Posted on 07/02/2015 4:36:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
I can’t believe it’s come to this – I’m about to defend Donald Trump. It’s not that I have anything against Donald Trump, but I don’t have anything for him either.
Unlike many of my fellow conservatives, I haven’t completely negated his chances of winning already. Many have written him off as a clown show in the race only for publicity, or a non-serious person working some angle for his own benefit. He may well be, but unless and until he shows that, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
That’s not to say I support him, I’m just resisting the urge to dismiss him until he deserves to be dismissed. That may be tomorrow. Or it may never happen. The same is true for all of the declared candidates at this point.
None have offered specifics of their vision for the country, only a 30,000-foot sketch and platitudes. Having interviewed and had private conversations with several of them, I’ve been impressed and depressed by their answers. But we’re a half-year away from the first vote being cast, so they have time to get up to speed and fill in the gaps, or they will lose (and deserve to).
Trump, on the other hand, has been dismissed by media and the Republican establishment for his “unartful” language. That, to me, is his most intriguing characteristic.
I’ve been a fan of his TV show, less so of his political history. Someone who donated to so many Democrats, and was a registered one until 2009, has a lot of explaining to do. And while I suspect it has to do with the cost of doing business, especially in New York, I’m going to keep my guard up.
But I’m not going to write him off.
The most appealing part of Trump to me is what has the media and the establishment in a tizzy – his blunt, bordering on crass, language.
When liberals wet themselves with outrage over Trump’s announcement comments on immigration, I shrugged. Nothing he said was wrong. They just didn’t like the way he said it, and they hated that he said it. The GOP establishment quickly fell in line, panicking over the comments. But note how they argued semantics, word choices (or omission), more than they did the substance.
Does the liberal media and Republican establishment really believe Latin America is experiencing an exodus of its best and brightest? Are the waves of illegal aliens flooding the southern border Ph.D.s with venture capital seed money walking into the United States to found their tech start-up? Or are they low- and no-skilled workers who are barely literate in their native tongue coming here to be hired by companies willing to break the law to avoid the added administrative, labor and tax cost of hiring Americans?
As for the “criminal” aspect of his statement, one need only conduct an Internet search to find the disturbing truth about that. You won’t read about it in the New York Times or Washington Post, and it won’t be covered on the nightly news. But finding cases of illegal immigrants committing violent crimes are far more common than anything that drives masses of unshowered activists into the streets.
So it really comes down to these people, the media leftists and GOP establishment, not liking what Trump says and how he says it. The left wants future voters dependent on government; the establishment wants the cheap labor, unburdened by payroll taxes or workman’s comp costs. The Chamber of Commerce, or as we called it when I worked in the U.S. Senate, the Chamber of Compromise, couldn’t have scripted it better itself.
Donald Trump is a lot of things, both good and bad, but one thing he is not is stupid. Yes, he was born into money, but he didn’t rest on it. He could’ve lived the life of a Hilton or Kardashian, but he chose not to. He built an empire. And you don’t build an empire without pissing off some people, especially in New York. So what?
We aren’t electing Miss Congeniality; we’re electing a president. Trump’s unapologetic embrace of success, and especially capitalism, is a much-needed trait in America today. The left has been demonizing success, in business anyway, for decades.
Republicans have fallen into this trap, expressing concern and offering plans to address “income inequality” rather than telling people to work their asses off if they want to get ahead, to take risks if they want rewards, and to deal with the consequences of their actions. Trump does that.
You don’t see him slouching around in cargo shorts and faded T-shirts trying to pretend he’ “just like you.” He’s not. He’s worth $9 billion and you aren’t and probably never will be. But you could be.
Trump is a loose cannon, and whether he has the discipline to learn the issues beyond the 30,000-foot level remains to be seen. But he has the skills to. It’s foolish to write him off already, and mostly done from a place of cowardice or discomfort with him being so blunt. For all their bluster, the GOP establishment has adopted the same position as NBC, Univision and Macy’s have. Well, GOP establishment, I don’t watch NBC anymore, never watched Univision and have no use for Macy’s…
I’m not sure where Donald Trump will end up in the field. He can stick around as long as he wants because he doesn’t need to beg for money to finance his campaign. But no matter how long he lasts, if he doesn’t win I do hope his attitude when it comes to dealing with the media and those who attack him rubs off on whoever eventually wins. If you thought the media was tough on Republican nominees in the past, you ain’t seen nothing like what the Clinton machine is ready and willing to do.
