The few who follow my rantings already know that although I worked tirelessly to help Ted Cruz get elected as Senator, I feel compelled to make sure he does not become the GOP nominee. Since any clear reading of the Constitution and the Supreme Court decisions dictate that neither Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio are eligible to become President, it left with me Carson, Kaisch and Trump. Now that Ben Carson has left the race, I feel free to lend my very weighty endorsement for Donald Trump. (Who needs Rick Scott now, right?)
The basement is invested with rats, cockroaches and termites, and at this point intelligent conservatives
could care less if our exterminator is
a gay alcoholic who beats his lover.
I won't rehash the numerous arguments on eligibility (which can be read here, here and here) except to say that as professors from Harvard, Case Western, Fordham, University of Chicago and multiple law reviews (including the Catholic Law Review) all agree with the Supreme Court decision of Minor that "it was never doubted" when the Constitution was adopted that natural born citizen - although not defined like the legal term "ex post facto" in Article I - meant a child born on US soil to TWO parents who were US citizens. The very conservative Governor LePage of Maine had two girls while he was living and working in Canada, and years ago did his own research coming to the conclusion that they could not be President some day because of that point alone. It is one of the reasons why he endorsed Donald Trump. The continued reference by the Cruz camp to the Act of 1790 is irrelevant since it was repealed and replaced in 1795 and the historical House Committee notes we have prove that it was never intended to (nor could it without Constitutional amendment) grant NBC status to foreign born children. If you, as Ted Cruz does, think it is "not important," then please have the decency to cease from calling your self a "constitutional conservative." But like LePage, I will not vote for any candidate that is ineligible whether they fit my political outlook or not.
Am I just settling for Trump over Kaisch as my two last options? Hardly.
I believe Jesus himself would vote with Donald Trump even over Cruz and Rubio as well.
The religious jihad by many evangelical Christians against Trump is disturbing. In my post Is Ted Cruz Jesus Christ's Anointed Candidate? I reference a Houston pastor who also sees an "anti-gospel" message among those who lionize a flawed man like Ted as "righteous" while tearing down another, albeit less compelling, Christian like Trump. As Ted Cruz proclaims himself as the real Christian, saying that his prayers during his campaign is to "Let this campaign reflect Your love," he allows Glenn Beck to smear Donald Trump as "not a Christian" without ANY reprimand.
WWJD? Well, Jesus couldn't break the law. I'm sure he would be much kinder to both Mr. Cruz and Rubio than I would but you can't convince me he would just "take a pass" that it was ok to overlook intentionally ignoring the law. I also think he would, like He did the Pharisees, publicly rebuke Cruz and his followers for misleading people that righteousness can be obtained by work. Jesus also said, "When you pray, don't do so in public so people see you." I think he would be appalled at the number of times Cruz's supposed devotion was paraded so publicly for personal political gain. I actually think he would give Marco a pass on this since Rubio doesn't really use his faith as a political weapon against his enemies.
Jesus also taught the parable of the talents where he rewarded workers according to what they actually accomplished. Like the worker who received the most talents (5) and doubled it, I think he would like Donald. The Bible says that "without faith it is impossible to please God" and Trump has faith in spades. Kaisch broke many promises to those who voted him into office with the TEA Party movement, but at worst I think our Lord would see him as the second worker who got 2 talents and doubled it. Rewarded for sure, but it was the one who started out with the most and made the most who got the lazy servant's talent in addition to his others.
