Trump Has Not Even Started

The following is a reprint that says it better than I can

Only a week after Donald Trump’s election victory, the same pundits who said he could never win are making it sound like his presidency has already failed. They claim his lack of major Cabinet level appointments thus far show he is bogged down. They say his pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington is compromised because he is surrounded by “swamp creatures.” Even when Trump steps out for a private dinner with his family, the press howls about a “lack of transparency.”
President-elect Trump is being held to an impossibly high standard, considering he won’t even take office for 10 weeks. Michael Gerson griped in The Washington Post that Trump has not produced “a set of developed proposals” for his policy priorities, or indicated a “favored bill or detailed plan” for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, or told Congress exactly how he wants to replace Obama care. “Many Republican members of Congress are frankly confused,” Gerson wrote.
Confused, really? Because a man who won’t move into the White House until mid-January hasn’t submitted a comprehensive legislative agenda to a new Congress that itself hasn’t convened? It would be more confusing if he had.
Journalists are also quick to pounce when they sense Trump is putting daylight between his current positions and his campaign promises. Whether on Obama care, the wall with Mexico or appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton’s emails, tarot-card-reading reporters have detected subtle softening, shifting, walking things back. But it is contradictory to criticize Trump for not being specific enough about implementing his agenda, and at the same time allege he is backing away from his promises.
Contrast Trump’s transition to President-elect Bill Clinton’s. Before his inauguration, Clinton managed to flip-flop on his China policy, water down his promised middle-class tax cut, and abandon his pledge to admit Haitian refugees. Commerce Secretary-designee Ron Brown became embroiled in a scandal about corporations offering to pay for his inaugural party, and attorney general nominee Zoe Baird fell afoul of the Nanny-gate controversy and was thrown under the bus. As The New York Times said a few days before the inauguration, “The Clinton administration looks ready to hit the ground stumbling.”
Some claim that the Trump transition is dragging its feet. Politico stated that “Trump was caught flat-footed by winning,” offering as evidence that “his transition team has been slow to engage with the outgoing administration.” But Trump is sprinting down the track compared with Ronald Reagan’s laid-back transition. The Gipper’s first move was to take a short vacation on his ranch in California, where transition head Ed Meese said the president-elect “hasn’t even looked at a list” of prospective appointees. Donald Trump met with President Obama a mere two days after the election, while Reagan and President Carter waited until Nov. 20 to sit down together at the White House. A week after that, Reagan had still not reached out to his prospective Cabinet officials. Asked by a reporter outside a barbershop in Beverly Hills whether he had called any potential nominees, the Gipper simply said, “Nope.”
Maybe Trump’s unprecedented rise to the presidency has trained reporters to expect more from him than they did from his predecessors. But they are a little too demanding under the circumstances. People in a hurry to declare Trump’s presidency failed should at least have the courtesy to first let it begin. They should let Trump be Trump and see what happens. It will take more than a week for America to make the transition to being great again.
James S. Robbins, an expert on national security, foreign affairs and the military, is an author and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. His books include This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive.
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Trump Does Not Hate Hilary