Yeah, Trump started learning to be a conservative in 2009 - until then he was a big fan boy of Obama. I’m sorry, that’s not what we need to champion conservatism.....
I see you raised the hackles of moron number 2 - I’ll sit back and watch you deconstruct his idiocy.....
Trump is most certainly not a social conservative, but he could very well make American safe for social conservatives again.
I will not shut up.
America one generation ago, had the finest manufacturing base on the entire planet.
Now we’re number two, that is rapidly getting worse, the largest exporting country is communist, doesn’t allow American immigration, doesn’t allow American ownership except as a minority partner, they have four or five times our population, and now manufactures virtually everything we buy right here.
I’m sorry but that is true. America sold out one generation ago, both sides have sold out, and we need to bring back American manufacturing.
That is just true.
You would not have voted for Reagan because he was a democrat?
Donald Trump is a combination of P.T. Barnum and J.P. Morgan, with a little Ross Perot mixed in.
I did’t say shut up you moron...I said shut up OR attempt to answer why. YOu’ve never ever made a “why” connection in a single post in your life. Start today.
WHY - or shut up. If you don’t know why, then you damned sure can never know HOW to fix it. WHY or STFU.
Sounds like a dailykos circle jerk in here. You guys are pathetic with your name calling and insults. What candidates are you supporting?
You are on the wrong side.
Big time.
Nailed it. I could literally give Trump more detailed information on these people that would shock Americans.
I’ll stand with all the great conservative economists in world history.
You stand with Bernie Sanders and union thugs.
And btw, you gutless little girlie boy, you havent yet attempted to answer WHY. You can’t. You are not capable. Admit it.
How about you doing some work you lazy POS. Post how much local taxes manufactures pay to local government in both Mexico and China. Lets talk regulation costs too. Then we can have a discussion.
Each time Trump is shunned, or dropped or boycotted.....ie NBC, Univision, whatever.... I think. ‘this is it, he will back down’
..but he doesn’t
Now deBlasio wants to excommunicate him from New York.....
Either the Donald is the real deal with a fire in his belly....
Or a bridge too far will hit him.....and we lose our knight at the tip of the spear
(I like to mix my metaphors)
I want him to press on....I hope he does!
This is a long standing battle, my attempts to get CNN to ever try and figure out "why" something is happening. You are free to enjoy it, or butt the hell out if you don't like it. And this is not about candidates per se...this is about ideas, the "why " something is broken, not a fan boi attraction to who. You apparently are a shallow personality thinker and not interested in ideas. If you were, you wouldn't have immediately gone to who?
I’ll leave you to the morons.....the one that’s totally clueless, and the bitter angry one who is full of little factoids and has no idea how to analyze them.
oops, 35 was to you...
Right now there is a 6% difference in manufacturing in China vs "The West". The West includes really expense places to manufacture like Germany
Use this as ammo against the Free Traitors that pollute this place. For that 6% savings we get closed factories, social unrest and poor quality - what a bargain.
Talking to yourself again?
Well, I'm one of the morons.
OF COURSE there are American reasons for it. Unions, regulations, taxes are all American reasons for it.
So what?
An America where 93 million of your American brothers and sisters have no work will become Brazil. Actually, it will become worse than Brazil, because the police won't be wiping out thugs and their offspring and we will not close the border to ameliorate the drug trade.
I live in a town with two (recently) empty factories and a new heroin problem. These things are related.
The factory owners didn't "send those jobs overseas", not exactly. The buyers for Wal-Mart who replaced the merchandise with clothes from Bangladesh did that.
When you come right down to it, though, I have zero interest in the fate of Bangladeshis and a very significant interest in the fate of my neighbors, which at the end of the day is really self-interest.
I used to be passionate about how unions had too much political power. I'm still passionate about the unconstitutional regulatory state.
But, unlike some here, I'm not willing to destroy my country in order to get even with this things.
America is still, to some degree, self-governing. If the result of this is the Wagner Act and the Clean Water Act, I prefer it to the devastation that results from "free trade".
Mr. Wright, I really enjoyed your book WTF.
Then you are not one of the morons. You have proven it with that statement, a statement that the two morons have never ever bothered to even consider, let alone post.
You and I may ultimately disagree, but you have at least stated a very correct premise. You are running afoul of every great conservative economist in history with your final solution however.
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