Donald Trump

[Tom]

He lacks seriousness. Surely you must see that? I thought GWB was a horrible foreign-policy president, but I think he faced the job with seriousness. I believe Obama is a horrible president, but I think he faces the job with seriousness.

Then it is high time we tried something besides seriousness....cause that pig ain't been flying.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Tom

Then it is high time we tried something besides seriousness....cause that pig ain't been flying.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

If "seriousness" is indeed what Bush and Obama have been exhibiting...then, trying something else might not be a bad idea.

[onefast99]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Why do you say he lacks seriousness? Is he campaigning from his plush offices at Trump Tower? Is he not out on the campaign trail like all the others?

What exactly about him comes across to you as not being serious?

Why do you think he's doing all of this? Why not just stick to his TV shows and casinos and real estate projects? It's not like nobody knew his name already.

His brand and his ego were MUCH BETTER OFF not running for President, so please don't feed me the line that he's doing this because he has this massive ego or that this is all just some publicity stunt. If anything, the publicity he's garnered by running has HURT his business, not helped it...

So how exactly does he come off as not serious? How is he markedly less serious than any of the other candidates?

He has been called the Generic brand, the one that cost less, has little to no " trials" in the political arena but a lot in the financial one, continues to challenge the antiquated political system that has put us in the position we are in now. I think that Obama used the phrase "time for a change" but Trumps campaign really has that phrase trademarked. He would be just as effective as any of the others who have made their careers political ones.

[pandy]

This is a CNBC article about some of Trump's business deals, including some that didn't pan out. He is good at negotiating, no doubt about it, and that's a big part of being a successful President.


http://www.cnbc.com/2010/11/09/Donal...t-Gambles.html

[pandy]

Deals like NAFTA, KORUS, and bringing China into the WTO, have literally erased many millions of jobs in this country, while greatly benefiting Korea, China, Mexico and other countries. Trump could have negotiated much better deals.

[Clocker]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

What exactly about him comes across to you as not being serious?

His policies lack seriousness. As in he could never get them enacted into law, and if he could, they would not work.

Is it serious to propose to deport 11 million illegals and then "let the good ones back in"? To say that you are going to build a wall across the southern border and make Mexico pay for it?

Is it serious to propose a tax cut that would reduce federal tax revenue by $10 trillion over 10 years without a word about how to cut spending or increase other revenue to offset that?

Is it serious to say that you would close mosques in this country that the government deemed too radical?

Here's some more. He says that he is for free trade, but he would renegotiate or pull out of NAFTA and TPP, and would impose heavy tariffs on imports from China and Mexico. He says he would bring in the top managers from Wall Street to run the country. He says he would repeal ObamaCare and replace it with something terrific. He would hire someone that really knows the subject to design something terrific.

In short, he is good at ranting about problems, but he doesn't have any serious proposals to fix things. Not that anyone else out there right now does either.

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by Clocker

Not that anyone else out there right now does either.

Wow...thanks...that's what I've been trying to say all along. You could have saved yourself all that typing.

So, again...I'll ask...how is he MARKEDLY less serious than anyone else running for President?

Where are all the DETAILED PLANS and DAY ONE ready-to-go strategies from every other camp? I'm sure they must be out there since Trump continually gets dumped on for "pie-in-the-sky" rhetoric and nothing else in the tank.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Saratoga_Mike

I didn't think you were a Dem or a Rep. I think someone else placed that label on you. I have no opinion.

I fully support helping the truly disabled, especially vets. However, if you plot Social Security Disability claims against the unemployment rate over the past 10 years, you'll find that oddly enough a whole bunch of people became "disabled" during the economic downturn. This phenomena has been chronicled by the Times and WSJ. I suspect half the people enrolled in SSDI over the past 10 years don't belong.

I was referencing food stamp dependence. Medicaid dependence. Section 8 dependence. CHIP dependence. But you can throw in Medicare and Social Security - as many in those programs, especially Medicare, take out much more than they ever put in.

All of this favors Dems.

So, what's your solution? Do away with all those programs? We've already seen pushes to do away with Social Security, even though everyone that worked in legitimate jobs paid into that fund, it's their money, not the Feds'. If all those "disabled" happened during an economic downturn, might that downturn have contributed to many of those who became disabled, especially those who are mentally/emotionally disabled? Might it be that many of those disabled people could not find a normal job and were forced to find handiman/odd jobs work, and most of those jobs were manual labor jobs requiring physical demands more associated with younger, physically robust people? What do you suppose happens when older, more physically challenged people start working outside in the heat and cold doing strenuous manual labor that is often dangerous and without safety guidelines or regulation? What about those people who were forced to take menial jobs because they couldn't find better paying ones, even multiple low paying jobs that still wouldn't support themselves and/or their families, in the face of drastically increasing costs and without healthcare benefits (including all the Walmarts, and other large chain stores, offering mostly part-time jobs without benefits of any kind). Might that contribute to the increase in food stamps, Medicaid, Section 8, and CHIP, among other programs?

