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?
I figure, the next president will not be forced to overhaul the system. I think it will probably boil over in the next administration. Or the one after that.
But, if someone is going to do it now, it seems less likely than someone who has taken it off the table.
If the first paragraph is correct, the second is moot.
He may not be socially conservative... I think more Libertarian in that respect, but he is the most Fiscally conservative candidate running. For the most part, I liked GWB, my biggest complaint was that he was not a fiscal conservative either, that and he bent over backwards trying to work with the Democrats (isn’t it funny how they hate him more than any other Republican president besides possibly Reagan). At this point in time, with our countries future on the line, I think we have to have a fiscally conservative president or our Republic will never recover. Not sure if it is official policy yet or not, but I also believe Trump would cut the budget by ending many un-needed government agencies and then turn much of what should be states rights, back to the states to deal with.
If... I’m making an educated, probabilistic guess. I don’t have a crystal ball.
trump is for coercive use of eminent domain for private purposes. That’s about the opposite of libertarian.
His tax plan, until accompanied by a detailed spending cut plan, is the least fiscally conservative plan one could imagine.
I will give you that point I suppose if eminent domain is a social issue... His use of eminent domain for private use is actually the biggest thing I know of that I disagree with and have to overlook to be able to support him. Coercive? I had not heard that part before. Is that physically twisting arms and threatening lives or just offering way over market value?
There is much more policy issues that I disagree with Carson on and as much as I like Cruz there are some troubling votes in his record. That said, I could support any of the 3 if they get the nod... not so much anybody else.
In the past I had always considered Trump too socially liberal to vote for, but listening to his stump speeches just made me think more Libertarian.
I believe he is doing this because he thinks he can help our country, not for personal gain. He is not stupid and I think it will hurt him more than helping financially... I also believe if elected he would surround himself with the best and brightest in their fields and listen to their advice like he has learned to do in business. That said, I have been wrong before and probably will again in the future, so I guess time will tell.
I believe Washington is broken and I think Trump is the one who will actually attempt to change what is broken.
Estimate is just another word for “Guess.”
Totally love your list, especially “get rid of the UN.”!
.....and on and on.......
Obviously you choose to ignore the BIG GOVERNMENT tendencies of Cruz even though he claims to be a Conservative. You spoke earlier of Trump’s “Dictator” tendencies while ignoring Cruz choosing to vote with “his leader” McConnell “against” the advice of his own people and his own instincts and then blaming the outcome which advanced Obama’s Agenda on believing what McConnell told him.
1.This is just an example of someone who is not yet mature enough to lead this country when he can be convinced to go against his own judgement and that of his advisers by ONE man, and then not acknowledge HIS OWN ERROR! I want a leader who stands for what he believes in, right or wrong, NOT someone who makes a WRONG decision and blames it on someone else...a GROSS EXAMPLE of Immaturity!
2.CRUZ believes that we should increase visa’s to foreigners to take space in our universities at the expense of American children, and to take jobs that should go to American people. He wants to increase the already enormous visa program by 500 percent! Trump believes Americans should have America jobs. AND DON’T try to tell me Americans are not qualified.
3. CRUZ is a politician! Trump is not! Cruz has always worked for the government. Trump has always worked in the REAL wold. Trump resonates with blue AND white collar workers. He has gotten his hands dirty working WITH his people rather than against them. I admire much of Cruz’s success and I also admire his knowledge of the Constitution and Constitutional Law, but he is too open borders for me. I’m tired of America paying the bill in blood and treasure for the rest of the world. It’s long past time for America to look after Americans, especially our Veterans!
I was a Cruz supporter until his disastrous vote enabling TPP. Anyone who supports “Free Trade” needs to realize that America will continue to lose in the balance of payments until somebody levels the playing field by ENFORCING equality and PENALIZING DRASTICALLY those Governments who use their money value to rape and destroy America.
Cruz belongs in the new administration, but NOT as President. He hasn’t “paid his dues” yet.
Understanding the politics of federal agencies, understanding the long term consequences of one’s actions, understanding the contours of the underlying political theory of the Constitution, the system of Constituonal checks and balances, the Declaration, natural rights as they developed from natural law, inhere t (inalienable) rights, Roman law, Greek law, the Roman Republic, the Greek democracies, the players on the world scene, understanding their history and culture. That’s a drop in the bucket of what is needed.
trump betrays none of this knowledge or skills.
How do you know what Trump does or does not know? I thought crystal balls were out of fashion. Nevertheless, you have just described someone who is a Constitutional Lawyer above anything else. ADVISERS take care of ADVISING on everything you have mentioned. Considering Trump’s dealings around the world, I would imagine he has a lot better grasp of International politics and Financial dealings than any other person in the Campaign field. Cruz certainly lacks any experience, knowledge or skills in the latter.
By the way I would suggest in lieu of the word “betrays” with regard to Trumps skills, the word “Exhibits” is closer to your intent.
You also forgot to mention English Common Law as well as the Seneca and Cherokee models of government which were significant sources of study during our Constitutional Deliberations.
In fairness, I went to Vanderbilt's MBA program. I understand a classmate sued them too, when she didn't instantly walk into a high paying job.
Yeah, they’re both narcissistic. As are many charismatic and effective leaders.
Barry has been all too effective for his cause. The problem with him is his ideology, not his personality.
I guess you missed the “and on and on part” of my post. I gave just a few off the cuff examples. There is much much more.
