Donald Trump, clearly nervous about Senator Ted Cruz’s rise in the polls in Iowa, took his first steps yesterday toward tearing down the one opponent who has refused to take shots at him. Neither Cruz nor his campaign have responded to Trump’s subtle jabs last night regarding Cruz’s Cuban heritage, his religious faith, and his refusal to support ethanol subsidies (which is wildly popular in Iowa). Trump did promise to go to war with Cruz if Cruz managed to threaten him in the polls, so last nights jabs were not unadvertised. Donald Trump is a scorched-earther, willing to lay waste to anyone that gets in the way of what he wants; and what he wants is to become the most powerful man in the world.
Donald Trump’s campaign has run on the theme of making American great again, protecting Americans from illegal immigrants and Muslims, and helping America win against Mexico, China, and Russia. The Donald hasn’t delivered much in the way of substance, but the seething anger and fear at the heart of our society isn’t looking for brilliance, or substance, or policy. They hate Obama and they want a President who will burn Obama’s legacy to the ground, wiping out any evidence that this man was ever their Commander and Chief. Many Republicans, too, aren’t worried about the consequences of putting someone like Trump in power, so long as he burns the Republican Party and its leadership to the ground.
This has been the relative brilliance of the Trump campaign. He says things that are true, not because they are true, but because they feed into the rage which has enraptured the populace. Attacks against Trump as being hateful always fail, because what he says isn’t hateful, it’s merely fuel for the fire. His keen sense of this systemic anger and his ability to wield it, to turn conservatives against conservatives, democrats against democrats, and moderates against moderates, is his most potent weapon.
Donald Trump won’t make America great, but he will hurt the people the average American is angry with and his supporters are comfortable with the idea that destroying their enemies is good enough for the time being.
However, I doubt Mr. Trump will be successful. Eventually he’ll run out of people to attack, people to blame, and people to make fun of, and he’ll come face to face with Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in future debates, who are far more knowledgeable and skilled in that arena. Like Hillary Clinton, Donald Trumps bumper sticker talking points will get old quick. Eventually even his supporters will begin to wonder how Donald Trump intends to accomplish what he intends to accomplish. If Trump manages to give answers to these questions, Trump supporters will quickly realize, to their horror, that Trump’s solution to every problem is more government, more police action, more bombs, more wars, more laws, more restrictions, and more regulations. Donald Trump might love America, but he’s no great admirer of liberty.
For those who fear Trump… stop it. To the supporters of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, I would like to encourage you to remain optimistic and positive about this campaign, no matter how many insults and insinuations The Donald throws the way of your candidate of choice. If his high-school social-politics and bumper sticker wisdom are the best Trump has to offer the American People, he won’t win a single State primary or convention. Regardless of what you might believe about our fellow Americans, at least on the Republican side, they may vote stupidly (Romney, McCain, Dole), but they rarely vote recklessly. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are both running expert campaigns and are establishing winning organizations and infrastructure. More likely than not, it will come down to a battle between these two Junior Senators, and Trump will go back to purchasing Democrat and Republican legislators to ensure small businessmen don’t get in the way of his empire.
Originally published at pendletonpenn.com
30 comments
Ya lost the debate when you referred to the office as “Commander AND Chief. Go read Article II, Section 2, Clause I of the Constitution. If you don’t know the title of the president, your input on Trump is of as much value as that I’d receive from one of my pooches.
Trump does not scare me as much as his supporter do. For too many years now, the hatred of all non-white, Christians has been getting dangerous in the US. Even worse, the GOP leadership that allowed Trump to happen scares me. How will Hillary be defeated when the entire GOP is smeared by Trump’s excrement
Trump is the “Anti-Hero.” What the GOPe doesn’t understand is that there are things about Trump we don’t like. But we dislike (hate – yeah I’d say so) them and the damage they’ve done to us much more than Trump.
Political correctness has done more damage to the USA over the past half century than just about anything I can remember. It distorts honest dialogue at a minimum and often leads to injury and death. Trump has to be credited for blowing a giant hole in the PC world. Unfortunately, the GOPe doesn’t want PC to go away because it is useful in distracting the GOP base from the failure of GOP leadership. If the GOPe had done its job, Trump wouldn’t be a factor. However he is, he is a big factor, and thank you Donald Trump.
Just a great post on your part. The “Big Lie” has been used successfully against us by the media and liberals for many years. It’s time to stop the nonsense – we can’t have civic discussions in the country because they quickly attempt to end the debate by playing the PC card. That Trump will have none of it just adds to his power. BTW – many of the things Trump is saying have been there all along. Any of the other candidates could have picked up the mantle and run with them. Why haven’t they? Is it because they don’t really believe anything? Because they plan to have business as usual? Or because they’re just playing the insiders’ game and it matters little what the pedestrians think?
