Patterico's Pontifications

2/12/2016

Stop Applying a Different Standard to Donald Trump

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:34 am



Journalists do not hold Donald Trump to the same standard as other candidates. When he makes grand, sweeping, and ridiculously unsupportable statements, they let it go — apparently thinking that the silly nature of the statements is self-evident. Maybe they are — to educated, intelligent, and informed people. But those aren’t the people still making up their minds about who should be President.

This idea that we apply a different standard to Trump is likely to be a running theme here. Today, let me start the discussion by showing you this video:

“Nobody knows banking better than I do.” “Nobody has more respect for women than I do.” “Nobody knows health care better than Donald Trump.” “I think I know more about foreign policy than anybody running.” Etc. etc. etc.

All but about two of you think these statements are obvious piffle. Why bother demonstrating they’re false, when anyone can see that right off the bat? you think.

That’s a mistake.

If another candidate made any of these statements, journalists would call them on it, and hard. You know more about foreign policy . . . than anyone running? Then answer this specific question, and that one. For example: you can’t name terrorists who are well known to thousands of counterterror experts, sir — and to several of the other candidates on the stage. It’s not a gotcha question if you said you know more than anybody else.

Trump said in The Art of the Deal that he uses “truthful hyperbole” — calling it “an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.” Except the “truthful” part is a lie. Hyperbole is a hyperbole. Exaggeration is exaggeration. It’s why Trump claims, over and over, that he is worth more than $10 billion when he clearly isn’t. John Fund:

Trump became president of his father’s real-estate organization in 1974. His share of his father’s empire as one of five siblings was $40 million. As the National Journal has pointed out, If someone were to invest $40 million in a S&P 500 index in 1974, reinvest all dividends, and have to pay capital gains he’d wind up with about $3.4 billion in 2015. Trump claims to be worth over $10 billion but has admitted in a 2007 deposition he frequently exaggerates his wealth. Bloomberg currently puts it at $2.9 billion, while Forbes puts it at $4 billion. So Trump’s actual wealth probably is about as much as he would have accumulated if he had taken his dad’s money and put it into an index fund.

Trump isn’t a successful businessman. He’s a rich kid who got a bunch of money from Daddy. He could have done nothing at all — no “deals,” no bankruptcies, no nothing — and gotten as much money or more as he has today.

Yet he lies about it. He continually claims to be worth over $10 billion, and nobody ever squarely calls him on it. They would, if he were anyone else. Again: I think they assume people know better. But people don’t.

The Trump phenomenon would be over tomorrow if, in a debate, moderators spent 30 minutes asking each candidate how they would do any number of things, and then pointed out each time the candidate failed to say how they would do it. Trump never says how he would do anything. But journalists let it go. I think they’re scared to attack him because of the jihad he would unleash, as he did with Megyn Kelly.

Candidates can’t it around and wait for journalists to do this. They have to attack Trump themselves. But the candidates (with the exception of Ted Cruz, who is attacking Trump these days) do the same as the journalists. They attack each other and sit around assuming Trump is going to blow himself up. Not happening. I think they’re scared to attack him too. Except for Cruz.

Nate Silver says:

The “one weird trick” is to treat him as the front-runner and attack him.

The attacks work, when you actually bother to try them — because the truth hurts Trump. He is all about making vague promises to chump suckers. He is a liar. He exaggerates habitually.

Any other candidate who did this would be savaged. It’s time to start savaging Donald Trump.

182 Responses to “Stop Applying a Different Standard to Donald Trump”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  2. Can’t wait for Carson to drop out the second time so Trump can stop using Carson to hit Cruz with…. because he’s got nothing else. Trump is a crock of…. just like BO only from the NYC Ghetto and not the Chi town Ghetto

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  3. And they’re off… Ace was too late to teh window, win, place or show…

    Colonel Haiku (47d8f4)

  4. Patterico, this is exactly the right approach.

    If the Orange Toupee is indeed better than sliced yoghurt, the detailed explanations will increase and cement his support.

    But perhaps the Emperor has no clothes…or should I say, the plutocrat has no plans.

    Still, as you say, everyone should approve of your approach.

    I still believe that, like BHO, the OT is a mirror. People “see” their own upset with PC nonsense and insider BS. The funny part, of course, is that OT is in fact PC and an insider.

    But as with BHO, it’s not about the perceived. It’s about the perceiver.

    Which explains a great deal. Our narcissism has come home to roost.

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  5. Good thing that Cruz jettisoned the porn actress from his campaign… False Fluff Ops

    Colonel Haiku (47d8f4)

  6. ? Haiku?

    nk (dbc370)

  7. CNN was right. Carson was planning on dropping because half of his staff left to go work for Cruz but because he saw he could use the scandal as dirt to tarnish Cruz he stayed in…. Even his debate in NH was lifeless and only used to hit Ted….. When asked about obamacare the only doctor on the stage didn’t even want to discuss…”I’d rather discuss NK” he says…. He is just as psychotic as Trump said he was…

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  8. But isn’t he the Lite Bringer?

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  9. Even his debate in NH was lifeless and only used to hit Ted

    And of course, help keep Carly off the stage. Win-win.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  10. the only sleazy women are found on the Hillary Campaign… on Bills salary.

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  11. no, it was KrackerJack that kept Carly off as he was the lowest and will be gone soon since the crazy stupid state of NH is done

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  12. So Trump’s actual wealth probably is about as much as he would have accumulated if he had taken his dad’s money and put it into an index fund.

    Well, yes, but he’d have had to pass on a lot of bimbos.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  13. Ted Cruz was the only candidate to Lobby for Fiorina to be on the NH stage.

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  14. Trump is nothing more than a lucky or Blessed man. His business up until a few years ago was in Casino’s…in Atlantic City which is the dump of NJ

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  15. I actually liked Trump and would have voted for him if he would have stayed with Cruz as he was early on. It was when he brought on mouthy Palin to hit Cruz with that I dumped him.

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  16. So instead of building hotels, casinos, golf courses etc. he should have just done nothing? Interesting advice.

