There’s already been enough ink spilled on the Trump candidacy to fill Lake Superior, so I’ll confine myself to the high points. (Regular Gentle Readers: In the following, note your host’s extraordinary degree of concision, restraint, and civility. There’ll be a test afterward.)
First, the case for Donald Trump:
- He’s a complete “outsider,” and thus is more palatable to a nation battered by politics and its fruits than anyone with a record in high office.
- Like a hereditary monarch, he owes no one any favors.
- He understands rewards and punishments, and when to apply them.
Second, the case against Donald Trump:
- His self-absorption is appalling. We didn’t like it from Obama and we won’t like it from Trump.
- Politics is not like business; you’re not spending your own money, and profits are illegal.
- The payoffs required to get acquiescence purchase less, and are a lot larger than he’s used to.
- Diplomacy is most definitely not in his arsenal, and you can’t “fire” the rulers of other countries.
- White House residence is temporary: the lease can only be “renewed” once, and there is no “option to buy.”
- The public expects a single First Lady per president.
Does anything else come to mind, Gentle Readers?
6 comments:
Additional positives:
1. He is a straight talker, and speaks his mind. He may be an asshole, but he is an honest one. Honesty has been a rarity in politics, lately.
2. You can't buy him. Too expensive.
3. He has a good command of rhetoric. In better days, this might be a negative. As it stands today, it is a critical skill the GOP lacks.
4. Say what you like about his womanizing, but he is obviously masculine. And at least he doesn't lie about it like Clinton.
Additional negatives:
1. He's part of the aristocracy. He is arrogant, self-serving, and a part of the very same cultural rot I rail against on my own blog.
2. He is an asshole. I think this is less of a negative than you might, though. Putin is an asshole. Fighting fire with fire may have a certain logic. But he is still not exactly a traditionalist.
3. He's a celebrity. This means a Trump presidency would look like a reality TV show, with all the lunacy that entails.
"Hair toupe, gone tomorrow!"
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
On the plus side (and if you remember him, or are familiar with Chicago politics from around the 60's), Trump strikes me as the same kind of potentate as the late Richard J Daley (Sr), mayor of Chicago. He was corrupt as the day was long, however, you knew what you were getting with the man. He had his own code and there were some lines he would not cross...and he was an American. Call it corruption with limits if you will. This is as opposed to what you are getting with the current regime or what you would get with Clinton.
I am not sure how big a response he would answer with, but I have a hunch you would not have had a Benghazi type incident under this man. Either he would have prevented it from happening, or there would have been some level of retaliation. What concerns me about that...is I don't know just what form the retaliation would take. Still it would be nice to know there would be someone at the helm willing to act on American interests/concerns...vice the current group who have never had those intentions or desires.
On the negative side.
As noted in your post, he doesn't appear to have diplomacy as a character trait. Along with that, I am not sure the man would be able to discern which would be the proper hill on which to "die with his flag".
Trump is not a conservative (perhaps fiscally..but that would be the extent of it) and those on the right who have become enamored with his off the cuff remarks and "straight talk" might want to remember that, if he makes it to the oval office. When that "straight talk" is closer to traditional progressive talking points, how are you gonna feel about him then?
Not a plus or minus at the moment...but a factor should he make it to the final primary and or the general election. Who is going to be his running mate and who are going to man his cabinet posts. I can deal more readily with a stinker...if it appears the people around him are going to make his administration more well rounded (for lack of a better phrase).
Now if we could get Cruz and Walker(or Perry) to be the 2016 ticket...perhaps this Trump talk would be unnecessary.
Guy S.
All good points, Francis and Dystopic.
Trump is his own man. That um, "trumps" most other considerations. The stage is set (like it was for the deadly ambush that failed on Fox) for one of the Chosen Ones, who are beholden to the Uniparty (what Cruz calls the Washington Cartel) to be selected as GOP candidate.
Then the script calls for a gentlemanly election, with no crass emotional outbursts, where the inevitable outcome is that the Establishment Rolls Along As Normal, while claiming, "sorry we couldn't have done better, but." Another anti-American is in the White House, life goes on as normal as millions of 3rd world savages get imported into what once was a great nation, and fundraising goes on for the next staged spectacle. Bread & circuses until it's all over forever.
And the fat cats get fatter; the middle class gets thinner; more people leave for overseas, hoping to salvage some of their worldly goods before the Machine swallows it all. To hell with that crap! I'm for Trump! Break the rice bowls!
Indeed, Trump is his own man, and so many in the GOP are, effectively, bought and paid for by others. I think the enthusiasm for him doesn't come from his politics, but from the fact that he is not ashamed, he is confident, and he is a *man*.
We haven't seen that since Reagan.
But Trump isn't Reagan. He may have all of the confidence and self-assuredness, but he doesn't have Reagan's character or principles. Those in the GOP who do have Reagan's character are lacking the confidence.
So it's a case of pick strength or pick character. You won't get both in the same man. I understand why some folks choose strength. It does make sense. But remember, character counts for something too.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that Trump won't save us, or the country, or the party. Neither will anyone else in the GOP field.
I'm afraid the rot has gone on for too long. Oh the bark is still their and that layer of living tissue just beneath it. But the heartwood is worm eaten and has albut lost its ability to support the rest. The 2008 crisis nearly felled it. TPTB shored it up with flimsy supports but the next one will bring it down. Trump is no tree surgeon, you can't repair a rotted tree. You let if fall of its own weight and destroy everything in its path or you bring it down with some semblance of order. Even that would be an act of violence.
The rot has a name and it is spread into every corner of the globe. Its name is debt based money and the hubris that the cure for the disease is more of the disease. Unfortunately human history has shown that TPTB will sooner drag us into war than dismantle the rot and plant and nourish a new tree.
The American Revolution succeeded because the people already had a long tradition, made necessary by seperations of distance and time, of governing their own affairs, both individually and in limited political entities. Every other revolution, from the French to the Russian, has failed. Simply because those basic underpinings of liberty never existed. Their protagonists may have mouthed the words of liberty and freedom, but they wanted government to give it to them instead of building it for themselves.
Again unfortunately today many Americans have forgotten that the fruits of liberty come from self reliance and a lot of hard work. Sadly Jefferson's "Tree of Liberty" is long since past saving with the blood of tyrants and patriots. New trees must be planted to grow in the hearts of individuals. The question is; can this be done before TPTB drag us into a global conflagration.
Ok look, brother Fran I love ya - and I guess I have affection for all those who follow this blog - "bastionofliberty" indeed. But we miss the big puzzle when we look only at the pieces. The Clitons (no, not a misspelled word) should both be doing a perp walk. Trump connects because he is saying what a lot of people in this country want to hear. And he is doing what "we" as real conservative folks want - tear down and tear apart the traitorous bastards of the GOP. We gave them the election in '14, and... to not put too fine a point on it - they effed us.
Fine. Now, we know. Soap box and ballot box don't work. Fine. It is almost time then for cartridge box - which is voting by other means. Just like streetlights and hemp rope...
Megyn ("me" followed by "gyn"... seriously? ) has not been relevant or believable since posing for Maxim. (and the correct old Gaelic spelling would be 'Meagan'... ask my daughter)
No, we should not be vulgar or crude. But the time for political correctness is past. Trump is no less of an 'a hole' than the rest - candidate as well as media.
Let God sort them out, in His mercy; as He so chooses. We will arrange the meeting.
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