Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Trump's Candidacy Has Value

Donald Trump is an arrogant, narcissistic very successful businessman. I am sure that he greatly overestimates his real understanding of and ability to rectify the things that are truly wrong in the world. Yet he does recognize many of the problems and issues, realities that most other candidates are unwilling or unable to address. And because of this his dialogue has merit.

Trump rails against Mexico and China. And matter-of-factly states that, when elected, he and his gang will put both Mexico and China in their respective places. He will be able to get Mexico to pay for a wall that will keep their undesirable, criminal, illegal emigrants from entering our country. He neglects to discuss what Alan Greenspan told Congress years ago: that illegal immigration has a profound positive impact on our economy.

He proclaims that he will stop the Chinese from devaluating their currency which is hurting American businesses. He neglects to say that his clothing line is manufactured in China, that his best clients are Chinese, or discuss the staggering amount of our Treasury securities China holds.

It is obvious that Trump has never read Metternich or essays by Henry Kissinger. And he lacks understanding of the complex political and economic interconnections of nations today, which are more so today then at any time in America history  (See Post: Is America Being Purchased? 10/10/10).

I will concede that his analysis of the Middle East, a region full of internal contradictions, is pretty sound and decision makers might consider utilizing cost/benefit analysis as part of their decision making process. Most of the Middle Eastern countries and territories share a combination of policies that support American objectives and, simultaneously, policies and behaviors that are abhorrent, detrimental to our objectives, and ones we are trying to eradicate. And I applaud Trump's opposition to the War in Iraq and his dialogue on the reasonable use of force.

Trump has also talked about corporate inversion and his own bankruptcies. He has stated that he is against inversion and that the corporations should be forced to return to the US and pay taxes.

He has talked about his bankruptcies and explained that they constituted legal means to build wealth. He intimated that these shenanigans, along with inversion, should be illegal. Students of history will remember that Franklin Roosevelt appointed Joe Kennedy as the first Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission after he had used every "trick in the book" to build his wealth. 

Trump has talked about political correctness and stated that by focusing on it we are wasting time, loosing sight of the truly important things, and the Big Picture. I don't think that Trump is a racist or a misogynist, in the same way that many Tea Party Republicans are. His political incorrectness is a perfunctory reaction to what he views as annoyances. It is pragmatism versus the abstract for him.

He has countered his PC critics by stating that America has an obligation to take care of its poor. He briefly outlined an upgrade to Obamacare that must be driving all other Republicans crazy. And, he has stated that with the exception of abortion he supports the work of Planned Parenthood.