When people talk about the American Dream, they usually mean Horatio Alger stories: creating your own success through hard work. Rags to riches. But while, say, Oprah and Steve Jobs represent that American Dream, there’s another, less heroic version: Donald Trump. 1/

Maybe it’s a remnant of the places people left to come here, but hereditary wealth is aspirational, too. Working hard to get rich? That’s hard! How great would it be to just...be rich? To have the playing field tilted for you your entire life? It’s seductive. 2/

Paris Hilton once had a popular tv show where we just kinda watched her walk around being privileged. And it made her even more rich. That’s so easy! James Dolan was just...handed the NY Knicks. Imagine being a mediocrity with front row seats and a private jet. 3/

Jared Kushner got into Harvard because his dad donated $2 million. He and Ivanka are objectively not good at their jobs, but they’re helping run the country, and they earned $82 million (that we know of) last year. How many people would turn that down? 4/

I think about this when I look at how many people degrade themselves and the country in service to this malignant family. Most of Trump’s Cabinet have used their positions to enrich themselves and their families. They steal private plane rides and steer contracts to friends. 5/

@seanspicer writes a book and dances on tv; @SarahHuckabee writes a book and runs for office. Trump warps the market to favor them. He tilts the field to turn media figures into valuable commodities as cheerleaders for him (and Russia, and a white ethno-state.) 6/

But this isn’t new. It’s just a more coarse version of Bush II, when a hereditary mediocrity (who had once been given part of the Texas Rangers because of his name) attracted a lot of people who wanted a piece of that life, even if it came from a war in Iraq. 7/

Yes, some of those people are legitimately vile. But some are just trying to live one particular American Dream.

I think most people see the Trump/Kushner family as the worst of our country: Upper Class Twits of the Year. But to around 39%, they really are what makes us great.//