Tweet
Trump: Will He be Controlling or Controlled?
The New American
by William F. Jasper
5/24/2016
Excerpt:
He came, he roared, he bellowed, he boasted — and he kicked proverbial tail. Out of the crowded field of 17 contestants in the GOP’s presidential beauty pageant, Donald Trump is the last man standing, after repeatedly defying the oddsmakers, the political establishment, the media thought cartel, the political correctness gestapo, and a multitude of naysaying special interest groups.
The exits of Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich from the race, following Trump’s decisive Indiana primary victory on May 3, have left the bellicose billionaire with a clear road all the way to Cleveland, where the Republican Party convention will take place in July. The outcome of that convention is still by no means clear, since there are still many tricks party leaders can pull. But should Trump emerge from the convention as the GOP standard bearer, there is then, of course, the general election in November, where he would face off against (presumably) Hillary Clinton — and whatever third-party spoiler efforts are thrown against him by the #NeverTrump Republican defectors. That main event would also assuredly bring a new tidal wave of anti-Trump media attacks and violent protests aimed at derailing the New York mogul’s brazen White House bid.
Savior, Satan — or Neither?
To say Donald Trump elicits strong emotions is an understatement. While virtually all elections have a polarizing effect, Trump has brought to the current fray an outsized polarization to match his outsized ego. To many Trumpistas he is the savior who will finally set the country right and “Make America Great Again!” To the Never Trumpers, he is the devil incarnate (or some facsimile thereof) who would, if allowed to become president, usher in the end of the Republic — and maybe even the end of the world.
This writer is neither a Trumpista nor a Never Trumper. As a matter of full disclosure, I should confess that I do not like the man; never have. I agree with his critics (from the Right, Left, and center) that he is crass, crude, vulgar, arrogant, and narcissistic to a degree that exceeds, perhaps, the level of these same vices that we’ve come to accept among politicians. I say perhaps because Trump doesn’t encase himself in a facade of fake pieties, false modesty, and finely parsed press statements like the typical paragon of the political class. He’s a rough-and-tumble entertainer/entrepreneur who is used to having his way and is given to over-the-top antics and statements that guarantee more limelight and celebrity brand appeal. In a March 7, 2016 article for the print edition of The New American (“Dump Trump, or Promote Him?”), Charles Scaliger appropriately compared Trump to Marcus Licinius Crassus, the uber-wealthy Roman plutocrat, from whom we derive the pejorative term “crass,” and who played a key role in the descent of the Roman Republic into the tyranny of the Caesars.
However, as a nation, we have already slid far down the slippery slope toward Caesarian empire and tyranny — under the leadership of Republicans and Democrats who exude the “presidential” style and temperament Trump so obviously lacks. Would a Trump presidency really be worse for America — politically, economically, morally, militarily — than the leadership we’ve received from recent White House occupants (both Republican and Democrat), or what we could reasonably expect from the current alternatives? Or to approach the question from the opposite direction: Are there some crucial issues on which we might reasonably expect that Trump would slow, or even reverse, our precipitous slide? Is this why the powers that be attack him with such relentless and unprecedented fury? These are critically important questions that we may be able to answer in the affirmative. This being the case, we will be setting out here, in what follows, a fair and clear-minded assessment of the positive and negative potential of a Trump presidency vis-à-vis the current political-economic-social context.
Outsider vs. Insiders
...............................................
View the complete article, including images, at:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...-or-controlled
The New American
by William F. Jasper
5/24/2016
Excerpt:
He came, he roared, he bellowed, he boasted — and he kicked proverbial tail. Out of the crowded field of 17 contestants in the GOP’s presidential beauty pageant, Donald Trump is the last man standing, after repeatedly defying the oddsmakers, the political establishment, the media thought cartel, the political correctness gestapo, and a multitude of naysaying special interest groups.
The exits of Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich from the race, following Trump’s decisive Indiana primary victory on May 3, have left the bellicose billionaire with a clear road all the way to Cleveland, where the Republican Party convention will take place in July. The outcome of that convention is still by no means clear, since there are still many tricks party leaders can pull. But should Trump emerge from the convention as the GOP standard bearer, there is then, of course, the general election in November, where he would face off against (presumably) Hillary Clinton — and whatever third-party spoiler efforts are thrown against him by the #NeverTrump Republican defectors. That main event would also assuredly bring a new tidal wave of anti-Trump media attacks and violent protests aimed at derailing the New York mogul’s brazen White House bid.
Savior, Satan — or Neither?
To say Donald Trump elicits strong emotions is an understatement. While virtually all elections have a polarizing effect, Trump has brought to the current fray an outsized polarization to match his outsized ego. To many Trumpistas he is the savior who will finally set the country right and “Make America Great Again!” To the Never Trumpers, he is the devil incarnate (or some facsimile thereof) who would, if allowed to become president, usher in the end of the Republic — and maybe even the end of the world.
This writer is neither a Trumpista nor a Never Trumper. As a matter of full disclosure, I should confess that I do not like the man; never have. I agree with his critics (from the Right, Left, and center) that he is crass, crude, vulgar, arrogant, and narcissistic to a degree that exceeds, perhaps, the level of these same vices that we’ve come to accept among politicians. I say perhaps because Trump doesn’t encase himself in a facade of fake pieties, false modesty, and finely parsed press statements like the typical paragon of the political class. He’s a rough-and-tumble entertainer/entrepreneur who is used to having his way and is given to over-the-top antics and statements that guarantee more limelight and celebrity brand appeal. In a March 7, 2016 article for the print edition of The New American (“Dump Trump, or Promote Him?”), Charles Scaliger appropriately compared Trump to Marcus Licinius Crassus, the uber-wealthy Roman plutocrat, from whom we derive the pejorative term “crass,” and who played a key role in the descent of the Roman Republic into the tyranny of the Caesars.
However, as a nation, we have already slid far down the slippery slope toward Caesarian empire and tyranny — under the leadership of Republicans and Democrats who exude the “presidential” style and temperament Trump so obviously lacks. Would a Trump presidency really be worse for America — politically, economically, morally, militarily — than the leadership we’ve received from recent White House occupants (both Republican and Democrat), or what we could reasonably expect from the current alternatives? Or to approach the question from the opposite direction: Are there some crucial issues on which we might reasonably expect that Trump would slow, or even reverse, our precipitous slide? Is this why the powers that be attack him with such relentless and unprecedented fury? These are critically important questions that we may be able to answer in the affirmative. This being the case, we will be setting out here, in what follows, a fair and clear-minded assessment of the positive and negative potential of a Trump presidency vis-à-vis the current political-economic-social context.
Outsider vs. Insiders
...............................................
View the complete article, including images, at:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...-or-controlled