The bottom line is this. Even if Ted Cruz's real actions and policies were the love child of Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley Margaret Thatcher and Phyllis Schlafly, Cruz could never get elected. Everyone agrees that Ted's "base" is evangelical voters. However just as he got the lowest percentage of votes of any home state candidate in the past 108 years in Texas, he can't win a majority of evangelicals IN ANY STATE, much less the ones he has won. And all past models show fervent Evangelicals stay home if their "guy" isn't in the race, just like they abandoned Mitt Romney in 2012. Cruz has lower approval ratings nationally than Trump (33% to 36%), but nearly 20% of the voters have no opinion of him yet. Less than 5% of Trump approvals are "undecided." That means before 1/5th of the country will decide who he is from - what will be - the relentless attacks on his holier than thou bible thumping. They are already have with detailing his limited record (here, here and here) and ridiculing through humor. The inescapable "brand" the secular media will continue to pin on him is that he is a liar. Put another way, before 20% of the country even knows who he is, he is LESS liked than a man who has been in the public eye for over 30+ years. Polls go up and down, but Cruz has spent over 20 times the amount of cash Trump has spent and still has less than half the state wins that Donald has despite they are all largely among his core base. He has NEVER won the moderates in his own primary - much less shown any appeal to those in a general election. And the GOP Establishment rewrote the electoral rules for Jeb(!) to reward the future blue states with more delegates to the winner than the red ones. He literally can't win his own primary flat out, when Trump is drawing record numbers of voters to the GOP party. The math will never work for Ted and many an analysis have pointed this out for months.
The other thing misunderstood by many of the "conservatives" like Redstate's Erick Erickson (whose wife is a professional GOP establishment campaign manager), is that most of us evangelical and/or true conservative voters realize that the time to try and find the perfect candidate is over. The basement is invested with rats, cockroaches and termites, and at this point intelligent conservatives could care less if our exterminator is a gay alcoholic who beats his lover. At this juncture a lawyer, who has done nothing but talk, alienate his fellow co-workers and can't even get his closest ideological Senator to endorse him has no chance in recruiting, managing and overseeing the gargantuan task of being the Chief Executive of the largest government in the world. Especially one that capitulated to the GOP establishment in stopping true conservatives running for Congress in 2014, giving (and helping) Obama authority to override US sovereignty with FastTrack/TPP and helping Obama position Iran to have nuclear capability and ECONOMIC capability to terrorize the world with threats of undercutting oil prices with their production. What is needed is someone who won't any longer allow the media or the RINO/DEM big government cabal to stop us from passing obscene budgets, terrible trade deals and keeping the borders open like FOX, the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and the George Bush infrastructure that runs Ted's campaign want to do.
All that work to get McCain to beat Obama (the help was more for/from Palin) didn't enable us to stop Barack at all. All that TEA Party organizing, protesting and campaigning to give the Congress back to the GOP, not only didn't stop ObamaCare (which was intentionally allowed to pass by the GOP without filibuster or other devices in the dead of night), the GOPe immediately broke their "Contract From America" pledges, rubber stamped Ominbus Obama and even kept FUNDING ObamaCare. In Texas we elected Ted Cruz who promised "to fight every day" against the establishment for Texans. What did we get? A man who started campaigning for President THREE MONTHS after taking office, and who only shows up for work 60% of the time, (less than 50% of the time on Armed Services committee), AUTHORED the Senate version of ObamaTrade, voted to allow China access into the TPP without ANY oversight of congress and helped Obama give Iran nuclear capability and legitimacy.
So exactly WHEN in the past TEA Party awakening did our embrace of rock ribbed anti-abortion, less government politicians actually DO anything? Every time there is a REAL showdown with Obama - including the ability to shut down government - the GOP caves. What is needed is bull in a China-facilitating shop who will take a wrecking ball to both the GOP and DC.
The attacks by both left and right, GOP and DEM, and especially the unhinged vitriol from the Republican establishment tell me that they are truly scared of losing their control of their party. And since they have promised the world and delivered nothing but WHATEVER Obama wants - I could care less if they GOP continued in it's current state. NONE of the other likely candidates have ever run more than an office of lawyers and political advisers. WHY IN THE WORLD would we expect them to understand how to manage all of the different personalities and daily decisions among Cabinet members and armed services leaders, much less understand how to conceive of a idea, and bring all the resources together to make it work?
Trump is fearless. Dick Morris, Bill Clinton's former political adviser, who has known Trump for decades, says it better than anyone. He writes of Trump, "He gets things done. At any price, despite any obstacle, no matter what the legalities or proprieties, he makes it happen. He is, pardon the pun, the bull in the China shop as he gores those who fleece America and curbs those who would pack our electorate to make it more congenial to their liberalism."
