Posted on 10/24/2015 10:06:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
ARE YOU crazy about Barack Obama? Do you fervently hope the next president of the United States will be as similar to the current president as possible?
Then Donald Trump may be the candidate for you.
Of all the candidates running for president, the one who most resembles the incumbent is not Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders or Martin O'Malley. To be sure, the Democrats' policy views largely overlap with Obama's. But when it comes to attitude and self-image, it's Obama and Trump who are birds of a feather.
Everyone knows about Donald Trump's bottomless narcissism; this is a man who has affixed the name "Trump" to everything from hotels to golf courses to cologne. Asked the other day which world leaders he would reach out to upon being elected, Trump replied that he wouldn't need to call anyone: "I think I'd probably have them call me."
But Obama's march to the White House also involved startling displays of self-glorification, from Greek-style columns to a triumphal foreign tour to his own official seal (complete with Latin motto). From the earliest days of his presidency, it was clear that Obama was deeply enamored of himself, and had no doubt that the rest of the planet was just as smitten. "I am well aware," he told the UN General Assembly, "of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world." He gifted the queen of England with an iPod that included his own speeches. Obama's addiction to the first-person singular pronoun — "I," "me," "my" — has been remarked on by many; he has even referred to "my military" and the troops "fighting on my behalf."
Anyone who finds such vanity attractive should relish the prospect of a Trump presidency. Trump, after all, never doubts his own brilliance. He's always the smartest person in the room; just ask him. Sound familiar?
"I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters," Obama told campaign aides in 2008. "I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."
When a presidential candidate talks that way, what could possibly go wrong?
“Actually Obama is driven by hatred of America; Trump by love.”
Correction....Trump by love of Trump.
Another trouble I would have here is then, if Trump is small shakes, what is great shakes and why does it matter.
I agree Trump could stand to come down a few pegs on the pride meter. Not sure where the pride meter stands with respect to other candidates. Maybe Carson would be closest to the ideal humble minded servant.
I still have to come away from this saying that in Trump we probably have the best executive mind available in plausible candidates, if not the best innate ideas.
Very well said
It did? Explain
The Dow was hovering below 1000 in 1970. Today, without counting didends, the Dow is around 16,000.
If 27,000 apartments were worth $400,000,000 in 1970 ($15,000 per unit), keeping pace with the Dow (even while spending all the dividends), would suggest a value of over $60 billion. Even if the units were worth $5000 each in 1970 (in New York??? My parents little house in the outskirts of Maryland was bought for over $30k in 1969.), that would suggest a fortune on $20 billion (even discounting all dividends for 45 years), not two to four billion, or even trump’s mythical $10 billion.
I think it is fair to say that although donnie did well, he’d have done better buying the Dow and leaving it alone. And if he wanted to live off the dividends, he’d do okay ($560 million to $1.7 billion in dividends per year).
You said it.
Everybody has some bent to do that; it’s fallen human, not just Trump. The implied allegation here is however, that he cares so little about America that if push came to shove he would not really want to try to prosper it, like he has prospered his private estate.
Even if pride were his middle name, one could at least ask if he wanted to make America equally proud (at least in his view). He could be a benefactor in that sense without having to wear a gleaming halo.
Making a billion from scratch is a great accomplishment.
Making a billion over 45 years from a capital base of a few hundred million is not.
Hmmm... The size of the egos may be similar, but Trumps is based on actual accomplishments... Not sure how or why the current liar in chief developed his over inflated ego.
Where do you obtain base data on the apartments?
It has to be a naked billion, now, to count?
Thanks Kaslin.
Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to broadcast clarity and truth to overcome the politically-correct confusion and lies of the Left. Should any member of our team be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of our actions. However, we will have great reward in Heaven for glorifying the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ against the darkness of the politically-correct spirit of antichrist.
:)
>> If he could deliver to America half as well as he has done with his private estate <<
I’m going to estimate that the average price of an apartment in NYC these days is around $100,000.
(Manhattan values are, of course, much much higher, maybe by a factor of eight to ten. But the outer boroughs pull the average down. And most of Fred Trump’s holdings were in the outer boroughs.)
Therefore, if you take the 27,000 apartments owned by Fred Trump and multiply by that $80K average value, you come up with about 2.7 billion dollars — which is very close to what Forbes and others say is the real value of Donald’s current net worth.
Another approach would be to take Don’s estimated annual cash flow of 300 to 400 million, and multiply by the real estate industry’s commonly used figure of ten.
So, at a 10% cash flow rate of return, the current Trump empire could be estimated at three to four billion — which is still close to my updated valuation of Fred’s holdings.
(Don’s net worth is nowhere near the ten or so billion that one often sees bandied about. That figure includes a self-proclaimed value for the Trump “brand” — something that can’t be traded and most of which which would instantly disappear if Don left the business.)
I didn’t realize the author is a politician and is running for office. How do you know he is for open borders?
Obama got groomed to be a great liberal something or other. All that would be needed is to keep him sweet talking himself about nothing at all.
0bama has had exactly one real job in his life. He scooped ice cream for a few weeks one summer. He stole from his employer while he was there, giving free ice cream to friends.
Donald Trump has had more jobs than that.
And where is your proof?
Even looking at the paper, this is a world where things go south a lot more easily than they go north. What had to be spent on the apartments?
>> Someone has to actually get around to all the executive things <<
Agreed. Somebody’s gotta do it. After BHO gets marching orders from Valerie and Michelle, he executes the hell out of his instructions, except when he feels like a round on the gold course or at the basketball court — at which point I guess goofy Uncle Joe is always available for duty.
Their politics? No.
Their business savvy? Oh yeah.
Just as I admire trump’s limited business success.
But for the first 65 years of his life, his politics were as execrable as Buffett’s.
While it is remotely possible that his “conversion” is real, if it is, though admirable, he is a neophyte conservative. He would need years of seasoning, and service in lower offices, to be fit for the office of president.
After all, President Reagan was a conservative for over twenty years a Republican activist for twenty years, and a two-term governor of California before becoming president.
Even Gov. Romney was governor of Massachusetts when he ran for president. trump is not even as qualified as Romney.
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