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Mitt Romney didn’t mix it with Barrack Obama in 2012. He didn’t have the fortitude to skewer to him on the Benghazi attack and murder of a US ambassador mere weeks before Americans went to the polls. It was an electoral gift to the challenger, courtesy of a dead diplomat and three other slain Americans left to die without help and commemorated with a pack of lies about an irrelevant video. Yet Romney let Obama off the hook.
Where was the Commander in Chief throughout the night and early morning, when those who he had sworn to lead were fighting for their lives and when he was the only one with the authority to order in nearby airpower. Bizarrely, we still don’t know. We can conjecture. He was likely asleep, preparing for a fund-raising event while the killings went on.
What we know with certainty, no conjecture required, is that Romney was too polite (too craven?) to ask tough questions. He was unequivocally a weak reed when it counted and consequently lost an election that was eminently winnable.
The election lost and more than three disastrous years later, a strong candidate, unafraid to ask tough questions, is leading the Republican race. Hello! Here comes Mitt back from oblivion; spineless then, full of spite and spittle now. Apparently he’s afraid his grandchildren will ask him ‘What did you do, grandpa, to stop Trump?’ A more pertinent question to ask of him is what he did to stop Obama. And why he effectively threw in the towel?
It comes to this. The Republican establishment can’t stand someone outside of the political class gaining power. That is why Romney and some other elites have said that they will not vote for Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee. There is them, the political class, right or left. And then there are the outsiders. Part of the outsiders is the great unwashed, otherwise called blue-collar workers. I will come back to them.
Trump makes coarse and crass remarks, of that there is no doubt. Does this provide an unflattering insight into his character? I don’t know but I would certainly prefer that he refrain from commenting on Rubio’s big ears and the like. Though he does have big ears (strike that last remark!).
A psychological profile is required (but if of Trump then most definitely of Hillary too). But my intuitive view is that genuine bastards keep their worst features well hidden. I think we’ve seen the worst of Trump and it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in the scheme of things. Is he a phony, a fraud and a con man, as Rubio and Romney suggest in (rehearsed) unison? From across the Pacific, he is “self-evidently” a “buffoon and xenophobe,” as described by Tom Switzer when interviewed by Leigh Sales on 2 March?
Leaving aside the unprintable, which is how the political elite on the left think of him, if these ad hominem attacks from conservatives have substance the Republican frontrunner is obviously disqualified. But what has he done to earn this opprobrium? It is not his policies. Simply, he has had the temerity to challenge the in-crowd and create a mass movement that may well see many of them marginalised.
Sure, Trump is not always polished, but neither were some political giants of the past — have a look at what Thomas Jefferson said about John Adams. Trump wants to build a wall to help control illegal immigration coming through Mexico. And, by the way, his suggestion that Mexico will pay for it would require, for example, only a small charge on remittances sent back to Mexico. He wants to rebuild America’s military and take better care of veterans. He wants to (temporarily) stop Muslim immigration to figure out how to foil the importation of Islamic extremism. He wants to negotiate better trade deals to bring jobs back to America. He wants to lower taxes and regulations to grow jobs. He doesn’t believe you can use kid gloves when dealing with barbarians.
His policies appeal to blue-collar voters, with their despised “traditional values”, as shown by the numbers turning out for his public events. It’s not hard to see why. When environmental regulations close down industries, guess who loses their jobs? When cheap labour comes in illegally, guess who loses their jobs? When those with backward social values pour in, guess where they live?. When American sailors are put on their knee and John Kerry thanks the Iranians for their generosity, guess which segment of the voting population is the most outraged and wants to ‘make America great again’.
The fetid Washington political environment, Republican and Democrat swamps alike, has produced massive debt, foreign policy disasters and a weakened America. The fact that the elite which has presided over this mess don’t want Trump is one good reason to want Trump. Love him or hate him, he is probably the only candidate with any chance of winning against the Democratic machine in November.
“He was unequivocally a weak reed when it counted”
Does that remind anyone of a recently ousted PM?
Peter I think this simple article is the best analysis of many I have yet read on the Trump phenomena. Everybody I talk to about him, without fail, thinks he is a joke. When I tell them they are simply regurgitating the media’s opinion, and that they know nothing about him, there is always a momentary pause, which I take as a good sign.
I don’t know what to make of him, but I do know he is making a fantastic contribution to American (and therefore global) politics. I would be happy to see him as president, and equally as happy to see Cruz in the seat. I think it was Roger Franklin who recently wrote that Trump and the Republicans will improve each other if he wins the race, given time. That seems like a very sensible analysis.
I would prefer Ted Cruz but I do think Trump has rebooted the conservative side of politics. He says what many of us think and is courageous enough to challenge the elite and PC way of thinking. It is a pity our leaders are more like Obama; weak and wimpish.
