Donald Trump

[BaalChatzaf]

Trump said his government would pay for universal health care. His government would meddle in the free market and force hospitals to charge less. And I think Trump’s proposed meddling is a form of price control as in Nixon’s time. Trump would greatly increase the power of the executive branch. He would not touch Social Security. Trump would spend a lot on his emotionally favorite projects. He would build up the military using your tax dollars, and there is NO likelihood that he will not use the military as a bargaining chip or as a way of forcing his will.

The evidence is mounting and I do not think one good point negates a bad position on Trump’s part. Instead, the bad will accumulate and outweigh the good. Yet I will hold off on strike two until more evidence is in. I am almost back where I started with Trump, but now there is more to hate.

Peter,

Do you believe Mark Levin is so stupid, he would fall for a new Nixon wage-price control mess, universal health care, and so on and call it good?

You really should listen to the interview above (the one in this post). Levin draws out of Trump the words that jam a monkeywrench in the automatic reaction of people who are accustomed to thinking in small government rhetoric.

(Don't forget, Levin is a small government constitutionalist--one of the best and most learned in my opinion. He is anything but a fool.)

For instance, when Trump talks about this government program or that (social security, etc.), Levin says something like, "Let me understand this correctly. You are not proposing to expand anything. The government already has this in place. You seem to be proposing to cut out waste and remanage what is already there."

Then Trump responds that he is right, and then mentions, in an offhand manner, that we need to get rid about about 90% of the regulations on the books. (In one of these exchanges, he actually said about 90% of small business regulations will fall by the wayside or something like that.)

This thinking applies when Trump says the government will pay for something (like medical bills of poor folks who cannot afford insurance or the vets). He's talking about what the government already is doing, but doing so poorly it isn't working. He isn't talking about adding a new program.

The problem with the way people think these days is that they ALWAYS expect a politician to intend increasing government controls regardless of what comes out of his or her mouth. They don't grok someone whose default mindset is to finish projects early and under budget. It's not their fault, either. All politicians have done in recent memory is increase government, with projects as smokescreens that come in late and way over budget, that is when the damn things get finished.

But I know people who work and think the way Trump does. I am sure Levin, Limbaugh and the others see what I do, too.

It's a beautiful sight once you see it. Definitely nothing to hate.

Think Objectivist epistemology. There is a difference between concept and word. A word is merely a label thrown on a concept to make it concrete enough so you can work with it and share it with others. And a concept has referents in reality.

I suggest that the words that people on our side find offensive when Trump talks about the role of government belong to the second and third definitions in the dictionary (metaphorically speaking). These words to people like Trump mean different concepts and they refer to different things in reality than normal political usage.

Trump builds things. A project for him inherently leaves traces in reality (like massive buildings), so he sees skilled people and materials when he thinks "project." To a normal politician, a project means a new law, new taxes, legal counsel and new people to manipulate for votes.

These are totally different conceptual referents.

It's luuuuuuuv, Peter, not hate.

Michael

Trump buys and sells titles to land and buildings. He does not build. I doubt if he could make a bird house even if he is handed the wood, the nails and the hammer.

[Peter]

Thomas Sowell wrote: One of the secrets of successful magicians on stage is directing the audience's attention to something that is attractive or distracting, but irrelevant to what is actually being done. That is also the secret of successful political charlatans. Consider the message directed at business owners by Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Barack Obama -- "You didn't build that!" Assuming for the sake of argument that a man who owns a business simply inherited it from his father, what follows? That politicians can use the inherited resources better than the heir? Such a sweeping assumption has neither logic nor evidence behind it -- but rhetoric doesn't have to have logic or evidence to be politically effective.
end quote

Trump should be running as a Democrat. Has no one besides Hillary considered that option? But from a “winning is the only option” standpoint, it was difficult for Trump to outpoll Secretary Clinton or Obama in 2008, and he would have had a tougher time in 2016 with just Hillary. And Trump did not want to outspend Secretary Clinton, so he runs as a Republican. We need a strong, respected leader now more than ever because Obama’s view is that the world is a better place with a weaker, more socialistic America.