    Teb (74c644)

  17. no, but he is a lucky risk taker….a lucky gambler…. God Bless him… Love the golf courses… But President of the Country…. No way…. He has been President of his families business, not sure he wont have ulterior motives when dealing with US $$$

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  18. MFM wants nothing to do with asking Ted policy questions. Or asking him of his successful time spent at the FTC.

    mg (31009b)

  19. Trump shouldn’t even be running when there is a man like Ted volunteering to undo Obama’s decade of executive order …..We have ego vs. humility…. and humility wins every time….

    slow and steady wins the race

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  20. Greetings:

    Why so serious, dear Sir ???

    I grew up in the Bronx of the ’50s and ’60s. The two major demographics in our small by New York standards neighborhood were those of Jewish heritage and those of my own Oyrish heritage. In the late evenings, while the Oyrish type were off in some local bar, the older Jewish guys would gather at the local “candy” store to await the arrival of the first edition of the next day’s paper. (This edition of the paper was particularly useful for the horse racing results which in turn were important for the calculation of day’s “number”, an illegal and popular kind of lottery which revolved around guessing a three-digit number that would yield a 500 to 1 payoff.) While awaiting the delivery truck’s arrival there would be a good deal of verbal bantering and jousting among the assembled usually starting off with what has been described as “truthful hyperbole” above and then continuing via efforts to either undermine or sustain the initial assertion. It was all pretty much good fun in “an evening with Don Rickles” kind of way. Mr. Trump has basically brought that bit of New Yorkana to the national stage.

    One more inconsequential bit. The “candy” store wasn’t really a “candy” store. It included a soda fountain counter (where Louie Two-Stools earned his nickname), where fresh made Cherry-Cokes, egg creams, and ice cream treats were concocted, candy bars and such were sold along with the aforementioned newspapers and magazines and occasionally something that had fallen of a truck that didn’t stop.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  21. As an example of the gaping irrationality of the True Believers:

    we know harvardtrash are consummate self-marketers ….
    happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/11/2016 @ 7:50 am

    So ….. self-marketers are not a good choice for president?
    Ummmmmm ….. does this, too, need to be spelled out?

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  22. Heh! Dang it, Ted. Give the girl some honest work — don’t consign her to a life of sin.

    nk (dbc370)

  23. Do we really want money bags Las Vegas running the country after 8 years of BO.

    I feel sorry for whomever is president after BO. Its like Carter all over again only worse.

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  24. C’mon, Luke. That was just epic trolling. No one is more of a self-markerter and serial exaggerator and uber narcissist than the Orange Toupee.

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  25. I’m sure you guys can just call the number on your screen that advertises a good time…. no need to bother the rest of us with pornography.

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  26. #7 JRT,

    Slow down. I don’t think it’s constructive to say that Dr. Carson is “as psychotic as Trump said.” The real psychotics are North Korea, Iran, ISIS, etc. And to a lesser degree, the Left Wing. But not Dr. Carson, okay?
    He wasn’t prepared for a Presidential campaign, but he’s a good man, and he’s a solid conservative.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  27. The last time we saw a candidate who knew “more about policy than my advisors”, and was a “better campaign manager than my managers”, and was more expert than “my expert advisors” we got Barack Hussein Obama. And the press held Obozo to the same standard they are now applying to that New York blowhard Donald Trump. How did that work out for us? Just askin’.

    Comanche Voter (1d5c8b)

  28. Sodom and Gomorrah… live and learn folks….

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  29. 27. BO is most intelligent black man that ever lived, per Joe Biden… and the creases in his pants proved it!

    JRT for CRUZ (bc7456)

  30. I agree that having nobody for President, would be better than having Trump for President so, in that sense, nobody is better than Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. C’mon, Luke. That was just epic trolling. No one is more of a self-markerter and serial exaggerator and uber narcissist than the Orange Toupee.
    Simon Jester (2708f4) — 2/12/2016 @ 8:14 am

    And yet, the point of the column is that 35% of Republican primary voters literally cannot comprehend this. They actually believe every claim, every word.

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  32. Trump vs. Sanders, and the Democrat is certain to win in the current American political climate.

    You know, this gun barrel tastes kinda funny…

    CrustyB (69f730)

  33. #32 Luke Stywaker,

    There’s one example of where Trump Fan Boys and Fan Girls DON’T believe every word he says…it’s when he says “Keep your money—don’t click on the DONATE button at my website!”
    Well, they don’t take him at his word. They still send him money. And of course, he still accepts it.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  34. the thing I hate most about Mr. Trump is how awesome he is to where i feel like he’d be a good president

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  35. Feelings are what win elections. Just look at the last two.

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  36. The Bush people are more interested in attacking Rubio, which makes sense, because Bush isn’t getting many Trump voters under any circumstances. That’s the same reason Christie attacked Rubio. Kasich doesn’t really attack anyone, but it wouldn’t make sense for him to attack Trump. The only ones who logically should be attacking Trump are Cruz and maybe Carson. Cruz has been attacking Trump. The “start attacking Trump” advice logically applies to one person – Carson.

    Gerald A (5dca03)

  37. oh my goodness I’m not actually voting Mr. Stywalker

    it’s just if i had to pick it would be Mr. The Donald cause of he seems like he’s the only one what wants to make america great again

    his goals align with mine you see

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  38. Is that three Presidential elections in a row?

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  39. You are like that fellow who doesn’t ante in during poker and tells everyone else how they should play.

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  40. And you know this because ….. he told you so.

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  41. If someone were to invest $40 million in a S&P 500 index in 1974, reinvest all dividends, and have to pay capital gains he’d wind up with about $3.4 billion in 2015.

    this is goofy cause of you still have to pay taxes on the dividends as you go so this is not how things work in the real whirl

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  42. this whole voting this is just smarmy virtue signaling i think

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  43. oopers

    this whole voting this thing is just smarmy virtue signaling i think

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  44. Didn’t we discuss this a few months ago? You know, back when the press was attacking Trump and, in the process, driving his poll numbers through the roof – how can you forget the way Megyn Kelly’s attack on Trump pushed The Donald’s poll numbers to stratospheric levels? My comment then, as it is today, is that because of a dynamic called “reverse-othering,” criticisms of Trump only confirm Trump’s outsider status and solidify his support. The dynamic is a familiar one: the enemy (Mr. Trump) of my enemy (the MSM) is my friend.

