Especially when you’re WINNING!
Trump is arguably the biggest ass around among well know figures in American life. I’d argue it anyway. However I see something of a hypothetical here, if Sheen isn’t embellishing the story. Since he’s also one of the biggest asses among well known figures in American life. I also don’t see why they’d be stamped Trump if Harry Winston. As far as Trump’s own branded merchandise, I think it’s pretty well known to be general lower quality stuff sold at a higher price because of the ‘aspirational value’ of the Trump brand. I’d expect to get cheap junk from Trump if I happened to know him.
I thought this was relevant and amusing. The New York Times ran an article yesterday on the friendship between Donald Trump and Roy Cohn (who was also an attorney and advisor for Trump). It says, “After one Cohn coup, Mr. Trump rewarded him with a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box.” Later the article mentions Peter Fraser, Roy Cohn’s last lover and heir (to Cohn’s townhouse, weekend place in Greenwich, Rolls-Royce, plane, etc.). The IRS confiscated almost everything. But Mr Fraser “did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said.”
I’m going to go against the tide here and argue that Sheen was the larger ass. First, as a few pointed out, we don’t know all the facts of the story, so it’s possible that he’s misremembering or embellishing, it’s also possible (though admittedly unlikely) that be an impromptu gift, Trump made a mistake about which cuff links he was wearing. That said, even if we take the story completely at face value, Trump gave him a gift he didn’t need to, and lied about the quality of the gift. That certainly makes him an ass for lying and misrepresenting his own generosity, but it makes him an ass in private.
The reason I say Sheen is the larger ass is because it is, imo, far worse to publically make someone else out to be an ass. The proper course of action is to just ignore or get rid of an unwanted gift and, if you think he’s not someone you want to associate with, then don’t. Yes, if the story is true and Trump lied, I’d say it’s probably pretty close to even, but the fact that we don’t know how much of the story is true and how much is embellished, and that the most likely motivation is to make Trump look bad, even if it makes him look bad in the process.
So, yeah, both come off assholish in most of the possible scenarios here, but a public attack is generally going to be worse than a cheap gift that can easily be tossed.