So, is Trump what Thomas Sowell called a political charlatan? In the Levin interview, he did not say he wanted a single payer health system, but he wants free or affordable emergency care for everyone. How is that different from now? Not much, but he wants to make it a Federal program. I liked his idea that veterans can go to private medical centers if the VA is slow in giving treatment but Trump calls this privatization. I would say it is more government even if he claims it is cheaper. Still, it would be better for our veterans. (From personal experience with the VA I needed an overnight test done, but I had a one year wait so I switched to a private hospital and had a three week wait.)

13 minutes into the interview with Mark Levin he mentions he would do away with 90 percent of the regulations we now have, and that would be wonderful. I hope he promises to do a blitzkrieg on regulations on his first day in office. Mitt Romney promised that his first 60 days in office would be nothing but cuts. And I agree, Trump did turn the immigration debate on its head. If you listen to Trump you feel better about him. If you listen to the points 90 percent of the pundits say, you have doubts. If it appears he might win the nomination but lose badly to Secretary Clinton in the general election, he will receive good press from the left wing media until he is nominated.

Find out for yourself. His site can be reached by typing in donaldjtrump.com. There you will find three positions listed: tax reform second amendment rights and immigration. We need a lot more than three positions but it is a start. I will put his tax plan on another post.
Peter

[Peter]

Tax Reform That Will Make America Great Again. The Goals Of Donald J. Trump’s Tax Plan
Too few Americans are working, too many jobs have been shipped overseas, and too many middle class families cannot make ends meet. This tax plan directly meets these challenges with four simple goals: Tax relief for middle class Americans: In order to achieve the American dream, let people keep more money in their pockets and increase after-tax wages. Simplify the tax code to reduce the headaches Americans face in preparing their taxes and let everyone keep more of their money. Grow the American economy by discouraging corporate inversions, adding a huge number of new jobs, and making America globally competitive again. Doesn’t add to our debt and deficit, which are already too large.

The Trump Tax Plan Achieves These Goals. If you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointly earn less than $50,000, you will not owe any income tax. That removes nearly 75 million households – over 50% – from the income tax rolls. They get a new one page form to send the IRS saying, “I win,” those who would otherwise owe income taxes will save an average of nearly $1,000 each. All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25% – instead of the current seven. This new tax code eliminates the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II. No business of any size, from a Fortune 500 to a mom and pop shop to a freelancer living job to job, will pay more than 15% of their business income in taxes. This lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America’s tax rate one of the best in the world. No family will have to pay the death tax. You earned and saved that money for your family, not the government. You paid taxes on it when you earned it.

The Trump Tax Plan Is Revenue Neutral. The Trump tax cuts are fully paid for by: Reducing or eliminating most deductions and loopholes available to the very rich. A one-time deemed repatriation of corporate cash held overseas at a significantly discounted 10% tax rate, followed by an end to the deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad. Reducing or eliminating corporate loopholes that cater to special interests, as well as deductions made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rate on corporations and business income. We will also phase in a reasonable cap on the deductibility of business interest expenses.

DETAILS OF DONALD J. TRUMP’S TAX PLAN. America needs a bold, simple and achievable plan based on conservative economic principles. This plan does that with needed tax relief for all Americans, especially the working poor and middle class, pro-growth tax reform for all sizes of businesses, and fiscally responsible steps to ensure this plan does not add to our enormous debt and deficit. This plan simplifies the tax code by taking nearly 50% of current filers off the income tax rolls entirely and reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to four for everyone else. This plan also reduces or eliminates loopholes used by the very rich and special interests made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rates on individuals and companies.

