Vietnam's Next Invader (Part 2)

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Trump Organization's business invasion of Vietnam, which I described as a 2,000-acre golf resort and club on the Red River just outsside of Hanoi. In the days following that posting, I learned that the Trump family investment is far more extensive and complex than just a golf course for rich travelers and Vietnamese government officials.

First of all, the expanse of prime real estate on the Red River will contain three golf courses, not just one, and undoubtedly all the accommodations, shops, eateries, and services necessary to pamper the elite guests and fleece them of their cash - and certainly the Trump Organization, being a "for-profit" concern, will get a nice piece of everything.

That will be in what we used to refer to as "North" Vietnam, but the Trumps have not neglected the old "South" Vietnam in their quest to monetize the patriarch's influence around the globe.  The major city in the south is Ho Chi Minh City, which was formerly called "Saigon"when it was occupied by first the French and then the US forces.  Today it is a bustling and sprawling urban complex that is home to probably a billion or more motor scooters - all of which are referred to collectively as "Hondas."   

(I saw entire families of five or six members riding piled on a single motor bike on numerous occasions while I was trying to cross the wide and very busy streets, and once I was in a car on a highway in the country when we passed two young men on one of the "Hondas" will a full grown water buffalo strapped across the seat between them.  The men. smiled and waved as we passed, but the water buffalo did not.  It was taking a dump.)

And speaking of dumps,

The Trump family organization also has something special planned for Ho Chi Minh City (which most of the locals and the tourists still refer to as "Saigon").    There they plan on building, you guessed it,  a Trump Tower!

Oh the power, and the glory, and the iron-fisted majesty of it all!  Donald grows his fame and portfolio, and the government of Vietnam purchases influence with an important world leader as well as some stability of the world stage.  It is so much easier and cheaper than war.  

But be vigilant Vietnam.  There is an old American adage that warns "if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas."  You are about to step into the kennel.   Happy scratching!