Thursday, March 3, 2016

The Donald

Michael L.

TrumpI actually get a kick out of Trump.

He is so outrageous and he'll say damn near anything.

I thought that Cruz's tongue-in-cheek response to Trump in the Iowa debate - that Trump skipped - was on point:
"Let me say, I'm a maniac. And everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And, Ben, you're a terrible surgeon."
That may have been the best line of this political season.

In any case, this piece is largely a response to the conversation initiated by Joseph, beneath the linked-to post, and furthered by Kate, Jeff, the Panther, and myself, concerning the likelihood of a Trump nomination for the Republican Party.

Things are shaping up to look like a Hillary / Donald race for the US presidency. In truth, despite the potential horrendous consequences, I find the prospect of a Hillary versus Trump race to be fascinating. Hillary represents the Democratic Old Guard, so to speak - as well as potentially the first female president of the United States - while Trump represents Trump.

Kate said:
Trump is not really a Republican, nor is he an actual conservative. He has, effectively, hijacked the Republican party for his own ambitions.
My tendency is to agree with Kate's sense on this issue... although it is not an objective fact because none of us can read minds, as far as I know. Nonetheless, it may very well be the case that in his heart-of-hearts Trump honestly believes that a strong America is beneficial not only to those of us who happen to live here, but to the well-being of people throughout the world.

Perhaps.

I agree with Kate in that I suspect that Trump primarily stands for Trump. He is a populist and a demagogue, much like Pappy "Pass the Bisquits" O'Daniel who beat LBJ in his first run for the Senate in 1941 Texas and was the only human being in history, aside from JFK in 1960, to defeat Lyndon Johnson in a political campaign for high office.

Unlike Obama, however, Trump is not an ideologue, but a pragmatist. Or, at least, I am pretty sure that is the way he sees himself. Trump wrote The Art of the Deal and, therefore, obviously sees himself as a negotiator par excellence.

He is also someone, like Bernie Sanders, who is looking to the past for inspiration. The difference is that Uncle Bernie is looking toward the good old days of the late 1960s, what with the riots and assassinations and blood in the streets, while Trump aspires to recreate 1957, or thereabouts.

Sanders, of course, is likely to soon become irrelevant, whereas Trump will probably go forward to become the Republican nominee... although there are current whisperings of the possibility of the first brokered Republican convention since 1948. There are also many people who claim that Trump is a racist, but I am not seeing it. Of course, there are many people in the Age of Obama who fling around charges of racism like it's confetti.

The Left has learned to use racism as a club, because it is effective.

{It should probably be noted that there are some people who would shoot this accusation at me, but I almost never accuse individuals of racism or anti-Semitism. I may sometimes point out the anti-Semitism of the Obama administration or the EU or the UN, but beyond Obama himself, I virtually never accuse specific individuals of racism.}

The only thing, in regards this particular question, that can be pinned on Trump is that he suggested a discontinuation of Muslim immigration into the United States until the government can figure out which of these people are simple migrants, avoiding war and poverty, and which are Jihadis desiring to kill Americans, infidels, and Jews.

Given the fact that I happen to be an American, an infidel, and a Jew, I have no particular problem with this proposition.

None of this, however, should be taken to represent advocacy for the Trump campaign.

Until fairly recently, I was a "life-long" Democrat, with a brief stint as a Green shortly before 9/11.

Today I am a pro-Israel, pro-democracy, pro-liberal moderate independent who believes that the American Democratic Party has thrown its central values in the toilet, with the encouragement of Barack Obama.

The Democratic Party and the progressive-left like to claim that they stand for social justice and universal human rights.

If this was ever actually the case, it no longer is.

When the Democratic Party turned its back on the Jewish people, by turning its back to the Jewish State of Israel, I knew that not only was it time to remove myself from their association, but also to conclude that in supporting Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Fatah - and failing to oppose ISIS - that it was no longer supporting democracy, liberalism, women's rights, Gay rights, or anti-racism within the Middle East.

I may not support Donald Trump, but I will definitely oppose the racism and Judeophobia embedded within the Democratic Party and the Left.

When the Left made a home of itself for the BDS movement it pointed Jews who care about the well-being of other Jews toward the door.

I sometimes wonder what happened to the feminist Left that once had the gonads to stand up to the Taliban.

26 comments:

  1. Sanders isn't actually a democrat either. And if he were ahead of Queen Hillaria you would see a level of hysterical screeching on par with that of Trump.

    I compare Trump with Silvio Berlusconi - who, wasn't all that bad an Italian leader, by their standards. Pretty good one actually. When the left foisted union flacks, communists, ex hippies and revolutionaries on the Italians in the past they'd last a few months and then get voted out in utter failure. Silvio came along and did a fairly good job on the economy and held the country together longer and better than most.

