Category Archives: Politics

A Candidate To ‘Kick The Crap Out Of All The Politicians’

Business, Celebrity, Crime, Elections, IMMIGRATION, Media, Politics

“A Candidate To ‘Kick The Crap Out Of All The Politicians’” is the current column, now on The Unz Review. An excerpt:

Since he announced for president, real-estate tycoon Donald Trump has distinguished himself from the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls.

Trump claims he opposed the invasion of Iraq. If this is true, it would make him better than almost all his Republican competitors, who mulishly continue to justify the most disastrous military campaign in American history (besides the War Between The States).

Decisive and to the point was Trump about liberalizing ties with Cuba: “It’s time!” he stated. The man who wrote “The Art of The Deal,” however, would rather a “deal” with Cuba favored ordinary Americans and Cubans, and would know how to “deliver the goods.”

We inhabit a world of managed, not free, trade. Trump is no rent-seeking political rat like every other Republican competing for the throne (besides Ben Carson, who is similarly motivated). Better than any self-interested politician, Trump can probably negotiate winning deals on all Treaties in Force, to the benefit of Americans.

“I’m really rich,” Trump swanked disarmingly. Being independently and stupendously wealthy means that this American individualist can continue to march to his own drumbeat; be as blunt and bold as he wants and pander to nobody.

“His fellow GOP presidential candidates,” explained Trump, are “totally controlled by their donors, by the lobbyists and by the special interests. If we have another politician, this country’s going down. … I’ve watched the politicians, I’ve dealt with them all my life. They will never make America great again. They don’t even have a chance.”

In the productive, non-parasitical economy, Trump has been enormously successful. Career politicians have created the hot mess that is America. The Founding Fathers wanted regular citizens to serve the public, not live off it as a vocation. Such upstanding Americans were to return to their careers after serving.

The consummate homo economicus, Trump is a rational actor in the market place. Unlike the rest of the GOP contenders who’re guided by political calculations; Trump speaks like a man to whom rational economic choices are second nature. …

… Read the rest. “A Candidate To ‘Kick The Crap Out Of All The Politicians’” is the current column, now on The Unz Review.

Yippee, Lew Rockwell And I Agree On The Donald

Business, Celebrity, Elections, Politics

About Donald Trump’s announcement, Lew Rockwell writes the following, today:

As a populist, Donald attracts all those who have been kicked in the teeth by the system, and despise its politicians. Plus nobody is afraid that Don would rob the treasury. … Trump is a sweet guy in private, the soul of courtesy to his employees. Politics is a haven for the sort of man who makes himself feel important by abusing those who can’t respond, like the creepy Santorum.

BTW, Limbaugh said today he wished the [neo]conservatives would go after Hillary the way they’ve gone after Trump.

Lew refers readers to this RedState.com column by Erick Erickson:

… Donald Trump is the disrespectful candidate for people who disrespect the process. He’ll be rude. He’ll be loud. He’ll be confrontational. And he won’t get the nomination. But along the way, he will speak to the fears and hopes of a lot of people who no longer connect with Washington or trust the government to get it right.

For a lot of people who hate politicians who go to Washington to get rich off the system like Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 0%, they can trust that Donald Trump is already a billionaire so will not need to enrich himself off the treasury. Trump’s campaign, like Ben Carson’s, makes no sense in an age when people respect Washington. But it makes a hell of a lot of sense in an age when people no longer think their vote matters, but they sure want the crap kicked out of all the politicians they blame for making their vote meaningless.

The people who no longer think they can win in America will side with a guy even they don’t think can win, just to watch him strike the match and burn down all they feel betrayed them. And that, ironically, can give him staying power when coupled with his money.

We’ll see if he actually files a federal financial disclosure.

There is one more thing I want you to know about Donald Trump. I’ve met him and interviewed him before. When the camera was not on and the interview was not going, he was not The Donald. He was a guy who cared deeply for his staff and the people who merely walked in the front door of his building. I want you to know that the Donald Trump I’ve seen in private is not the Donald Trump you see on stage because I think we are not going to see that Trump. It’s our loss and it will be his own loss. The person, a separate entity from the personality, is a good man.

