...then Don Rickles, err Don Trump
Posted on 02/01/2016 7:25:54 AM PST by shortstop
Donald Trump.
That’s my choice. They’re making a stand in Iowa today, and I want to do the same.
Incredibly, unbelievably, after these months of debates and speeches, it’s Trump. He’s the one. He’s who America needs.
And I think he is going to roll to victory, not just through the primaries, but in the general election as well. He’s going to take it Andrew Jackson style, in a populist rising that is as much about giving the finger to the establishment as it is about backing him.
I started out thinking he was a joke.
Having seen him play the toe-in-the-water game too many times, I thought his pretensions of a campaign were ludicrous. Back then, I wanted Mitt Romney to run again.
But Romney got bluffed by Jeb – and Trump didn’t.
That’s important.
Because the president of the United States can’t be a person who falls for a head fake. Romney got snowed by the Bush dynasty and Trump didn’t.
And then Trump campaigned. Honestly, truly campaigned. Not like anybody else ever has. But very effectively.
In fact, it soon became obvious that, in a sea of political campaigners, Trump was the standout. The giant among midgets. He was thinking and planning two or three moves ahead while his opponents and the press were over in the corner chuckling at him.
But he showed them.
Week after week, poll after poll, the guy all the insiders were laughing at was absolutely kicking their hind ends.
That’s important.
Because a campaign is an audition. How do you do, how do you handle yourself, do you draw people to you? Trump has passed his audition, no other Republican has.
Not that his opponents are lightweights. Probably two or three of them would receive my enthusiastic support under other circumstances. But it’s not just your ideas and your record, it’s how you sell them. It’s how you inspire people to follow you.
And the only Republican able to get any significant traction thus far in the inspire-and-follow category is Trump.
Ben Carson is a great man. His goodness and wisdom are obvious and monumental, and he was my early favorite. But his campaign structure collapsed upon itself, and he only too late was able to modify his far-too-lethargic speaking manner.
Marco Rubio is brilliant, and honestly could be an excellent president of the United States. He is a giant of a man, in many ways, and I hope he ends up Trump’s vice president. But the supposed appeal of his candidacy – young, Latino – never materialized, while the broad-based appeal of Trump has predominated.
Ditto for Chris Christie. Pugnacious and intelligent, with the grit and mind to probably be a very good president, Christie simply never moved the needle.
Rand Paul even, in spite of my disagreement with him about military funding, has mellowed and shown himself to be very strong. He started as shrill and arrogant, but has calmed into an almost professorial role in the campaign. His supporters are not backing a dummy or a no-load, that’s for sure.
Which can’t be said for Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush. Cruz is a poser and Bush is an idiot. I don’t know that I’ve heard a single sincere word come out of the mouth of Ted Cruz; and I am as amazed as everyone else to discover that when we had W, we had the far-smarter brother.
Cruz needs to go back to selling snake oil or whatever else he’s good at, and Bush just needs to disappear.
John Kasich can sit in the corner and mumble to himself about how he saved the world or something back in the days of Reagan. Seldom has a more self-important man graced the political stage.
Which leaves Trump.
And untold numbers of Americans who see in him something they’ve not seen before – somebody speaking their heart and mind. They hear him addressing concerns and priorities that they share.
In many ways, Trump is the Obama of this election. Both rose to electoral prominence vowing vengeance for the aggrieved. “Hope and change†are the exact analogs of “Make America Great Again.†One promised a sea change in one direction, the other promises a sea change in another direction. Both are populists, though one is a socialist and the other is a nationalist.
And both were selling what the people wanted.
And Trump is selling what I want.
I want a president again who will put America first.
And I have complete confidence in his abilities. In fact, I believe that his entire life’s work has prepared him to administer a presidency. The work of the CEO is to assemble and oversee people with subject-matter competence. That is also the work of a president.
CEOs and presidents manage large organizations and make crucial, strategic decisions.
Senators and brain surgeons don’t.
So I’m pretty sure Trump will do just fine.
And I’m pretty sure that his appeal, to folks of every stripe who have lived mostly outside the electoral process, will be a good thing for America.
So, as odd as it may sound, as much as it is going to tick off my wife, I’m for Trump.
There are other great men in the field – and I could embrace a Rubio, Christie, Carson or Romney – but before the first vote is cast, before the bandwagon effect kicks in, I’d like to take my stand.
