Far too often, intergenerational incompetence and even criminality is insulated from real consequences by having lots of inherited wealth and position. For international examples, look at murderous Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed "Bone Saw" bin Salman, or pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's royal client Prince Andrew (a.k.a. "Randy Andy") of the UK. "Real consequences" for both royals might involve prosecution and beyond, rather than some gentle wrist slapping and a "let's move along."
Here in the U.S., we have an intergenerational example of the "failson" culture, so well documented by the Daily Beast's Molly Jong-Fast, who focuses first on Greasy Donald Trump, Jr.'s nasty book, whose sales were dramatically goosed by Rethuglican right-wing organizations' purchases in bulk:
"One is not born a failson. Nor does one simply inherit the status of failson. No—failson status is earned through a display of equal parts incompetence, stupidity, and arrogance. And until his book, no person in America—or maybe even the world, so bursting at the seams with louche heirs and dissolute royals with no throne to sit their pampered arses on—illustrated all the facets of a failson better than Junior." (our emphasis)Greasy Don Jr. initially bragged about his book sales topping the New York Times' best seller list, until the bulk sales angle was exposed:
"So this means that junior is actually still a failson. In fact, one might say there is no greater expression of failson-ness than needing Daddy’s party’s political arm to bulk-buy your book."It's not just Greasy Don Jr. that earns the designation of "failson," it extends to in-laws, too. Jack-of-All-Trades, young master-of-none Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner is another failson who's flitted from one failed project to another that Daddy-in-law assigned to him, with nothing to show. Now he's assigned to supervise the border wall construction (that Mexico was supposed to pay for), something that should make opponents of the wall happy.
Of course the paterfamilias of failsons is malignant narcissist and con man Donald "Impeachable Me" Trump himself, who inherited nearly half a billion dollars from his wealthy developer daddy Fred, and who proceeded to nearly bankrupt himself into oblivion, saved only by infusions of dirty foreign cash.
There's much more in Jong-Fast's article about the failson culture exemplified by Trumpworld. As she says, it's a great advertisement for imposing severe estate taxes, so that failsons will be less likely to survive generation after generation on their cushion of inherited wealth.
(photo: A sad Greasy Don Jr., apparently abandoned in the woods during a hike with Daddy)