At this point, if the GOP is allowed to continue to run the show we will get more foreign wars and no real dent in the monstrosity of bureaucracy in Washington DC that prints new regulations like Iraqi dinar or Venezuelan pesos.
If the GOP is allowed to continue to run the show
we will get no real dent in the monstrosity
of bureaucracy in Washington DC
that prints new regulations
like Iraqi dinar or Venezuelan pesos.
we will get no real dent in the monstrosity
of bureaucracy in Washington DC
that prints new regulations
like Iraqi dinar or Venezuelan pesos.
I don't know if Donald Trump will stay true to all he has promised in the past year. The evidence from those who have known them for decades lake Judge Jeanine Pirro, Carl Ichan, THE BIBLE/SURVIVOR Producer Mark Burnett, Vegas Tycoon Steve Wynn, Steve Forbes and many others say he is always good to his word and the amazing children he has raised are a testimony to his input and parenting as a father. He truly is a man of honor when it comes to his word.
Unlike Cruz purists who don't understand he has been a businessman in a liberal state - in the entertainment industry no less - I can excuse his chummy relationship with liberals. It's funny how they completely ignore Cruz's gay "lavender mafia" connections and even Cruz's public statement that "there would be nothing wrong" if his daughters were homosexual. (This is what irked Governor Mike Huckabee when he said Ted has one set of talking points in Texas, and another in New York.) Trump may speak off the cuff about things he doesn't know. But you get a genuine sense he really is in this to get America closer to her ideal state.
What is clear to me is that Donald Trump has ALWAYS stood for limited government and lower taxes since he took public stands on these things in 90's.
He has been adamant about loving America and viscerally angry at "free trade" deals that end up costing us more money and sovereignty than we could have possibly imagined when we signed them, again, since the 1990's.
He is unafraid to talk about justice for criminals, whether they be political or illegal immigrant or criminal. This is why the Benghazi heroes and Sheriff Joe Arpaio quickly jumped on Trump's train.
He loves the Second Amendment and both of his boys are fanatical gun enthusiasts because of his encouragement.
If Trump were ONLY to repeal ObamaCare, strengthen efforts against illegal immigration and trim/streamline 1/5th of Washington from a budgetary standpoint - he will have done more than any President in history.
The Problems
As I've written about before I do have some concerns about Donald J. Primarily his enthusiasm for the Patriot Act, his embrace of Planned Parenthood and love for his sister's judicial prowess, and his (albeit recent) positioning to be neutral on Palestine and Israel.
I have the sense that Donald is not great at retaining facts and figures, and is more of the type of leader who doesn't really create his own solutions. Like the baseball manager who couldn't break .200 lifetime batting average, but has an uncanny way to get his players to all increase their skills to lead the league.
I suspect, although I don't know, that this is a guy with a big heart who really hasn't studied the history and essence of the conservative movement to come to any kind of intellectual underpinning for what he believes. It's clear he believes in America and the potential of people and is profoundly impacted by those relationships and stories. He knows that after walking through his own financial quagmire what he had to do to not be overextended again. He learned leverage his assets without giving up full control and now has a very lean company with a considerable lack of debt for a company that size. What he did from taking Mar A Lago as a financial disaster to a profitable jewel is impressive.
The toughest of these three problems is abortion. I like that even when he said he was "pro-choice" in the '90's he didn't really defend the procedure at all. In fact he said he hated it. He has never argued very strongly for a woman's "right to chose" going back and forth between saying he was pro-choice with great reservations to "it's up to each person to decide." This isn't the position of a abortion activist. I can relate to this because I also originally thought I had no right to supersede what a woman did with her body until I realized just how human that life inside was. Trump had a very real conversion (which he shared at CPAC in 2011) that rang true to me. I know FOR A FACT that there is no way Sarah Palin or Jeff Sessions would have endorsed Trump if they felt he was pro-abortion. As a non-politician who has been more concerned with running a billion business than legislation, I sincerely could believe he had no idea of what his sister had done or hasn't done. He would know that she testified vigorously for Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court when she appeared at the confirmation hearings, but I can't imagine he would know what her legal opinion was on a ruling ESPECIALLY back when he was pro-choice. On this matter I'm trusting my instincts with Sarah Palin who, with a Downs' Syndrome child has been fiercely pro-life, she would not be endorsing him without qualification.
