On the surface you would think that Donald Trump and the Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, would go together well. Conservatives in the most modern sense of the term. Trump, though taking tough about welfare and the need for self reliance, has always been in favor of government subsidies if they suited his own personal interests. Likewise the Ricketts, despite their patriarch leading a group called “Taxpayers against Earmarks,” asked for and received millions for a new spring training facility in Arizona and spent years asking for tax dollars to renovate Wrigley Field. They’re really, really against spending. At least spending that benefits people other than the Ricketts family.
There are some social similarities too. Trump’s presidential campaign was launched thanks to demonizing Mexicans and has sustained its momentum thanks to demonizing Muslims. The Ricketts family has never been like that, of course, but Joe Ricketts’ group once infamously suggested that it hire as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who could, among other things, slam President Obama for presenting himself as a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.” Which, given they felt the need for such a specification, tells you what they think a default African American is like.
I do not know what lies in the hearts of Donald Trump or Joe Ricketts. They may have good explanations for accepting tax breaks they’d not allow others to have and they may not have a racist bone in their bodies, but it’s clear that they have no compunction about (a) at least looking like hypocrites on a superficial level; or (b) using race as a means of ginning up support for whatever it is they’re pursuing.
Given those political similarities, it’s almost sad to see Trump and the Ricketts family feuding:
 | @realDonaldTrump | |
I hear the Rickets family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!
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Given that the Cubs won 97 games last year Trump couldn’t go with this usual “losers” insult, I guess. It does make me wonder what it is he thinks they’re hiding, though. I mean, we all know they kept Andre Dawson in the ivy for several years, but what beyond that?
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