The reason I don’t much care for Rick Santorum is that I’ve seen him, off camera and behind the scenes when no one was supposed to be watching, behave like a spoiled and entitled rich kid snapping at people in a lower position than himself when he did not need to. It’s also why I have a soft spot for Trump. From the same vantage point, I’ve seen him behave kindly to people far lower on the rung of life than him when he did not have to. Character when the camera isn’t rolling counts in my book.

Unfortunately for Trump, The Donald does not come across in public the way Mr. Trump does behind the scenes.

The complete column.

RELATED: “The Trump Card” (6/16)

UPDATE: The Trump Card

Business, Elections, Politics

The megalomaniacal Donald Trump used to scare me. “The business mogul seemed to be motivated by the sense that the nimbus of great power that surrounds the US was dissipating. It hadn’t occurred to him to search closer to home for the causes of America’s economic anemia. Instead, he blamed OPEC and China for the burdens of doing business in the US. (From “Sinophobia Trumps Common Sense”). It shows you what exposure to Marco Rubio of the Schumer-Rubio rollover amnesty, Jeb Sombrero Bush, Rand “I want to normalize undocumented citizens” Paul will do.

Today I heard Trump say he had opposed the invasion of Iraq. I don’t remember that at all, and I can’t find evidence for it. But if he did, it would make him unique among the Republican candidates.

Because he marches to his own drumbeat, having built an empire and being independently wealthy—Trump isn’t afraid to be blunt and frank. He concedes that politicians are “controlled fully— they’re controlled fully by the lobbyists, by the donors, and by the special interests, fully.”

“As for his fellow GOP presidential candidates, Trump said, ‘I don’t have a lot of respect for many of them. They’re all talk. They’re no action. And they’re totally controlled by their donors and by the lobbyists … If we have another politician, this country’s going down.'”

Trump assured Bill O’Reilly he’d “… have a great relationship with Vladimir Putin,’ adding that the Russian president has no respect for Obama. ‘You can’t have everybody hating you. The whole world hates us.”

O’Reilly noted that during his announcement, Trump promised to build a wall along the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. “The Factor” host stated that there’s no way that they will pay for it.

“You have to let me handle that,” Trump said. “They will pay for the wall, and the wall will go up. And Mexico will start behaving. Mexico is not our friend.”

As for his fellow GOP presidential candidates, Trump said, “I don’t have a lot of respect for many of them.”

“They’re all talk. They’re no action. And they’re totally controlled by their donors and by the lobbyists … If we have another politician, this country’s going down.”

And in marked contrast to the arrogant Others littering the presidential field, Trump has hinted at reading the alarming facts in Ann Coulter’s new book : “This Country Is a Hell Hole, I Want to Make It Great Again,” he said.

New York (CNN):

… He pointed out that his wealth and successful business career not only qualified him to be president — “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” — but that it would allow him to rid himself of the special interests that he said control American politics.

That’s because the billionaire said he would self-fund his presidential campaign, not only ridding himself of some outside influences, but also freeing up more time to campaign as candidates can often spend about half their time raising funds to keep their campaign coffers from depleting.

“I’m really rich,” Trump said, adding that his confident attitude is what the country needs after having “losers” run the country.

UPDATE (6/17): Trump is annoying the right people. That says a lot. His next test: Will he do an apology tour.

UPDATED (6/7/2017) Political Pimps Feathering Their Nest On The Public Dime

Democrats, Ethics, Politics, Republicans, Ron Paul

UPDATE (6/7/017):

The Post below is from 2015, but the problem is ongoing and undetected. Politicians arrive in DC and right away begin feathering the nest and flogging products, on the taxpayer’s dime. Conservatives detect nothing unethical. Sen Mike Lee is selling a book. AGAIN.

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What do you know? Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee were on Fox New today to flog their books, among other things. The problematic Patriot Act and its impending renewal seemed incidental to the job of promoting their products on our dime. So lax are the ethical standards that bind these politicians that they can move seamlessly between their roles as politicians, authors and all-round eternal self-promoters.

It sticks in one’s craw that we pay them to feather their nests. Ron Paul also used his celebrity to sell stuff (although I forgave him because of his outstanding service to liberty). To be honest, I’ve never read a book of his. He’s not a particularly good writer. I am sure the former congressman did not improve on Murray Rothbard when it comes to thinking about the Federal Reserve’s workings. I’ll stick with Rothbard. I have his books.