What really matters.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks , Saturday, March 9, 2024, in Rome, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
For the umpty-umpth time, please let me disclaim that I know that Donald Trump is an imperfect human being. I’ll stipulate that he can be painfully boorish. I acknowledge that he is given to exaggeration (though I simultaneously point out that his exaggerations are usually grounded in clearly observable truth).
He frequently “punches down” against his critics when remaining silent would better serve. His name calling is too often gratuitous.
I also say again that I wish these things weren’t so.
But with that said, he also has his virtues – principal among which is that he isn’t insane. And given what we’ve suffered these past three-plus years from the Biden administration, that alone recommends him for a return to the White House.
Allowing 10 million poor, unskilled, unvetted migrants from every corner of the globe to cross into the country illegally and then remain here unsupervised is insane.
Certifiably insane.
It’s insane because self-harm is prima facie evidence of mental illness. And current administration immigration policy is the very embodiment of national self-harm.
In any large population cohort, there is a statistical certainty that a percentage of them will be criminals, drug dealers and other bad actors. Allowing millions of people to pour into the country illegally guarantees the importation of criminals and fentanyl just as it guarantees the importation of an uncomfortably large number of incipient terrorists.
Proposing a national budget that intentionally adds $3-plus trillion to an already unsustainable and life threatening $34 trillion national debt is insane.
Turning the armed forces into a national social experiment in gender identity is insane.
Mandating a poorly considered rush to electric vehicles that will result in deep dependence upon China – our principal adversary – for the batteries to power them is insane.
Trump may be unlikable to some. But he’s not insane.
Since his now famous escalator ride in 2015, I have had countless conversations with people – Democrats and Republicans – who can’t stand Donald Trump. Those conversations usually go something like this:
“I hate Trump.”
“Why?,” I ask.
“He’s just horrible.”
“OK, which of his policies as president did you find to be so horrible?”
“Well, his tweets, and the way he puts people down and calls them names and the way he has treated women.”
“OK, I might not disagree with you on those things. But my question was about policy. Which of his policies did you object to?”
At this point, the person I’m conversing with – stuck for an answer to my policy question – usually says something like,
“Well, let’s just agree to disagree.”
Look, if you just don’t like Trump’s personality, that’s fine. But personality isn’t policy and policy is what matters. Particularly now.
Trump’s immigration policy was sane. His foreign policy was effective. His regulatory policy unleashed enormous economic growth. Ditto his energy policy.
It comes down to this. The country was more prosperous and the world less dangerous when Donald Trump was president.
Consider that and consider what we have now I’ll happily put up with Trump’s personality shortcomings.
I’m not sure I have ever read or heard a more intelligent, insightful, and unbiased description of Donald Trump, and the way the world views him. Paul Gleiser has managed to step back far enough to gain a factual and completely unbiased perspective on Mr. Trump, both his positives and negatives. My hope is that as “We, The People” navigate the turbulent waters of this election year, voters will be able to do the same thing, thereby making it possible to cast their vote based on what is best for the country, and not as if they are electing the most popular guy in the senior class.
Fear is all the Democrats have. They can’t argue about policy because we see the results. So they have to scare us away from Trump. They actually believe we are too stupid to make up our own mind. The ones that are cannot. Those that can will. The Republicans had better start talking about their plans for abortion, though, because Democrats are painting them into a corner.
To honestly DISLIKE someone don’t you have to have REASON? What has PRESIDENT TRUMP done in all HONESTY to actually make someone hate him? Did he DO something to you to make you hate him? Did he do like a school yard BULLY and come up to you to punch you in the nose because you didn’t have candy or lunch money to give him? I’d venture a guess to say NO. I don’t know President Trump well enough to hate him but I have SEEN what he can do for the American people and this country. You can not argue that he promised this and promised that as other presidents have done then get amnesia as soon as elected. No, he hit the floor running to get his promises fulfilled! AND if you were honest yourself instead of picking this and picking that about a person you honestly DO NOT know personally, you would HAVE to say that despite some little quirks you don’t seem to like, PRESIDENT TRUMP has done more for this country in a SHORT period of time than any other in my lifetime!
No one is perfect. BUT I think President Trump should be given credit where credit is due! He lifted up many people of ALL races, creeds and colors higher than they have ever been. If you REALLY want to HATE someone, go and pick on someone who really deserves it because President Trump doesn’t.
Friday, March 15th comment on Trump NAILED IT ! Thank you for being one of the good guys. BTW. I did a short stint as News Director at KTBB when Cheney was running it in 1974. If you had been running the station at that time, I would still be there. So sorry about John Sims – we worked together for years to KEBE/KOOI.
Your are right we may hate Trump but we love what he does for America . Are the Democrats running our country like communist countries and supporting hate groups. Trump is not responsible for the attack on the Whitehouse I believe the people now realize that a lot of people new the election was stolen and the people that attacked the Whitehouse were fighting for America.
