Posted on 05/08/2016 2:51:54 PM PDT by poconopundit
My FRiends, congratulations to Mr. Trump on his pending Republican nomination! And what better way to celebrate than to compare Trump with the so-called "First American" and Founding Father, Ben Franklin.
On Google Images, I ran across an amusing New York Magazine portrait of Trump wearing an 18th century hair style. Then, shortly thereafter I found the splendid painting of Ben Franklin by David Martin. I said: "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to GIMP those images together?" so Trump and Old Ben could sit together at the same table and shoot the breeze.
For the story, I searched Wikipedia and Wikiquote, and cataloged a few parallels between the lives of Franklin and Trump.
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Was Trump inspired by the life of Ben Franklin? I have no idea. But it's intriguing that the famous sculpture of Franklin in Washington DC stands in front of the Old Post Office, the iconic building the Trump Organization is renovating and turning into its luxury hotel.
Masters of Many Trades
Both Trump and Franklin are known for their diverse accomplishments in many fields.
Franklin was a leading author, entrepreneur, scientist, inventor, and statesman. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove.
As deputy postmaster of the British North America postal service, Franklin reorganized the service's accounting system, then improved speed of delivery between Philadelphia, New York and Boston. By 1761, efficiencies led to the first profits for the colonial post office. Later on, the Constitutional Congress appointed him as the first postmaster of the US Post Office, the 18th century's equivalent of the internet.
Trump, likewise, has succeeded in many business ventures: hotels, apartments, beauty pageants, wine, golf courses, and television/mass media.
Media pundits are fond of telling us how "inexperienced" Trump is in politics, but if government is about making deals, then imagine the challenge of getting the approvals and financing needed to build skyscrapers in New York City! That's a monumental political challenge.
Truth is: the pace of business change is probably ten times faster than it is in government. Business is a juggling act, for it requires: hiring the right people, keeping them motivated, putting a lid on costs, financing growth, covering your risks, and moving to new opportunities as you milk yesterday's cash cows.
Business competence like that is mostly alien territory for politicians groomed to give speeches and negotiate 1,500 page laws like the ObamaCare bill. So if Trump gets elected, expect a culture clash as the slow, bloated federal government is prodded by an entrepreneur who knows the value of flexible strategies, customer responsiveness, quick action, and lean operations.
And consider this: there's no bigger organization in America than the US federal government which employs 4.1 million people. The second biggest, Walmart, by comparison, employs 1.2 million US workers [2010]. |
Parallels between Franklin's and Trump's Lives
Besides the similarities already mentioned, here are some other interesting parallels I found:
Franklin's 13 VirtuesFranklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice it in some form for the rest of his life. And apparently he tried to tackle these virtues one at a time. He wrote in his Autobiography: "I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit [of these virtues]."
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Trump's Business Principles
Trump's business self-improvement tips are contained in the "Trump Cards" chapter of his Art of the Deal book.
Below is a snapshot of those business success principles. And, for a slightly analysis of it, see my FR article entitled Trump: From Art of the Deal and Art of the Campaign. |
Hope you enjoy reading about the parallels in the lives of two great businessman patriots.
Very interesting article. Thank you for posting it.
And for people who haven’t voted in a primary yet, just remember, it is not over! Who knows what the Republicans are plotting? We need to get him to 1237! New Jerseyeans, I mean you!!!
Both Franklin and Trump are quintessential Americans. However, Trump will pass up Franklin once he becomes president. And if Trump restores the nation, he will end up on the $1,000 bill while Franklin remains on those Benjamin $100 bills.
They are almost alike in so many ways...
Thank you!!!
People don't forget to vote:
California; Oregon; Washington; Montana; South Dakota; New Mexico; New Jersey; West Virginia...
We need Trump to be way over the 1237 delegate count so they can't take this away from him our us...
Good read. Well done! :)
Thanks, I needed the laugh.
I lived for a couple years in Kailua when I was served at the Kaneohe Marine base. Love that liquid sunshine :-)
Thanks for the ping PP. True, at first glance the two have a good many similarities. And if Ben rather than George Washington had been elected first president what would now be different in the way our country is seen (if anything).
Looks like another storm coming thru. Signing off for now.
The Virtue of Frugality is worth mentioning, since the anti-Trump crowd loved to call him a “cheapskate” when it came to buying TV ads, etc but in fact we now see Trump has reinvented how the “ground game” is played, relying on social media and free news coverage by being the thought-leader who dominated every news cycle. To borrow Linda Grahams horrible example, if they shot Ted Cruz on the Senate floor...the news channels would be talking about Trump calling some poor protestor a naughty name.
Some one here, I forgot who, compared Trump to the Biblical judge Sampson.
They both have notable hair
Neither drink alcohol
Both chased foreign women
Neither respond well to insults
Both are patriots who put their nation first
Both are men of direct action
Both are somewhat crude
Both wanted to get rid of Philistine invaders
Trump is the only one who can pull us back from the edge of falling into the dark abyss!
Terrific job. A tad sycophantic perhaps, but otherwise near perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Owning to my Navy service in late 1970s and early 1980s, I traveled around Asia, saw Hong Kong in that previous era and lived in Japan where I met my wife. Still stay connected to Japan through NHK satellite. My daughter studied in Taiwan and Beijing and learned to speak Mandarin fairly well.
I always found Alan Watts to have a compelling view of philosophy and religion in Asia. I'm sure if Watts was alive today he would laugh hilariously at Trump's schooling of the politically correct.
I suppose the price of perfection is time. Given enough time, any story can be trimmed of the non-essential and poor word choice can be substituted with something better.
But I notice that when I near finishing one of these FR vanities, I don't have the patience to edit it rigorously so I end up posting some foolish errors. Too bad, you can't correct the errors on FR. Then again, if you could, maybe I could never finish it :-)
Trump's 5th "Art of the Deal" Principle explains a lot.
Thanks for the blast.....great info and very inspiring
Two California Republican primary votes for Trump in June, pedal to the metal until he's got the nomination.
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