The Trump Tax Plan: A Simpler Tax Code For All Americans. When the income tax was first introduced, just one percent of Americans had to pay it. It was never intended as a tax most Americans would pay. The Trump plan eliminates the income tax for over 73 million households. 42 million households that currently file complex forms to determine they don’t owe any income taxes will now file a one page form saving them time, stress, uncertainty and an average of $110 in preparation costs. Over 31 million households get the same simplification and keep on average nearly $1,000 of their hard-earned money. For those Americans who will still pay the income tax, the tax rates will go from the current seven brackets to four simpler, fairer brackets that eliminate the marriage penalty and the AMT while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II:

Income Tax Rate Long Term Cap Gains/ Dividends Rate Single Filers Married Filers Heads of Household
0% 0% $0 to $25,000 $0 to $50,000 $0 to $37,500
10% 0% $25,001 to $50,000 $50,001 to $100,000 $37,501 to $75,000
20% 15% $50,001 to $150,000 $100,001 to $300,000 $75,001 to $225,000
25% 20% $150,001 and up $300,001 and up $225,001 and up
With this huge reduction in rates, many of the current exemptions and deductions will become unnecessary or redundant. Those within the 10% bracket will keep all or most of their current deductions. Those within the 20% bracket will keep more than half of their current deductions. Those within the 25% bracket will keep fewer deductions. Charitable giving and mortgage interest deductions will remain unchanged for all taxpayers.

Simplifying the tax code and cutting every American’s taxes will boost consumer spending, encourage savings and investment, and maximize economic growth.

Business Tax Reform To Encourage Jobs And Spur Economic Growth
Too many companies – from great American brands to innovative startups – are leaving America, either directly or through corporate inversions. The Democrats want to outlaw inversions, but that will never work. Companies leaving is not the disease, it is the symptom. Politicians in Washington have let America fall from the best corporate tax rate in the industrialized world in the 1980’s (thanks to Ronald Reagan) to the worst rate in the industrialized world. That is unacceptable. Under the Trump plan, America will compete with the world and win by cutting the corporate tax rate to 15%, taking our rate from one of the worst to one of the best.

This lower tax rate cannot be for big business alone; it needs to help the small businesses that are the true engine of our economy. Right now, freelancers, sole proprietors, unincorporated small businesses and pass-through entities are taxed at the high personal income tax rates. This treatment stifles small businesses. It also stifles tax reform because efforts to reduce loopholes and deductions available to the very rich and special interests end up hitting small businesses and job creators as well. The Trump plan addresses this challenge head on with a new business income tax rate within the personal income tax code that matches the 15% corporate tax rate to help these businesses, entrepreneurs and freelancers grow and prosper. These lower rates will provide a tremendous stimulus for the economy – significant GDP growth, a huge number of new jobs and an increase in after-tax wages for workers.

The Trump Tax Plan Ends The Unfair Death Tax. The death tax punishes families for achieving the American dream. Therefore, the Trump plan eliminates the death tax.

The Trump Tax Plan Is Fiscally Responsible. The Trump tax cuts are fully paid for by: Reducing or eliminating deductions and loopholes available to the very rich, starting by steepening the curve of the Personal Exemption Phaseout and the Pease Limitation on itemized deductions. The Trump plan also phases out the tax exemption on life insurance interest for high-income earners, ends the current tax treatment of carried interest for speculative partnerships that do not grow businesses or create jobs and are not risking their own capital, and reduces or eliminates other loopholes for the very rich and special interests. These reductions and eliminations will not harm the economy or hurt the middle class. Because the Trump plan introduces a new business income rate within the personal income tax code, they will not harm small businesses either.

A one-time deemed repatriation of corporate cash held overseas at a significantly discounted 10% tax rate. Since we are making America’s corporate tax rate globally competitive, it is only fair that corporations help make that move fiscally responsible. U.S.-owned corporations have as much as $2.5 trillion in cash sitting overseas. Some companies have been leaving cash overseas as a tax maneuver. Under this plan, they can bring their cash home and put it to work in America while benefitting from the newly-lowered corporate tax rate that is globally competitive and no longer requires parking cash overseas. Other companies have cash overseas for specific business units or activities. They can leave that cash overseas, but they will still have to pay the one-time repatriation fee. An end to the deferral of taxes on corporate income earned abroad. Corporations will no longer be allowed to defer taxes on income earned abroad, but the foreign tax credit will remain in place because no company should face double taxation. Reducing or eliminating some corporate loopholes that cater to special interests, as well as deductions made unnecessary or redundant by the new lower tax rate on corporations and business income. We will also phase in a reasonable cap on the deductibility of business interest expenses.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

If you listen to Trump you feel better about him. If you listen to the points 90 percent of the pundits say, you have doubts.

