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?
Ego and strong faith can sometimes look similar, and men who have prospered under strong faith sometimes stumble into ego afterwards (maybe a case in point is how Elijah, after his stunning refutation of the prophets of Baal, cried to the Lord that he was worth nothing after Jezebel sent her catty little death threat).
It’s worth the risk of the two coexisting in a constant battle. That’s better than being so proud of being humble you are a nebbish who believes that nothing is possible. (Hello Jimmy Carter?)
Im really turned off Townhall lately. Went the way of msn.
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I think so too.
I admire trump as a businessman who preserved and built on a large fortune. He hasn’t outpaced the stock market but all appearances are that all in all, he stayed ahead of inflation. He’s done well.
But not as well as he makes out. He is no business genius. I’ll leave that appellation to the likes of Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. These guys came from middle class or upper middle class backgrounds (Buffett was the son of a congressman when congressman didn’t make $160k+). They really made tens and tens of billions from nearly nothing.
Buffet, as an example, gave away half his wealth a few years back, and as of 2013 was back to $60 billion+. trump is a moderately successful conservator daddy’s fortune (what do you think 27,000 apartments in New York were worth in 1970? Do the math.). Warren Buffet is a business genius who could buy the likes of trump several times per year. trump is a little boy who thinks he’s a big dogs.
The American people do not want or need a wimp for President. We have one now even thoyugh Obama has a huge ego he is a wimp. The American people are dying for a winner and I think we have found one. Trump is not going to be pushed around by inferior idealists. He loves America and has a brilliant mind. What in the hell more does any body want, a Saint?
>> When a presidential candidate talks that way, what could possibly go wrong? <<
Nothing. It has long been established that Trump can do no wrong. Get over it.
Obama is a Narcissist with a pathological personalty disorder, which means he can lie and not feel guilty about it. He gets his ego satisfaction from controlling people.
Trump on the other hand gets his ego satisfaction from getting things done, and can get very cranky when interrupted or delayed. A good delegater and measures you on results not method.
“Thats like saying Cruz and Obama are no different because they are both first-tern senators with law degrees.”
Exactly. And they both wanted to go from first term Senator directly to the White House.
All you can say to the assertion that he is a very satisfactory businessman, is this?
I guess every boss should grovel in shame that he isn’t Bill Gates.
It’s academic, truly. What would a Buffett run for the presidency be like? We really WOULD be unanimous that here is a destroyer. (Except on the D side of the aisle, who would swoon.) Trump is sufficiently good and has multiplied wealth well.
His father had 27,000 apartment units by 1970. If Donald had just maintained the units, collected the rent, kept up with the times, how much would those 27,000 units be worth today? Two or three billion dollars? More? In 45 years, how much wealth did Donald add to his daddy’s fortune? Independent estimates of trump’s current wealth are two to four billion. Did Donnie really add anything of his own to daddy’s fortune? In fairness, he kept it up. Physical assets need care, and in terms of value, trump’s current fortune represents a value similar to his father’s, if maintained properly. Good job. But hardly genius.
I’d also like to see substantiation of “not outpaced stock market.” If true, I wonder where this invisible Dow is. Had Trump bought an average stock portfolio and sat on it, we might be talking multimillionaire all right. But we are talking multibillionaire.
Trump’s stock was not on Wall Street which is investors making other investors richer with funny money. It was buildings with occupants.
Please bring forth the math, if you believe it was a matter of mere real estate boom.
>> Cruz and Obama are no different because they are both first-tern senators with law degrees <<
Yeah, and you forgot to mention that they both went to Harvard Law School, both were sired by non-citizen fathers and both are members of “minority” groups.
But so what? One is a man of outstanding temperament, whose patriotic beliefs and convictions are transparent, while the other is a charlatan who attempts to hide his true character.
You’re strawmanning again anyhow.
Ego and strong faith can sometimes look similar,
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Agreed , and in many cases preside in the same person. Patton had ego and a strong faith. I believe Trump has the same. He just doesn’t flout his faith as some do.
And yet how is this going to translate into what occurs from the Oval Office.
Barack is a phoney baloney run by committee. The committee is dedicated to reducing America to a lefty joke. Barack is copacetic.
Cruz has some wonderful ideas; how he intends to be an executive is not as clear.
Got to remember too that even in the real estate biz, it is location, location, location. Getting out of the right things and into the right things counts. Being able to see possibility as well as futility early is part of it.
And I would posit that the spirit of real estate management is one more practical than the spirit of stock juggling. You have physical things to care for, persons to deal with, every day.
Also, he likes to say ‘yeh fired!’
Agreed. And since when does a man with TRUE self-confidence continually brag and boast about how terrific, how rich, how fabulous, how fantastic he is?
George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? Winston Churchill? Pope John Paul II? Ronald Reagan? Braggarts one and all? Whom am I missing?
To a country that would dearly like to fire most of the Fedguv, that sounds like music.
He only makes the gaffes because he refuses to be teleprompted!
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