The hits keep on coming. Between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump there is an avalanche of incriminating statements, actions, and blunders. Leftist news blog Mother Jones decided to list some of Trump’s in what they call The Trump Files. Their most recent find? Trump’s claim that the American Mafia is behind the fear of asbestos.
Trump made the statement in his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback. In it he warned the American public not to buy the crusade against “the greatest fire-proofing material ever used.” Claiming that the movement to remove asbestos - a known carcinogen, as Mother Jones points out - was actually a conspiracy led by La Cosa Nostra.
“I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal,” Trump wrote in his 1997 book. “Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented. Millions of truckloads of this incredible fire-proofing material were taken to special ‘dump sites’ and asbestos was replaced by materials that were supposedly safe but couldn't hold a candle to asbestos in limiting the ravages of fire.”
Though Trump is correct that the mob made good money off of the asbestos scare, it was just one small part of their overall operation. They controlled unions and various industries. Removing asbestos or simply providing illegal dumping grounds were just another racket. Not one they actively lobbied for in congress as if they were Coca Cola or Marlboro.
Of course, all of that can be challenged since we don’t know if the mob ever did lobby or indeed what those politicians are up to. We don’t know. However, what we do know is that asbestos is bad. Proven. In court. In the hospital. Everywhere. For Trump to make those outlandish claims is evidence of his thought process. A process we’ve become very familiar with in recent months.
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