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| Donald J. Trump |
Unless you have been hiking the Amazon for the last few
months, chances are you have watched the juggernaut that is Donald Trump
crashing through the caucuses and primaries being held throughout the United
States.
What had started out as a fad, in most voter’s minds, has
become a steamroller; crushing the competition one voting booth at a time. So
why has someone like Donald Trump, a man who has never held any type of
political office, suddenly become the front runner in the 2016 presidential
race?
Truthfully? Most likely the reason is the fact he has never
held political office.
What I find truly interesting are the protestations that are
coming from both sides of the aisle.
What you are witnessing is not so much a validation of Mr.
Trump’s bona fides, as much as it is a repudiation of the party system here in
the United States. Plain and simply put, Americans are growing increasingly
weary of the political bullshit being heaped on them by anyone with the letter (D)
or (R) after their name. And why shouldn’t they?
For decades we have been cheated,
ignored, marginalized, and lied to by those we have elected. Rather than do the
work of ‘We The People,’ they have instead done the work of ‘We The Party.’ Anyone who truly believes that politicians go
to Washington to help you, probably needs to sit down and binge watch a season
or two of House of Cards.
For as long as I can remember, and certainly for as long as
I have been voting, I have witnessed one politician after another promise that
they were: a) going to Washington to fight for me, b) change the tone of politics,
c) be my voice in Congress.
And just how many of those promises were kept? None.
To be fair, it’s not all their fault. We have a level of
complicity in all this. I liken it to the parents who send their kid off to
college with a credit card to be used for emergencies. Then, when they get the
bill showing it was maxed out, they yelled at their kid to be more responsible and
sent them a new card. The truth is we stopped holding our elected representatives
accountable for their actions a very long time ago; so is it any wonder that
they look down at us with contempt?
No, the majority of folks in D.C. have only one thing on
their mind when we elect them and that is getting re-elected. Old Joe or Janey
might have needed you to elevate them to their perch, but they really need the
party to keep them there. That means doing what the party wants, rather than
what you want.
Ever wonder why that ‘fiscal conservative’ you sent to D.C. suddenly
is listed as a co-sponsor on a bill that is wasteful? Party politics, plain and
simple. Vote the way they want you to, or watch your re-election war chest wither
away like a slug in a sandstorm.
People in D.C. are a special brand of hypocrite.
They are the same ones who lose their mind when Donald Trump
doesn’t disavow David Duke or the KKK ‘fast enough,' yet are completely silent
on the fact that Hillary Clinton once referred to the late Senator Robert Byrd,
himself an actual member of the KKK and an Exalted Cyclops, as her mentor.
They are the same folks who claim that judicial nominations
in a presidential election year should not go through, when the sitting
President is not a member of their party, yet demand that it go through when he
is.
This is not a swipe at any one party, but examples of hypocrisy
that both sides are guilty of. The real problem is when We The People are too
blinded, too entrenched by party politics to see that neither side has our best
interests at heart.
Now I don’t know if Donald Trump will become the party
nominee, but one thing is for certain, the Republican Party is on very thin ice
right now. In fact, I would venture to say that the fracture that is growing is
at a critical juncture.
The rank and file members of the Republican Party are tired
of the nonsense. In 2011 they sent a strong message by electing 242 Republicans
to congress, the most since 1947. John Boehner was sworn in as Speaker of the
House and the members waited. Unfortunately, the news was bleak. The Congress
couldn’t do anything, because the Democrats controlled the Senate. They changed
that in 2015 when they also gave Mitch McConnell the Senate. Yet despite the
unequivocal mandate, many felt that the establishment was ignoring them.
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| Charles M. Schulz / United Feature Syndicate |
It soured a great many, who began to consider whether the
party was really interested in doing their will or the party’s will. The rank
and file began to see themselves as Charlie Brown, while the establishment took
the role of Lucy Van Pelt, giddily snatching away their political ‘football’ at
the last minute. In the end, it took down the speakership of John Boehner and
ended his congressional career.
Last September the RNC strong armed Donald Trump into
signing a loyalty pledge, a pledge that was ultimately signed by all 17
Republican presidential candidates. Each one pledged to support the GOP's
eventual presidential nominee in what RNC chair Reince Priebus called a sign of
party unity. Unfortunately, in September of 2015, no one really thought Donald
Trump had a snowballs chance in hell of being that nominee.
Surprise, Surprise, Reince………. Didn’t see that one coming,
did you?
So now come the knives in the back, fitting in a way, since
we are quickly approaching the Ides of March.
Donald Trump has won ten of the last fifteen state elections,
while Cruz has won four and Marc Rubio has won only one. I could be wrong, but
I’m pretty sure that at this point there is no way, short of Trump and Cruz walking
off hand-in-hand into the sunset, that Rubio could amass enough delegates to
get the nomination. So why is he still running? Why are all the ‘establishment’
people supporting him?
