The Trouble with Trump

Last night, we performed in a Fourth of July concert at the Meadowlands Environmental Center.  Biggest crowd we ever entertained on the smallest stage that could handle a 40-piece band (minus three musicians who couldn’t make it).

In the late, late afternoon sunshine, as traffic crept southbound along the New Jersey Turnpike, across the Hudson River, an incredibly tall building stuck up like a middle finger out of the smog laying over Manhattan.

‘Trump!’ you’d think.  Who else would build the second tallest building in New York City, and the highest roofed building in the Big Apple (1,396 feet), and the highest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

Wrong!  The developer is someone named Harry Macklowe, of Macklowe Properties, in conjunction with CMD Properties.

Macklowe was once fined for tearing down four buildings, including an old hotel, in Times Square in the middle of the night without a permit.  His net worth:  $2 billion.  Trump’s net worth is $4 billion.  And his buildings are better looking.

Then there’s One57, the building from which a crane toppled during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  The building allegedly features separate doors for the rich and the poor.  Extell Development Company is an American real estate developer of residential, commercial, retail, hospitality, and mixed-use properties. Founded in 1989 by Gary Barnett, the company’s portfolio exceeds 20 million square feet.  The Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, purchased a penthouse at One57 for $100 million.

Since Trump made his speech about Mexican immigrants, Macy’s has cancelled its collection of Donald J. Trump menswear.  Univision announced it would no longer broadcast the Miss USA Pageant, and NBC announced it would not air the Miss Universe or Miss USA pageants.  Media company Grupo Televisa also severed ties with Trump and so did Ora TV, a network partly owned by Carlos Slim, the “Warren Buffet of Mexico.”

“When Mexico sends us its people they’re not sending us the best,” Trump stated. “They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”

That’s the entire quote, not a partial

We here in this part of northern New Jersey can attest to the fact that Mexican immigration has not improved our communities.  They’ve been coming since the Clinton administration in the 1990s.  Even back then, people were afraid to walk the streets at night in towns where you could once leave your doors unlocked, or at least your windows open, in relative safety.  A trail of discarded heroin packets, needles, empty whiskey bottles, and other assorted trash ring our collection of towns.

Macy’s can afford to dismiss Trump summarily; their headquarters is located in Manhattan.  But they have stores across the country.  Macy’s didn’t specify whether they’d drop the line in all their stores or only on the Socialist Island of Manhattan.

New York City Mayor DeBlasio’s words, through his minions, about reconsidering whether to grant Trump permits to build in Manhattan are an empty threat; Trump sold off his Manhattan Yards project to Asian developers shortly after the economic slump occurred in 2008.  He only has one building left in Manhattan – Trump Plaza.

Liberals accuse Trump of not being diverse.  Actually, he’s extremely diverse.  He divested himself of his real estate ventures years ago.  Now, he’s all over the place, rather like the lights of a huge fireworks display.  His name is on everything from suits to chocolates to television shows.  DeBlasio is like a mouse squeaking at an elephant.

Trump may have some odd ideas (i.e., he’s a birther; allegedly, he wants to tax individual savings accounts even further – as if the now non-existent interest rates on savings weren’t bad enough), but he’s soundly patriotic, as far as Conservatives and the All-American everyman is concerned.  He’s saying the right words, if not exactly in the right way.

Trump is solidly pro-military.  His parents sent him to the New York Military Academy when they found he was too stubborn for the normal educational environment.  That’s the way it is with many highly-creative, highly-successful Type A personalities.

The Democrats have announced that they welcome his candidacy.  He will make great fodder for late-night, propaganda comedians.  Their laughter will only entrench his support among Conservatives and Americans watching their country slip under the waves.

Trump thinks and speaks like a freedom-loving American.  That’s why freedom-loving Americans love him.  He doesn’t speak like a politician but as a boss.  Which is where he makes his mistake.

In the political environment, he simply can’t say the first thing that pops into his head without any self-editing.  In the above speech, he didn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.  Reporters will pounce on his alleged “racist” comments of the distant past.  They’re already available on pro-Socialist Wikipedia.

Never mind that Trump was right about the illegal Mexican immigrants and that he got his information first-hand from border patrol agents; his speech was non-inclusive and politically incorrect.  In short, the Cheerleader Media will attempt, like the high school bullies they are, to make him appear as unattractive as possible.

Trump needs to understand that he shouldn’t be helping them by making unguarded statements.  He has yet to realize that should he win, he will be the chief executive, but not the boss.  He just can’t say anything he wants without any retribution.  He can’t “fire” someone who talks back to him.  But he does have the right to speak his mind and Americans are with him.  Socialists and Communists are “Americans” in the sense that they love individual freedom.

Still, he spoke the truth about the Mexican immigrants (just come stroll around the town of Pompton Lakes in New Jersey and see for yourself) and Communists find the truth highly offensive.  That’s why they want to take away our First Amendment rights.

As we came back home from the concert last night, we could see numerous fireworks displays on the horizon.  They were scheduled, apparently, ahead of Independence Day due to the increased terrorist threat level.

Since the founding of the country, certain political philosophers have regarded these patriotic displays (i.e., flag-waving parades, fireworks, patriotic music) as “jingoism” – nationalism – and the modern-day critics would regard Trump as a “jingoist.”

Until now, any good American could easily argue that the 4^th of July is not about the country but the principles of freedom, individual liberty, limited government, and free-market economics.  Trumps verbal fireworks emphasize that patriotic love.  America is not just an address, the way other countries are.

The English love England because it’s England, a pastoral island nation.  The French love France because it produces good wine and cheese.  Italians love rocky Italy for its marble and its pizza.  I don’t think the Chinese really love China, the political nation, but the China of the Great Wall, dragon-boat races, and real Chinese food.  Australians love Australia because they had no place left to go.  But next to America, Australians are the greatest lovers of freedom.

America is the only country that fought for an idea, not for boundaries, booty, or beauty.  We wanted to be free.  Donald Trump recognizes that.  How many other candidates can truly say that?  How many of them – there are some – who hold to the ideal of limited government and will remain faithful to it once in office?

I don’t know about anyone else, but the first candidate who can say, honestly, “I love individual freedom and will fight to protect it,” is the candidate who’ll get my vote.  It’s a simple statement; one that even the most impulsive, tongue-tied, blustering, blundering speaker can manage to blurt out.