    The other reason criticism fails is that before the Trump candidacy, when GOP candidates were criticized by the media, in a demonstration of just how sniveling these Republicans were, they would gush with mea culpas and plead for forgiveness. For me, and I presume most Republicans, this process was deeply humiliating. Trump is the first Republican candidate in a very long time who doesn’t bow to liberal criticisms. After years of the former, I have to say, I’m enjoying Trump’s “scr*w you guys” attitude – clearly his supporters are too. At the very least, candidate Cruz has figured this out; I presume others have too. It’s a happy day when media criticism of Republicans has lost its magic – for this I thank Mr. Trump.

    I’m not saying Trump shouldn’t be criticized. He should be. And he is being criticized by Ted Cruz (of course, when Cruz, in his search for lines off attack that get traction, comes up with the “New York values” criticism, Republicans are quick to join the chorus of liberal criticism – with friends like these, does Cruz need enemies?). My point is this: don’t expect others to pile on when past experience indicates that such criticism is counter-productive. Fool me once . . .

    ThOR (a52560)

  45. this whole voting this is just smarmy virtue signaling i think
    happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/12/2016 @ 9:03 am

    Is that the Trump appeal?

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  46. happyfeet, you’ve finally convinced me…you say you’re not voting for Trump, and that a vote for Trump would be nothing more than “smarmy virtue signaling.”
    And I refuse to engage in that sort of activity!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  47. so you’re expecting a press corpse, yes I intended that, that is shallow and malicious to ask the right question,

    narciso (732bc0)

  48. people’s exhibit a, the cnbc debate

    narciso (732bc0)

  49. you shouldn’t look a gift trump in the mouf

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  50. Trump is not being vetted properly at this time. The media will start vetting him when he wins the primary, at which point it destruction will begin. Reference the McCain campaign of ’08. They loved him, just not more than Obama.

    It is all part of the plan.

    Rich (ddc02c)

  51. you shouldn’t look a gift trump in the mouf
    happyfeet (a037ad) — 2/12/2016 @ 9:24 am

    Kinda hard to avoid it, it’s the most prominent part.

    Luke Stywalker (adf255)

  52. is this thing on, they don’t vet, they just make stuff up,

    narciso (732bc0)

  53. I agree with Rich.

    We’ll build you up, Donald Trump
    Just to knock you down
    Once Cruz ain’t around
    And it’s you and Hillary.

    And what’s worse, baby
    You know we will
    And you’re running still.

    nk (dbc370)

  54. The Trump supporters don’t give a damn what he says. It’s a giant FU to the system.

    Something like this slightly unsafe image from Chicago, 1968.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  55. JRT for CRUZ (bc7456) — 2/12/2016 @ 7:44 am

    When asked about obamacare the only doctor on the stage didn’t even want to discuss…”I’d rather discuss NK” he says….

    He didn’t want to be pigeonholed or typecast. This is creating problems for him. He doesn’t want to be the expert on health care issues (actually he isn’t such a good expert either. He has one good idea there – let HSAs be used for used for other family members – but obviously this can’t be ageneral solution – not everybody has family members who have HSAs that they could donate. Maybe require 10% of contributions to be spent on other people after three years? How about also requiring doctors and hspitals to accept some phantom payments?

    Ben Carson’s weakness now is that he is perceived as not knowledgable about foreign policy, so he wanted to discuss it.

    He did say aomehting apt about Putin in one debate. Putin is a one horse show – meaning all the problems dealing with Russia emanate from Putin – once he is replaced, all of thsi will be gone.

    It’s not that way with China or Iran or ISIS or even North Korea.

    Sammy Finkelman (882d94)

  56. I think Cruz has gone negative because he’s losing and he knows he has to stop Trump now/soon. I don’t know if it will work. Voters don’t like candidates who go negative, and Trump knows this and will capitalize on it. But Cruz may not have a choice.

    I hope I’m wrong — I often am when it comes to politics. The main reason I hope I’m wrong is that I don’t want to see America governed by someone who believes in liberal policies. We know that will happen if Trump and Clinton are the choices.

    DRJ (15874d)

  57. Let’s see, Trump doesn’t know terrorists by name. Wow! Now that’s a disqualifier right there!
    His net worth is really somewhere between $2.5 billion and $4 billion, not the $10 he claims. Hmmm … yep, that’s another disqualifier. He’s done.
    I believe the “bunch of money” he got from his dad was a $1 million loan. Now, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I don’t think one can just sit on a million $ and voila, it turns into $2.5 to $4 BILLION all by itself. Maybe the author can break it down to us.
    As far as the rest … I think it behooves the good folks here to visit Trump’s campaign web-site and perhaps get a more clear picture than the drivel spouted off here. Just sayin’
    A little research works wonders.

    P.S.

    Trump just happens to be far to the right on illegal immigration and the Muslim invasion of America. If we don’t get a grip on those issues I don’t think we’ll be worrying about late-term abortion, prayer in school, baking cakes for gays, eminent domain, 2nd amendment rights, and all the other stuff conservatives are concerned about. We’ll be worrying about our sons and daughters getting raped / murdered on the way to school or in the public parks. We’ll be worrying if our wives are safe to go shopping at the mall or the grocery store. We could easily be hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day …
    Every other issue will take a far back seat … learn a lesson from Germany, Austria, Sweden and the U.K.

    steve (006e75)

  58. Steve,

    The thing is, Trump _claims_ to be far to the right on those issues. I believe that Trump’s statements have about the same value as one from BHO – none at all. He would continue to do nothing (even the things he could legitimately do without Congress) even while yelling about how we need to do something right now. I think Carter’s statement about Trump being malleable and without convictions of his own is exactly right.

    Soronel Haetir (86a46e)

  59. @21. Bingo.

    “Damn Yankees!” The endless whine of the ‘out-of-towners’ is endlessly amusing.

    If you lived and worked in Manhattan in the 80’s, you know the cast of characters who stirred the pot that was Steady Eddie Koch’s Big Apple stew: Gotti, Helmsley, Steinbrenner and Trump- seasoned with a little Yogi, Billy, Reggie and Bernie Goetz. You ain’t lived ’til you’ve battled for a cab at 58th and Madison in a snowstorm.

