Posted on 09/24/2015 9:46:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The rules of politics are being rewritten, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump is behind it. He’s released bold, undiplomatic statements and stirred up controversy, all while dominating the Republican primary race.
The businessman and former “Celebrity Apprentice” host has led every Republican poll for the past two months. But as the candidate continues to sell out rallies, triumph in polls and gain supporters, some Baylor students are shaking their heads.
“He’s high up [in the polls] because no one knows what his actually policies are,” said Dallas sophomore Michelle Rigg. “He’s focusing on sensational issues and making provocative claims without giving any policy to support his statements. People are just taking the headlines as true without digging in deeper,” she said. Jefferson City, Mo., junior Paul Kiekhaefer said Trump is gaining support from the far right and most extreme of the Republican Party.
“He’s tapped into the anger of the far-right wing of the GOP that despises the establishment, political correctness and the Washington, D.C. based political system,” Kiekhaefer said.
Both Kiekhaefer nor Riggs support Trump as a candidate. Riggs said she is remaining open-minded in the primary race, as she feels there are several candidates with thoughtful policies. Trump is not among them.
“I personally think Trump’s campaign is just another attention-grabbing scheme of a narcissist. He would make a terrible nominee and president, as he would give the U.S. zero international credibility,” Kiekhaefer said. Currently, Kiekhaefer is spending the semester studying abroad in Costa Rica. Many locals there have asked him why Trump hates Latinos.
Trump’s immigration policy remains the only extensive plan that his campaign has announced. It is outlined by three core principles: a nation without borders is not a nation, a nation without laws is not a nation and a nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation.
San Antonio senior Matt Chapa claims Hispanic heritage and grew up in a largely Hispanic area. He has also been offended by Trump’s continuous remarks about immigrants. “I don’t even know what to say,” Chapa said. “All my roommates want to throw things at the TV when he comes on.”
Within these ideas Trump has attached some bold methods of reform. He has stated that he wants Mexico to pay for a wall built along the northern border between Mexico and Texas. He also calls for a mandatory return of all illegal immigrants and enhanced penalties for overstaying visas.
Perhaps one of Trump’s biggest areas of controversy has stemmed from his bold end to birthright citizenship. Under his new policy all children born of illegal immigrants will no longer be guaranteed American citizenship solely from being born on American soil. “He’s basically asking to rewrite the Constitution,” Chapa said.
There are those in support of such radical changes, and who feel Trump’s immigration policy is applicable. Scott Air Force Base, Ill., freshman Graham Burton spoke to the lack of fairness birthright citizenship delivers to the children of those that choose to come here legally. “Those who come here without using those avenues [set up by our government] are cheating the system, and cheating the people who have worked hard to get here the right way,” Burton said.
The only way to help legal immigrants is to come down hard on those that don’t follow the law of our government, Burton said.
Medford, Ore., junior and Baylor Democrats’ President Micah Furlong aimed to explain Trump’s immigration policy and methodology of making such bold and controversial statements.
“He represents the culmination of mindless ‘bumper sticker’ politics. He’s popular because he is all personality without any substance, just like so many of his political stances,” Furlong said.
The views that Trump chooses to focus on are the simplest, and when people are lost in fear, the simplest solutions seem like the best, Furlong said. People are afraid of losing their jobs to immigrants, and fail to take into account the fact that immigrants add greatly to our economy. Thus, the simple reaction is to build a wall to ensure what is ours is not taken from us.
“The policy has no substance because it takes none of the nuance of the debate into account: it simply fits on a bumper sticker, so it’s popular,” Furlong said.
As a Republican, Riggs’ immigration views may differ but she agrees with Furlong’s statement of Trump’s utilization of simplistic and substance lacking politics. “He is simply voicing concerns that appeal to a personal constituency, without giving any real reasons to back it up,” Riggs said.
People are frustrated with the problems in America and Trump’s provocative claims look inviting to the uninformed voter, Riggs said. But his strategic methods of saying what the public wants to hear lacks the depth needed to gain a presidential nominee, she said.
“Especially in his foreign policy, [Trump] keeps saying, ‘I think China is a bad actor.’ Okay, but how are you going to deal with it? He doesn’t have any policy ideas,” Riggs said.
Burton disagrees with both Republican Riggs and Democrat Furlong. Trump’s success as a world-class businessman proves not only of his charisma but also of his significant intelligence, he said.
“If you say he is all talk, look at his million dollar company and his several billion dollar net worth,” Burton said. “He is not someone who will sit around and wait for someone else to do something. If he wants it done he will get it done.”
Baylor students’ criticism of Trump was not contained solely within political science students, which many of the aforementioned were.
“I just think he’s an oaf, I don’t really know politics. He speaks derogatory things to many people, but he can’t look in the mirror and criticize himself for being an idiot,” Roswell, Ga., junior Peyton Thomas said.
Waco junior Cara Nelson queIt seems as if many Baylor students are not among the 24 percent of supporters for the Republican front-runner Donald Trump, found by the newest CNN/ORC poll. But according to Riggs, it’s not just Baylor students that stray from the candidate, but college students as a whole.
“I feel like a lot of people that are being polled by these pollsters just hear a name that they hear on the news. All of the other candidates get lost in the mix, unless you know of the other names,” Riggs said.“College students are engaged, and Baylor is an engaged environment. We choose to be informed.”
However, there are some Baylor students who admire the front-runner’s campaign.
