Posted on 04/20/2011 1:33:10 PM PDT by Notary Sojac
If one were drawing up a list of Donald Trumps first principles of business, Fake it Til You Make It would probably be at the top.
One of the young Trumps more clever business tactics involved hiring workers and machines to push dirt around his frequently stalled or underfunded real-estate developments to present visiting potential investors with the illusion of industry. And he has developed a long-running reflex to offer unsolicited and largely unverifiable assessments of the strength and virility of his portfolio to anybody who will listen, perhaps in an effort to erase memories of the four (and counting) bankruptcies to which he was a party.
This habit of projecting the appearance of success is on full display in the Donalds sideshow flirtation with a Republican presidential bid. Just as he did with his ultimately doomed 2000 Reform Party bid, Trump appears to have shrewdly taken stock of the political moment, identifying the most passionate cross-section of voters in the American electorate and undertaking a media blitzkrieg to convince them that hes one of them. Most cynically he has taken on the Birther mantle, going further than any contender in questioning the circumstances of the presidents birth, and making the (again unverified) claim that he has dispatched gumshoes to Hawaii to investigate. With an underwhelming, wide-open GOP field and a starting advantage in name-recognition, Trump has even been able to catch some early polling momentum, and has assured us that he knows many people at the White House who say he is the last person [President Obama] wants to run against.
In other words, Fake It Til You Make It. But make no mistake, conservatives, Donald Trump is not one of you. Dont believe it? Listen to the man.
Abortion
Trump says he has found the light on abortion, and now describes himself as ardently pro-life. But it wasnt always so. He told Fox News in 1999 Im totally pro-choice, And later that year told the Associated Press he believed abortion was a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors. And even his newfound respect for life is undermined by a naïve view of the Constitution: When NBCs Savannah Guthrie asked Trump on April 19 whether he thought there was a right to privacy in the Constitution, Trump replied: I guess there is, I guess there is. And why, just out of curiosity, why do you ask that question?
Health Care
Though he now advocates repeal of Obamacare, the Trump of yesteryear was, by his own admission, very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care, he told Larry King in October of 1999. In The America We Deserve Trump advocated government-administered exchanges that would be the equivalent of single-payer. He said that while working out detailed plans will take time . . . the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal health care.
Taxes
The last time he considered a presidential run, Trump advocated a one-time, 14.25 percent tax on the net worth of all individuals and estates worth over $10 million. The levy, he said at the time, would have raised $5.7 trillion which he would have used to eliminate (!) the national debt and shore up the Social Security trust fund. Trump rejected the notion that the soak would hurt the economy, predicting a 35 percent boost in economic activity as a result of eliminating the debt. It would not be a shock to the system, he said. Trump stands by his plan as the right solution for the times, telling a reporter in Florida It would have been a beautiful thing to do. But the world is different.
Bailouts
Think Trump is a champion of laissez-faire? Think again. In 2008 he told Neil Cavuto that we couldnt let any of the Big Three auto companies fail. I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent, he said. You cannot lose the auto companies.
Missile Defense
In The America We Deserve, Trump advocated diverting money from nascent missile-defense technology. The question isnt whether or not such a defense can be built, he wrote. The question is whether it is the right defense for our times. And I believe the answer is, largely, no.
Gun Rights
Though Trump writes that he is generally opposed to gun control, he also says he supports a ban on assault weapons and lengthening the waiting period required before purchasing a handgun.
Eminent Domain
The Supreme Courts 2005 Kelo decision construes the Fifth Amendment to allow governments to force property owners off their land if a new tenant would mean increased tax revenue. Trump has more than once teamed up with municipalities in an attempt to gut property rights, most egregiously to push an elderly widow off the Atlantic City property shed owned for 30 years, and which Trump wanted to turn into a limousine parking lot. It should be no surprise, then, that Trump told Neil Cavuto that he agrees with Kelo 100 percent.
Bush and Obama
In a TV interview shortly after the 2008 presidential election, at the height of Obama euphoria, Trump lavished praise on the president-elect and slammed outgoing President Bush as evil. I think he has a chance to go down as a great president, Trump said of Obama. I think hes going to lead through consensus. Bush, by contrast, he described as maybe the worst president in the history of this country, who was so incompetent, so bad, [and] so evil.
Family
The twice-divorced Trump reflects on his marriage to first wife Ivana in Surviving at the Top, published in 1990, expressing regret that he didnt divorce sooner. Why had I hung in there so long when things were just not what they should have been? he asked. Its very uncharacteristic of me to act that way; Im not one to let problems fester. Trump also admitted to briefly considering an open marriage arrangement, before deciding it was too tawdry.
Economic Protectionism
In 1999, with free trade enjoying the support of a vast coalition of mainstream liberals and conservatives, Trump sided with the Buchanans and Naders of the world in continued opposition to NAFTA. The reason NAFTA looks okay now, Trump told Larry King, is because the economy is strong, but when the economy is not strong, which, unfortunately, will at some point happen, NAFTA is going to look like a disaster.
To this day Trump supports economic protectionism vis-à-vis China. In a Fox News interview from April of this year, Trump repeated his advocacy of a 25 percent tariff on Chinese imports, and said hed love to have a trade war with China.
So far, this "going after hammer and tongs" is 100% jaw music.
Feel free to bookmark this post. If Trump's team of gumshoes comes up with undeniable proof that Obama is ineligible for the presidency, I'll gladly apologize to you and to him.
But I'll still never vote for him.
Notary, just for the records, do you own a business???
That quote was plagiarized. It was John Maynard Keynes who once observed, “If you owe your banker a hundred pounds, you’re at his mercy. If you owe him a million pounds, he’s at your mercy.”