Nothing much to say here about your column, except……..ditto.
People that have studied the U.S. Constitution understand the current culture of politics is exactly what the framers of it warned about. We, the people, must continue the fight FOR DEMOCRACY or we will lose it to the enemy. Trump is not the enemy. If he planned the Jan. 6th riot, why would he have requested National Guard and police enforcement prior that day? Did the Democrats orchestrate the event, as they have done since Trump BECAME the president?
As is the case with any of us, Donald Trump is a bundle of character traits, some more or less positive and others more or less negative. Between the positives and negatives, a codependency often exists. Thus, in Donald Trump we sometimes see a negative trait making something very positive and very necessary possible. Mild-mannered, mealymouthed types cannot take the verbal beatings Trump takes every single day. The attacks are unrelenting, dishonest and often bordering on the absurd. His critics hit him hard, hit him below the belt, but whine when he returns the punches. I, for one, am thankful Donald Trump is exactly the man he is!
An observation about the recent controversy about the Trump “bloodbath” comment.
Of course we can simply watch that statement of his in his speech in context and recognize that the media and lefty politicians are shamelessly distorting Trump’s meaning. We can refer to dictionary definitions and media uses of the same term invoking its metaphorical sense and again recognize the distortion at play now.
Here’s another test: Watch the audience reaction. There is nothing in Trump’s audience’s reaction to support the extremist-inciting-violence narrative that the Left is pushing upon the public.
Want an example of an audience reaction *confirming* claims that a politician is conveying a contemptible message? Recall the 2008 presidential campaign going on in September of that year. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s recently selected running mate, had just made a big splash at the GOP convention with a speech whose most memorable line was a joke comparing herself as a “hockey mom” to a pitbull, with the difference being: Lipstick.
Not very long afterward, Barack Obama gave a speech in which he disparaged Republican policies by saying, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” The line got a much bigger laugh than one would expect such a cliche to receive. Clearly Obama’s audience understood that Obama was insulting Sarah Palin by implicitly calling her a pig. But when the McCain campaign and others objected to this insult, Democrat politicians and media allies insisted that Republicans were making up an issue where none existed.
In both cases, the Democrats’ media allies took up their narrative regarding whether something objectionable should be read into the words of a presidential candidate. And in both cases, the crowd reaction revealed them to be denying the obvious.
https://nypost.com/2008/09/09/obama-put-lipstick-on-a-pig-its-still-a-pig/
Are the advocates of Marxism, Communism, Fascism, Radical Islamism, etc., “insane”? From a morality (and maybe clinically) perspective, I guess they are. The real truth is that they fundamentally believe in a FEUDAL form of government where they, the Superior-Man Cultists, worship themselves and REQUIRE SLAVES to rule over in order to form their image of a completely Totalitarian Global Society. This Society is devoid of Human Rights where individual Human beings, families, and ALL assets of the country are the property of the so-called “State”. Human or Corporate “privileges” are dispensed to the enslaved masses by their Autocratic Authority as they see fit, i.e., “Rules for thee but not for me”.
The “insanity” part of the Demonic character of these godless Autocratic Dictators is their potential qualification as certified Sociopaths that have NO empathy with humanity, at all. This is in total opposition to the orderly Creation of Humanity that God Himself established for Worldwide Freedom as individual Sovereigns blessed with “Unalienable Rights” to carry out His most important commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and secondly, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The most amazing part is how many Americans have bought into their self-imposed enslavement in exchange for security or whatever “carrot” that these Totalitarians tempt them with. The deliberate delusion of Americans to follow such lunacy seems to have been successful. The SILENCE of the “opposition” to this phenomena is DEAFENING.
Today there was an article by Lizz Harringtin that clarifies the imminent danger we are facing, which is the loss of this country to the forces of Totalitarianism within. Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s key advisors reported to his jail sentence today. I can’t post the link due to unknown web site restrictions but here is the essence of her comments regarding Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s totally rigged J6 Select Committee that targeted Navarro with today’s resulting incarceration.
The Select Committee “was a group of hacks and thugs who have spent their lives subverting America and our God-given rights, slowly and surely corrupting and perverting our constitutional system meant to uphold the rule of law and keep us free. And we are very far removed from the America of old. A nation founded upon heroes pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor is now led by villains with no honor, who steal the fortunes of others, so they can continue to sacrifice the lives of the innocent.”
Kangaroo Courts are now part of the US Justice System in Democrat controlled jurisdictions where the accused cannot defend themselves. Case in point is the “Justice” being carried out against Peter Navarro. His detailed comments on his way to jail were captured today at the following address.
rumble.com/v4k8hsr-dr.-navarro-responds-to-biden-admins-political-persecution-shortly-before-r.html
As President Reagan warned us, we should all be concerned that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”