Posted on 08/03/2015 11:13:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Is Donald Trump the real deal, or will his presidential quest end up more like that of Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan?
My guess is that by the end of the day, The Donald will be a footnote in the 2016 presidential race, done in by his own hubris or some long-buried scandal that you know the national media is working furiously to uncover (or invent).
But until that day comes, he certainly is entertaining, and in many ways even refreshing.
The refreshing part about Trump is his completely unscripted answers to reporters’ questions. In the business of politics, the responses given by most candidates are poll-tested to the point of blandness. The rule they follow is like the Hippocratic Oath followed by doctors – first, do no harm.
Trump, on the other hand, is harm waiting to happen. He says Saudi Arabia “without us” is gone. He says Mexican border crossers are killers and rapists. He says John McCain is not a war hero.
McCain not a war hero? How dare he breathe such heresy? Why, even McCain’s harshest political opponents acknowledge his sacrifice and bravery as a prisoner of war.
Not Trump. Oh, he attempted to back off slightly from his criticism, but his comment, “I like people who weren’t captured” is what lingers. The only reason there wasn’t more blowback is that McCain has never been a particular favorite of Republicans, or especially conservatives, despite being the last man standing after the bruising 2008 GOP primary.
Conservatives have never trusted McCain and have viewed him as a limelight seeker who never hesitated to change his position or buck his own party if doing so helped make him a media darling. So the voters that matter most to Trump right now – conservatives – largely gave him a pass on his McCain comments.
Many conservatives are also willing, so far, to give Trump a pass despite the fact that over the years his political allegiances have waffled. He has donated both to Republicans and Democratic candidates, but the fact is that most smart business people contribute to both parties on a regular basis, regardless of their own personal philosophies. Policies or particular votes that help their bottom lines can come from either party.
Running for president of the United States is the next logical step in the progression of Trump’s ego-driven life. Do not take “ego-driven” as a particular criticism. Everyone running for president is ego-driven. It takes a special combination of confidence, arrogance and ego to believe that you, out of 320 million Americans, are uniquely qualified to be president.
No slouch in the ego department is Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who first decided 15 years ago that he wanted to be president, until the reality of no name identification and no funding led him to reluctantly drop out before the first straw poll in Iowa. His run for the Oval Office this time is a little more reasonable, and in fact he would probably be a good president.
Donald Trump took over a real estate business founded by his father and continued to grow it, not only building his own edifices but also renting out his name for other structures. He wrote a bestseller in 1987 called “The Art of the Deal,” then went bankrupt, then came back, then wrote more books, including “The Art of the Comeback.”
Craving more attention, he signed on to host “The Apprentice,’ a television show which saw contestants vie to run one of Trump’s companies, and made Trump’s “you’re fired” a catchphrase that he tried to trademark. In recent years, the show morphed into “Celebrity Apprentice,” naturally.
On Thursday night, the first formal debate, televised by Fox News, will be held among viable candidates for the GOP nomination, viability determined by the top 10 candidates in a combination of national polls. Trump is at the top of the field in many polls, and will be on stage for the main event. (He said he was skipping a Monday night lower-key Iowa forum airing on C-SPAN.)
Depending on how much time he is allotted among the other contenders, Trump should shine at the debate. Debates with multiple participants do not lend themselves to a requirement that contestants – er, candidates – necessarily answer the questions that are asked.
Trump is adept at deflecting questions that he may not be comfortable answering in-depth, and he can instead steer quickly into more familiar territory without anyone having the time necessary to demand more from him.
But his involvement is certainly entertaining, and for me that is a major bonus. It’s always fun to watch someone enter the political fray who doesn’t have the typical political background, doesn’t play by the rules, seems to march to his own drummer and rattles the old guard and many in the media, not to mention all the entitled politicians who get mad because he’s even there. How dare he?
It is a fairly safe bet that The Donald will not last beyond a few more weeks. Trump’s trajectory seems too much like that of a comet, streaking fast, burning brightly, then quickly falling from view. The GOP nominee doing battle next fall with Hillary Clinton – and Hillary will be the Democratic nominee — is likely to be Jeb Bush, Scott Walker or Marco Rubio. Trump could always launch a third-party run, but such candidacies always end up as losing sideshows.
But as in sports, there’s a reason they play the game, no matter what the odds are going in. Upsets happen, although they happen a lot more often in sports than in politics, where the spotlight tends to weed the substantive from the blowhards over time.
Trump will be fun to watch in the short term because he is such an entertaining blowhard, which is enough to keep him sailing for now. Whether he is around for us to watch when next year rolls around depends on whether there’s any substance behind the sails.
Here we have another wishful thinker. The writer has NO idea or understanding of how much our country has already been damaged, or what it will take to make America great again.