I believe that the Republican leaders have been conned by political correctness into accepting plain vanilla gentlemen candidates for president who are “liked” but who lack a strong and compelling commitment to much of anything. Since Reagan, Republicans have realistically lost the presidency Democrats who yell racist, nativist, sexist, Islamaphobe, homophobe, and whatever else they can conjure. Our leadership is so fearful of being called names that they respond by selecting candidates that are so anemic that they lose to people like Clinton and Obama, and will likely lose to Hillary.
Note: Even George Bush lucked out against a hapless Al Gore. Imagine nearly losing to that idiot who was literally handed the presidency on a silver platter by Bill “the sexual predator” Clinton.
Trump’s burn-it-all-down will not get old for his true-believers. He has come from candidate to cult leader.
Mr. Tucker, I have but one word for your analysis … brilliant. Some of the comments below well illustrate the concerns you have noted concerning Trump’s support. Being outraged by Obama and disappointed in what some like to call the establishment is hardly a reason to turn the Republican nomination over to a person given to reckless rhetoric and who suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. Based on polling, it appears that Trump has the worst chance of defeating a badly flawed Democrat nominee and winning back the white house for Republicans.
Those who support Trump should carefully consider what a loss in 2016 will mean for this country.
They should also consider how bad Trump winning would be as well.
Was Idi Amin all that bad?
It depends on who you were.
Trump’s solution to every problem is more government, more police
action, more bombs, more wars, more laws, more restrictions, and more
regulations.
And how is that any different than the last two presidents? The whole purpose for the ‘war over there’ was so we didn’t have to fight it over here. Remember that? But then we found out ‘they’ were already here. So the patriot act and a hundred other laws, restrictions and regulations came into being to intrude into our daily life. Trump wants to stop unchecked immigration. The rest of these candidates want to increase it along with a steady diet of more government to keep us in line.
That’s just one item in an endless array of topics that have pissed off the entire nation. May as well vote for Trump. What difference does it make at this point?
Has Trump ever suggested making government smaller? I know what departments and agencies Cruz wants to eliminate. What about Trump?
Cruz immigration plan is better than Trumps, plus I think Cruz actually read his. Numbers USA gives Cruz the same rating on immigration (A-) and gives Santorum an A.
Cruz is taking flak for the USA Freedom Act, that reduced the government’s spying on regular Americans.
The Freedom Act? You mean the Patriot Act was repealed? Oh it wasn’t? Then all the freedom act did was move a comma or add a semicolon, and added another thousand pages of lawyer speak to the U.S Code that is totally meaningless to the average American’s freedom from spying. Just another menu item of junk the politicians expect us to swallow. Sounds like you had a double portion.
I happened to have liked Amash’s bill better, but it is a step in the right direction.
Trump’s suggestion of less intrusive government was?
Your point is well taken in that Trump is not any different from any of the other candidates. Restricted immigration and smarter international trade negotiation, these are desirable objectives. But these are public policy initiatives which in no way confront a color of law habit of government and its derivative, an abjectly and maliciously enslaved the people.
With Trump, and only if you are lucky, you might get redress of certain abuses in public policy, but no remedy as to constitutionality, the restoration of Liberty and elimination of corruption.
All in all another dismal pointless election slowly shaping up.
The GOPe did it to themselves, there is a price to pay for betraying “We the People”. They had their chance and blew it. It isn’t called Cold Anger for nothing.
The GOP is us. We elected every one of the Republican legislators in Washington.
The GOP is us? Where the hell have you been for the past ten plus years? If the GOP is us then why was there a tea party? If the GOP is us, why isn’t Bush the front runner? If the GOP is us why did they try to slate people out of the locals? The fact is the GOP isn’t us and hasn’t been for quite some time if ever. They most certainly aren’t us since Citizen’s United. Yet they have the gall to call Trump the fascist. Bah. People elect the candidates they are presented on the ballot. How they got there is not the voters pay grade.
Well stated!
Trump doesn’t scare me either. He does however, give me hope and a sense of security – that if he’s elected – he’ll help us make America great again!
You keep trying to bash him but it’s a futile effort – you’re not smarter or more Conservative than his many ardent supporters (though you like to insult us); you just don’t share our view.
Who Trump DOES scare is the Establishment! And they’re pulling out all stops to thwart his seemingly inevitable nomination.
The American people will make up their own minds – despite people who think they’re our betters telling us how we should listen to them and ditch Trump.
that if he’s elected – he’ll help us make America great again!