Peter,

So true.

That's a real danger if you succumb, too.

It would make you look at something like this (and that's just one of oodles):

And know you can read the story of the construction all over the web like here, Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago), and still say a goofball thing like this:

Trump buys and sells titles to land and buildings. He does not build. I doubt if he could make a bird house even if he is handed the wood, the nails and the hammer.

Come on, Bob.

Work with us, now.

Work with us...

We know you can see and read...

All it takes is just a little attention and you can get it right...

We're rooting for you...

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

The architect does not put his name on his buildings. He signs the drawings. But everyone involved in the construction is one of the builders, even if not setting one stone. Mr. Enright was priviledged to put his name on Roark's building because he commissioned it and is entitled to be called a builder, albeit in the novel. Having the brains to hire the right guy isn't productive--isn't part of the building's building?

--Brant

I would not esthetically evaluate Trump's buildings the way I would the buildings of an arctitect's corpus, for "great" would be one thing for him and another for his architect(s)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Brant,

There are two possibilities when looking at the grandiose and preeminent aspect of Trump's many real estate developments and constructions.

Either Trump has something to do with the way his projects consistently turn out well (and on time and under budget), or this is a string of sheer luck.

I know which I believe. I'll let others decide for themselves.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Erick Erickson is out at RedState.

 

And he's already feuding with Trump (see here).

 

For those who don't remember, Erickson was the genius who canceled Trump's invitation to talk at a RedState event in August because of what Trump said about Megyn Kelly after the first GOP debate.

 

And Trump?

 

What does he think of this recent development?

 

Wow, great news! I hear @EWErickson of Red State was fired like a dog. If you read his tweets, you'll understand why. Just doesn't have IT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

October 8, 2015

 

Since The Donald won't print a smiley, I will:

 

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I don't believe it.

 

Bill Clinton, of all people, gets the producer appeal of Trump. Clinton knows more about what's in the soul of productive Americans than right wing and libertarian pundits do.

 

It's almost a mark of shame on Objectivist pundits that they don't get this and Bill Clinton does. Of anyone out there, they should understand why a top-producer appeals to producing people.

 

But many don't as they play gotcha with words...

 

 

Michael

[Selene]

Michael:

Bill is really smart.

One of the reasons that I admired Clinton was how great a politician he was.

He achieved the Presidency twice, from the South and as a plurality President.

Evita always could see that he was the right horse to ride. She was a weak "second hander" who could recognize what needed to be chained.

As a team, they are a force that needs to be driven from the public square.

A...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

There is sad news about Donald Trump and Glenn Beck. Let's start with a recent NYT article:
 
Donald Trump’s Act Seems to Be Wearing Out Its Welcome
By Ashley Parker and Amy Chozick
Oct. 7, 2015
New York Times
 
Up to here, nothing new. More predictions from more pseudo-experts that Trump will crash and burn. (yawn...)
 
But a chunk of this article is about Glenn Beck:
 

When Mr. Trump came out strong in the primary polls, the conservative radio personality Glenn Beck, who also owns The Blaze, a TV and digital news outlet, reached out to Mr. Trump’s office to arrange for him to come on the program. But Mr. Beck’s interest in Mr. Trump appears to have cooled. He has had Mr. Carson, Mrs. Fiorina and Mr. Cruz on his nationally syndicated radio program, but said he no longer had any interest in “the circus” of hosting Mr. Trump.
 
“I think he’s a schoolyard bully who does not reflect any of the values and principles that I see from Americans on both sides,” Mr. Beck said, expressing frustration that the anger Mr. Trump has tapped into is often associated with the Tea Party. “He’s not a Tea Party guy,” he said.
 
Mr. Trump has tried to use being shunned in the news media to his advantage. But he may have hurt his chances of reaching his voter base when he instigated an on-again, off-again public feud with Fox News — the highest-rated cable TV channel in the country, which holds enormous sway over Republican primary voters — and its chairman and chief executive, Roger E. Ailes.
 