If you refuse an eminent domain court order, what do you think they do to you? They send the sheriff to evict you. He has a gun to help make the eviction happen. You don’t think bringing of the power of the state against you is a little bit coercive.
In eminent domain cases I’ve seen, they off error roughly fair market value at first, and then will sometimes sweeten thedeal if you initially resist, sometimes a lot. But if it goes to court, usually the court gives you something approaching fair market value, but a little less than that. And sometimes the court just scores you.
And then, the court uses the power of the state to get rid of you. Coercively.
And trump is fine with that.
I don’t get “libertarian” from that at all. I get “statist”or “fascis” from that.
When he sees a problem, traditionally, he has reached for government as the solution,
This the original cause of much of his liberalism. Now he’s backed off a few of his liberal positions. But underneath it all, is he still a statist? That’s the question.
Interestingly, he still supports the private use of eminent domain., which is one of his most statist views. I think underneath all his new-found conservative positions beats the heart of a 69 year-old statist.
The problem with our government is not Washington. It’s our people. Roughly half the people want one thing, and roughly half want something diametrically opposed. We are a schizophrenic people, we are of two minds.
And our Constitution is devised to favor compromise between factions. But to large minorities on the right and left, compromise is a dirty word.
Which has given rise to an authoritarian president, who has usurped near to dictatorial powers.
In supporting trump, the right is supporting it’s own nascent authoritarian. I hope he doesn’t become in office our Augustus Caesar, following obama in the role of Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar was just a dictator. Augustus Caesar built on that and turned Rome from a republic to an empire. But he got a lot of stuff done. The people hailed him at the time. They left it to historians to figure out the moment they lost their republic.
Julius illegally disregarded the Senate, violating the Roman constution. Augustus changed the laws of Rome to make the Senate a vestigial organ of the Roman government. The vestigial remains of the Senate survived for centuries, and many of the senatorial families became the foundation for European noble families, even royalty, and early monarchies.
I won’t vote for trump.
In actual fact, there isn’t much “and on and on” left after you take Social Security and Medicare off the table, which trump has done.
It’s hard to close the vurrent deficit without totally reimagining Social Security and Medicare.
If you open up another trillion in deficit, it becomes impossible.
And, again, it is trump who has taken Social Security and Medicare off the table.
I said trump betrays none of these skills. That means I DON’T have a crystal ball, and I can only see what he shows me. And he’s not actually showing me those characteristics.
And what does Cruz show you about leadership skills?.....besides being a good lawyer?
I think Cruz will do fine.
1. Allowing your leader to convince you of something can be a sign of flexibility. Our contitutional system induces compromise, and t h at requires flexibility. Was it a mistake? Maybe. But the problem in our politics is not in Washington but in our people. Roughly half want one set of things. The other half wants a set diametricall y opposite from what the first half want. And there are large, loud, angry minorities on each side for whome compromise is a dirty wor.
So, the president, a partisan of one side, has usurped near dictatorial powers. So in response, the other side is threatening to elect its own partisan whose instincts seem more statist than constitutional.
Will he be the Augustus Caesar to the prior presidents Julius Caesar?
As to your blather about immigration, Sen. Cruz’s plan was offered as a compromise (there is that dirty word again) to the nearly open borders proposal of others. It included several parts:
1. Stop the flow of illegal immigrants;
2. Deny illegals citizenship;
3. Raise the qualifications standards of H1-B workers;
4. As an inducement to the open borders crowd, increase those visa from 65,000 to 325,000;
5. And reduce legal immigration from toughly 1 million per year to 500,000 per year.
So the overall effect would be to stop the flow of illegals, and DENY them citizendhip. And to DECREASE legal immigration somewhat, and reduce unskilled and low skilled immigrants by a lot, and change the mix of legals to a higher skilled set.
I understand if you don’t like it, but you should character it accurately as a proposal in compromise to LOWER legal immigration, to DENY citizenship to illegals and prevent more of them, and change the skill mix of those who come legally. This outraged Washington because the other side is looking for AMNESTY for illegals who are already here and no real efforts to stop the flow.
Notice how Sen. Cruz’s offer gives something to everyone. That’s what makes people on the other side agree to vote for your ideas.
We don’t need “flexibility” right now, we need someone with a strong backbone. Cruz can’t even get his own party members to back him so he;d end up compromising himself and the American people off the cliff. We are already at the edge and about to topple over. We need a strong push back and it has to happen very soon. Not in some future term or two after America is dead and finished.
Senator Cruz offered another compromise that penalizes the American people. Your blathering about his efforts at compromise prove my point, we have been compromised and dictated to to death. We want someone with the guts to Git ‘er DONE! We don’t need a Pope, we need a Patton!
Ultimately, we are a minority. We cannot have everything we want without electing our own dictator. I’m opposed to electing someone on the basis that he would be a good dictator for us. I would prefer someone with the skills to persuade enough people from the other side to to accept enough of our agenda to achieve compromises that are mostly to our benefit.
Cruz is well-suited to the fask.
tru mmp is not. He’s just a bully. When people disagree with him, or point to his flaws (and they are many), he just calls them names. This appeals to many in our crowd. It sounds “strong,”to many. But it alienates those who are the targets of his ire.
You can rule a nation as a dictator like that, at least for four or eight years. But you can’t govern a constational republic like that, and stay within the parameters of the republic’s constitution.
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