The Trump Card

Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for several decades, not only as a financial wizard and real estate mogul, but also for his much publicized divorce from his Czech wife, Ivana, in 1992. They were both outspoken and obnoxious, they both survived. I remember thinking when one of his casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, filed for bankruptcy that this vain, brash, self-absorbed business giant was about to be taken down.

But Trump didn't go down. It turns out he has a lot more business acumen than most people realize and he has used it to build a multi-billion dollar empire. Using bankruptcy laws to help stretch out his loan payments, or for whatever reason it was, helped him to restructure and come out stronger than before and he eventually paid all his debts. He certainly knows how to use the system.

When he talked about running for president in 2012 I thought please don't. He would be a side show and if he wound up splitting the Republican vote he would throw the election to Obama. After all he was just a RINO himself, pro-abortion, and dividing his votes and support between Republican and Democrat candidates alike. As it turned out it didn't matter. Mitt Romney ran such an inept campaign that he gave the election, which any competent candidate would have won, away to Obama.

When Trump announced this time I thought it was going to be a joke. His announcement speech was not polished. He sounded like a blow hard with no substance, who would stir things up and then go away. But he didn't go away.

In fact, he struck a chord with people who are tired of politically correct politicians with no guts, who surrender on issues every time the political correct police start criticizing and calling names. He called out the so-called conservatives who slaughtered the Democrats in the last congressional elections by promising to stand up to Obama and overturn obamacare, who have bowed the knee to the White House and done nothing. All of a sudden Trump was outpolling all the Republican candidates and even though his first debate performance was not stellar he is still leading the field. Not only is his candidacy not a joke, it's for real, and interestingly enough he's drawing the majority of his support from grass roots conservatives. He's wooing the base of the Republican Party, the Christians and the right wing, people who in the past would probably have been appalled by Trump's personal life and history.

But now it turns out Trump is not pro-abortion. The media gave him that tag and it stuck, but he claims to be pro-life and always has been. In Dubuque, Iowa, he said that the Bible is the best book in the world. Whether he has actually read it or not is a question because he has said he never asks God for help. One has to wonder if his sudden appreciation for the Bible is just a typical leftist style comment designed to try and fool the religious right the way Clinton or Obama would do. But actually Trump has been the most outspoken in defense of the First Amendment and against the increasing persecution of Christians in America.

Economics rules the world and Trump obviously knows economics, finance, and business better than the lawyer class of politicians and bureaucrats who run Washington, D.C. He knows how to grow the economy and bring jobs back to America and has a plan to do it. He has a common sense approach to world affairs. He wants to secure the border with Mexico, rebuild our military to a position of strength and respect on the world stage, and he wants to undo the idiotic, lunatic nuclear deal with Iran. He wants to win in the Middle East and he has a plan to use Middle Eastern oil to finance the victory. You don't hear anybody talking that tough about anything, not even the best of the Republican candidates.

Although he is not as smooth as Reagan, Trump is very Reaganesque in his positions and his approach. He's bold, confident, and not afraid to tell the truth about anything. He hears what middle class America is saying and is speaking to it. His style may be brazen at times, but he's connecting with people who are fed up with the childish, petty antics of political correctness, and do nothing establishment Congresses stuck in the muck of Washington politics and completely out of touch with most of America.

Critics say he is all over the place on issues with no plan and no experience in foreign affairs. They say he'll make the world a more dangerous place. You mean like more dangerous than it is now after seven years of a community organizer with no experience at anything?

The critics called Reagan a "cowboy," complained that he had no experience in foreign affairs and warned that he would start World War 3. Instead, Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot. The same critics vilified Sarah Palin for not having the necessary experience even though she was the governor of Alaska, but they didn't bat an eye at Obama's non-record. BHO has surrendered the free world to Islamic terrorism by not taking a stand on any issue. The panty-waste milksop negotiation approach obviously isn't working. What we need is another cowboy in charge.

Personally my first choice in the coming election is Ted Cruz. He and Trump are on the same page or close on many issues. He has a much softer manner than Trump, but he is just as firm in his positions, and he is for the Fair Tax, which I prefer over Trump's Flat Tax plan. He's also a born again Christian, unafraid to publicly share his testimony, and most likely reads the Bible often. And honestly, any return of America to conservative ideals, such as what happened under Reagan, will be short-lived (as it was under Bush 1, which led to Clinton, which then led to Bush 2 and Obama) if there is not a spiritual revival to bring America back from the immoral abyss we are beginning to fall into.

I think, however, that this next election is so critical to our nation's survival that maybe what we need is an arrogant, boastful, big mouth who believes in American exceptionalism, is not afraid to preach it, who will govern by the rule of law in the Constitution, and has the spine and the chutzpah in foreign policy to put the world in its place while he rebuilds America to number one. One thing is for sure, nobody since Ronald Reagan has shaken up the American political scene like Donald Trump.