Many of those who oppose Trump also oppose the people who voted for Trump in the primaries. They are against regular, hard working American citizens who got out and went to the polls and voted for Donald Trump. These antagonists to Trump say that the people who voted for Trump are ignorant, or misinformed, or low information voters, or just bigots, racists, or whites who have been left behind, or Uncle Tom Blacks. The anti Trump people, who are both Democrat and Republican, are themselves arrogant snobs, and elitists, who look down on so called “working class” or so called “blue collar” people. They are the problem and not the solution. They are the cause and not the remedy. They are the disease and not the cure. They are repugnant and must be rejected.
The Trump revolution is real. It includes a host of real people who have real lives, and real jobs, and real families and do not live on Park Avenue, New York, or the various haunts of the rich and powerful. And it is their realness that is swelling in power as it rises up to overwhelm and utterly reject the arrogant pride of the anti Trump forces. It is a rising tide of power that will drown the prideful voices of the privileged and smother them under an overwhelming vote of popular affirmation for Donald J. Trump and his intentional preference for the regular and the ordinary and the citizens of America.
This is a real revolution. As of now, it is a political revolution. It is the last desperate gasp of hope by a long suppressed silent majority. It is their last desperate faith in a system that has been corrupted and rigged against them. And they are the ones, the so called clueless taxpayers, who are arrogantly expected to pay for it,-they are the ones who are still hope filled by one man, Donald J. Trump–a billionaire, who like a champion, has entered the arena and volunteered to fight for their cause.
If you, my friend, are reading this, I ask you to vote for Mr. Trump. If you are indeed a friend, and I acknowledge that assertion to be a bold one, nonetheless, if you are a friend, I ask you to share the hope filled and faith filled and reality filled message of Donald Trump. American is supposed to be great. I really believe that is our destiny. Not as a matter of undue pride, but as a humble acceptance of the burden of greatness.
Friends, this writer is a Christian. I am not afraid nor am I ashamed of it. However, I accept and acknowledge that there are Jews, and Hindus, and witch-ans and Confucians, and Shinto-ans, and many other good people of God’s Spirit who are anxious about our America. Trump has no exclusive claim on them nor they on him. But please allow me to assert, that he, Donald J. Trump, and he alone, is standing forward and bravely accepting the derision of those who mock and laugh and deride our faiths, and mock us as they say that we “cling to our guns and our Bibles”.
The author of this article has been involved in political and social revolution before. These have failed. Why? Because good people, people who said that they were on our side, failed to follow through. Your author is afraid of the same result, but I am asking you not to accept the same result–failure. My heart and soul cry out to you to rise up and to go out and to vote for a successful political revolution. Vote for Trump. Your vote is important. If you vote, it will change America for the better. It will change America forever.

Trump is The Future

This blog entry is written at 9.28 after a seven hundred and thirty mile car drive from Lexington, Kentucky. It is a stream of consciousness blog entry concerning Donald Trump for President.

Donald Trump is the future and Hilary Clinton is the past. Yes, it is nice and nostalgic to think about the simple past. But the past is the past and there is no return to it. Hilary Clinton with her “first” husband Bill Clinton is the past and there is, no doorway to that past. It is over.

Donald Trump is the future. He is new. He is bold. He is not afraid. He is willing to go where no politician has ever gone before. This writer votes for the future. He votes for his own future which is tied to the bold initiatives of Donald Trump. He votes for the future of his children which is tied to the honesty and basic human integrity of Donald Trump. He votes for the future of his grandchildren which is tied to Mr. Trump’s sincere promise to do the best he can (and that is formidable) to undo the toxic policies of the past and to initiate a brand new policy that will benefit all American citizens whether they are new after being her illegally for fifteen years or they are born of parents who came here in 1838.

Friends, and I regard you as friends even if you disagree, we have an option in November. We can vote for Hilary and the past or Donald and the Future. I vote for the future.

Trump, Hilary and Obama

Much is made of the idea that a vote for Hilary is a vote to extend the Obama policies. This is because they feel that the Obama policies were the wrong policies. These people fear that Hilary is politically and perhaps financially indebted to Obama and his billionaire backers. Why is this a problem? It is because voters want the person they elected. They do not want the backers, lobbyists, power brokers and political careerists who are backing Hilary. To think that Hilary will be her own person and reject the demands of her financial and political backers is to believe that such people, with such a heavy investment in her, will allow her to be independent. That is unlikely.

What is wrong with the Obama legacy? It starts in Cambridge Mass. There, President Obama inserted his own brand of black racism into a neutral situation,. His assertion that the Cambridge police were acting “foolishly” when they tried to protect the property of a black professor was a huge signal that he intended to interpret things from a black versus white prejudice. This racist philosophy evidenced itself again and again. Notable for this writer was the George Zimmermann and Evon Martin Case. Again Obama inserted his racism when he made several public comments on the case. He went so far as to say that if Obama had a son, he would look like the victim. This seemingly innocuous statement was Obama’s taking sides in the judicial case identifying himself with the victim and thereby casting a shadow of guilt on George Zimmermann.