    Rich times. A gilded era. When Wall Street pugs peddled junk bonds, lit stogies with $100 bills and Walkman-clutching yuppies crowded F trains clad in power ties, sneakers and anything Laura Ashley. The town ticked faster than its own New York minutes and oozed money. Bold. Brash. Ballsy. Bombastic. Bull and bluster. Big, proud and tough. Capitalism at full throttle. That was New York in the 1980’s… quite literally Reagan’s ‘shining city on a hill’ by the Hudson.

    New York is the city everybody west of Hoboken loves to hate. Because it’s bustling with New Yorkers. Like Donald Trump.

    The second hardest job in America is being mayor of the City of New York. And Trump managed to build successful enterprises through good times and the bad times before it working with seven very different characters: Lindsay, Beame, Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg and De Blasio.

    Citizen Trump is Capitalist Trump. A pragmatist. Not an ideologue. And a very, very smart guy. Which scares the crap out of lesser minded right wing zealots frozen in time who’ll be debased when he is elected. And like all ‘real’ Americans, New Yorkers included, Trump likes to win. And isn’t afraid to say so, eh Ted? Trump will draw crossover. Hire smart people. And get things done. And he’ll make American politics fun again.

    Right now America could use a little New York attitude at the helm. To shake things up. Get things moving. To make America great again. Some Bogart and Cagney. Some Groucho for flavor with a dash of crazy Walken for zest and some Runyon thrown in for flavor. A little in-your-face De Niro as well. Tex-O-Canadians like Cruz just don’t get it. And never will. His smack down by Trump after a foolish flail to smear ‘New York values’ says it all. But Putin gets it. China gets it. And Isis will.

    If you pine for the go-go days of Reagan, of ‘Wall Street’ and ‘Working Girl’… Trump’s your man. The host appears to be more of a Lemmon. Jack Lemmon. An ‘Out-Of-Towner.’ Bewildered. Bitter. And a little sour.

    Take the family to New York sometime, Patterico. Autumn is nice. Ride the Circle Line and see Miss Liberty; visit Ground Zero and see how it’s bigger than most towns in Texas; catch a Yankee game or meet the Mets; ride an escalator in Macy’s at Herald Square. Walk through Times Square then up Fifth Avenue; gaze at the most famous skyline on Earth from the Empire State Building; see a show at the Winter Garden. You’ll get a kick out of the Rockettes at Radio City. Then hit the Rainbow Room at 30 Rock and stop by Fox on 6th and 48th and wave to the Doosey in the window; light a candle at St. Patrick’s Cathedral– then send the wife up to Tiffany’s while you and the kids tour Trump Tower. That’s enough for one day. You’ll meet a lot of New Yorkers along the way. They may bluster and bark, but they don’t bite. And they don’t take any crap. Particularly from ‘out-of towners.’ Like Cruz.

    DCSCA (a343d5)

  60. Yep, but he’s at least making noise about it. Of course so is Cruz and Cruz actually has real live policies.

    There is an illegal immigration and moslem invasion of this country and the left is doing what it usually does: first ignore it, then deny it, then allow it, then encourage it, then enable it then celebrate it. All because both groups will break democrat heavily.

    I guarantee if all the South American immigrants were coming here to be lawyers and all the moslems would vote Republican none of this would be an issue. And Trump as a candidate would be moot.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  61. @ Teb (#16), who wrote:

    So instead of building hotels, casinos, golf courses etc. he should have just done nothing? Interesting advice.

    Yes, that’s exactly right.

    If Donald Trump had taken his YUUUGE inheritance from his crooked father (I’m referring to the illegal $3.5M casino chip scam), and put it in a mutual fund, his capital would have generated further wealth, in which he and others would have shared.

    Trump’s actual business career, though, has left thousands of honest, decent Americans financially worse off. Every one of Trump’s four waves of corporate bankruptcies left a trail of creditors who’d extended that credit in good faith, trusting Trump’s solemn written word on behalf of those companies. Those good Americans got less than $0.01 on the dollar. Trump downplays this with “hyperbole,” i.e., baldfaced and deliberate lies, when he refers to his trips to the bankruptcy court as being on “four deals out of thousands,” or “four companies.” But in fact, every one of them involved essentially his entire empire of companies, all of them, in consolidated filings (because all of his companies’ debts were cross-collateralized, that is, pledged for each others’ obligations).

    He’s right that he has never declared personal bankruptcy. But that’s not the same thing as never breaking his personal contractual promises. He does that regularly, and proudly, and boasts about it. If you want a compelling recent example, look at the Trump Hotel in Chicago. The lenders refused to take only his corporate promises and insisted that he have a little bit of personal skin in the game, in hopes it might shame him into actually repaying the money he’d borrowed. So The Donald gave a $40M personal guarantee. When his companies (predictably) defaulted, and the lenders made demand on his personal guarantee, he sued them, claiming that an “act of God” had made it impossible for him to meet this $40M personal obligation. This, from the 10-billionaire.

    Anyone who believes what Trump says about his own career is begging to be suckered. Do a little due diligence, please. Use an ounce of common sense.

    The man is a fraud and a scam artist. Why do you trust him, when he’s cheated almost everyone who’s trusted him so spectacularly? He’s a failure. His reputation in the business world is that of someone who overpromises, breaks his word, sues at the drop of a hat, hides behind the lawyers, washes out his obligations through the bankruptcy courts, and then goes on reality TV to pretend that he’s a successful businessman.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  62. We need to educate the young where we can… what Sanders spews is warmed-up, tired Marxism that has repeatedly failed wherever employed. It will be the death of capitalism, which is our only hope. One hears Sanders say “poor kids need to get a free education just like rich kids do”, which is ridiculous on its face. But it needs to be refuted with common sense, facts and whatever else is needed. Clinton’s program is Marxistlite, but is just as execrable.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  63. I have to say that Cruz is my first choice. I can’t support Rubio or especially Bush after their opinions on making American women register for the draft. Done deal.
    I don’t have a crystal ball telling me what Trump will or won’t do. I have only what he says and I think he’s just arrogant enough to do what he says. Who knows?
    Having said that, the time is coming that I’m going to support whoever is the Republican nominee. I’m just tired of the Trump bashing. Geez! Can’t we come together as conservatives? Yeah, I get it that Trump isn’t a “true conservative” but can we not learn something from liberals? They get what they want incrementally, a little at a time … been doing it for decades until they got the crown-jewel of liberalism … Barack Obama squatting in the White House.
    Conservatives really need to lose the ‘all or none’ mind-set. Our candidate has to be staunch Christian conservative on each and every issue. (It would be great) This is why we’ve been getting our a$$es handed to us. “I’m not voting for him, he’s not really a conservative!” “He’s rude!” “I don’t like the way he combs his hair!” “He cheated on his wife!” Gawd! Come on folks!
    Okay … Cruz first. If not Cruz we have to support Trump.

