The top-rated comment to that article is worthy of its own post, but I recount it here
JohnFRoss • 6 hours ago
I find it amusing that there are so many people who seem dumbfounded that Trump won the election, and now need to analyze why. I was all in for Trump as soon as he announced in the summer of 2015, and so were a lot of other people. We weren’t all lower middle class people with stagnant wages, either. A lot of us were sick of the Uniparty sellouts in both parties.
On February 26, 2016, long before Trump won either the nomination or the election, I wrote an article for AT that unfortunately was not approved for submission. Perhaps it is more appropriate today:
I first voted as a sophomore in college when unelected incumbent Gerald Ford, considerably weakened by an almost-successful Reagan challenge in the primary, lost to Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.
The malaise of the Carter years lasted through my college graduation, and Ronald Reagan won his 1980 landslide victory the same week that I was hired by EF Hutton, then the nation’s second-largest brokerage firm. My mother and many other relatives scoffed at Reagan (“He made a movie with a chimp”) but I was a huge fan, for primarily two reasons: First, his degree was in economics, and as a result of that, he had the unshakable belief that capitalism was the greatest engine of prosperity the world had ever seen. He also believed the free market would always correct itself, and refrained from the kinds of tinkering that politicians are wont to do, like the price controls Nixon inflicted on America. The Iranian hostages were released about five minutes after Reagan was sworn in, and when he fired all the Air Traffic Controllers that went on strike, the men in the Kremlin all raced for the toilets to deal with mass diarrhea.
As a result, after the markets realized Reagan was the Real Deal and blasted off like Secretariat in the home stretch at the Belmont, the 1980s were a tremendous time for a young man with a background in finance, a book full of clients, and a passion for building wealth. When the leadership at Hutton started to look questionable in 1986, I left and started my own investment firm. Hutton was soon bought by Shearson.
George Bush squandered the 91% approval rating he had in 1991 by breaking his “no new taxes” pledge and signing the ludicrous Assault Weapons ban, and he lost to Bill Clinton in 1992. It was then that I first heard the term “RINO,” and had the seeds planted in my mind of the concept that would mature into the UniParty.
Now, in 2016, with the disastrous foreign policy of Barack Obama finishing what Jimmy Carter started in Iran, with a record number of Americans unemployed and a record number of illegal aliens, criminals, and military-age male Muslim “refugees” pouring into our country, with a record number of Americans on food stamps, EBT cards, and WIC subsidies, and with 47% of our electorate paying NO INCOME TAXES AT ALL, we are once again in the same kind of depressing reality we endured in 1980.
Just as Ronald Reagan told us it was “Morning in America” with his sunny optimism and bedrock belief that Capitalism would lift us to new heights, we now have a man who promises to “Make America Great Again,” and has the same upbeat conviction that this country can be the best it has ever been. Ronald Reagan was derided as a B-list actor (who made a movie with a chimp), an “amiable dunce,” and a warmonger who happened to be a mental lightweight. Donald Trump is dismissed as a “reality star,” a blowhard with a massive ego, a racist, and (horror of horrors) “not a real conservative” who “should really be running as a Democrat.”
These parallels are tempting, but they miss the mark for several reasons. First of all, we are now in an environment where the Party elites (or “establishment,” if you prefer) are much more aligned with Globalization to line their own pockets at the expense of ordinary Americans compared to 1980. Further, we now have the UniParty, much more than 35 years ago. Back then I never heard anyone say “there’s no difference between the two parties.” Now that sentiment is common, and rightly so.
If you doubt the existence of the UniParty, think of all the members of the GOPe who have either said “Trump can’t beat Hillary” or that if Trump gets the nomination, they will actually VOTE for Hillary!
Donald Trump thinks big. Period. He thinks bigger than just the Presidency, and his supporters feel that in their bones, even if they don’t consciously realize it. When Donald Trump says he wants to help “Make America great again,” he actually means it. He isn’t just aiming for the Presidency, he is going for ALL the marbles. Donald Trump and his supporters don’t just want him to win the Presidency, we want him to also kill the UniParty.
Make no mistake about this: Donald Trump is not just our candidate, he’s our MURDER WEAPON.
Like a traitor or spy in wartime as contrasted to enemy soldiers in uniform, the GOPe has arguably been an even worse agent of destruction in this country than the Socialist slime that permeates the Democratic party. The people saw the horror of an Obama Presidency, the Republicans said they needed control of the House before they could push back, so the people gave it to them in 2010. What happened? Nothing.
The Republicans then said they needed control of the Senate to stop the Marxist slide, so the people gave that to them, too, in 2014. Again nothing happened. Wait, I take that back—Paul Ryan happened.
Then the GOPe rewrote the election rules to make it more difficult for a “movement” candidate to gain traction in the Presidential election (outright majority in 8 states needed instead of just 5, changed in 2014), to assure they could field another McCain or Romney that, win or lose, would keep the elites in power at the expense of everyone else in America. Donald Trump saw this, before he announced, and put together a plan to deal with it.
Trump’s plan has been working so well that the GOPe even tried to get the rules changed BACK to the 5-state minimum when their splitter strategy to ultimately give Jeb the nomination failed so miserably. Don’t believe me that Jeb was always the chosen one? Then why on earth would the GOPe allow not one but TWO candidates into the primaries that quite possibly won’t meet the Natural Born Citizen requirement, if not to use them as splitters to eventually prop up Jeb?