The next episode for our remembering is the method of passage for Obamacare. The President used obvious bribery of political support, public contracting support, and favoring the pet projects of Senators who would sell their convictions for money and the promise of patronage. Additionally, Obama, in typical fashion, moved quickly, once he had bribed votes, to cut off any opposition. Some would call this politics as usual, this writer calls it blatant interference in the legislative functions of the Congress. This strident disregard for the separation of powers clause of the Constitution is further revealed by Obama’s use of Executive Orders. Executive Orders are the same as writing and passing legislation without permission of the legislature. The most prominent expression of Obama’s lack of respect for our constitution was his statement that with his phone and his pen he would bypass Congress and impose his will on the citizens without their consent.

The concept that the so called Constitutional scholar Barrack Hussein Obama should want to usurp the Constitution by a dictatorial use of his phone and his pen is very troubling. For this writer that alone, if extended by the Hilary administration, spells more Federal intrusion into our lives and more dictatorship of the federal government over business, education and personal life. Therefore, a vote for Trump is a vote against an overly dictatorial federal government and its continuation under a Hilary administration.

Moderates for Trump

When is it time to moderate your viewpoint in order to achieve success? This is a very important question for the voters in this 2016 election. It is not concerning only the Presidential candidates, but also the Senate and House of Representatives candidates.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016 Republican House member Paul Ryan won his primary battle against a newcomer. It was an important event because Representative Ryan is also Speaker of the House of Representatives. Therefore, he is third in line of succession to the Presidency if both the President and Vice President should be killed. He is also the leader of the House and it is from there that a great deal of legislation originates and it is from there that all money legislation starts. As the Speaker of the House, Ryan is either an ally or a foe of the President and Executive policies. In a very real sense, Speaker Ryan is the head of the legislative branch, even as Chief Justice Roberts is the head of the Judicial branch and if elected, Donald Trump will be of the Executive branch. All of them supposed to be equal in power so as to safeguard against any one branch of government becoming dictatorial.

Ryan is a member of the Republican party. At the beginning of this election cycle Speaker Ryan seemed hostile to the potential of Mr. Donald J. Trump becoming the Republican nominee for President. Eventually, Mr. Trump became the nominee, and met with Mr. Ryan to overcome any objections that Speaker Ryan had about candidate Trump. Recently, a seeming disconnect occurred when Mr. Trump seemed to support Mr. Ryan’s opponent at the Primary level. Much commotion was caused by the media, but Mr. Ryan affirmed his support for Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump officially endorsed Paul Ryan.

Does it matter? Who knows? But it was a symbol to this writer that voters will need to moderate their political positions in response to the extraordinary opportunity to elect a truly non politician Mr. Trump. Why? Because there is a new American Revolution happening. It is a political revolution. It is a revolution of the workers against those who do not care to work. It is a revolution of business people against those who would tax businesses out of existence. It is a revolution of union workers against those who approve of exporting their jobs to foreign countries. It is a revolution of citizens against those who seek citizenship by breaking the law, It is a revolution of middle class people against effete snobs in universities who take their money and use it to turn their children’s values against them- a middle class that is tired of Black Lives Matter, of Occupy Wall Street, of Ferguson and looting, of agitators who burn down neighborhoods hooded Muslim athletes, spitting out their hate for America and of anti morality advocates who claim that if a man wants to pretend he is a women and enter a woman’s bathroom, it is OK. It is a revolution of all Americans against liars, cheaters, phonies, manipulators, and elite political careerists who think that they are owed the Presidency because they are the “best qualified” for the job.

Yes, this writer is a Trump advocate. Yes, this writer is a moral conservative. Yes, this writer identifies with the Republican party. However, “yours truly” supports Mr. Trump because I believe that the New American Political Revolution that we daily experience has made him the voice of the disenfranchised American who is told to give over America to immigrants who for twenty years have succeeded in breaking the law. A Revolution of disgusted Americans who see the results of a President who disparages them for clinging to their Bibles and guns and who started his administration by claiming that the White (his words) cop in Cambridge, acted foolishly; of Americans who are still startled by Secretary of State Clinton’s testimony about the murder of four embassy personnel in Benghazi, Libya, ” What difference does it make, they are dead?!”