    steve (006e75)

  64. @ steve (#56): Your “belief” that all Trump ever got from his dad was a $1M loan is probably based on something Trump has said. It’s counterfactual.

    The example I mentioned above — where his father was caught making the illegal, undisclosed $3.5M loan by buying casino chips he never gambled — is, by itself, enough to explode your assertion.

    All of the major world financial publications have been following Trump’s fortune, and its sources, for decades. There is indeed a great deal of evaluation, number-crunching, and reporting, and the consensus of financial publications like Forbes, Money, Inc., etc., is that Trump has exaggerated the size of his current fortune (mostly by overestimating the “goodwill” inherent in the “Trump Brand,” which is now his principal asset) and that he hasn’t increased the fortune handed to him (not in loans, but in gifts — all structured through trusts and such to avoid taxes) simply for being his kid.

    I’m glad you at least qualified your assertion. It makes it less likely to mislead someone. But no, that’s utter BS: Trump got vastly more than a single million-dollar loan from his daddy. Please don’t repeat that lie elsewhere, lest we conclude that you’re doing so in bad faith.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  65. You are wise, Steve, but there’s a sadness to your wisdom.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  66. Have you seen new ted cruz campaign ad with porno actress? Its either called deep ted or debbie does cruz. I think her co star was rex the wonder dog!

    leland (af92aa)

  67. Mr. Cruz and his nasty negative ads make me feel sad.

    This is not who we are.

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  68. No, it’s who he is.

    ropelight (ec9a8c)

  69. So instead of building hotels, casinos, golf courses etc. he should have just done nothing? Interesting advice.

    Yes. All his activities have produced the same net value as doing nothing, so they were a complete waste of time and energy.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  70. Except for all those hotels, casinos, golf courses, etc that exist now and wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t built them, and all the employees who have jobs they wouldn’t have, or guests who wouldn’t be able to enjoy them, or the municipalities who wouldn’t have the taxes those properties generate.

    ropelight (ec9a8c)

  71. Trump’s latest threat is to sue Cruz unless he stops the “lies and negative attacks”…Trump states he has unique standing to challenge regarding presidential eligibility.

    If I were Cruz, I’d demand that he carry out that court challenge on behalf of the American electorate…and not the apparent ploy for selfish political gain. Is it a vital constitutional question or not?

    Trump is a two-faced turd.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  72. Except for all those hotels, casinos, golf courses, etc that exist now and wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t built them, and all the employees who have jobs they wouldn’t have, or guests who wouldn’t be able to enjoy them, or the municipalities who wouldn’t have the taxes those properties generate.

    The net value of which is exactly the same as not building any of those things. Which means they should not exist. He’d have created exactly as much value by putting the money in an index fund and going to sleep. The index fund would have created that much value all by itself.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  73. I’m not sure why I’m getting the ‘action’ here. Slate, Politico, CNN, Rolling Stone, the Daily Mail … heh … all made a big deal about Trump’s million dollar loan.
    All that aside, what is it? Is this an attack regarding his wealth and how he obtained it? Once more, illegal immigration and Muslims invading the United States, IMHO are the most important issues right now.
    I surely hope Cruz gets the nomination. We also have Supreme Court justices to consider and Cruz is probably the best in that regard.
    The suggestion that I’m might try to mislead anyone is … well … as absurd as the article itself. We’re in a battle that has to be won. And it’s only going to happen if we support Cruz and 2nd Trump. The candidates themselves have to win the nomination for themselves. They are the ones running and presenting their cases before the public. Trump’s net worth is irrelevant.

    steve (006e75)

  74. Perhaps you Trump Haters can go to Indiana and talk to the 2,100 Carrier employees who are losing their jobs since the plant is moving to Mexico and tell them how Trump is full of manure and his wanting to close the border is irresponsible and will hurt the economy.

    You Cuckservatives better get used to The Donald as President.

    Jerry (7df4fb)

  75. Trump’s latest threat is to sue Cruz unless he stops the “lies and negative attacks”…Trump states he has unique standing to challenge regarding presidential eligibility.

    Which is garbage. Even if the clause were justiciable, there would be no case for the court to hear until the electoral college votes.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  76. Anybody who uses the non-word “cuck” as a pejorative exposes himself as a lowlife who has nothing to say that is worth hearing.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  77. If a plant is cheaper to run in Mexico than it is here, then it belongs in Mexico. Keeping it here by force is immoral, and should be repugnant to any Republican. Anyone who contemplates doing so belongs in the Democrat Party.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  78. Milhouse, actually it is a reasonable question…unfortunately it was intentionally punted by the SCOTUS regarding Obama. Until answered, I still emphatically support Cruz and won’t change my vote…without a court decision, good enough for Democrats is good enough for me on this matter.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  79. Pieter, the eligibility clause is a reasonable question to discuss, but it’s not justiciable. No court can or will hear it. And even if that weren’t the case, there would be nothing to challenge until December.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  80. yes yes if you love something you have to set it free

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  81. Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red light!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  82. Milhouse, I beg to differ…Illinois recently acknowledged Cruz’s eligibility to be on the ballot. Harm in the legal sense can occur prior to the actual. If Trump or others genuinely were concerned with the constitutional eligibility question, they’d petition the appropriate federal court. Strong argument is on both sides, why not resolve conclusively?