I’m for Trump.
Because I want to make America great again.
And I believe that arrogant son of a bitch has got the stones to do it.
Bear in mind, before you get into the obligatory personal attacks, I am just posting Bob Lonsberry's daily column. This is not my personal endorsement, either direct or implied. So, I'm not interested in whether you approve or disapprove of my posting of the column. In fact, for what it's worth, I will post a comment made by a Freeper yesterday that I found to be very profound. It is as follows:
Here is my assessment if I were interviewing them for a job in the business world.
Trump: Strong leadership skills. Can get things done, but can I trust that he will get the right things done? He undoubtedly strongly loves the USA. So with reservation, I will offer him the job based on that element of his character. Strong fighter who unabashed love of the USA, I will rely on.
Cruz: I can trust Cruz to do the right things, but would he be effective in a leadership role or will he simply alienate everyone he has to work with? Does he love his political theories or the USA more?
Rubio: Good at sales but not leadership material. He is a born follower, not a leader. Too unprincipled to be an effective leader. Too easily lead by others.
The Dems?
Clinton, arrogantly corrupt, recklessly incompetent, shameless sense of entitlement. Obviously loathes everything that make she USA exceptional. Would find a reason to terminate her employment asap.
Sanders: Rigid ideologue. Incapable of Leadership on any level due to his blind worship of his failed political dogmas. Live is a bubble world where theory trumps reality.
O’Malley: Pretty boy empty suit. Cannot figure out how he got hired for anything in the 1st place.
The rest? Good men and women but not anywhere near Presidential level.
I found this to sum up my current feelings very well. I would accept Trump or Cruz as president quite easily. I'm glad I'm not caucusing Iowa today.
I agree.
I am for Trump for a lot of reasons, but perhaps most of all, because he is for returning jobs to America.
We have sent jobs to other countries for more than one entire generation.
Our corporate elite have built up China, and ignored America.
Donald Trump is the (only) candidate I have heard from in YEARS, who is saying it is time to bring jobs home.
I completely agree. 100%.
GO TRUMP!...HE’S THE ONE!!!
That column will cause fireworks for sure. It points out that our list of candidates, some more than others, are far superior to that the Dems are throwing out there.
...then Don Rickles, err Don Trump
I want a president again who will put America first.”
bears repeating
I’m convinced Trump will end up running 3rd party.
Trump is going to “crash and burn”... wait for it. :-)
I read Rubio as a brilliant GOPe henchman for amnesty. He should be primaried IMO.
I’m for Cruz, but his opinion (and the amendment that he offered to the Gang of eight bill) that legalization could be granted to illegals without a criminal record, but permanently bar them from citizenship is naïve and would eventually be reversed.
As for Trump, his proposal to return all illegals to their parent countries and let the “good ones” return via an “expedited process”, i.e., touchback amnesty, is amnesty nonetheless and won’t minimize the impact of illegal immigration on American jobs.
p.s. The fact that Bob Lonsberry initially supported the return of Mitt Romney tells me a helluva lot.
I dunno, did you hear:
Trump: I could 'shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters'
And he's right, just ask any Trump supporter.
Why would he do that when he's going to be the Republican nominee?
Yeah... I saw that. I’m certain to piss people off, because I’ve said this before...and stuck TO it. But I won’t support him...and I don’t care if he wins the GOP nomination, or goes third party... and I’m not alone either. There are a LOT of people like me in this...and we’re simply not saying very much about it. But that doesn’t change our attitude, nor does it change what we’ll do. :-)
I am any Republican but Trump or Rand Paul. Because neither of them are republicans. Trump is not even a conservative.
If it takes an arrogant son of bitch to get the job done, then so be it.
Do you have ANY IDEA how long it would take for illegals to return here legally ??? A VERY LONG time!!! If he can rid us if half of them I will be VERY HAPPY!!! 500,000 a year on expired visas START THERE!!! when Trump sees how far behind our government is technilogicly there will be hell to pay!!! For someone his age he is VERY tech savvy!!!
I believe the correct quote is:
“They say I have the most loyal people,†Trump said, “where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?â€
Just who is “they”?
You perhaps? His detractors? His opponents who can’t get any traction? People who wish they had loyal supporters?
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