Putting on a show to encourage people into a sale is actually the epitomy of a good politician. Are you trying to somehow diminish the FACT that Trump is one of the most financially successful, brilliant businessmen and negotiators who ever lived? Can any temporary setback or failure he met along the way, but overcame with confidence, grit and ability, and then go on to massive success possibly harm this guy? Methinks not. It shows he can take a loss and turn it into a monumental gain. So it's actually a wonderful display of the man's grit and confidence, as well as his pure ability to build and rebuild. And rebuilding is exactly what America requires today. So the bankruptcies are actually in his favor. Nobody's perfect, but what you have written here doesn't diminish Donald Trump's enormously successful life one iota.
Would you rather the originator of ObamaCare, Mitt Romney, get the nomination? Or perhaps Hucklebee the Preacher? Maybe Ron Paul the radical, anti-war 'libertarian'? Bobby Jindal is too young and inexperienced, still in his thirties, and cannot really stand up to Obama in a head-to-head debate, (at least not YET, maybe in the future). Or Sarah Palin, the woman with a good and strong heart, a great set of convictions, but with an utterly unPresidential style, scant credentials to be US President and world leader, zero ability to make converts of her detractors, and who possesses a high pitched, whiney, girlish voice that is more painful to listen to than a fingernail being scratched on a chalkboard? We have a few good ones, like Chris Christi, but he has far too many liberal leanings, (study his positions). Newt Gingrich? Please!!!
Paul Ryan is wonderful, but he too lacks the lustre, experience and exuberence that will be needed to defeat Obama, (who will be raising ONE BILLION DOLLARS, has some of the best hit men in political history, will get millions of fraudulent votes, and has an adoring media behind him). Rick Santorum is a possibility, and so is Rick Santelli, but none of them will be able to stand face-to-face, and trade blow-for-blow with Obama, and have the same ability to make Obambi look like the shallow boy he actually is, like Donald Trump could do.
Don't forget, Trump is a steel-strong man who doesn't bend or break, and he possesses a Presence that will prove to be greater than Obama's when they meet face to face in debate. He is older and wiser than Obama, and in any debate will withstand Obama's condescending arrogance and throw it, AND OBAMA'S FAILURES, right back in his face. And he'll do it strongly and confidently, WITH the innate confidence of a Reagan, and he'll be dismissive of Obama's cheap shots and wave him away like a fly. I believe he will make Obama look bad in any debate, he's like an "immoveable object" and he won't wither under Hussein's venom; instead he'll show Obama to be a fraud.
Trump's knowledge of all things financial is far superior to the faker Obama's. He will say he took a bankruptcy and turned it into one of the greatest fortunes in US history; while Obama took over an economy that was struggling and went on to BANKRUPT AMERICA and "hasn't done a damn thing to rebuild it yet".
Look, we need a man who loves America to beat Obama, who hates America, not some perfect resurrection of Ronald Reagan, which ain't gonna happen. But we don't need RR to beat Obama, Obama's horrendous record and his condescending mannerism to the American people will be self-defeating, if he goes up against a man like Trump.
:o) When we were yoiung we called them hm hm holders.
Lessee here... I'm an FSU Seminoles fan, I own a 36 year old airplane, I build all my own computers, and my favorite soft drink is an ice cold Dr. Pepper.
How about you??
Bragging that he's pro choice, anti-Second Amendment, wants far more gun control than we have now, and insists that we need socialized health care?
I'd certainly hope so.
But I'll still never vote for him.
BINGO, you just gave yourself away, which I suspected from the beginning!
That you believe that Barry Soetoro is eligible to be the p-RESIDENT of the Whit-Hut!!
And that you are voting for him as well. Actually you just told us a little about yourself that I have asked you about, hmmm!!!
Keep dissing the Donald, and you’ll end up with a Huckamneylenty as your perfect candidate!
AMEN!.............I think I love you.
I will vote for Madoff / Vandersloot in 2012 if that is what it taes to get muBarak ot of office.
You can go to my profile page, that’s all, pal. Probably those one third of Freepers you are chastising most likely also tells a little about themselves by having filled out the profile page and not being total anonymous. But I see you don’t own a business!!!
Trump said something on Hannity, or another radio show, recently. He said that if he runs he knows his finances will be scrutinezed, and that "the American people will be surprized to find out that he has far more money than anyone thought". If this weren't true he would never utter such words, not with the IRS and the blood thirsty media listening.
What conservatives are forgetting is that we don't need Donald Trump to be the second coming of R.R., or even the most conservative Republican candidate. What we NEED is a Republican who loves America who will defeat Obama, who hates America and is destroying it. If all Trump can do for four years is right our economic troubles, that's all we need for now. After that we can look to putting a deeply conservative candidate in the WH, if we think Trump isn't conservative enough. But personally, while I believe Trump probably isn't deeply conservative as I'd like him to be, I do believe he will do the will of the American people once elected. When the Republican and conservative base, (such as the Tea Party and others), stand up and demand something of him because they believe they think he's failed them on some conservative issue, I think he will listen and comply, if we speak loud enough, (as we did last November). Beating Obama is all that matters now, having him in the White House is like having Vladimir Putin there.
I don't see any vulgarity language, personal attack or other FR's rule violation here, do you!!!
Please see my #54. We need to defeat Obama, which is possible, not resurrect Ronald Reagan, which is impossible.
If you are suggesting that anyone, no matter how much a RINO, is better than Obama, I can respect that as a reasonable position.
See also post 41 vs. 48, hmmm!!!
You just contradicted yourself big time with post 41!!!
Can someone explain why it’s ok for people to push The Donald on this site but Rodney is off limits? Where is the consistency in that? Neither one is conservative.
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