    The courts were designed to remedy questions of law, specifically with regard to our Constitution. How is this a grey area for those even minimally educated in civics?

    pieter (ec44a2)

  83. Carrier doesn’t ‘belong’ in Mexico, it belongs in the US without a government trying to ‘choke out’ its own businesses.

    East Bay Jay (c65ac0)

  84. I think happyfeet might actually secretly be Jeff Goldblum…Patterico, I demand you look into this!

    pieter (ec44a2)

  85. No, EB Jay, Milhouse says you’re a Democrat, so it must be so. Yes, we need much less in the way of regulation and taxation from ALL government. Can’t expect business to maintain manufacturing or assembly in the USA if our government keeps their boot on the neck.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  86. 75.If a plant is cheaper to run in Mexico than it is here, then it belongs in Mexico. Keeping it here by force is immoral, and should be repugnant to any Republican. Anyone who contemplates doing so belongs in the Democrat Party.

    BINGO!! We have a winner! Couldn’t have said it better myself, Milhouse! Every once in a while something like that needs to be said by a Milhouse to remind all of us why were not stinkin’ democrats (now officially socialists since they are running one for prez).

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  87. Roxanne Milhouse

    Milhouse you don’t have to always think yer right
    Those days are over we’re gonna help you to see teh light
    Milhouse you don’t have to fear the dark tonight
    Think yer words are honey you don’t care if they’re wrong or if they’re right
    Milhouse… you don’t have to be told go fly a kite
    Milhouse… you don’t have to be told go fly a kite

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  88. …and Donald, I’ll be wrapped around your finger…

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  89. If Trump is making that claim based on actual advice he paid a lawyer for, he *does* have a valid cause for a lawsuit. For fraud and ineffective assistance of counsel against the idiot who gave it to him, that is.

    M. Scott Eiland (9fd59f)

  90. Where have you gone, GilmoreMania
    Our nation turns its jaundiced eyes to you
    What’s that you say, Mr. Robinson
    Joltin’ Jim has left the neighborhood
    Maybe for good
    As well he should…

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/jim-gilmore-ends-campaign-for-president/article/2583169

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  91. GEE…when I think of
    A) the MSM
    B) the Democrats
    C) the GOP Establishment
    D) the Right Wing Blogging arena (of which you are a part)

    ALL ATTACKING TRUMP (virtually) INCESSANTLY
    – sometimes reasonably, most of the time rabidly and irrationally –
    I say to mayself that TRUMP MUST HAVE SOMETHING REALLY GOING FOR HIM
    to have SO MANY people being against him.

    Oh yes: and *funny* how the deluge ALL began in earnest in January,
    just before the Primaries began.
    Yeah. “Funny.” Ha. Ha. Ha.

    *TRUMP 2016*

    Kauf Buch (1e297f)

  92. “Trump Was Right: Immigration Declines Sharply Since Start Of Deportation Raids”

    In December, the Department of Homeland Security began to prepare to deport hundreds of families who came to the US in 2015 fleeing Central America. “The nationwide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America,” The Washington Post reported at the time, adding that “groups that have called for stricter immigration limits said the raids are long overdue and remained skeptical about whether the scale would be large enough to deter future illegal immigration from Central America.”

    The DHS chief Jeh Johnson said on Thursday that the deportations have sharply reduced the number of Central American migrants entering the country. “I know this has made a lot of people I respect very unhappy,” Johnson said, “But we must enforce the law in accordance with our priorities.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-12/trump-was-right-immigration-declines-sharply-start-deportation-raids

    sound awake (04e750)

  93. Well, Trump didn’t just put his money into a fund, did he? He used it to grow his company and construct some of the most famous buildings in the world. If you think that’s easy, try it some time and let us know how you go.

    Boris (2f197b)

  94. The press treats him differently because he treats the press differently.

    To be specific, he’s the only one with the cojones to tell the press to go f**k themselves.

    That alone is a good enough reason to take him seriously as a candidate. (Incidentally, Patrick, I am, like you, a Cruz supporter.)

    Steve (4d4bd1)

  95. @92…Ill five you that… this is funny and all the Trump lovers will love this bone.

    http://therightscoop.com/found-it-heres-the-caroline-kennedy-interview-that-trump-loves-to-mock-at-speeches/

    JRT for CRUZ (69b41b)

  96. I’m out of patience for anyone who claims that Trump has created jobs.

    For every job he’s created, I’ll show you three Americans whom he’s screwed over.

    Successful businessmen are not noted for going through bankruptcy even once. Trump has done it four times, and brags about it.

    He’s a loser.

    Anyone who thinks otherwise is a sucker.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  97. Most of the businesses that currently bear the “Trump” name don’t belong to Donald Trump.

    The people who own them, and run them, and use them to provide jobs and build wealth, pay Trump a licensing fee to borrow his celebrity. That’s because there are people stupid enough to think that the “Trump Brand” is a positive thing, instead of a repulsive thing.

    Those businesses, I’ll grant you, do provide goods and services, they do keep their promises, and they haven’t (yet) gone through bankruptcy.

    They also have nothing to do with Donald Trump besides using his last name.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  98. that’s very dismissive, what you said Mr. B

    VERY VERY dismissive

    happyfeet (831175)

  99. GEE…when I think of
    A) the MSM
    B) the Democrats
    C) the GOP Establishment
    D) the Right Wing Blogging arena (of which you are a part)

    ALL ATTACKING TRUMP (virtually) INCESSANTLY
    – sometimes reasonably, most of the time rabidly and irrationally –
    I say to mayself that TRUMP MUST HAVE SOMETHING REALLY GOING FOR HIM
    to have SO MANY people being against him.

    Oh yes: and *funny* how the deluge ALL began in earnest in January,
    just before the Primaries began.
    Yeah. “Funny.” Ha. Ha. Ha.

    *TRUMP 2016*

    Kauf Buch (1e297f) — 2/12/2016 @ 2:37 pm

    Since people keep attacking Cruz over the most ridiculous things, like taking a loan from his own margin brokerage account (you know an ordinary brokerage account that is set up to take loans from and which nobody needs permission to take loans from) being portrayed as some kind of special treatment, and then that margin loan is ludicrously said to somehow connect him with anything Goldman Sachs has ever done, you must support him!