    I see Trump like that, in fact unlike the hero cult of Obama and his 'transformational' presidency, a Trump is a person who freely admits he doesn't have all the answers but he can hire people who do. Unlike the present office holder who has never admitted to anyone about anything that he's ever made the least error or that anything he ever did wasn't the most stupendous divine triumph of the ages but that we're the ones who are stupid and evil for not appreciating that.

    Statistically, on a county by county basis Trump voters are the people who were left behind in the Amazing Obama Recovery. People generally from economically disadvantaged areas who saw their situations get worse under Obama. For the Democrats, the mainline GOP and all their media to start going after the VOTERS in addition to their candidate is a bonehead mistake. They are laughing at half of Americans and telling them they deserve to be poor and suffering.

    On the other hand Hillary's "I Have a Uterus" speech hasn't played well with women under 30. Which is why she's openly going for the "I am the Second First Black President" angle now. I can understand that 'firewall' thing in order to trounce Bernie but after that, what? She's relying on a completely fictitious assumption that every black voter in America will turn up and vote for her and everyone else will sit at home eating Cheetos. Hillary may be correct and I tend to agree that after the primaries, voter interest will crash and election day turnout will be poor. But it will be poor across the board. An Obama third term isn't something that the black firewall is really going to want. People I hope are smarter than that to realize that black economic fortunes under Obama got a lot worse a lot faster than ever before.

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    1. I fully expect to sit home and eat Cheetos.

      I honestly see no better alternative this cycle.

      I'll probably have some Chinese food, too, although probably not with the Cheetos.

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    2. Cheese and Chinese is a lethal combo. I need at least 6 hours between the two.

      Mike, I tell ya, I just don't know what to do. Trump does tend to crack me up, and the gang up of all establishment, media, political, both parties make me want to root for him. Cruz is an oil slick. Hillary is Sydney Blumenthal and his subterranean munchkin son who must be Rosemary's baby.
      There is an article in Ha'aretz that says Trump is trouble for the relationship between Israel and unconditional support from the GOP. I only skimmed it, but then again, it's Ha'aretz so whether the story is credible is anyone's guess.
      What I can do without are poll predictions in March on the outcomes for general elections in November. They are totally worthless yet constantly mentioned. General election campaigns frequently swing percentages dramatically.
      But how can the political system be in such turmoil after almost 8 years of post racial harmony, a booming economy, and peace and stability throughout the world? :0(

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  2. Donald Trump (Drumpg) is a modern day Huey Long. Voices of Protest by Alan Brinkley is a good book to start to try to understand Long. The question is whether Trump is more like Long or Father Coughlin. Good luck tossing the dice on what Trump is or what he might be. Clinton is way to moderate for my tastes, but you know what you're getting. And Obama is simply not anti-semitic. His view of how to resolve disputes may be lacking, but he is not anti-semitic. His closest advisers, including Rahm Emmanuel, are Jewish and I don't think anyone has accused the mayor of being anti-semitic. By the way, I have four Mexican-Jewish grandchildren. So that I detest Trump is an understatement. And when people hate Mexicans, Muslims and gays, trust me, Jews are not far behind.

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    1. He IS an anti-semite. Employing some "court Jews" does not absolve him of anti-semitism.

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    2. You don't know what you are talking about.

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  3. I am a Bernie supporter, love his economic and social ideas.

    The trashing of him by the Clinton machine (aka the Democratic Party) has me pissed off to no ends. They keep talking about the "historical" precedent of a first female president.

    They can't even bring up the historical precedent of America's first Jewish president.

    Yet those same people who made sure to loudly scream that "Obama is Christian", as if to imply that a president must be Christian. In that regard I found them just as reprehensible as the republicans on this issue.

    We could have a first Jewish president, but the Democratic Party showing its true colors, just wants us Jews to sit down shut up and remain servile.

    If Bernie doesn't get the nomination, I will vote for the republican candidate just to say FUCK YOU to the Democratic Party. And I hope that candidate is Trump to just give an extra FUCK YOU to the Democratic Party!

    Should any of the DSKF people see this and report me for not falling in line, well maybe you can "Christ-splain" to me why I am wrong. But I won't listen. If anyone from the AA community wants to read me the riot act, just remember one thing. The Jewish community backed the first AA presidential candidate, but you turned your backs on us (see super Tuesday's results). The AA community mocked the work that Sanders did, even supporting Jessie "Hymie Town" Jackson when he ran for president. Yet the AA community supports a "Goldwater Girl" who fought against the civil rights act.

    It is clear to me that the Jewish community has been taking for granted by the Democratic Party and its constituents, and I say FUCK YOU to them all, GO TRUMP!

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    1. Panther,

      if I was a betting man - which I am - I would put good money down betting against a Sanders nomination.

      I wonder what odds the Vegas boys are giving it.

