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?
Even being able to keep America from getting into a bigger hole would be something good. To keep it from shooting itself in the foot.
Trump would be a lot less likely to say “we need a new federal agency to do thus and such” than a lot of his rivals. Leaner swarms of offices doesn’t mean as much as reducing the number of offices themselves.
So let us assume for sake of argument Trump is only rightly able to brag about not wasting. That alone would be a colossal achievement in Washington.
Make a counter-argument, not just an empty assertion.
Donald Trump and Barack H. Obama could not be more different. More GOPe vitriol to attempt to destroy the only candidate that has a chance of winning the general election and actually effecting some change for the good.
“He’s taken a large fortune and preserved it, at a rate seemingly better than the rate of inflation. That is admirable. But he’s not a “self-made billionaire.”
You’re getting awfully close to the “you didn’t build that” meme.
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Agreed! AND considering there were five Trump children to inherit, one source says Trump received 35 Million at the death of his father. Another suggests “up to 200 Million.” Either way, that is a long way from Ten or so BILLION.
Like the students of Trump "University"?
Caveat emptor applies both to businessmen and to politicians.
>> What had to be spent on the apartments? <<
I own apartments. I usually can finance maintenance and upgrades from the cash flow, with an occasional “bridge” loan from my friendly banker. Not a big deal.
He isn’t “converting to conservatism” nearly as much as he is converting to the idea of a deal with larger America.
A fair plebiscite in America would come up with something more conservative than its government how often? Would you be willing to venture, the vast majority of cases?
This is a different model entirely than any kind of “ism” unless we want to cavil and call it Americanism.
How many, over what geographical region (size?)
How can you be sure?
Tell me yourself what you are attempting to imply and how it is germane.
Trump isn’t going to change his style. All that old footage of him just shows a younger version.
All candidates have Yuge egos, it’s a fact. Humble doesn’t motivate. With Trump we have gargantuan ego broadcasted via joe six pack plain speak, so it tends to wear on some a bit more than a more articulate ego maniac.
>> Trump would be a lot less likely to say “we need a new federal agency to do thus and such” than a lot of his rivals <<
Sure, but the absolutely critical problem in Washington is not new agencies, or even expanded agencies. It’s the steady, inexorable growth of entitlements, especially Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan and a few others have put forth detailed and plausible plans to deal with entitlements. Trump? I’m waiting.
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.
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Oh REALLY??? And where do you get the figures you base your entire argument on? You conveniently forget that Fred Trumps fortune was inherited equally by FIVE children. Are the others worth what Trump is worth?
Red Necks arguments and reasoned statements carry much more thought and reasoning than your assertion that Trump is a nobody.
Correction. Trump by love of America. he also loves our Soldiers!
I think he’d be more likely to come up with a stomacheable compromise than “some” rivals. In the end this game is only a game of recycling money through hands that take a cut of it. So why not leave the money closer to where it came from.
“It remains on Donald Trump’s shoulders to prove this is not true.”
You mean that in your own personal life, someone can come out of left field with some stupid accusation against you, and you feel obligated to set about to”prove” it is not true?
Or would you tell him to go to hell?
Also I still get the picture that Trump is a good negotiator and listener. He might not come up with everything you’d want all by his lonesome, but that is not the model he is proposing.
That is 180 degrees opposite of one aspect of Obama, which is agenda bent manipulation.
I saw an article that if Trump had invested his 250 million$ inheritance he would have ended up with 6 Billion$ or more than he now has,
He did get his name on a bunch of stuff though and he was on TV
There is a big difference between self confidence and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Trump is an experienced and highly competent person in many areas. He is aware of his talents and proud of his achievements if he wasn’t self confident who would want him for President? Not me.
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