    Gerald A (7c7ffb)

  100. 75.If a plant is cheaper to run in Mexico than it is here, then it belongs in Mexico. Keeping it here by force is immoral, and should be repugnant to any Republican. Anyone who contemplates doing so belongs in the Democrat Party.

    Do you also think keeping Mexican workers out of the US by force is immoral?

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  101. I look at this blog, or others, and see that the Republican coalition has been rent by Trump in a way that I’ve never seen in a primary. There are position being taken that will be hard to untake later.

    I was not a Romney supporter in 2012 until he was the clear nominee, then I accepted the inevitable and got on board. I still wish he had won. I cannot foresee the day where I will either support Trump, or wish him the winner, and I will be hoping for another choice right up to the final vote. I will also not forgive the folks who brought us here.

    Hopefully this won’t happen, and the disaster will be averted. But I keep returning to the idea that this seems so advantageous to the other side that it is hard to believe that they had nothing to do with it.

    Confusion to their enemies, which is to say: us.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  102. You weren’t here back during the O’Donnell matter, were you Kevin.
    Which I find a more ruthless piece of humbug.

    narciso (732bc0)

  103. As do I.

    felipe (56556d)

  104. it’s been rent by trump, the bloggeth hath been

    let us pray

    happyfeet (831175)

  105. Do you also think keeping Mexican workers out of the US by force is immoral?
    James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/12/2016 @ 6:32 pm

    James, do you lock your doors at night?

    felipe (56556d)

  106. Perhaps you Trump Haters can go to Indiana and talk to the 2,100 Carrier employees who are losing their jobs since the plant is moving to Mexico and tell them how Trump is full of manure and his wanting to close the border is irresponsible and will hurt the economy.

    You Cuckservatives better get used to The Donald as President.

    Jerry (7df4fb) — 2/12/2016 @ 1:13 pm

    Jerry, conservatives are in favor of closing the border. The fact you can’t figure that out is disturbing.

    But it should be noted that closing the border, which I’m in favor of, doesn’t keep someone from moving a plant to Mexico, Taiwan, China or anywhere else. They have nothing to do with each other.

    But at least you’ve figured out Trump isn’t conservative, which means you’re more perceptive than some Trumpers.

    Gerald A (7c7ffb)

  107. Do you also think keeping Mexican workers out of the US by force is immoral?

    Well, I think doing that while letting in Mexican elderly instead is pretty damn stupid.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  108. I voted for O’Donnell when she won the primaries against Tom Carter but was attacked by 4ft tall Chris Coons

    JRT for CRUZ (69b41b)

  109. #104 James B. Shearer,

    You should do a little investigation of Mexico’s enforcement of its own southern borders with Guatemala. Are you familiar with what goes on there?

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  110. I think Jerry and trumpet may be the same person.

    Gerald A (7c7ffb)

  111. There’s a bit of a difference between a toxic Senate candidate and a toxic Presidential candidate. Only one of them is existentially bad for the Party.

    It would be very hard to walk away from Trump. I think the only recourse would be to split the party and run another candidate.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  112. 104 But it should be noted that closing the border, which I’m in favor of, doesn’t keep someone from moving a plant to Mexico, Taiwan, China or anywhere else. They have nothing to do with each other.

    So you think capital should be free to move anywhere in the world in order to obtain the best return but labor should not have the same freedom.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  113. #111 James B. Shearer,

    It sounds like you don’t believe in the sovereignty of any nation. That’s kind of a Marxist perspective, huh?

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  114. One MSM paper that seems to have no problem applying their normal standards to Trump and finding him wanting is the NY Times.

    For example, this article about the “pussy” controversy notes just how much Trump is dividing the GOP, largely on economic and educational lines. While I take with a grain of salt the NYT’s understanding of Republican thinking, Trump has got to grate on people in the Bible Belt with his crass talk and transparently sinful life. He makes Andy Jackson look like a Whig.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  115. So you think capital should be free to move anywhere in the world in order to obtain the best return but labor should not have the same freedom.

    You are a fool if you think this is happening for the benefit of LABOR.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  116. #110 James, capital should be free to move anywhere in the world in order to obtain the best return, and so should labor — legally.

    Pons Asinorum (49e2e8)

  117. Well now you’re just being idiotic in your anti-Trump posts. A man who turned 40 million into 4 billion is pretty much the definition of a successful businessman. That’s the end of your credibility as far as I’m concerned. You’ve moved into the group of political liars and hacks.

    Mr Black (3efb66)

  118. 111 It sounds like you don’t believe in the sovereignty of any nation. That’s kind of a Marxist perspective, huh?

    No, I believe nations should be free to impose restrictions on the free movement of labor or of capital for the common benefit. Unlike 77 which opposes any measures to keep jobs in the United States.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  119. 114.#110 James, capital should be free to move anywhere in the world in order to obtain the best return, and so should labor — legally.

    And as with legal restrictions on the movement of labor there can be legal restrictions on the movement of capital.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  120. #117 James B. Shearer,

    “For the common benefit”?
    Wut?

    It sure doesn’t sound like you believe the United States has a right to impose it’s own borders. And you appear to be evasive in addressing Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  121. You know how we all went to high school?

    Donald Trump went to the New York Military Academy from the 8th grade on up to graduation.

    So he does know more about the military than those other guys who went to church schools and never served in the military.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  122. It’s not hyperbowl it’s just the fact of his existence.

    If you had botherd to look at his wikipedia page before jumping up and down to call him a liar, maybe you would know these things.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  123. Were you too lazy or too busy?

    I’m going to go with answer C.
    You had your head too firmly inserted.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  124. That two in a row for me. 🙂

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  125. During his senior year, Trump participated in marching drills and wore a uniform, attaining the highest rank of cadet first captain.

    That would be valedictorian, for you civilians.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  126. What is it about you Cruz supporters, how you never do diligence and research?

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  127. What was it Alinsky said about making the job fun for your supporters?

    I’m having fun.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  128. Trump with eagle on the day Obama’s windmill merchants were defeated in court. Foodstamp wanted windfarms to have a free unlimited pass to kill American bald eagles for the service life of their equipment.

