If You Don’t Take Trump Seriously, You Should [OpEd]

I’ll admit I am as much impressed as I am amused by Donald Trump’s run for the Republican presidential nomination.  I’ll also admit that I’ve never really been a fan of the guy.  I’ve watched all of 30 minutes of ‘The Apprentice’, ever.  I’ve really found the guy to be a bit of ass at times, or at least that’s how he comes across.  Is this the real Donald Trump or is this just his shtick in front of the cameras?

What amuses me about the guy is his ‘I don’t give a damn what you think of me’ attitude.  He is who he is, take him or leave him.  I can relate.  What impresses me so much is how quickly he became the conservative front runner among the masses. When’s the last time we saw this much buzz about any candidate?  Even Sarah Palin didn’t stimulate the masses the way Trump has.

I have probably asked no less than a hundred individuals who among the Republican field they would support.  I have yet to find even one who supports Jeb Bush.  Half a dozen have stated that Rand Paul is their guy.  A couple dozen of them liked Sen. Ted Cruz.  A handful was split between Fiorina, Carson and Huckabee. Christi, Rubio and former Texas governor Rick Perry got the Bush treatment: nada.  And the rest, by and large, gushed when they talked about Trump.

So what has made this guy such a hot commodity with everyone?  Well, everyone that is except the Republican Party establishment, of course.  It’s simple: he says what millions of Americans are thinking.  And he isn’t afraid to piss people off, either.  You do not see that kind of brazen honesty from a career politician.  Why?  Most of these career politicians owe people, lots of people.  And some of them they owe big time.  So far as I can determine, Trump has not taken one red cent from anyone.  So he really has nothing to lose in the way of donor support or political clout by not towing anyone’s line, now does he?

If you’d asked me even three months ago if this guy had a snowballs chance in Hell of even being taken seriously much less having a real shot at winning the nomination, I’d have laughed at you.  I’m not laughing today and neither should you.  Anyone who fails to take Trump seriously at this point does so at their own peril.  I actually think the old boy is in it to win it.  So let’s entertain the thought: what if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee?

First of all, I think much of the Republican establishment will crawl through Hell with gasoline underwear on to stop Trump if necessary.  You see, Donald’s not a team player.  He’s a renegade and about a half-notch below loose cannon status.   So what if he was to win?  Would he stand a chance against Hilary, Bernie or Crazy Joe?  Well, yes and no. Much of this depends on how mobilized Republican voters are.  The last two elections, many of them stayed at home.

Hilary Clinton is just not likeable.  I even know Democrats, I mean dyed-in-the-wool yellow dog to the bone Democrats, who do NOT want her as their nominee.  Between the lies about Benghazi, the email server scandal and her shrill and often angry presence, they’ve had enough of her.  Bernie Sanders, the self-described socialist and fringe idiot of the Democratic Party would be absolutely eviscerated by Trump on the debate stage.  And did you catch the part about him being a socialist?

But even Trump is now being accused of having socialist beliefs, but we’ll come back to that later.  Crazy Joe is the Democrats only real hope against a Trump assault.  America has already had eight long, agonizing years of Joe Biden.  Democrats already know what they’re getting with him.  He’s often aloof, apparently very touchy feely with the ladies and hopefully doesn’t know how to find the nuclear launch codes.  Democrats feel safe with him.  Republicans can’t stop laughing at him.  He’s actually a rather bizarre kind of win-win; except for the fact that he’d be President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces should he beat Trump.  Suddenly, all the funny is just gone.  He’s scary, really he is.

It’s not a good situation for Democrats should Trump be the Republican nominee.  And establishment Republican’s, especially the ones who are lifetime members in the Bush Dynasty Club, may take up heavy drinking should Trump win the voters over.  Am I endorsing Donald Trump?  No.  Am I endorsing anyone at this point?  No.  But the field is getting thinner by the second for me and Donald Trump does make my short list of possibilities.  I can’t believe I actually feel that way, but I do.

I believe he actually wants to fix our border issues. Can he do it?  He'll need congressional support for that wall and congress (at least at the moment) lacks enough spine to go through with it.  He may, I stress may, actually have a tax plan in mind.  It’s not the tax plan I’d like, but he may actually have a plan.  One of the few areas where Sen. Rand Paul and I see eye to eye is on the IRS.  He wants it abolished and I couldn’t agree more.  It’s a horrific Ponzi scheme.  Our current tax code does nothing but punish success among the middle class.

Only two classes of people in America can absolutely benefit from the current tax code.  Who are they? One, the very wealthy who have the money to hire the right people to duck and hide their money in the spider web of ‘tax shelters’ and legal loopholes that reside among the 78,000 plus pages of ‘tax codes’.  Second, the ‘poor, or at least those folks that progressives like to label as poor.  Millions pay nothing or very little in payroll withholding but still receive a ‘refund’ of thousands of dollars back each year.  Glad I could help finance your new plasma screen TV for ya.

Very few in America today know what true poverty is all about, but that’s a whole other topic in itself.  Trump’s tax plan, according to TaxFoundation.org, comes at a price.  And it relies on the very same structure we have in place, but reduces tax liability at all levels of income.  Don’t be fooled, none of these candidates has a plan that will address our nation’s debt, which now sits dangerously close to the $19 trillion mark.  You cannot tax your way out of that mess, something I illustrated in an op-ed in 2012.

What about those allegations of Trump being a socialist himself?  Part of this comes from the first Republican debate on Fox News.  Bret Baier reminded Trump that, 15 years ago, he described himself as a ‘socialist on healthcare’, having praised Canada’s socialist healthcare system and supported single-payer healthcare in America.  Trump responded by saying that "It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here."  Trump didn’t really elaborate, so we’re left to assume he’s changed his mind on the matter.  Maybe Obamacare has served as a kind of epiphany for him.  And, as with all political candidates, you need to follow the money.  He’s donated to Democrats, including the Clinton Foundation and, perhaps jokingly, offered to have liberal princess and billionaire Oprah Winfrey on his ticket.

He has also advocated a one-time wealth tax of 14.25% to eliminate the nation’s debt, which of course will not work.  Again, you don’t tax your way out of that hot mess.  Given all this, how could a Trump republican ticket win?  As I said in the beginning of this article, he is saying what millions of American’s are thinking.   He seems to be on basically the same wavelength that most of conservative America is on.  And I firmly believe that most American’s are more conservative, at least economically and politically, than some are willing to admit.  He’s politically incorrect.  He at least sounds and appears to be a plain talker with a no-holds-barred approach to most issues.  He’s the anti-career political figure and some people actually understand why that’s important.

Does any of this qualify Donald Trump over any other candidate to be President of the United States?  No.  But America has grown tired of political correctness.  Most of us are fed up with career politicians.  Being an elected official was never meant to be a career path.  We’re tired of being told we must hold back and yield to the rest of the world.  We are exceptional on many levels and we should be proud of it.  You don’t want any other nation at the top of the tree other than America.  And Donald Trump is the one candidate whose delivery has struck a chord with much of the conservative base of the Republican Party.  And so far, they like the melody.