Tuesday, May 3, 2016
The Man Who Gave Rise to Trump
Who made it possible for Donald Trump - egotistical billionaire, silly reality TV star, bad hair day-of-the-year candidate - to become the GOP frontrunner? One man and one man only: Barack Obama.
Think what you will about Trump, but he seized upon the very things that Americans (including a majority of Republicans and perhaps a healthy percentage of Democrats) object to the most about President Obama. These include Obama's worldview that America is NOT necessarily special. That it is just one of the world's nations, not the "last great hope of mankind." With a Kenyan father and an upbringing in Indonesia, Obama has never been fully American. Deep inside, he sympathizes with at least some of the jealousies and bitterness that citizens of failed or dysfunctional countries have toward America's success. Hence, his foreign policy which includes apologies (yes, it's true) and "leading from behind" (whatever that means). Obama fancies himself a student of history. He believes that the details of day-to-day foreign policy are trivial and that in the grand sweep of time evil will be defeated and peace will reign. In and of itself it is an incredibly childish and naive view. Ronald Reagan actually believed the same thing, but he knew that boots on the ground were required to keep the bad actors on the world stage in check. Would Reagan have stood down while Russian aircraft buzz American ships on a daily basis? You know the answer. Obama thinks that Putin is just posturing. But then again, Putin took the Crimea....
Trump has read the mood of America and knows that people are frustrated by seven plus years of namby-pamby dithering. Americans don't want war, but they do want America to project strength. And they are not apologetic about it because they know that America is at its core a great and virtuous nation. Obama, along with his spiritual side-kick Bernie Sanders, believe that America was, like ancient Rome, founded on a crime.
Likewise, Trump knows that America and American values need to be protected. Hence his signature issue of immigration. Whether or not a wall ever gets built, Trump has read the mood of the country. We are not a third world country. We do not want to become a third world country. We have the right to determine who comes here and who does not. And we have nothing to apologize for. All of which are antithetical to Obama who has embraced and championed open borders and amnesty. Trump supporters believe that immigrants have to assimilate American values. Obama believes that America needs more diversity. At least half of the country disagrees.
Don't like Trump? Blame Obama.
Tid-Bits
Not a single member of the White House press corps is a registered Republican, according to survey results recently published by Politico. (freebeacon.com, 4/29/2016)
Wow! Did not see this one coming....
Hillary Clinton came to campaign in coal country — and she had her feet held to the fire.
As Mrs. Clinton stepped onto the sidewalk on Monday to tour a health and wellness center here, a crowd of protesters stood in the rain, many of them holding signs supporting the leading Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, and chanted, “Go home!” (New York Times, 5/3/2016)
Obama and Democrats have waged a war on coal. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
Detroit public schools were shut for a second straight day Tuesday as teachers stayed away in protest of the possibility that they won’t be paid after June 30. (Wall Street Journal, 5/3/2016)
Why are Detroit teachers striking? Why, it is for the children!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If I am not mistaken, Donald Trump has sworn off nation building and cited the War in Iraq as a terrible mistake. He has praised Putin and said he is someone he can work with. He wants our Nato partners to pay for our troops in Europe, and will force this issue, while we need their cooperation on any number of fronts in the War on Terror. I would say the frustration most Trump supporters have with Washington has much more to do with Mitch McConnell's vow to make Obama a ruined President and a failure to reach a Grand Bargain on the Budget, while addressing the needs of workers who have not kept up with Technology, and are probably incapable of learning technology. It is ironic that the South cheered themselves when they used right to work laws to move jobs from the unionized north to the south chiding Northerners for bad policies. Now they are angry that certain emerging markets are doing the same to them. Global Trade has helped far more than it has hurt and no country has benefited more from Global Trade than the U.S. I fear bipartisan support for that position has been eroded by the success of Trump and Sanders, and am contemplating selling everything.
ReplyDelete