The New American Revolution represented by Donald Trump is a political revolution. It is one last expression of American citizens that they may be able to save the USA from its spiral into the oblivion of Presidential executive orders and a newspaper and news reporting system that constantly treats them as stupid people to be used, manipulated, lied to and propagandized. And Donald Trump? Billionaire business man and Republican nominee for President, what of him? He did not make the New American Revolution, It made him. He did not convince people to believe as they do, they find in him a leader willing to listen to their beliefs and to respect their opinions and to honor them as citizens of the USA. This New American Revolution is political for now. It is based on hope, the hope of a majority of citizens who have been ill treated by their leaders, lied to by their media and who have seen their beloved nation delivered to illegals, law breakers, and college teachers who despise them and seek to turn their own children against them.

Will this phenomenon remain political? Who knows! If the religious right cannot moderate their views to embrace Donald Trump, the revolution may fail. If the Conservatives cannot moderate their views to accept a less than “pure” conservative in Donald Trump, it may fail. If the vast rank and file of adherents to the Democrat party cannot move toward Mr. Trump, it will fail. But its failure, if it happens, may be the new strident revolution that dismisses politics and like a Phoenix from the ashes rises to create a new reality, a viable third political party that will forever change the power structure of America.

Paul Ryan is Needed as Speaker

Paul Ryan is a senior Congressman who is Republican and Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is very important for the success of the Trump revolution. Speaker Ryan is experienced in creating legislation, in putting forward cohesive budgets, and in helping the people of his Janesville, Wisconsin, district play a very big role in guiding the nation. He is being threatened by outsiders like former Governor Sarah Palin and a host of other enemies who want to use the primary process to deny him a spot on the Republican ballot in November. The loss of Speaker Ryan to the nation, the Congress and the people of Janesville district would be a very big mistake.

If Mr. Ryan is denied the Republican spot in the primary, his challenger will have unseated a Speaker of the House of Representatives without even having to win the general election. That means that Nehlen and his small group of discontented people will have, with a mere fraction of eligible voters, denied the talents of Congressman Ryan to all of us. A vote against Ryan is a vote against the New American Political Revolution and its Voice, Mr. Donald J. Trump. A vote against Ryan is also a suicide vote by the people of Janesville because it will be a wholesale give away of their power to help guide the nation during either a Trump or Hilary Presidency.

Remember, that if Congressman Paul Ryan is defeated in the primary by this obscure newcomer, then all is lost. Mr. Nehlen will not be the Speaker. He will merely be a new freshman congressman without seniority, chairmanships, committee position or the clout that goes with being a senior among your peers. The cost for the ideological defeat of Paul Ryan is far too great. Please remember, also, that his challenger must go on to win the election which is not a sure thing, so the net result could be a loss of the Speakership, the loss of senior committee chairmanships, and the loss of the seat itself to a Democrat. And for all of the people of Janesville district, Republican and Democrat, the loss of Paul Ryan would relegate them to obscurity as just another small town in the vast Wisconsin landscape.

Much is being made of Mr. Ryan and Mr Trump not agreeing. Good! Disagreement is good! We definitely do not want the Obama/Clinton robots who don’t even dare to disagree with them. We want a strong Speaker Ryan standing tall alongside a strong President Trump confident in their strengths and equally confident that they can agree to disagree without fear of reprisal. Such a relationship of strength is good for our Republic and good for the future of our freedom. In fact, such strength and respect is a key ingredient of the New American Political Revolution being spearheaded by Republican Donald Trump.

Paul Ryan gets things done. During his many years in Congress he has gained the respect of everyone who meets him. They do not all agree, but to have the respect of those with whom you openly disagree is a testament to Paul’s integrity , and the honesty of his commitment to serve as a doer and not just a talker. Paul Ryan knows what he is doing. He is a Congressman of principle. The key principle is Paul’s dedication to the Constitution and its provision for the separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. He is also a proponent of limiting the power of the Federal government because the Constitution provides for fifty state governments which are sovereign in their locality. Because Paul Ryan has a comprehensive and inclusive philosophy of government, many who claim pure Conservative or pure liberal credentials see him as unworthy of their support. Frankly, many of these people actually hate him and call him names like RINO and traitor and Judas and the like. Sad for them and sad that they hate. (RINO means Republican In Name Only.) But America does not need a Speaker who is so purely ideological that he cannot work with others, cannot respect differences of opinion and cannot make a deal and get the job done.

