Broadway in 1930, the song’s candid lyrics from a streetwalker’s perspective were considered provocative and in poor taste for the era. Due to its subject matter, “Love for Sale” was banned from being played on the radio, but this controversy only helped increase its popularity. In an attempt to address the initial outrage from critics, the producers of The New Yorkers moved the song from a white actress singing on the street to a Black singer, Elizabeth Welch, performing in a scene set in Harlem’s Cotton Club. This change reportedly pacified some critics. Nonetheless, it was a racially offensive, anti-blackist, humiliating fact.

The lyrics are written from the perspective of a hardened, weary prostitute who has seen it all. It is a cynical, yet melancholic, lament about the commercialization of love. The song presents love as a simple business transaction, with the streetwalker calmly outlining the different “wares” she has available. The phrases “appetizing young love” and “I’ve been through the mill of love” illustrate the variety of experiences she sells. A key line highlights the contrast between what she offers and authentic connection: “Old love, new love, every love but true love.” The prostitute provides affection and passion, but the deepest, most genuine form of love is not for sale.

The Pimp Presidency: “US” For Sale

In the annals of Amerikan political theater, few figures have blurred the line between spectacle and governance as burlesquely, flamboyantly and unapologetically as Donald “Smitty” Trump. Beneath the cowardly bravado lies a transactional ethos that treats the United States not as a republic to steward, but as a commodity to exploit. Trump’s presidency operates like a pimp’s enterprise prostituting the nation’s assets, values, and institutions to the highest bidder, foreign or domestic, while branding it all as patriotism. Donald “Smitty” Trump has pimped out Amerika (which may be poetic justice).

Trump’s proposal to sell U.S. citizenship for $5 million to wealthy foreigners is the most literal manifestation of national commodification. While thousands of immigrants face deportation and asylum seekers are turned away, Trump offers a velvet rope to the global elite. This two-tiered system—where money buys belonging—echoes the logic of a pimp who reserves access for those who can pay top dollar, regardless of merit or morality.

Pimps up, hoes down.

Trump’s environmental policies have consistently favored extractive industries. From rolling back protections on national parks to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, his administration has treated Amerika’s natural heritage as a showroom floor for oil, gas, and mining interests. These decisions benefit corporate donors while leaving communities with polluted water, degraded ecosystems, and climate vulnerability. It’s a classic pimp move: short-term profit over long-term health.

Pimps up, hoes down.

Trump has leaned heavily on privatization and crony capitalism, despite campaign promises to rebuild Amerika’s infrastructure. Border wall contracts were awarded to politically connected firms, often without competitive bidding. Broadband expansion and transportation projects have similarly favored allies, turning public goods into private profit centers. Infrastructure, once a symbol of collective progress, has become a transactional asset. Yet another item on the pimp’s menu.

Pimps up, hoes down.

Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency has taken a sharp turn in his second term. The launch of the $TRUMP token, which skyrocketed in value post-inauguration, coincided with sweeping deregulation of the crypto industry. Pro-crypto figures now helm the SEC, and a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has been proposed. Critics argue this benefits wealthy crypto backers who funded Trump’s campaign, raising concerns about insider trading and digital patronage. Nothing less than digital pimping leveraging national policy to inflate private wallets.

Pimps up, hoes down.

Trump’s foreign policy resembles a negotiation table at a strip club where loyalty, arms deals, and diplomatic favors are traded for personal gain. His dealings with the EU, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and North Korea prioritize optics and business interests over rhetorical human rights or strategic coherence. This underscores the pimp’s playbook: leverage power for personal benefit, not public good.

Pimps up, hoes down.

Even American identity itself has been repackaged and sold. Trump’s merchandise empire, MAGA rallies, and media ecosystem monetize nationalism, turning civic pride into a revenue stream. His rhetoric reduces complex issues to infantile slogans, cultivating a brand that sells proud willful ignorance, grievance and nostalgia. A master pimp, not unlike his mummified comrade Jeffrey Epstein, that doesn’t just sell bodies—he sells dreams, illusions, and loyalty. He sells cruelty, impunity and racism. He, in effect, sells the quintessential “Amerikan Dream.”

Pimps up, hoes down.

Though I frame Smitty as a pimp, it is quite feasible that in the final analysis he is the biggest prostitute of all. Citizenship, nature, infrastructure, digital assets, and even patriotism are up for sale. The Amerikan public, meanwhile, is left footing the bill: in polluted air, eroded trust, and a so-called democracy that increasingly resembles a marketplace. What is Amerika worth (if anything)? Who gets to decide? If the answer is “whoever pays,” then it is no longer a nation. It is a transaction. Frankly, that is all it has ever been; Trump is just exposing it.

In my life there are two stark things that I have learned no amount of money can buy: love…

and time.