Israel. His stance that he would be neutral to try and negotiate a deal for both parties, appears to be someone willing to divide Jerusalem for "peace" that will never happen. On this, one of my Trump-hating, Jewish friends helped me allay my fears. It turns out that not only is Trump's daughter Ivanka, is an observing Jewish convert, Melania is also. In the speech of Sheldon Adelson's pro-Israel group last year, that was widely publicized for him saying "I can't be bought by you," he also praised Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and criticized the nuclear deal with Iran. He calls Netanyahu a good friend, but doesn't unilaterally say he would tear up the Iranian agreement but "police it." I'm guessing here but it is quite possible that Donald really has never learned, or appreciated the original biblical and Balfour Agreement boundaries, or the amazing miracle that is Israel. I KNOW he doesn't underestimate the hatred of Muslims toward Israel. What encourages me is that he seems to an enormous pro-Israel influence around him, and I will just have to pray that they - and G_d, will be guided to truly protect her. Trump did begin to develop projects in Israel in 2006. In a speech there he said Israel was one of his favorite places in the world and what he loved about her was that she "wouldn't quit." Again, at least he shows no sign of Palestinian activism.
Privacy, NSA and the Patriot Act. I hadn't payed very close attention to the campaign last year when I heard Trump praise the Patriot Act. In fact, because of that, I immediately assumed I would never endorse him. But, it is interesting how many people very close to Trump, like ex-CNN contributor Roger Stone and Alec Jones, are very opposed to getting into foreign wars and government snooping. And they are heavily supporting him as are the numerous websites, blogs and activists on the GOP side who stand against the "global elite." When Snowden endorsed him, it finally dawned on me that this is one area - like Planned Parenthood - where Trump may be positioning himself for the general election to not reveal the depth of his views. There is NO WAY Jones and Snowden would go out on a limb - or that Trump would appear on InfoWars - if he was secretly a big government, military complex control guy. There aren't enough votes in exposing yourself that way. Like abortion - I'm concerned but really have no other choice. Rubio and Kaisch are rubber stamps for the GOPe. Cruz's ENTIRE CAMPAIGN is run by the CIA/NSA/DHS intelligent community architects and his biggest donor owns the software the CIA and NSA use to steal data from Facebook. Hillary stole FBI files when she was only the WIFE of a President so there literally is no other alternative.
The "Unwholesome" Things
Trump gets (seemingly) no love for his teetotaling and I understand women who despise his adultery earlier in his life. The fact his ex-wife supports his candidacy, his children clearly love him and admire him, and work side by side with him, tells me it's none of my business and likely not a problem. If he STILL had a philandering way about him, I wouldn't be so easily swayed. But I see him more as the little boy who grew up and finally learned the importance of family.
Melania posed nude in her modeling career. I call that an improvement over ANY appearance or press by the First Spouse if Hillary gets elected.
Vulgarity. Apparently some don't realize that Martin Luther was so profane, the Christian filmmakers could hardly figure a way to be true to the movie script of LUTHER without offending their core audience. Sunday School teacher Jimmy Carter was quite profane as was George W. Bush, whom most conservatives STILL love, used "sh*t" quite often, although rarely in public. Frankly, I am much more willing to for my children to admire a profane General Patton who accomplishes great feats on behalf of his country, than a cowardly self-proclaimed Christian that can't tell the truth about his tithing for fear of being "found out."
Summary
Like others I went from an eye roll to frustration to amazement at his campaign in viewing Donald Trump as a potential President of the United States.
I have now moved past any hesitation into the realm of excitement at the possibilities to finally dismantle the obstructionist GOP bureaucracy and the insane waste in Washington DC.
I am sure that there will be many cringeworthy moments ahead, but cleaning out a vermin infested basement isn't a pretty business. I'm firmly expecting that the the results are.
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