320 Years of History
Gold Member
It's no secret here that by just after Christmas 2015, I lost all hope that Donald Trump would make a good President. Today, he resoundingly reaffirmed for me that my misgivings about him are spot on, and he did so not by citing the ostensible mistakes others have made, but by, over the course of a ~20 minute interview on CNN, showing that:
Look at that graphic...It clearly shows the facts are immutable and that are obvious to even an eighth grader:
Amid all that, Trump's supporters say they like that he tells it like it is. He does not. He tells it like he wants it to be in the fictional world that is his. The man has no concept of what distinguishes running the U.S. from running his businesses, companies that he's repeatedly taken into bankruptcy.
- He simply cannot be trusted and that HE'S WILLING TO JETTISON THE TRUST THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS IN THE U.S.' financial integrity by intimating that the U.S. might arbitrarily print the money it needs to pay its debts!
- The man actually stated we should persuade our creditors to accept something less than full payment of our debt to them. Never mind that the U.S. Constitution (14th Amendment) guarantees the U.S. debt, so it's actually illegal to act on the bankruptcy idea Trump floated in his interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN. He'd be impeached for doing it.
That idea isn't just arguably a bad idea, it's ILLEGAL FROM SQUARE ONE! The man didn't propose violating some "random" law buried in the U.S. Code somewhere. He openly proposed violating the 14th Amendment, and he did not simultaneously propose amending the 14th Amendment.
Now you tell me...Just how much thought do you think he put into that idea? I know the answer. None! Not one one iota of forethought went into it. Do you really think you don't deserve more thoughtful consideration of ideas than that from a person who wants you to make them your President?
One would think for all the talk about "the Constitution this" and "the Constitution that" coming from the GOP that tons of them would be loudly apoplectic over that remark and expressly noting that what Trump proposed is flat out illegal. But are they? No! So ask yourself in light of that curious silence, "Just how much do these GOP folks care about the USA in comparison to how much they care about getting re-/elected?" - He hasn't given a moment's thought to the comprehensive nature, extent and impacts of the tax code adjustments he's proposed.
- He hasn't put any thought into how with a tax proposal that slashes the federal revenues by ~$1T/year over the next decade, the nation is going to have the money to do the things it must and at the same time lower the national debt/deficits.
Look at that graphic...It clearly shows the facts are immutable and that are obvious to even an eighth grader:
- The U.S. spends ~$3.8T each year right now, of which ~$500B is borrowed money.
- The only way to reduce the national debt and the deficit is to borrow less money each year than is paid back to creditors. (It's not quite as straightforward as that because U.S. debt is in the form of bonds rather than simple or compound interest loans; thus it's more matter of not issuing as many or more the bonds/debt each year as were issued in the prior year(s), paying the periodic interest, allowing the bonds to mature and repaying the principal.)
- With ~$1T less revenue coming in each year, the only way to materially lower the U.S.' debt/deficit is to borrow less and less, in one fell swoop (from what I'm hearing from Trump, it'll be a "swell foop" -- SNAFU -- rather than a "fell swoop") or progressively over time.
Now with all that as the "lay of the land" that it doesn't take a financial wiz kid to understand, Trump also wants to increase military spending. But in addition, he also wants to
-- balance the budget in 10 years, and
-- not cut Social Security or Medicare.
Well that's just not plausible or possible. It's pure "pie in the sky" rhetoric that nobody but a completely ignorant idiot would actually believe he can or will even come close to accomplishing. But politically speaking, to get votes from folks who don't know any better -- and there are clearly plenty of those folks who don't; apparently about 10M of them at least -- sure, it sounds good.
-- balance the budget in 10 years, and
-- not cut Social Security or Medicare.
Well that's just not plausible or possible. It's pure "pie in the sky" rhetoric that nobody but a completely ignorant idiot would actually believe he can or will even come close to accomplishing. But politically speaking, to get votes from folks who don't know any better -- and there are clearly plenty of those folks who don't; apparently about 10M of them at least -- sure, it sounds good.
- He doesn't give a damn about what he says and will say literally anything without regard to whether he actually has any conviction in the merit of what he says, beyond its merit as a vehicle for garnering votes:
- On the basis of having gone to a military prep school, Trump thinks he "always felt that I was in the military,” and received “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.” (See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/u...hooling-to-military-service-in-book.html?_r=0)
I wonder if these guys....
...think the military training Trump got at New York Military Academy....
(Trump highlighted in the center)
(Trump is second from the left)
...marching around his school campus and the streets of New York
...counts as "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military." Somehow I just don't think so. Out of curiosity, I called a friend of mine whom I've known since we were kids and who went to St. Johns in D.C. and on to West Point to ask if he thought the training might be comparable. He most certainly did not see it as comparable enough to validly make the remark Trump did. (He retired from the Army as a Brigadier General and is now a consultant to the military.)
- The man legitimately got some 10M+ votes in the GOP primaries by telling people:
-- Wages are too high
"Taxes too high, wages too high. We're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and they have to get into that upper stratum. But we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it."
-- Taxes for the rich need to come down
...And now he's backtracking on those remarks.
- On the basis of having gone to a military prep school, Trump thinks he "always felt that I was in the military,” and received “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.” (See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/u...hooling-to-military-service-in-book.html?_r=0)
Amid all that, Trump's supporters say they like that he tells it like it is. He does not. He tells it like he wants it to be in the fictional world that is his. The man has no concept of what distinguishes running the U.S. from running his businesses, companies that he's repeatedly taken into bankruptcy.