Mr. Beck, whose program aired on Fox News until 2011, said he questioned Mr. Trump’s endgame. “If I were a betting man, I’d put money on Roger Ailes every time,” Mr. Beck said.

 
And the response?
 

Wacky @glennbeck who always seems to be crying (worse than Boehner) speaks badly of me only because I refuse to do his show--a real nut job!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

October 8, 2015

 
And:
 

I hear @glennbeck is in big trouble. Unlike me, his viewers & ratings are way down & he has become irrelevant—glad I didn’t do his show.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

October 8, 2015

 
Glenn asked for it. Sadly, his ratings actually are down.
 
Here is what I wrote on Trump's Facebook post where he repeated his tweets:
 

I love Glenn, but in his head, he started following a Biblical narrative where he is some kind of prophet and America is doomed to a confabulation of repeated ancient history if not for this prophet and his flock.
 
Trump does not fit into this narrative, so Glenn bashes him as a progressive. I wish this were not so in light of all the good Glenn has done, but I cannot follow what I don't believe. To me, my eyes are more valid than his words.
 
I support Donald Trump because I am living within a 21st century American reality. Here's what I see. The Donald has the competence and will to lead effectively and make America great again. He will be one magnificent American president.

 
I saw Trump's post too late, so my comment was too far down to get many likes (there are over 6,700 comments so far), but I did get a couple of replies. Both said I stated it perfectly.

 

They're right. I did.

 

(I'm still sad about Glenn, though...)

 

Michael

[Selene]

Michael:

Glenn is a very "skate on the edge" person and always was.

However, it is sad.

A...

[Mark]

In a 2013 interview Trump said, in so many words, Edward Snowden should be assassinated. Unfortunately Trump’s position hasn’t changed much since then. In a CNN interview last July he said: “If I’m president, Putin says [to Snowden] ‘hey, boom — you’re gone’ — I guarantee you that.” and went on to say that Snowden would be treated “harshly.”

To hell with Trump. I hope he reconsiders, and fast.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Mark,

I'm no fan of Trump's view on Snowden, either.

It's not a deal-killer for me, though. There's too much good stuff on the other side of the balance.

If Trump becomes president, I will take on Snowden as a cause and try to get his situation improved. Just like I will fight any attempts at eminent domain abuse. And I am sure I will not be alone.

I believe it will be a lot easier to do this and actually get something done in a world where Trump is building and fixing things while in power, even with him on the opposite side of those issues, than in the present.

For instance, I don't see Trump using secret police, IRS and all that crap on normal citizens. (Both Bush and Obama were nasty on this.) And he works within the law (he has until now). So we make sure what we want is in the law.

That's my position for now.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here comes a strong Latino contingent for Trump:

 

 

 

To the chagrin of all the nay-sayers, Trump keeps plowing forward and gaining support.

 

There are lots of people in all demographics who want a producer as president, not a politician.

 

Michael

[Peter]

History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity. Cicero

Mark wrote that Trump thought that leaker Edward Snowden should be assassinated and Trump has also said the U.S. Army should have court martialed and shot Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl has considered suing Donald Trump, because the candidate called him a “dirty, rotten traitor.” I agree with Trump that Snowden should have been visited by a modern day James Bond before he got to Communist China and neo - Fascist Russia with his stolen, state secrets. He sold classified, secret, and top secret data to countries that wish us harm. When does a whistle blower become a traitor?

As for shooting Bergdahl? That was the Army’s decision but a case could be made that his desertion was in a time of war and did cost the lives of American soldiers who searched for him. Mental illness may have been the cause of his irrational acts.

What bothers me about agreeing with Trump is that as President he could carry out the assassination of traitors and deserters. Is Trump up to the job? Do I want him to hold so much power? Someone as thin skinned as Trump could be a liability to America becoming great again because I can imagine some major scandals because of secret Trump projects.

