Maybe it’s because I’ve been there, and I remember the reactions of the political class because I didn’t talk the way they wanted me to. But I’m having a hard time accepting the widespread assessment of Donald Trump that he’s a buffoon.
A buffoon? In the history of presidential candidates, it would be hard to find a man with more business and financial success on his track record? Have you ever stayed in one of his hotels? Visited one of his casinos? Really studied his financial history?
Yes, I know there are some failures mixed in with the success (as with everyone), but Trump has a pretty solid point when he responds to his critics by talking about his own success. It’s true! The man has accomplished a lot, and he’s worked hard to do it. He’s made a lot of good decisions and some bad ones too. But for anyone in business, the key to success is to make enough good decisions that they outweigh the bad ones – and perhaps more importantly, when you have made a bad decision, can you make a good one in determining how you’re going to deal with it?
Trump gets criticized a lot for his willingness to declare bankruptcy when it suits his interests to do so. I can certainly understand why his creditors didn’t like those decisions very much. But Trump knows how the system works, and he’s managed to emerge from his setbacks in remarkably good shape.
What’s more, the statement for which he has taken the most heat – about illegal aliens from Mexico committing crimes in the U.S. – is absolutely true. If you ask me, it’s a bigger scandal that the political class is afraid to talk about this than it is that Trump actually did.
So does that mean Herman Cain is on board the Trump for President bandwagon?
I didn’t say that. I understand that much of the conservative base is feeling good about Trump at the moment because he’s skewering the media and the establishment, and yes, that needs to be done. But I’m looking for some specific things from a president, and I haven’t seen them yet from Trump.
I want a president who’s committed to replacing the tax code, to restructuring entitlement programs, to repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with something market-oriented, to rebuilding the military, to embracing true energy independence and security . . . and I want to know how anyone who advocates these things plans to get them done.
Trump hasn’t answered those questions yet. I’m glad to hear that he wants to build a wall along the Mexican border – although we’ve heard that from presidential candidates before, and I’d like to know he squares it with this advocacy of a “path to citizenship” for illegals that he suggested in the past. I’m not saying he can’t square it. But he needs to do it.
It also bothers me more than a little that he’s contributed so much money to Hillary Clinton’s past campaigns. Maybe he did it just to protect his business interests, but it’s certainly not a point in his favor.
And while I’m comfortable with Trump’s executive ability – a businessman in the White House has always been an idea I sort of liked, in case you didn’t know – I still need to hear him set policy priorities and lay out a legislative agenda. Some of the governors who are running have demonstrated their ability to do this at the state level, and to me that counts for a lot.
But here’s the thing I notice about the Trump talk: Just about everyone is either all in (“Trump is the only one who can save America!”) or all out (“Trump is a gigantic buffoon!”) on the man. Why does it need to be that way? He has his strengths, his weaknesses and his quirks. Like most of us.
There’s a lot to like about Donald Trump, but there’s plenty of room for skepticism about him too. Why does it seem like I’m the only person in America who feels this way?
Maybe it’s because I’ve been there, and I remember the reactions of the political class because I didn’t talk the way they wanted me to. But I’m having a hard time accepting the widespread assessment of Donald Trump that he’s a buffoon.
A buffoon? In the history of presidential candidates, it would be hard to find a man with more business and financial success on his track record? Have you ever stayed in one of his hotels? Visited one of his casinos? Really studied his financial history?
