Is Donald Real and Can he Win?
I little while ago while the primaries were still running hot and heavy, I wrote about The Donald and questioned whether he was nothing more than a Snake Oil salesman.
Fast forward to today and like it or not he is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.
He was and is most unusual, to say the least. He started out as a caricature, as a showman, as a brash loud unrehearsed and uncontrolled personality. He seemed able to get away with saying whatever was on his mind in language that the public had never heard on the campaign trail before. He was an equal opportunity insulter. Never wasted a chance to slash and burn his competitors….. Low Energy Jeb, Little Marco, Lying Ted.
To witness the thinning of the wannabes was nothing short of impressive. One by one they “suspended” their campaigns. So now here we are. Donald Trump is the man. In all likelihood he will be facing Hilary Clinton in the general election. That is, of course, if she does not get indicted. My take is that the Obama folks will make sure that doesn’t happen before the general election.
The long time political class in Washington is livid. Their house of cards is about to crumble and they are threatened to their very core. They are doing things that heretofore were unimaginable. They are openly opposing his nomination, threatening to sit the convention and the election out. Some have even said that Hilary would be better… what blasphemy!
Even though I am a believer in a very civilized, respectful and sophisticated approach to the job of President of the United States I am starting to be hopeful that a completely different way of operating for the good of America will work. A little bit more bombast may be just the thing.
Ronald Reagan entered the White House via a landslide and could have taken a my way or the highway approach to governing but did not. He surrounded himself with some of the smartest most genuine people that have every worked in the White House to advise him. We all know how that worked out, Reagan became one of the most important men to hold the job.
Donald Trump is not a boy scout. For a billionaire his is quite rough around the edges. He is the product of the New York City business community. I am remembering the old saying about New York—“If you can make it there you can make it anywhere.” Not only has he learned the art of negotiating in some of the most impressive deals, but he has also shown that his heart is in the right place. I make only two examples here. First, the City ice skating rink renovation was desperately over budget and way beyond any credible deadline…. Donald stepped in and completed the project under budget and in such a short period of time that the entire City was in awe. The second example was at his home at Mara Lago in Florida where he erected a very tall flagpole to proudly display the Old Glory. He was faced with violations of the local ordinances and was forced to remove the too tall pole. Now here is where art of the mind overcomes form - in came the earth movers and deposited a massively high mound of earth exactly where the old pole had been removed. On top of the mound he then erected a pole that was as high the town allowed but it now perched as high into the sky as originally planned. Neither of those examples would be the results of a solely political mind.
Okay, so he is winning me over. I am still leery, no doubt, but when held up against a Clinton administration there is no other choice. The next five months will be a spectacle indeed. So far Mr. Trump has been able to attract more primary voters then ever seen in history of primaries. He did that all the while challenging the best the party could through at him. I can’t doubt that something similar will happen in the general election.
I am putting on my big boy pants, hitching my belt up tight and getting ready to the fight.
Maybe that is were the real gold lies… in changing America’s mindset from a comfortable place into one where they too are willing to what is necessary to undo the damage done by the progressives over the last seven years.
I am keeping my powder dry and fingers crossed.