It seems that most people look at the stats, without really delving into the data behind those stats.

All I can say is somebody better wake up, really soon, because things are going to get much worse along these lines, as our population gets older and more disabled. And, the answer is not cutting out all those programs that allow people to continue living, after they can no longer get decent paying jobs due to their age and various physical/mental/emotional infirmities. That could be likened to what Hitler did with the Jews. Is that what the mindset of US voters and leaders is becoming, we have a problem with this demographic, so just let them all die, or better yet, become an active participant in the process that will kill them?

Yes, there are abuses to these programs, just like there are abuses in everything else you can think of. The answer is in the administration of those programs, not getting rid of the people who apply for them.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by zico20

[/B] There is always Australia and New Zealand someday for the rest of us to find refuge.

That's the one big flaw in their plan to dominate the politics of the country the democrats haven't figured out yet.

If they have complete control and start implementing idiotic policies to an extent that threatens the well being of the affluent (financial or otherwise), the affluent are going to pack their bags and leave with all their money. That's going to leave the democrats in charge of heavily indebted economic and social cesspool.

What has happened at the city level (Detroit) and to some extent the state level (beginning now in CA) will also happen at the country level. It just has to be a little more extreme.

That's when we'll start hearing liberal calls for confiscating gold, implementing capital controls, making it harder to get a passport etc... They may even want to build a wall to keep people here.

[Clocker]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Wow...thanks...that's what I've been trying to say all along. You could have saved yourself all that typing.

So, again...I'll ask...how is he MARKEDLY less serious than anyone else running for President?

He is not any worse than the rest of them if you are capable of cutting through the BS, nor any better. Trump just has a brand new version of BS that impresses a lot of people. And a lot of Trump fans think that because Trump's brand of BS is so different from the mainstream political BS, that Trump can "make America great again". He can't.

Trump is no less a politician than the rest of them, full of empty promises and hungry for power. He doesn't really understand the problems, he just rants about the symptoms.

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by Clocker

He doesn't really understand the problems, he just rants about the symptoms.

He understands the problems. He is leading the polls because he is better at pandering to those who can't. And he's better because he hasn't been bought...yet.

[fast4522]

You guys underestimate the power of a business ego who wants to write a swan song to cap off a successful career. Most people are guilty of writing off a proven winners chances because they wrote off their own many years ago, there are more cowards than heroes as a naturally. Mr Trump could still shoot himself in both feet before the election, but if he does not watch him go right for the other nominee's jugular vain with more dirt that is factual and unknown by today light.

[Fager Fan]

Originally Posted by TJDave

Trump winning the nomination would be a gift for democrats and a nightmare for republicans. if you're a republican wanting to win the White House how is this good news?

It's good news because he'll get Dem votes and can beat Hillary.

[Fager Fan]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

I'm not all too concerned with gifting the dems or not or creating nightmares for republicans.

I don't really identify with republicans any longer, and I never identified with dems, so it won't bother me all that much.

Currently, I seem to enjoy chaos more than anything else, and Trump should provide this nicely.

Letting the citizens show how truly and deeply we are PISSED OFF at them is Trump's gift to all of us.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by TJDave

He understands the problems. He is leading the polls because he is better at pandering to those who can't. And he's better because he hasn't been bought...yet.

He's giving voice to people that know they are getting screwed by those in power now.

He can do that because he's not bought and paid for and can say the things the rest of them cannot. His problem is not what he is saying in terms of the problems. It's the way he is saying it and the implication that he'll be able to do something about it when he'll have to deal with a congress that is bought and paid for.

He can yell and scream to the union and other workers that got killed over the last 20 years that they are getting screwed by big corporations, Wall St. and corrupt politicians making bad trade deals. The people love it.

He can yell and scream about illegals getting benefits or committing crimes and the guy who's paying taxes and barely getting by will love it. The rest of them can't talk about the short term costs of illegal immigration when they are trying to change the demographics or bring in cheap labor for business.

He can yell about our involvement overseas in places most people think we shouldn't be, but he's not dealing with the forces that push this involvement.

The guys in power now suck and everyone knows it. People are desperate for someone to clean house. They want an outsider....any outsider.