I assume everyone here is familiar with "The Portrait of Dorian Gray."

Sufficient wealth lends an air of unearned respect of the wealthy by people that do not know the wealthy person. They assume that the wealthy person is somehow better, stronger, faster, smarter that the average bear because otherwise how could they amass wealth.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are wealthy because their parents were wealthy, in a sense just dumb luck like playing the lottery and winning. Bill Gates was also lucky in that his high school had a well-equipped computer lab that, in essence, launched his career.

Wealth makes you into the portrait of your true self. If you have a hatred of everything and everybody, that is revealed over time by your own actions. If others have a vested interest in you for their own reasons, they begin covering up for you because you are their tool for their benefit for as long as possible.

If you are a wealthy but inherently a decent person, you will do good for the benefit of others without a need for recognition; Dolly Parton comes to mind. Her portrait reflects her true self.

Nobody is perfect and we all have ugliness inside. The question is how much and whether it can choke out our inherent decency.

Hello LYD, it is a matter of degree. At birth we are a blank slate. We are what others and events make us coupled with our ability to observe and understand events. Personally speaking, based on observations when I was a child, there was behavior I observed in others that I pointedly detested and did not adopt. Birth order is also key.

Donald Trump's formative years had to have been horrific. Elon Musk is a product of white apartheid South Africa. Dolly Parton was born poor but musically gifted and used those gifts to escape poverty. DP's family life and family support was most certainly light years ahead of both Trump's and Musk's.

I do not know any of these people but we can all observe their behavior and personal actions.