Howell belonged to a tradition that associated wealth with a kind of deportment. He would have been shocked by Trump’s vulgarity. Come to think of it, so would the rest of them.
Trump is the clearest possible vindication of the immutable adage “class is about more than money”. You can rest assured that anyone who regards the Donald as a “class act” is either a gangster or thug regardless of whatever other calling they might erect as a “front”. This is precisely why the current President is the darling of noveau riche Russian kleptocrats. This is also the reason his appointees to key government positions would be splended choices for captains in the Capone mob. The Trump “outfit” is in fact the Corleone family minus that organization’s sophistication. So garish is the patina surrounding Trump, that “quality” people shrink in horror at the thought of any malicious slander assigning them to his social circle. The man is an affront to both taste and decency, and for those who care about such things, there can be no greater consideration than “you are known by the company you keep”.