Can I ask why you would prefer Cruz?
Ted Cruz is duplicitous. He laments the influence of Wall Street on Government, yet his campaign is financed by Goldman Sachs.
He laments the cabals of globalists dictating America’s future, yet his own wife (Goldman Sachs employee) was on the Council for Foreign Relations (think inner circle of the Bilderbergers) promoting the position of a North American Union where the USA relinquishes sovereignty to an EU style body.
Colleagues, senators and room mates from college have come out and said how he is basically a psychopath who will say and do anything out of self interest.
You can pretty much summarise this election as there being two candidates: Donald Trump and Goldman Sachs.
well said ….
An insightful article again by Peter Smith.
Imagine the effect on world politics if a real conservative was the US President rather than the incumbent, son of the Mohammedan father and the somewhat Christian mother. Like the good effect of Reagan and Thatcher on politics worldwide conservative self confidence would roll back the red tide and the pink tide. And in the clash of civilisations Richard Coeur de Lion would permanently halt Saladin in the Middle East rather than later have to halt at Vienna the Ottomans with their delusional warlord ideology of Mohammedan superiority.
In the US, action will trump inaction.
Trump has no policies beyond the vague waffling generalisation of “make America great again”: which is a helluva lot easier said than done…
By raising protectionist barriers perhaps?
His completely inappropriate comments the other day about the size of his hands relative to the size of his member invalidated his claim to become leader of the free world. It’s just not on!! And I’d mortgage my house he’ll never be President.
All of this Ringling Brothers circus shows us in Australia about the absolute limits of that kind of a Republic!!
My personal view is that America is in decline and nothing will ever arrest that decline; it is the historical movement of large powers that they grow, become powerful and then decline. Entropy. And in taking in so many illegal immigrants – I mean, just SO MANY – did they ever imagine for more than 30 seconds that the pie was suddenly going to grow big enough for everybody to get a piece of it? Come on now, that’s Kindergarten economics!!
Rubbish. I think it’s silly too, but so what. Remember when Bob Hawke was allowed to get drunk and swear on tv? The only thing that can legitimately invalidate his claim is the ballot box.
Sounds like you’ve been ensnared by the PC media Jody.
Aside from that, I doubt very much that Trump would maintain the same persona in the Whitehouse. He is in a bloody and brutal race to the top at the moment.
Come on Jody what do you think Rubio was implying in the first instance so did he disqualify himself too. Schoolboy stuff I agree but if you look at Trump’s vulgar comments he is usually scrapping it out after ad hominem attacks. I doubt he runs his life like that and I doubt like president Johnson he would brief his staff while sitting on the loo or do funny things with his cigar and an intern like Clinton or lie and swear to Nixon’s standard or womanise like Kennedy. Paragons of virtue have seldom occupied the presidency. Peter
On the other hand….chuckle….Clinton….
Once again, Peter, just as with another recent article on the same subject, it all makes perfectly good sense. One shudders, nevertheless, at the thought of Donald Trump, President of the United States of America. While he speaks the language of the frustrated, concerned blue-collar American, he is yet to indicate that he actually understands the mechanics of governing a superpower. Giving him the controls of the state would be akin to handing the keys to a Lamborghini or Ferrari to a cranky adolescent with a provisional drivers licence.
On the other hand, should he fail to secure the Republican nomination, he is almost certain to run as an independent, thereby splitting the conservative vote and handing the presidency to Hillary Clinton. It is not very likely that he would refrain from that course of action in the interest of the nation, à la Ross Perot, 1992.
I keep seeing the same argument repeated: Trump doesn’t understand how to run a government. It’s a non argument. Nobody knows how to be president until they face the actual test. Some end up better than others. Some are worse. We have no way of knowing where Trump would sit in the spectrum.
Sorry Bill I am out of shuddering after 8 years of Obama. If I were in the US I would vote for Trump because continuing on the same path would be disastrous. Trump offers the prospect of discontinuity. I like it. And I think he makes sense. Peter
and the people who have had the power for decades have made such a success of it all????!!!
Perhaps I am that lowly creature, the great unwashed.
When I hear Trump speak of controlling immigration, keeping work in his country, supporting veterans without the slightest nod to crippling PC foolishness I applaud, loudly, drowning out observations on menstrual cycles and hand size.