Peter

[Peter]

The following story is from the last election in 2012, nearly 4 years ago. So, there is evidence Trump has evolved from 2000, 2008, and 2012 to 2015. Now he is more of a Republican but . . . If Trump were running as a Democrat in 2016, I might be saying, “Well, I will vote for Cruz, Carly, Carson or Rubio, but Trump wouldn’t be the worst President ever.
Peter

Trump just another liberal? Washington (CNN) – As he claims to get more serious about mounting a presidential bid, Donald Trump is taking fire from an influential conservative group that claims the business mogul is "just another liberal." "Donald Trump for President? You've got to be joking," said Chris Chocola, the president of the conservative anti-tax group Club for Growth. "Donald Trump has advocated for massive tax increases that display a stunning lack of knowledge of how to create jobs."

Trump has, in the past, expressed support for positions that are embraced by liberal voters, including abortion rights (though he has since said he is pro-life). The "Celebrity Apprentice" host also supported then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008.

But the Club for Growth is most concerned with Trump's previous endorsements of a universal healthcare plan and hiking taxes on Chinese imports. "His love for a socialist-style universal health care system and his alarming obsession with protectionist policies are automatic disqualifiers among free-market conservatives," Chocola said. Trump advocated for universal healthcare in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, writing that the goal should be to "make reforms for the moment and, longer term, to find an equivalent of the single-payer plan that is affordable, well-administered, and provides freedom of choice." But earlier this year, Trump expressed disapproval with the plan passed under President Obama, saying it is "destroying many, many companies."

Meanwhile, Trump's proposal for a tax hike on Chinese imports came during a recent interview with Fox's Bill O'Reilly, during which he argued that merely suggesting such a tariff would bring China to the negotiating table. "You're never going to have to do it because they are going to come to you. They're going to call you and say, 'What do we have to do?'" Trump told O'Reilly earlier this month. Trump has said he will decide on a presidential run before June.

[Mark]

... I agree with Trump that Snowden should have been visited by a modern day James Bond before he got to Communist China and neo - Fascist Russia with his stolen, state secrets. He sold classified, secret, and top secret data to countries that wish us harm. When does a whistle blower become a traitor? ...

My emphasis on Peter’s “sold.”

In fact Edward Snowden did not sell his NSA revelations.

Now he’s a man without a country. The reason he’s in Russia is that Julian Assange rightly thought it was safer for him than the alternatives, e.g. South America where it would have been easy for the U.S. to kidnap or murder him.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Glenn is a very "skate on the edge" person and always was.

However, it is sad.

Adam,

Glenn stated that he would not dignify Trump's emails with a response.

I just went to TheBlaze TV site and it looks like he spent a good portion of a radio show talking about nothing but this. I think the irony was lost on him.

Anyway, in his opinion, Trump has an arrested development where he stopped maturing in highschool and Glenn feels sorry for him, especially seeing how Trump is so irrelevant to American history and will be seen that way down the ages.

Dayaamm!

Irrelevant to American history?

Helllooooooooo!!!

Earth calling Glenn Beck... Earth calling Glenn Beck...

Also, that's a helluva non-response, huh?

Trump said Glenn's ratings were tanking, so Glenn said his radio ratings were up, but he doesn't do ratings for his TV show.

Doesn't do ratings?

Ha!

And the Pope is a Scientologist, bears don't eat honey and hobby horses don't have hickory dicks.

Humor aside, it is sad to see Glenn turn into just one more media person spinning as right what he knows to be wrong. And doing it for a petty agenda.

His ratings actually are falling if one goes by the number of people who showed up to his Birmingham, Alabama rally and march. About 20k showed as opposed to his previous 80k and up for live major events.

I still have hopes Glenn will come around. I admire what he's built and all the good he's done, so I am cutting him a lot of slack. But he has openly said that his fans (and all Tea Party people) who support Trump have to be racists and crap like that. Dislike Trump, OK, but if he keeps up this kind of garbage, I will have to move on from him.

Michael

[Selene]

Still sad.

By the way, 1 year and 1 month away from election day and the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll has The Donald holding his clear lead at 31%:

Republicans

Donald Trump continues to lead among Republicans, currently with 31% of Republican support (from 32% last week).

