Past redemption: Donald Trump using tragedy to sell hats

IT would be refreshing for the media to once in a while write something positive about Donald Trump, the president, or Donald Trump, the man.

The trouble is that he makes it almost impossible to do so.

Not only are many of his policies as president utterly repugnant to fair-minded people, there is now ample evidence that The Donald sees the office he won as a means of further personal enrichment and that the whole Trump presidency is one big money grab.

It doesn’t get any more distasteful than seeing a natural disaster as a marketing opportunity. Witness his disgraceful use of Hurricane Harvey as product placement for a hat he sells online on his own website for $40.

This is a wild departure from presidential norms. For all his pugnacious vulgarity, even Richard Nixon finally realised that the office of president deserved to be treated with respect not only by the public and media but by the person who held it.

Trump, the president, and Trump, the man: beyond redemption.