For what it is worth, I see the rise of Trump, and many simlar people around the world (perhaps even Palmer) as the end of democracy and the beginning of Caesarism. The two main political parties have become so close together, their policies overlap. Houellebecq notes in France that every few years the Government changes, but the policies remain the same, only the rhetoric changes. The media is complicit in this – it emphasises minute differences to make it sound like they are different – and bury all the topics neither side wants to talk about. Here, the Libs replaced the Labor party, the boats stop but immigration continues through other channels, the Carbon Tax is removed but The Renewable Energy Schemes continue to be funded, No one talks about the trillion dollar debt and how we are going to repay it. The media are an arm of Government. Effectively, Government has become the preserve of insider elites, politicians, media, academics and bureaucrats – the end of democracy. However, with the lack of consultation, populist figures can arise from outside the system, round up votes and take on the establishment with more or less success. Trump, and even Cruz and Sanders to some extent, Farage, Johnson, Corbyn, Le Pen, Wilders will rise by poular demand because the parties no longer represent the concerns of the demos in elections, only the elites. The reaction of the political insiders will be to do deals to keep outsiders out. Remember what happened to the first Caesar. In France recently, Sarkosy and Hollande did deals to keep Le Pen out. The Sarkozy “right” is as far to the “left” as Hollande is, just like Turnbull is to Shorten, Rubio to Clinton. And so, when push comes to shove, Republicans and Democrats will do a deal to keep Trump out and put insider Clinton in. Here in Australia, the Libs will do a preference deal with Labor and the Greens – they are all ideologically much closer together, to keep the ALA out, and the media too will play its role in preserving the position of the elites.
I can see your point but I think you underestimate the forces at work (apart from Australia, which is as usual lagging the rest of the world). Yes, preference deals will be negotiated by the elite. But I think in the end it is going to prove their final undoing as the middle class snowballs into a powerful political force. We could be at a major turning point in political history, in which conservatism once again holds the upper hand.
As an aside, this restructuring is occurring at a crucial change period in global relations. Just in time perhaps, or maybe the two are somehow working together.
the question is finally do we stick with the new world order revolution or throw it out or tweak it..by tweaking it Trump is attacking it…hence the popularity and hence his enemies are now taking him seriously and will attempt to neutralize him by all means…
Agreed
The MSM and self-defined “elites” (rather, parasites) deserve a good, big, hard, metaphorical punch in the nose
Trump is doing fairly well at that. One can smell the panic from Oz
well said
Pgang – The elites have hijacked democracy and “the republic” and install puppet leaders who are acceptable to the political establishment. However, the backlash from the demos leaves the door open for the Caesars. These people are no more democratic than before, but can manipulate the populist vote. What comes after Trump is no better than what comes before, tghere will be some good Caesars and some bad ones. But on the whole, quoting Plato, After democracy comes tyranny – after absolute freedom comes absolute slavery. Or something like that. The trick is to reacognise that we do no live in a democracy now – its more like the Soviet Union, where we all get to vote, but only for candidates that are approved of by the establishment.
Yes, I know that – quite bleeding obvious, actually
Which is why my metaphorical “hard punch in the nose” appeals so – we can do no more, but take some small, fleeting satisfaction. I know they (the parasites) know we know, and they know we know they don’t care
mind you we have not had democracy for a long time now….a Bernays style manipulation of opinion is not democracy….the press has been successful in keeping voters in the dark….
The comprehensive hatchet-job on Trump from the GOP establishment, donors/PACs and media in the past week is the most fascinating thing to watch. We can smell the panic from them, and the conspiracy between these establishments — the mask has really come off — has shown everyone the sickening state of the so-called democracies around the world. They’ve shown their cards, and have now damaged their reputations so badly I don’t think there’s any coming back.
How many other issues do they conspire to push or hide? (hello, Cologne!)
yep well said
Trump has been a successful wheeler and dealer….he is learning on the job here and he appears to be a fast learner…the powers lined up against him remind me of what I have read of the battle Roosevelt had with his own party and his battles to do something about the Great Depression….
I think I agree with an article in 2011 from The Daily Reckoning which proposed that historians in the future will refer to this era as The Greater Depression….
I think we are about 1933 when leaders were telling the people it was all over….by 1937 it was worse and never got better until world war three turned the whole business around into war production and in Australia at least there was full employment by 1939 or thereabouts ….in 1937 one in three workers were out of work in Australia
This will be much worse than the Great Depression for obvious reasons.
Firstly we are handling the current debacle the same way as those in the Great Depression were forced to and of course it made things worse.
What makes it worse is that now we have no tarriff protection and our principal trading partner has the equivalent powers of Nazi Germany over its workers and rules for China always….
Australia is like the USA…we lost our manufacturing to low wage China because there is no way of checking the difference in the social value of currencies…the currency market cannot reflect socio economic values…unless as we are told we accept that the quarter acre block is a thing of the past and that State Banks are an anachronism and a floated currency is great because you don’t have as much work to do on a Monday…
Trump is just articulating like a child once did when it said something like hey that emperor aint got no clothes on….
Finally today Trump is the one to say the new world order (as Clinton did in his day) is more like disorder and he has thus created the kind of powerful enemies that JFK spoke of at length …not long before he was murdered.