Yea, he sure will!!!
Billionaire Mark Cuban about Donald Trump: “He’s like that guy who walks into the bar, and will say whatever it’ll take to get laid. Only in this case he’s not trying to **** some girl. He’s trying to **** the country,” he said.
Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, is a film producer and investor, said he believes Trump’s outrageous comments about Mexican and Muslim people are only to get votes, and that he doesn’t sincerely believe it.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu rejects Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Muslims,” the statement said.
“The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens.”
(http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/03/03/live-blog-netanyahu-speaks-to-congress/)
Saudi Arabian prince and the country’s richest man Alwaleed Bin Talal demanded that republican presidential candidate Donald Trump drop his White House bid. The Saudi prince’s remark comes after Trump’s controversial call to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S. earlier this week.
Alwaleed slammed Trump Friday, calling him a “disgrace” to the Republican Party and “to all America.” In a tweet, he said Trump should withdraw from the presidential race, as he “will never win.”
(FYI, until recently Alwaleed owned 49% VOTING shares in News Corp./Fox News. He sold some; however, he is still an owner.)
–Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has dropped Trump from the country’s global business outreach network to which he had been a member since 2006. His membership cancellation went into effect immediately. (Dec 2015)
–There are also calls to strip Trump of an honorary doctorate in business from Robert Gordon University, which was bestowed in 2010.
–200,000 United Kingdom citizens have also signed a petition that Trump be barred from entering Britain’s shores. Any petition exceeding 100,000 signatures is automatically taken into consideration for debate in Parliament.
–Lifestyle chain of department stores in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar dropped Trump’s home goods line, Trump Home. Landmark, the parent company that owns the store chain, said it would pull Trump’s products from shelves in all its 190 stores throughout the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.
–In July, Macy’s department stores announced they would cut ties with Trump after his remarks about Mexican people being criminals and rapists.
–NBC and Spanish-language network Univision also cut ties with Trump, vowing not to air Trump’s Miss USA pageant.
–Mattress maker Serta also announced in July it would end its contract with Trump. Serta was selling Trump Home iSeries branded mattresses that are priced between $1,299 to $2,999.
AND, you will be happy to know, that Mr. Trump is willing to do the same for America too. SMH
And the Saudi’s took in how many of the refugees? ZERO!
Not true, Bill.
“Saudi Arabia “made it a point not to deal with them as refugees” but had issued residency permits to 100,000 Syrians who wished to stay in the kingdom, the official said.
“With that came the right to free education, healthcare and employment according to a royal decree in 2012 that also states that Syrian students visiting the kingdom be admitted in public schools,” the official added.
“The kingdom had supported Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and other countries in co-ordination with the host countries, while providing a total of about $700m in humanitarian aid, he said.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/saudi-arabia-says-reports-of-its-syrian-refugee-response-false-and-misleading
So you agree, the gulf states aren’t taking in refugees… but rather paying off other countries to host them. The 1/2 million they do have in country are from before the civil war in Syria started. They too are concerned about the infiltration of terrorist within the fleeing Syrians.
Yes, it appears that the only Gulf state to date actually accepting these refugees is Iraq.
According to the UNHCR’s representative for the Gulf region, there are 500,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, but in official documentation they are referred to as “Arab brothers and sisters in distress” and not Syrian nationals.
Since the late 1990s, Prince Alwaleed has been the No. 2 owner of Fox News (technically, 21st Century Fox, the giant movie and TV corporation that owns the network) and members of the Saudi Royal Family were entertained at Crawford on three separate occasions–more than any other foreign leaders or dignitaries.
What so few recognize is that Trump isn’t really representing either party. He wouldn’t have run as a democrat, because they have a nominee of destiny and the republican party is up in the air. Trump’s popularity has come because he isn’t taking money from anyone, therefore he won’t be owned by the influences of others like the democrats and republicans are now. he won’t owe anyone anything. The American people are in full-blown rebellion. Time for the republicans – the true republicans – to embrace this and get their act together to win for us, the PEOPLE>
Trump doesn’t scare me either! I’m not a true supporter…yet, but I am applauding the fact that he removed the finger from the dike of political correctness that has kept those of us with common sense from challenging the bullying from the leftist MSM. His proposals, minus the immediate, overwhelming, spin resonate with Americans who are hardly “extremist”.
Soon, Trump’s petty critics will realize they’re whistling in the dark past the cemetery alone but no one is changing their opinions because of their repetitive monotonal tune.
John, are you saying that anyone who does not support Trump is a “petty critic?”
You sound like those whiny college leftists who want a safe space to protect themselves from differing opinions.