Ben Carson remains in 2nd at 17% among Republicans.
Jeb Bush remains in 3rd with 14%. Bush has made up some ground and is now statistically tied with Carson among Republicans.
Fiorina and Rubio are tied for fourth at 7% among Republicans.

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=7017

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here comes a strong Latino contingent for Trump:

And here is how some in the media are spinning it:

Trump Somehow Found a Hispanic Woman Who Loves Him

These are the same people who don't think Ben Carson is black the way he is supposed to be black, or that Sarah Palin or Carly Fiorina are women the way they are supposed to be women. And we could go down through the rest of the cultural divisions. So they don't count.

These intellectuoids are going to look awfully funny when election night comes and they get squashed by the Trump juggernaut (which means Trump getting oodles of votes in Hispanic, black and female demographics).

I bet they will say Trump fooled everybody.

Michael

[Peter]

Trump is finally starting to make more traditional, political sense. That is reassuring not just because it means he will be better informed, or that he will have a better chance of winning. It is reassuring, because now if someone places their trust in him, and donates their time, allegiance, and money, then they do not seem so foolish, buffoonish, or near the bottom on the low information spectrum. Sorry to the longer term Trump supporters, but up until this development he has seemed to me more like George Wallace than George Washington.
Peter

Some clips from Donald Trump plots his second act. The Washington Post, Robert Costa, Philip Rucker and Dan Balz: . . . . “If you don’t win, what have I done? I’ve wasted time,” he said. “I want to make America great again and you can’t do that if you come in a close second.” Trump laid out for the first time in detail the elements of what will be the second chapter of his 2016 bid, signaling an evolution toward a somewhat more traditional campaign. Trump is preparing his first television ads with a media firm that is new to politics.

. . . . His campaign says it has hired a Florida-based advertising firm and Trump said he has proposed several concepts for ads in the works . . . . He said the spots would be “non-traditional,” saying the firm, which he and Trump declined to name, has never created political ads . . . . But he noted that running for president has brought pressures and demands that he did not experience in the business world and had not anticipated in the political arena.

. . . . Trump said he is readying for an eventual winnowing of the Republican field, but disagreed with some predictions that the contest will narrow to just two or three finalists for the nomination. “I think you’ll go past New Hampshire and you’ll have four or five people left,” he said . . . . His advisers are working to assure that Trump will qualify for the ballot in all 50 states and the U.S. territories — an arduous and time-consuming task that has caused some first-time candidates to stumble. Lewandowski said the campaign has hired a company that will work only for Trump to meet the state-by-state requirements. Among the most difficult is Virginia, but Lewandowski said Trump will be qualified there by the end of this month.

. . . . Trump has between seven and 12 paid staffers in each of the first three states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and he is hiring in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and other states. Lewandowski said Trump enjoys a “massive grass-roots network,” allowing volunteers to feed local intelligence on rival campaigns to New York.

. . . . Trump said that in the next debate, which will be held Oct. 28 in Boulder, Colo., he will change tactics and insert himself more energetically in an effort to put questions about his previous performance to rest.

. . . . Trump’s competitors have suggested that he has little depth on international affairs. After being ridiculed for saying this summer that he gets much of his foreign policy advice by watching military experts on television talk shows, Trump has begun to seek counsel from some generals directly, Lewandowski said.
end quote

[Selene]

Peter:

I am sure that The Donald feels much better knowing that you compared him to two (2) dead white men.

A...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Woo hoo!

Trump names Illinois campaign chief

I will be in touch with Kent Gray's office...

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here is what you will NOT see in the mainstream press and pundits:

 

 

This is Trump before his Georgia rally yesterday taking questions on the spin put out by pundits, which covered everything from whether he is thinking about leaving the race to how he felt about Ted Cruz's recent comments about getting his supporters.

 

It starts with some black ministers STRONGLY endorsing him. One minister made a point to say they were not Uncle Toms, instead they were there because they believed in Trump as an administrator and a good man.

 

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

2016 is prime time. Is Trump ready for prime time?

--Brant

the world wants to know