If anyone should know about the art of the deal, it is candidate Donald J. Trump. He based his successful business career upon it. It is the title of one of his books. He does it better than anyone else. That is why the endorsement of Mr. Ryan by Mike Pence is a very big deal. It says that the non endorsement of Mr. Trump should not be considered a signal to defeat Speaker Ryan. Rather, the wholehearted endorsement of Mr. Ryan by Mike Pence is a signal to all who care about the New American Revolution that they should vote for Ryan and not against him. Remember Pence will be chairman of the Senate and will be working very closely with Speaker Ryan for the implementation of the programs that will make America great again.

What Happened to Ross Perot?

There was a man named Ross Perot. Remember him? He was very much like Mr. Donald Trump. He was a business man. He was a billionaire. Both of them ran for President. What was Perot’s attractiveness? Perot gave expression to the fear and anxiety of the middle class of his time.
In his book titled, They Only Look Dead, E.J. Dionne Jr. (1996) called those attracted to Ross Perot the “Anxious Middle”. In a very fine chapter about the Politics of the Anxious Middle, Mr. Dionne wrote, (p.67)

The Anxious Middle set the terms for the 1992 and 1994 elections. It destroyed a Republican presidential coalition that seemed invulnerable only a few years earlier. It made Ross Perot possible, ended George (H.W) Bush’s political career, sent Bill Clinton to the White House – and rebuked Clinton and helped make Newt Gingrich one of the central figures of American politics. Perot spoke instinctively of the American Middle. Bush never understood it. Clinton saw it coming long before most politicians, shaped his campaign to respond to its concerns – and then confronted its ire after only two years in office. Gingrich sought his own radical language to speak to its anxieties

(p. 72) Almost as important as Clinton’s candidacy, of course, was Ross Perot’s, and his rise proved to be an essential component of Clinton’s victory. In the spring of 1992, as discontent against Bush was growing, Perot’s sudden availability as a candidate shook loose millions of previously Republican voters. Before he dropped out of the contest, Perot had risen to first in the polls and had driven Bush down to about a third of the potential vote. In his withdrawal statement in July – in the midst of the Democratic National Convention – Perot gave Clinton a large boost when he explained that his candidacy might no longer be needed , “now that the Democratic Party has revitalized itself.” Clinton soared in the polls.

Can we call the politics of Mr. Trump an appeal to the feelings of the Angry Middle? His confrontational style, his harsh criticisms, his stand against media and news reporters, his comments to Megan Kelly at the debate, and his repeated statements of anger and frustration place him as their spokesperson. Many of his supporters praise his fearless engagement with and rebuttal of the news reporters. They like when he gives simple answers to, for instance, the immigration problem. They admire that he is willing to say to anyone who disagrees with him, “you’re Fired.”

But as Mr. Dionne highlights, Ross Perot voluntarily left the race and abandoned his supporters. He threw his support to Clinton. He said that his candidacy was no longer needed now that the Democratic party was revived. Was that it? Did Perot play the American voters for fools? Did he care about the voter’s or only about the revitalization of the Democrats? Was he really just a rich old man who hated Bush and would do whatever he could to insure that Clinton won? However you might feel about that analysis, the fact remains that Perot’s candidacy was phony and he never really cared about the “Anxious Middle.” He cared about himself, the Clinton’s and the Democrat Party.

The parallels between Trump and Perot are startling. Trump’s campaign is to feared because like Perot’s, Trump’s billionaire financing, his bitter anger at the press and media, and his threats of reprisal against those with whom he disagrees are enjoying the same kind of support that sent Perot to number one. Plus, there is already talk among people that if Trump is not on the ballot, millions of voters will opt to stay home on Election Day. Such an action of silent protest will throw the election to Mrs. Clinton and the voter’s will have been played twice the fool.