Donald Trump is well aware of ALL of this, and he intends to not only crush Hillary or Sanders, but also root out the UniParty Paul Ryans that have betrayed the Republican base from within. That’s why he terrifies ALL the elites in power, and is garnering such massive support from the people of America.
Donald Trump is one of the richest men in the country. The lowest estimate of his wealth is about $5 billion, which means he’s wealthier than all but about 100 people in a country of over 300 million. Donald Trump and the next multiple generations of his family could live like kings by merely running their existing businesses in the same successful manner that they are currently doing. That wasn’t true of Ronald Reagan. And unlike Reagan, who had strained (and estranged) relationships with his children, the entire Trump family is a stellar example of cohesive love, intelligence, decency, and passion for excellence.
Instead of being content to just enjoy the fruits of his successful business, Donald Trump is demonstrating the energy of ten men a third his age by holding massive rallies all over the country, and he is exposing himself to massive physical danger from not only the mentally ill misfits that lurk around such events, but political enemies in the UniParty with access to more professional operators. Remember what happened to Vince Foster, Ron Brown, and many others?
Why is Trump doing this? Is it because he intends to seize the reins of power, sell out to the Globalists, and multiply his wealth even more?
I don’t think so. I don’t think so because I believe Donald Trump likes accomplishing what he said he’d do even more than he likes making the most possible money in a deal. I believe that because I myself am the same way: Making lots of money is great, but once you’ve done that, doing good for the country that made it possible is even better. I think that sentiment is true of most successful people. The second reason I believe Trump when he says he wants to make America great again is there is a historic precedent, and it’s not Ronald Reagan.
There was a man in America, who, like Trump, was one of the wealthiest in the country. Like Trump, he came from a wealthy family, but unlike Trump, he also married a woman even wealthier than himself. He had massive holdings, in land that stretched from Virginia to Ohio. He could have lived his entire life like royalty, and wanted for nothing. The taxes he paid, in relation to his income, were trivial.
Instead, like Trump, he wanted to Make America Great. And his desire to do this was so strong, that he risked imprisonment, losing everything he had, and death. And when he SUCCEEDED at making America great, and his work was done, he could have had anything he wanted. He could literally have been King. Instead, he looked over what he had done, smiled, and returned to his property and family.
That man was George Washington. I believe Donald Trump is of the same mettle.
2/25/2017 addition: Everything that Trump has done since his inauguration reinforces my belief in the things I wrote above.
It’s important to start to focus on the fact that Trumpismo does not have a majority in either house of Congress.
A critical decision needs to be made soon, and that is - should Trump go before Congress and make a “Who’s with me?” speech? A “Love me or leave me” speech.
If he does so, some RINOs, and perhaps many RINOs, will abandon him and vote with the Democrats. This would allow Trump to run his own people in 2018 (and he has the cash and organizational talent to do it), but it would run the risk of his removal before then.
If he sticks with the GOP, he will be tangled up endlessly.
What say you?
Martha married an ancestor of mine who was a major land owner from the eastern shore of MD. When he died she remarried GW making him the wealthiest man in the colonies. GW’s character and belief in the new republic are legendary. He is the only president to which President Trump can fairly be likened. President Trump is the President Washington of our age. He will, if it can be done, return us to the founding principles of the USA. If he cannot Make America Great Again it will not be his fault but the fault of Americans who seek their own comfort and not the Hand of God in human affairs.
I laughed at candidate Trump for exactly eight hours. I remember the day he announced (just up the street from where I work) and my co-workers and I shared a laugh at lunchtime when we heard about it. I did not know a lot about Donald Trump at the time and figured it was all a publicity stunt to boost his Apprentice ratings and that he'd be out of the race by Labor Day. Still, I welcomed the diversion as it appeared that Jeb Bush was on his way to a coronation and the race up to that point was a snoozefest. There was some excitement here about candidate Ted Cruz but I did not really see him beating Jeb Bush.
Then I went home that night and saw Free Republic all ablaze over Trump's announcement. I went over to YouTube to see his announcement speech and he had me within 5 minutes. He said all the right things and hit all the right buttons with me. I no longer saw him as a "joke" candidate.
Still, I did not see how he could win. The media immediately went into a frenzy over his talk about immigration and building the wall. I did not see how he could survive it. But Trump doubled down and gave every indication that he was dead serious about winning the presidency and that this was no publicity stunt.
By Independence Day (2015), I was convinced that Donald Trump would be our next president. I maintained that conviction all through the brutal primaries and general election. I paid no attention to the polls and pundits that said otherwise. My only surprise on election day was that his win wasn't bigger than it was. I expected the "hidden monster vote" to be much bigger. I truly expected Trump to carry states like VA, NH, CO, NM and NV (in addition to the other states he did win). Never had a doubt about FL, OH, PA and MI. Was pleasantly surprised by WI. I knew that Trump had that Rust Belt vote locked down all along. I just expected it to be bigger.
The good news is that Trump has only solidified his hold on the Rust Belt with his achievements since the election. Trust me on this, in 2020, Trump will own PA, MI, WI, OH and win all those states by double-digit margins. Those states are definitely not flipping back. So President Trump needs to keep the pedal to the metal for the next four years and do what he was elected to do. The re-election will take care of itself.
Awesome comment you posted. Thank you.