Instead we get more idle speculation on "will he or won't he" run?
Perhaps the question ought be: “Should we take the Delaware Gazette seriously?”
I’m starting to think people will be asking “will he last?” on that sunny day of Trumps inauguration. I do think at some point,he will slightly receed. It won’t surprise me if Donald takes a month or two completely off, staying only barely in the news. This will shock his friends and delight his enemies, as they will think he’s gotten bored and gotten out of the race. Donald can make his own rules, and is now popular enough to survive a well deserved hiatus. I don’t see how he does it now, being on seven days a week.
I have a c-note to put down on the Donald to WIN, what’s the book at?
Rove and the beltway boys are freaked out by the Donald. He just won’t play the silly political games. He doesn’t need there money and if you hit him he hits you back 5X or 10X harder. So what are the criminals in D.C. to do?
Cruz/Trump 2016 would be good—even Trump/Cruz. hillary will not get the nod from the Progressives. They will run Biden/Kerry . Hillary is sinking fast.
Assume a third party candidate, who at least SEEMED to be more conservative than the republican, showed 30% in the polls and the republican showed 30%, leaving Hillary with the other 40%. It would be smart for the conservative republican voters to vote for the third party guy. Instead, they’ll stick with their gopE man and give the election to Hillary. So, who’s the stupid voter?
The WH was already turned into a hotel by Clinton. There’s no telling how much money he got from renting out the Lincoln Bedroom. Not to mention AF One. And the republicans did squat.
I thought Jon Stewart was a *journalist*. ;(
Obviously Trump’s campaign is not only doomed to failure but it is doomed to an early failure.
Otherwise, the media and its army of know-it-alls will turn out to be wrong.
And we all know that could never happen.
“What is it with this Jeb Bush or Rubio nonsense? Do you know anyone who would walk through a hailstorm to vote for either one of them? I would do so to vote for Ted Cruz and I’m sure there are Walker and Trump followers here who’d do the same for their candidate. But John Ellis Bush? Marco Rubio?”
quote of the day
the nexus of this nonsense is Florida
I can state as a fact that this has come down from the State chairman to each county chairman
Cruz would be perfect for AG...and eventually the USSC. President...a couple things missing....experience and wisdom.
The media needs to give up on their Rubio wet dream. He is sinking into Pawlenty territory.
“Another stupid saying - at the end of the day”.
I agree. It’s in my words/expressions to avoid list.
That said, Trump certainly deserves to be taken seriously.
The next year will be interesting -I figure that we will have a better developed picture around March and can't make any assumptions at least until then.
In the meantime: GO CRUZ!!!! He gets my donations until he stops asking for them.
Donald Trump didn’t enslave you…
Politicians from both sides of the aisle should be locked up in prison for financial crimes against the citizens of the republic.
THEY DID build this…enslaving us, our children and grandchildren…
All assets should be seized.
—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder. - The Law; Bastiat
6. But the grand nostrum will be a public debt…
7. It must not be forgotten that the members of the legislative body are to have a deep stake in the game…
Rules for Changing a Limited Republican Government into an Unlimited Hereditary One…
11. As soon as sufficient progress in the intended change shall have been made, and the public mind duly prepared according to the rules already laid down, it will be proper to venture on another and a bolder step toward a removal of the constitutional landmarks…
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/freneau/republic2monarchy.htm
Debates in the House of Representatives on the First Report on Public Credit 9–18 February 1790
James Jackson (Ga.)
But it is doubted with me whether a permanent funded debt is beneficial or not to any country.
The same effect must be produced that has taken place in other nations; it must either bring on a national bankruptcy or annihilate her existence as an independent empire. Hence I contend, sir, that a funding system, in this country, will be highly dangerous to the welfare of the republic; it may, for a moment, raise our credit and increase the circulation, by multiplying a new species of currency; but it must, in times afterward, settle upon our posterity a burthen which they can neither bear nor relieve themselves from. It will establish a precedent in America that may, and in all probability will, be pursued by the sovereign authority until it brings upon us that ruin which it has never failed to bring, or is inevitably bringing, upon all the nations of the earth who have had the temerity to make the experiment.
http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/875
Cruz has a well established infrastructure for the campaign across the USA. He’s been building it for years now. Trump has the momentum and carries a strong message. What Trump does not have is the people in place that Cruz has already established. Joining with Cruz makes simple business sense from a merger perspective.
The best thing about having him out there is that the press is incapable of ignoring him because he really knows exactly how to make "good copy". I'm hoping that a candidate like Cruz or Walker is able to eventually eclipse him, but considering the way our media is today, and the depravity to which they've fallen, I really am not as hopeful as I was earlier in the year.
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