Donald Trump is absolutely not running for President. Push all your chips to the center of the table and bank on it. There is no way under any circumstances that he is running.
Yet before he bows out, I will give him one day of coverage only because virtually none of his opponents have announced anything either. Some of them may drop out as well.
I happen to like Trump. I have always admired his creativity. He builds beautiful buildings that are a beacon to the world.
Even in the world of television, he provided quality in a genre that featured very little of it. Reality television has brought nonsense such as the Jersey Shore and Real Housewives, but “The Apprentice” was different. I personally improved my boardroom skills observing the conflicts when it counted most. “Celebrity Apprentice” has raised tons of money for charity and given exposure to various afflictions most people do not think about. Bret Michaels of Poison educated us about juvenile diabetes while Trace Adkins spoke about child food allergies.
So the overall contributions of “The Donald” have been very positive. Besides, I would rather have the Celebrity Apprentice than our current American Idol leader.
Yet since running for President is a political audition, Mr. Trump should be subjected to the same analysis and scrutiny as every other candidate.
Trump is associated with fiscal issues. His detractors point out that he started out with money from his father. This does not diminish that he far surpassed what his father accomplished, and his father did well. Donald Trump was a visionary, and his visions paid off.
Trump also gets criticized for having had financial problems in the early 1990s. This is an unfair criticism. He correctly has pointed out that the recession of 1990-1991 was actually a real estate depression. He did what the federal government refuses to do. He tightened his belt, sold assets, and worked his way back on top. He also freely admits in his book “The Art of the Comeback” that he stopped working hard and it came back to bite him. This is a very candid and refreshingly self-critical attitude.
Trump has many sensible economic ideas. He is totally correct on tax cuts. He would be fine with supply side economics. He would favor lowering the taxes on dividends and capital gains as well. As a Wall Street guy, his policies would help Wall Street. He would not roil the stock market or the bond market. Real estate markets would certainly be fine with him.
However, he is totally wrong on trying to take a hard line with China in the form of tariffs. The last thing America needs is a trade war. We need to get spending under control and stop borrowing. Yet protectionism is not the answer. This is a philosophical disagreement worth having during the Republican primary.
On foreign policy issues Trump is an interesting contradiction. He was against the war in Iraq. Again, on this one he is wrong. The war was the right thing to do. Conversely, he wants to get “tough” with Iran. Unlike China, Iran is a nation America should get tough with. Yet getting tough is a slogan. More elaboration needs to be fleshed out. He says America should just keep the Iranian oil. This would be music to Neocon ears. If he means it, fantastic.
Social issues is where things get very confusing with Mr. Trump. He prides himself on straight, blunt language. Yet on social issues he seems to be like any other typical politician.
At CPAC he stated that he was pro-life, and against gay-marriage. He made himself out to be a conservative Republican. Trump has always been the standard for New York Country Club Republicans. He is a moderate Republican who was fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and totally willing to work with and contribute to Democrats.
This week he stated that he used to be pro-choice, but has had his views change. Cynics would call this an election conversion, but many politicians have had their epiphanies at convenient times. Bill, Clinton, Al Gore, and Jesse Jackson were pro-life until running for President. George Herbert Walker Bush ran as the pro-choice candidate in 1980 before swearing allegiance to the pro-life movement eight years later. Steve Forbes changed his position, and so did Mitt Romney. All of these men could have done so out of sincerity, but political expediency is more like it.
As for being against gay marriage, I find it hard to believe that Trump even cares. On an episode of “Celebrity Apprentice,” he asked Cyndi Lauper if she liked President Obama. She said she did, and he replied “I like him too.” Lauper had just come back from a signing ceremony with Lady Gaga on a gay rights bill.
This does not make Trump a phony. It just means he needs to explain these discrepancies. This is part of the vetting process.
Initially it seemed that Trump had most of the policy positions of Ron Paul but without the lunacy. He accurately pointed out that Paul cannot win the nomination. Yet Trump is not a Paul clone on social issues, unless the tack rightward by Trump is insincere.
One other area where Trump seems to be wading that no GOP candidate should go near is that of President Obama’s birth certificate. I am not convinced Trump really cares about that either. Talking about it is controversial, and Trump loves controversy.
Yet this is a bad controversy. Mr. Obama is a Christian who was born in Hawaii. The birthers must remain marginalized if for no other reason than it distracts from the many policy issues where criticism of Mr. Obama is totally fair game.
Trump wonders what President Obama is hiding, but it is highly likely that he is hiding nothing. He likes the issue because it makes Republicans look like dolts. As for Mr. Trump, he claims to have been born in New York. I pray this is true, and that he is not secretly a child of New Jersey.
The end result with Trump is that while I would support him if he won the nomination, it would be with much nervousness. Again, I like him very much. Yet I am a Neocon and he is not. This is a legitimate policy disagreement, which is what primaries are for to begin with.
With Donald Trump, there is plenty of political meat to chew on. Whether one agrees or disagrees, he does provide much to talk about. This is exactly how he wants it. He is definitely not running, but the fact that so many people are talking about him anyway proves how brilliant a marketer he is. Time will tell if that is enough to move him from Celebrity Apprentice to Commander in Chief.
eric
I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe you on this. No serious person, who loves their country, would support Trump for president. It’s idiotic.
JMJ