San Antonio senior Matt Haushill said he doesn’t exactly support the candidate, but he respects and applauds some of his statements.
“I just appreciate his economic mind, and he shows immense support for the military and our veterans,” Haushill said.
Fellow San Antonio senior Andrew Theodoss said he praises Trump’s boldness and his reversal of the rules of conventional politics.
“Although he might not be the right candidate for the Republican Party, I do love how he speaks what he truly believes instead of trying to be politically correct all the time,” Theodoss said.
Burton said he is a loyal supporter. He says that Trump’s lack of political ties proves that all of his current success is derived from his exceptional leadership skills.
“He is dedicated to this amazing country that is the U.S.A., and he is going to do an absolutely fantastic job. He will make his words into actions and make America great again,” Burton said.
Hartland, Wis., junior and Baylor College Republicans’ President Rachael Oury declined to comment on her views on Trump. She did however encourage young voters to become more politically knowledgeable and active.
“As the 2016 presidential election draws near, Baylor College Republicans will continue to provide resources for voters to create their own diversified, educated judgments,” she said.
The headline implies ALL Baylor students. Crappy college editing I guess.
Young propagandists.
I guess this kid missed Trump's detailed plans on immigration and the 2nd Amendment. No other candidate has released plans on those subjects, with a Trump tax plan coming next week.
People are just taking the headlines as true without digging in deeper,” she said. Jefferson City, Mo., junior Paul Kiekhaefer said Trump is gaining support from the far right and most extreme of the Republican Party.
Sounds like an American Crossroads or CoC staffer.
“He’s tapped into the anger of the far-right wing of the GOP that despises the establishment, political correctness and the Washington, D.C. based political system,” Kiekhaefer said.
Lindsey Graham or McCain staffer?
The Ted Cruz campaign reached out to us…
http://therightscoop.com/the-ted-cruz-campaign-reached-out-to-us/#ixzz3miuNuj7f
Far-right ? Only because the RINO establishment has sailed off the far-left horizon. These jackasses are more left wing than the Democrats of the 1980s.
Why is it that everyone is so dang sure that somehow the answer to defeating Trump lays with open borders that most of the electorate (Republican, Democrat and Independent) don't want?
Pretty much everyone but Cruz is pitching the same song - and even Cruz wants to open the floodgates of H1B visas even further.
I know the Trump balloon is over with. Now it will be ‘tough questions on concrete policy’ which of course will ignore any concrete policy that comes out. It comes down to the slug fest leading up to Iowa - and there's just two candidates left who actually believe in following the law.
Can we get off the very minor subject of H1-B visas? Is that more important than the border and deportation, the constitution, national survival, the overall economy, taxes and the rest? You’re NEVER going to find a candidate that agrees with you 100% on all issues.
I disagree. It is not a minor issue. It is an issue of fundamental honesty. There is no shortage of qualified tech workers in the USA. More than half of our STEM graduates don’t work in their fields because there are not enough positions. There are numerous sources which point this fact out. The H1-B program is a sham and there is no need for it but Cruz want to expand it 5x. The H1-B program is mostly being used to unfairly undercut thousands of well paid Americans and replace them with low paid third world substitutes solely to improve the bottom line for the political donor class. It is a travesty and Cruz knows it. He needs to get right on this. Trump actually handles the H1-B issue well in his immigration position paper. Cruz would do well to adopt his approach.
Proof?
I first read it in Levin’s new book and have since seen it in other places.
The links are to two of the sources that Levin cites in “Plunder and Deceit”.
It is a good book with lots of footnotes. He cites many other sources for this in the book.
Look at it if you want more proof.
Census Bureau Reports Majority of STEM College Graduates Do Not Work in STEM Occupations
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2014/cb14-130.html
http://www.epi.org/publication/bp359-guestworkers-high-skill-labor-market-analysis/
“For every two students that U.S. colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only
one is hired into a STEM job.”
The modern RINO is so far left that back in the day, the House would have been investigating these idiots as Soviet plants.
Joe McCarthy would have been all over them.
From real America, I want to give a big middle finger to Baylor!
And Trump consistently hires people for his organization using foreign visas each year. I guess he isn’t all that committed to hiring American. I’ll stick with Ted, thanks.
If Trump is hiring the best people for the job, I do not have a problem with it. If he is hiring cheap replacements and forcing the well paid Americans they will be replacing to train them like the H1-B visa workers are being used by multiple businesses, than I have a problem with it and Ted Cruz is on the record wanting to expand that program. I like Trump’s take on the H1-B issue as outlined in his immigration policy paper:
“We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program,” Trump wrote. “More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program’s lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant, instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.”
BTW, Cruz wants to expand the cheap labor H1-B program even more than Rubio does to 5x. I just cannot get behind that.
With what passes for “higher education” these days, this does not in the least surprise me. But the campaign has barely begun. Give Trump a smashingly successful stint on SNL, and another shot or two on TONIGHT, and many of them will come around.
They are students. We should listen to them.
That’s the unwritten message.
Just regurgitating the indoctrination their professors feed them...
Mass legal immigration - of which H-1B is a non-negligible part - will gut the American middle class and thus the overall economy, and result in a self-perpetuating liberal voting majority that will deepen the threat ro Constitutional governance ... and all of that will threaten our national survival.
Instead of leaning on us to shut up, join us in leaning on Cruz to wise up.
Whatever you say, newbie.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.