President Trump

First, I would not advocate for, vote for, or otherwise endorse a Trump presidency.   Do I think he can be President?  Well, he certainly meets all the requirements under the Constitution, unless we decide being born a Bazzillionaire is like being born in another world.  We decided earlier that being born in Hawaii is synonimous with being born in Kenya.

I have heard it all, but I don't quite understand the way this whole thing is flushing out this time.  I mean last time, it was Herman Cain and aint no Romney, cause they aint no way Romney wins.  I get the fascination with the fringe candidate, the outspoken idealist that channels frustrations and regrets.

I see the boomlet for Sanders.  I see the boomlet for Ben Carson.  These are very similar, and predictable around races with top tier candidates that nobody can stand.  Honestly, I have no use for Hillary, never have.  I don't find her compelling, I don't find her authentic, I don't find her interesting and I don't particularly find her honest.  In fact, I am pretty sure it is the opposite.

But, she has punched all the tickets.  There is no one in the Republican race that has anything like the governmental pedigree she has...no, John Kasich does.  But, no one likes him, he isn't bat crap crazy enough.  Hillary has put in the work, had all the titles and managed or bought her way to everything you are "supposed" to do to be viable.  Yet, still her most compelling story is that she has girl parts.

With any other leading candidate on the Democratic side, Donald Trump would be the new version of Sarah Palin.  But, everyone is so over this estimation that we have to give the Presidency to Hillary, because she has girl parts, they are paying attention to the Donald.  It is actually quite terrifying.

Look, if I had a junk bond corporation, I would love to have Donald run it.  If I had a bad real estate investment to declare bankrupcy over and walk away richer for it, I would love to have Donald do that again.  If I wanted to start a reality TV show about insulting as many kinds of Americans as possible in the shortest period of time, we need the Donald.

To be the custodian and controller of the most powerful military in the world, I just don't see it.  "You're FIRED!" takes on a whole new meaning when you are dealing with cruise missiles and ballisic submarines.  There used to be a standard of competency that was required, before things got this far.  I mean, running Godfather's Pizza was no qualification for the Presidency, and neither is running an Atlantic City casino into the ground.  Nor for that matter, is being a neurosurgeon.

I think these are fine occupations.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with them.  But, I am not sure that we are going to be real happy with a President that has never been in the government.  Now, hear me out, I don't think that the government is any great shakes at running anything, but the military.  However, it does run a significant portion of the economy.  Almost, 49% of spending is in entitlements.  Another 18% in military spending is also on the program.  That means approximately 25% of the spending is what is driving all this posturing and foolishness.

Donald cannot do anything about Social Security.  No one would or should trust him with that program, it looks too much like one of his casino deals already.  Donald cannot do anything about health care.  It is legal, Supreme Court says so, and all this talk of repeal sounds really good to some, but is not going to happen.  It just isn't.

That is the problem, as usual, in our election cycles.  We have candidates that pay a lot of money to people that pick out several very small, and ultimately inconsequential, fringe issues, and storm around shouting each other down over them.  Like Planned Parenthood.  This is about less than .002% of North Carolina's spending for the year.  I know the moral implications loom large, and I am not dismissing anyone's moral outrage.  But, to shut the government down over this, to suggest that, to forment that, is patently ridiculous, and quite frankly, frightening among reasoning adults.

The government provides services for huge segments of our population, that are most in danger due to disruption.  Elderly, impoverished, veterans, special needs, students, these are the main "customers" of the governement.  Turning off the money to Grandma, because we want to spit up on each other over negligible money that has been repeatedly held up by the Supreme Court, is just plain wrong.

It is not principled politics.  It is not reasonable behavior.  It is not feasible.   And, yet, we will face another round of this.  We will not do the hard work of trying to build cohesion and cooperation to do the heavy lifting required.  We ignore the repetitions that make up history.  These are not new concerns.  This is the same kind of landscape that gave us the Civil War, the World Wars, the Great Depression.  No, honestly, I am not kidding.  Different arguments, same political climate.

And, oddly, predicated on the same geographical split.  Lay the last presidential results over a map of the Confederacy.  See if the Red and Blue don't look oddly the same, for the parts of America that were states then.  I do not draw some racial distinction, I just point out that there are deep roots of dissension that we have not overcome.

But, the Donald, the Donald is going to drive something.  Donald appears to me to be unelectable, but history says stranger things have happened.  But, when those strange things happened, they had consequences.  But, the first consequence, for all my deeply conservative friends, is in the Democratic party.  As long as Trump appears to have a shot at winning, more and more extreme positions will be staked out on the Democratic side.  No one believes Trump can win, so that must mean the Hillary is weak.

The further to the left that this pushes Hillary, pushes the outcome of the election.  Trump, Carson, Fiorina, they are not going to beat a Democratic candidate.  The Dems have professionals running, against a deep pool of amateurs and rookies.  Put an amateur up against a pro, and you can almost guarantee what will happen.  You have to have a gifted, naturally gifted amateur.  Bill Clinton is an example, as is Obama.  These are naturally gifted amateurs, that beat pros.  Mostly because of who the pros picked to run with, and run on.

None of the Republicans are amateurs in the league of Clinton and Obama.  I am not leaning on principle or dogma here.  Look at them.  They are not going to make it.  Everyone wants Rubio to be, but he isn't.  Good guy, and going to be something as he comes into his own.  But, he does not have the "it".

Bernie Sanders, he has the "it" right now.  Look, regardless of what you think about his policies, lets face reality.  You can win all the corn fields in Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Kansas.  You still won't beat New York and either Pennsylvania or Ohio.  And, Trump is not going to win any of the corn fields.  He is novel, because he is so crazy.  Look at the mess he is saying about 9/11.  That is going to destroy him in the general, that crazy talk.  So is the Hispanic bashing, which is all that it is.

The ability to look at a problem and see a fringe that needs exploiting is a time honored talent of our political class.  The Republicans are not recruiting in the SEC for this one.  Bashing the fastest growing demographics, threatening to shut down everything if they don't get their way, and promising more tax cuts that are really about the rich, and not being able to figure out what fool is going to be given the Speraker position, yeah, that is not top tier talent.  I hope we all remenber enough civics to know that the Speaker is 3rd in line to the Presidency.  No, really, look it up.

Making college free, while Donald pays for it, universal health care, stop locking up 25% of the males that live below the poverty line, equal pay for women, a national chairwoman of the party, pissing off the NRA, the only institution more rigidly dogmatic than House Republicans, those are first round draft picks.

It is not a laughing matter.  The Dems know that.  The Republicans, they have not figured it out.  They are still playing in the clown convention.  Everyone worries about Biden running out of time...I worry about the reasonable voice of the right that is required to balance and moderate the best progress of this country.  That is what is running out of time to get straightened out and flying right.

President Trump, that  should terrify and embarass us all.  He has exactly the same qualifications as Donald Sterling (the guy that the NBA is going to divorce), all the Walton kids, Jerry Jones and Sheldon Abrams.  That is not a qualification, that is an income scale.  If you listen to him, it shows.  Ineffective and incoherent politics from the reasonable right is damaging to all of us.  We should not continue to support it, not even the part of the population that lives in Bernie Sanders' love-in compound.

Ignore it if you think that we can get Mexico to build a wall for us, and pay for it. Ignore it if you think that Putin will be afraid of the combover.  Ignore it if you think it is in our best interest to have a robber baron in charge of 1.6 trillion dollars of spending on our most at risk citizens.  It is after all, ignore at your own risk.  Don't forget, I warned you.

GLYASDI