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    2. Vegas does not allow betting on elections. There are foreign books that do and there was intrade, but it shut down a couple of years ago.

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    3. What??

      No betting on national elections in Vegas casinos?

      Jeez, what is this country coming to?

      What the hell would Hunter S. Thompson say?

      What would Richard Nixon say?

      They'd both be thoroughly disgusted!

      Vegas sucks anyway.

      btw, this is entirely off-topic, but Lauri and I are heading to Scottsdale, AZ tomorrow for Giant's spring training.

      We're having a violently psychotic anti-Islamist lesbian friend of ours, with many guns, stay at the house and take care of the stinky pooches.

      Hopefully this time the Oakland police will stay out of things.

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    4. You can't normally vote for anything that is voted on in Vegas. You never could. For example, you couldn't vote for the MLB MVP or the Rookie of the Year. But this year, there was betting on the Super Bowl MVP and Vegas took a big hit on when Von Miller won. I don't know how that was allowed, but it was. You also can't vote on the Academy Awards. By the way, isn't this an even year, so the Giants will win another World Series?

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    5. I harbor no illusions on Sanders winning the rigged game at this point.

      So make sure you understand the rest of my post

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    6. If Sanders weren't a left-wing kook, I'd agree with you. But he's associated himself with openly anti-Israel voices like Noam Trotsky and Cornel West; he'd give cover to overt anti-Zionists because since he's Jewish, it thus "[wouldn't be] anti-Semitism." Self-hating Jews are the most dangerous because they enable bigotry and give it moral cover.

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  4. Trump does not reject the voice of those who have different views. That is why he calls himself a common-sense conservative, and he admonished purists that in matters of defense and trade and political Islam and political correctness, he is an agent of change, while he can still recognize the attributes of Planned Parenthood.

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    1. Would you call yourself a supporter?

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    2. Nope. But in the debate he spoke about being adaptable and open to change, which means that he values finding solutions and hearing and respecting other voices.

      The entrenched powers on all sides have their knives out in force, and the question is whether he will survive it. Looks like the people have different ideas, but they can be manipulated by the intensity of the attacks. Whether he will take on the system, who knows, but he seems to have them scared.

      As he says, he is actually growing the party, and against Clinton he would give as much as he takes. He might even win. Democrats are no less corrupt and hypocritical than Republicans, despite what they project.

      If someone wants to misunderstand or take things out of context, they will do so. That's the rule of politics these days, in both directions. You really have to listen to Trump to understand him, and the approach he will take, mostly conservative, but able to give, too.

      Will probably watch and let others vote, as it makes no difference in the locale I participate.

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  5. Mike; what was your take on Trump being "neutral" on Israel and the Palestinians?

    I took that as one or two things: maybe a nod to Rand Paul libertarians (the only major GOP group who still dishonours Israel) but also perhaps a nod to the anti-Semite white supremacists who like Trump. Of course tho, he is more pro-Israel and pro-Jewish than Barack Hussein Obama.

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  6. Kumar,
    Trump has said he wants to uncover "the truth" about 9/11.
    Code Pink are enthralled with that. John Pilger is supporting him because " he won't be beholden to Israel." The implication of 9/11 truthers is that it was the "joos wot did it." Trump is, of course, all over the place on everything, but his penchant for conspiracy theories is seriously alarming. And is appealing to some extremely anti-Jewish people and groups. I'd be very careful about trusting him.

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    1. He's talking about the Saudis.

      http://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-911-george-w-bush-barack-obama-prince-bandar-bin-sultan-bob-297170?piano_t=1

      They were sued by some families, but it was tossed due to sovereign immunity.

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  7. Amazing how the knives are out for Trump. From all sides and all quarters. It's good to watch almost all the pundits and politicians and smart people. Otherwise I might not know that he's Hitler. Talk about the politics of fear. These "responsible" people made the hole we are in. They care about their own status, not those who voices they shut out, or those who are truly dispossessed. The change might not happen in 2016, but this is where started. It may take four more years of progressive policies to bring reality to true light, so people understand there is a reason to defend the freedom and prosperity we take for granted.

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    1. Yes, it is some kind of free for all. Look, to say that Trump is egotistical, vulgar, reactive or lightweight on issues, etc., is all fine, but the things they've been coming out with...he's getting the "Zionist Entity" treatment. He is racist, apartheid Donald Trump. He is radioactive and dangerous. He is Satan. And it seems to be working. I find that disturbing.

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  8. Not necessarily. Canada has very tough immigration laws, based on occupational categories. I doubt they have many openings for generic "celebrities" or washed-up "comics." Same for agitator/rabble-rouser/demagogue/shake-down artist categories.

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  9. Trump may not be an antisemite but he's sure bringing them out of the woodwork, as a dkos poster testifies in the thread Trump Uncorks A Genie Of Anti-Semitic Hate And Harassment Online.

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