Trump Tower Death Trap

A man died after his apartment caught fire in Trump Tower: 

The fire on the 50th floor New York City's Trump Tower that left 67-year-old Todd Brassner dead and six firefighters injured was the second fire in the building in 2018. President Trump's centerpiece Manhattan skyscraper opened in 1984, but does not have sprinklers on its residential floors, a measure required in new buildings since 1999. President Trump, then a private citizen and property developer, lobbied to try and prevent the mandate at the time.

It was the second fire in Trump Tower this year:

Saturday's fire is the second fire in Mr. Trump's Fifth Avenue building this year: Two civilians suffered minor injuries and a firefighter was hurt by debris in a fire on Jan. 8 on the top of the building. That blaze was sparked by an electrical issue, Mr. Trump's son, Eric, said at the time. Eric Trump said the fire had been in a cooling tower.

Donald Trump fought tooth and nail against a law that would have mandated sprinklers in residential buildings. In 1999 he said:

People feel safer with sprinklers. But the problem with the bill is that it doesn't address the buildings that need sprinklers the most. If you look at the fire deaths in New York, almost all of them are in one- or two-family houses.

What a moron Trump is. If a wealthy art dealer accidentally starts a fire in a 72-story high rise and the building burns down because there are no sprinklers and no effective way to evacuate the tenants, hundreds of people could die and losses would be in the billions. If some poor bus-driving schmuck falls asleep on his couch while smoking in his low-rent bungalow in Queens, he and his family are likely to be the only victims.

This is a typical argument for Trump and conservatives. They constantly rail against common-sense regulations using bogus strawmen. The more potential victims and the greater the potential losses, the more protection is required. This kind of short-sighted penny pinching ultimately cost lives and money.

And even though only one person died, units in the upper floors suffered heavy smoke damage, and some residents -- especially the elderly -- will likely suffer effects of smoke inhalation.

As of last November there were 21 vacant units in Trump Tower, and only five had sold since Trump took office. I expect that number to go up after this disaster and all the bad PR about sprinklers. And with all those Russian oligarchs being sanctioned, Trump is going to be hard-pressed to find tenants.

More ominously, this incident emphasizes how Trump's business interests and properties expose him to all manner of threats, from blackmail to terrorism.