Posted on 12/21/2015 1:04:24 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Not long ago, Donald J. Trump and Russell Simmons were close.
The hip-hop mogul and his brother Rev. Run would fly on Mr. Trump's private plane to Mar-a-Lago, the real estate developer’s lavish Florida resort. Mr. Simmons even had a playful nickname for Mr. Trump: Richie Rich.
When Mr. Simmons was going through a divorce, Mr. Trump's teasing phone calls lifted his spirits.
"He'd say funny stuff," Mr. Simmons said, adding that he had put Mr. Trump on speakerphone so that others could hear Mr. Trump's jovial taunts about his ex-wife getting the upper hand in the divorce. "He'd say, 'Oh, she killed you.' "
But the bond between the two men came apart this month: After Mr. Trump called for Muslims to be barred from entering the United States, Mr. Simmons denounced his onetime friend, telling him in an open letter to "stop fueling fires of hate."
Mr. Trump's rise in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination -- which has also prompted accusations that he is using racially charged rhetoric and has drawn comparisons to the segregationist George Wallace -- has created some discord among African-American celebrities whom Mr. Trump has called friends. The billionaire developer has long courted personalities from the worlds of sports and entertainment, including the boxer Mike Tyson, the former Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman, and the rapper and producer Sean Combs -- and he has made them part of his world in strikingly personal ways.
Some of Mr. Trump's African-American friends and acquaintances say they are mystified by the candidate's sweeping attacks on minority groups. In addition to his comments about Muslims, he has said Mexico sends "rapists" and other criminals to the United States; has exaggerated the role of blacks in violent crime;
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Nice diatribe, but I did not talk about government. You did. I suggested a private enterprise solution to be conducted right now that did not even involve the government’s junior colleges, which you mentioned. It would be a Trump Enterprises czar, not a government czar.
You now get to stay after school and practice reading comprehension.
Leni
All TRUE...but Trump GETS THING DONE...and SAYS WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR....and that’s what counts most, even more than conservatism! /s
I so enjoyed this vivid word picture--thanks!
Well done, DO.
I cannot understand the vehemence of the Cruz supporters against Trump.
Trump is the only one actually out there, fighting day and night, for positions we hold as conservatives: a wall, protecting the 2nd Amendment, reducing taxes, getting American jobs back,stopping the migration of so-called Syrian refugees to our shores, slamming the corrupt media, calling out the crimes committed by Hillary Clinton.
Cruz cannot win a national election—he is smart, but he does not have the crossover appeal of Donald Trump in this unique election cycle. He also does not have the business, executive ability and experience needed to run the government. He also is funded to a large extent by certain wealthy people, and that concerns me. People don’t give a lot of money like that without expecting something in return.
Trump is funding himself, and that means a lot.
A 69 year old billionaire doesn’t need the headache of running this dysfunctional government and trying to right the ship of state. He will inherit a severely crippled America upon taking office. Twice now, Trump has warned of an economic bubble looming—and he is right.
Trump wants to fix America for his family and for ours to have a better future.
No candidate in my lifetime, save Reagan, had the same desire to truly want America to succeed.
2016 is for all the marbles. The best fighter in the ring is Trump. The last six months have proven that to be true.
Thanks, DO, for your stalwart defense of Trump.
And you’d have been bamboozled by the trains running on time in Italy in 1930.
You’re right. If Trump dumps another foreign babe and picks up a fourth wife, he should get a pass, too. We conservatives are not like Dems. Now, by your standard, we don’t expect a conservative to marry a hag for life, like Clinto did, while cheating on her. We expect him to dump the woman, and he should be considered a man of conservative principles. Trump is the face of dilettante conservatism.
Good point. Whatever he does or wants to do he’s going to need hire good people, really, really good people. Because sadly, he is out of his element and the details escape him. It’s fascinating that he’s captured the imagination of some conservatives despite having been anti-conservative and pro-Democrat for so long. He’s changed his tune, lots of opportunist do this. He proclaims himself one of us despite being a huge Hillary donor until recently, and some of us go gaga.
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