Because he is the establishment’s choice. He has been
ordained, just as Hillary has been on the left.
It’s the same reason that they whipped out old Mitt Romney,
a man who single-handedly managed to rip defeat from the jaws of victory, to
excoriate Donald Trump. Really? This is the same man who, back in 2012, said: “Donald
Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works,….
It means a great deal to me to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump.”
Hypocrite much, Mitt?
The truth is the establishment does not know what to do.
Donald Trump is a threat to them, to their very way of life. He’s brash, he's bold
and he's a media darling: @RealDonaldTrump He is also rich enough that he doesn’t need them. At the end of the day, that’s what
scares them: a candidate who doesn’t need them or, more importantly, their
money.
However, what they fail to realize is that there is
something even more dangerous to them and that is a membership base that has
become completely disenfranchised with them. This isn’t true for just the
republicans either. Polling indicates that a lot of democrats are beginning to
feel this way as well, as witnessed by the defection of 20k plus in
Massachusetts since January. Is this a trend that we will see continue through
the election cycle? Only time will tell, but it should serve as a wake-up call
to those in charge that the people of this great nation are fed-up with politics
as usual.
I don’t know how Donald Trump would be as President. Some
contend that he will be the same bombastic individual he presents on reality television
while others say that he is a savvy businessman who will help lead us away from
the precipice of financial doom. Who is right? I don’t know.
What I do know is that over the last eight years we have
seen the promise of ‘hope and change’ fade away into more of the same. The political
rancor is at an all-time high and growing nearly as fast as our national debt. Watch
any political interview once and you can recite the other dozen appearances
because all that is regurgitated is party approved talking points. Our elected
officials repeatedly lie to us, about things big and small, and we tolerate it.
Yet ask the same people if their kids acted the same way and they’d tell you
they would immediately put foot to ass. Obviously we have much more lenient standards
when it comes to those ruining, I mean running, our country.
So here are your choices:
- Marco Rubio – Attorney / Career Politician - 1 term US senator.
- Ted Cruz - Attorney / Career Politician - 1 term US senator.
- John Kasich – Investment Banker / Career Politician – 9 term US congressman / governor
- Hillary Clinton - Attorney / Career Politician - 2 term US senator / Secretary of State
- Bernie Sanders – Community Activist / Career Politician – 8 term US congressman / 2 term US senator
Notice a trend here? Does it sound a bit familiar?
- Barrack Obama - Attorney / Community Activist / Career Politician - 1 term US senator.
There is an old saying that goes: “Insanity is doing the
same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
We are nineteen trillion dollars in debt and growing. Eighteen
trillion of which we have added in the last 34 years!! Think about that for a
moment. We rack up debt like the energizer bunny main-lining speed. Seriously,
it’s like ten grand a second. Take a look at the Debt Clock. The numbers rotate
so fast that you’ll need to take Dramamine to watch it.
In 2015, we brought in 3.1 trillion dollars and spent 3.7. This
isn’t an anomaly. Over the last seventy-five years there have only been 12
years we have kept our spending under control. That means both parties have
pissed our money away like drunken sailors all while pointing the finger at the
other person when it comes time to pay.
And what do we get from our politicians? Reforms? No, don’t
be silly, we’re just going to spend our way out of debt…… If we ran our personal
lives like this we would be homeless or in jail.
It has been said that Donald Trump started out with around $200,000.00
after college. By 1982 his worth was estimated at around $200 million. When his
father died he inherited an additional amount, possibly as high as another $200
million. Today his worth is in the billions. Some might squabble about it, is
it two billion? Four billion? Eight billion?....... seriously? I don’t care if
it’s only one billion. The bottom line is that he obviously has a knack for
taking money and making more. Perhaps we should take the reins away from the
career politicians and give it to a career businessman.
I’ve had enough with the career politicians and their hollow
promises. Trump might not be the answer, but I know the other five knuckleheads
certainly aren’t.
The one thing I do know about Trump is that he surrounds
himself with the right people and he listens. Is that any different than what any President
does? Maybe it’s time to give Trump a chance.
What’s the worst that can happen? We rack up trillions in debt, the Middle East falls apart, illegals flood across the border, our
enemies don’t respect us and our allies don’t trust us………. ? Sounds like a normal
Tuesday under the current administration.
But hey, at least Whoopi Goldberg, Kanye West, Cher, Al Sharpton, Miley
Cyrus and Rosie O’Donnell will be another countries problem. I'd call that a win! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain
But what do I know? I'm just an old retired NYPD sergeant who writes books about cops, criminals terrorists and politicians.
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