“We know Trump has made bad deals. It is the nature of the beast. To his credit, he persevered. I like that. More important...he boasts about his war chest....which is fine. However, one thing that strikes me as missing is the fact that IF his networth is over 9 billion, WHAT will he do about salary while in office?”
I assume that like most wealthy people, a significant part of his assets are in passive investments (stocks, bonds,etc.) that don’t need his active involvement. If he goes into office, he will have to live off that as he won’t be able to manage his assets as a practical or even legal matter. I expect he’s going to have to live on that. Poor guy. Only 100 mil a year to live on! LOL. He might be the only person in presidential history who sees his living expenses go down as a result. No need to pay for planes, security, etc.
“My point with the business dealings is this...many who support Trump on here, including the Donald, say that because of his wealth, he can’t be bought. But, he has business dealings all over the country and certain restrictions by the Government, etc, can hurt his empire. Can he be influenced this way?”
Of course the answer is I don’t know, but i can speculate with the best! The guy is 70 years old or will be soon. That’s retirement age. He’s going to be handing the reins over soon anyway. He has made it very clear that he plans to hand it to his kids. Maybe this is an opportune time to hand the kids control?
“I ask about why he is running for Prez now. Why not take out Romney? “
Again I don’t know. It’s quite possible that it was a combination of reasons. Perhaps it’s related to your earlier questions about his business interests. Maybe the kids weren’t ready? His youngest is now an adult. I also see some very pragmatic political reasons. First, it is very unusual for a sitting president to be defeated in a re-election. I think it’s happened a grand total of 3 times in the last hundred years (FDR, Reagan, Clinton) The odds are very long. Perhaps he didn’t sense the outrage necessary to win.
What I think is very clear is that he seriously considered it, planned it, wrote his campaign polemic (published in 2011) then decided against it.
“Obama was the same then...why now with our deepest and best bench in a long time? If he believes in he Conservatism he preaches and he is such good friends with Cruz, why get in and in turn, hurt Cruz (at least for now)?”
That question cuts both ways. Why didn’t the better parts of the bench run in 2012? In some obvious cases...Cruz, Paul...it was because they hadn’t been elected or were running themselves for senate. I think Fiorina was fighting cancer at the time. I would also beg to differ on the rest of the bench. A few have potential, but most are just drones.
As for cruz...don’t get me started. Friends or not, why would DT be responsible for cruz? Why should he step aside for cruz’ ambitions? To avoid getting into an unnecessary argument over cruz, I’ll just leave it with this observation: the person primarily responsible for Ted Cruz’ political fate is Ted Cruz.
To be continued....
Ok, to pick up where we left off since I have some time this morning...
I understand what you are saying about Trump and his wealth. But, it would REALLY say something (and I will copyright this idea for his campaign) to say that since he is so wealthy, he won’t ask for tax payers to pay his salary, his planes, vacations, etc. It would be YUGE. Then, say something like he will use that amount to pay off the debt, or something...who knows, he is smart, he’d figure it out. It would go a long way to helping him though.
You talk about Trump maybe having reservations about taking out Obama. While it is hard to beat an incumbent, the RIGHT candidate could have beaten Obama. We hear about how Trump is “waking up the Conservatives”...well, that is partly why Romney lost. Conservatives stayed home. If Trump had been the force then, that he is now, Newt or someone might have won...or, at least for the campaign, he might have forced Romney to the right. It is just interesting that now he is running against someone who “was a friend” just a short time ago (Hillary).
You are right...Cruz is responsible for his campaign and I trust he knows what he is doing. But a large portion of the praise for Trump on this page is how he is taking out the RINO’s. I haven’t seen it (none of them are affected). They say he is clearing a path for Cruz...maybe. But, at least for the short term, he is sucking the oxygen out of all campaigns, but it is hurting our conservatives more than the others. Jebs people won’t support Trump, so he will get the moderate vote period. Just my opinion.