    The eagle sitting on Trumps desk is a windmill survivor. If you look closely one of it’s wings was amputated.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  129. Trump owns several million square feet of prime Manhattan real estate.[67]

    The median price per square foot (that’s including the carp, whereas Trump has the prime)is $1,645.

    What is several? Let’s call it 3. Three times $1,645 = $4,935.

    So in just Manhattan real estate, which we know is undervalued because we’re using an average price when he has prime, Donald Trump is worth $5 billion.

    Forbes can go suck it.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  130. Cruz has did more for small business at the FTC than Trump will in a lifetime.

    mg (31009b)

  131. He made an even playing field over the internet for small business. One example is he opened up wine sales over the internet so it could be sold inter state. That is a lot of money continuously being used in commerce. I have done my research, there are more examples of President Cruz helping the little guy.

    mg (31009b)

  132. “If Ted doesn’t quit being mean to me, I am going to sue.”
    If that isn’t a democrat talking point, I don’t know what is.
    What a pussy. Clap now.

    mg (31009b)

  133. Trump donating to the Clinton’s all these years allows them to build their fortune and get soldiers killed.

    mg (31009b)

  134. #127 papertiger,

    These so-called “environmentalists” are usually advocating for policies which do damage to nature. As you point out, the windmills are a guillotine for birds (and bats, too). Birds also perish when they land on solar panels on buildings.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  135. “For the common benefit”?
    Wut?

    For the common benefit of Americans, not the world as a whole.

    It sure doesn’t sound like you believe the United States has a right to impose it’s own borders. …

    Actually I do and I believe the United States has the right to take measures to keep jobs in the United States.

    … And you appear to be evasive in addressing Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.

    I don’t know or care a lot about the Mexico-Guatemala border.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  136. 127 So in just Manhattan real estate, which we know is undervalued because we’re using an average price when he has prime, Donald Trump is worth $5 billion.

    You have to subtract the debt (mortgages) on that real estate.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  137. James B. Shearer,

    I don’t ‘get’ your “for the common benefit” slogan is, other than as a “Marxist workers of the world, let’s unite! exultation.
    Laws are not necessarily for “common benefit.” Laws outlawing theft do not benefit thieves, right? Posted speed limits do not benefit people who wish to drag race their cars down the boulevard, right? And so on, and so on.

    You seem to be less interested in America’s sovereign borders than you are in the hurt feelings of Mexicans. Mexico has a really tough southern border with Guatemala. They don’t want Guatemalans coming in. The fact you admit that doesn’t strike your curiosity suggests you’re not as interested in trans-national issues.
    IF you want companies to keep their jobs here in America, then America needs to cultivate incentives for those companies to keep their jobs in America. High taxes and regulation chase them out of the country.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  138. I think James said the opposite of what you think he said, CS. There is no more right to import things made in Mexico than there is to import Mexicans. Carrier can keep make it airconditioners in Mexico and sell them there too. They need them more than we do, I would think. The free-market crowd, whose loyalty is to their multi-national stock portfolios, is not going to convince me that “Buy American” is now anti-conservative, un-American and subversive. Although they’re trying very hard.

    nk (dbc370)

  139. And I don’t car how Mexico treats Guatemalans either. Its border, its business. Just like our border is our business.

    nk (dbc370)

  140. ‘Journalists’ holding politicians to standards.

    What oxymoronic gibberish!

    DNF (755a85)

  141. This blog has become “Fighting Last Century’s Battles”.

    DNF (755a85)

  142. nk, settle down.
    If you browse up the thread, you’ll see that James B. Shearer asked if keeping Mexican workers out of the US by force is immoral. He spoke of the right of “labor” to move around—just as capital moves around.
    Mexicans do not have an inherent “right” to come work in the United States. The reason I asked him his opinion of how Mexico treats Guatemalans trying to sneak across Mexico’s southern border is because I wanted to know if this “right of labor to move around” extends to Guatemalan laborers seeking work in Mexico.
    This is the thing, the United States’ border issues are always subject to criticism and judgment by the Left and the world, but nobody wants to discuss the glass houses inhabited by the people who are throwing rocks.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  143. “Buy American” is certainly not subversive. However, it can be anti-conservative and un-American if it means to buy inferior products at high prices just to buy American. That ain’t conservative or free market by a long shot. And it can be un-American to acquiesce to government oppression of high taxes and over regulation then buy the results of those policies against our best interests as consumers.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  144. 136. Good this century point. There is no US manufacturing backbone to save. We assemble foreign made parts, and the sector is down to about 15% of goods and services.

    The play may anticipate the Fed having any success in their stated plan of raising rates further in 2016, reiterated just yesterday in Senate testimony. But this too is a flat out lie–they are frozen in place without a clue the direction to take in escape from consequences of QE.

    DNF (755a85)

  145. 140. We have no need for labor, just look at the participation rate in the low 50 percentiles.

    Truck farmers are automating, migrant workers are out of jobs. The US Chamber only needs migrants for consumerism using direct Federal Reserve funding of the Treasury and entitlements.

    Sure all the job growth has been among migrants but that was temporary, we will lose on the order of 7 million existing jobs thru 2017.

    DNF (755a85)

  146. Our government which used to be and still should be the greatest example to the world of how just laying down basic rules for all businesses and consumers without favoritism or lobbyists grows and strengthens the economic power of a nation, the economic opportunity to its people and the basic Freedom of property and law. But somewhere the government decided to “tweak” the economy around the edges, then more, and more until now they pass massive laws and have yuuuge bureaucracies adjudicating millions of rules just to fix the previous laws and regulations that had those “unexpected” unintended consequences.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  147. DNF, manufacturing is really the technology of the 20th century. Yeah, America has driven out most of it’s manufacturing jobs with ridiculous regulatory agencies and millions of regulations, unreasonable demands for wages, benefits and retirements by unions and taxes out the wahoo but I think the best days of factory work are long over. These problems just hastened manufacturing’s departure form America to more backward, more appropriate countries. Now, what do we replace all those jobs with plus all those we will lose to robots and automation in the very near future? Everybody can’t make pizza and drive Uber.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  148. Actually, I think machines can make pizza now and cars can park themselves so…..

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  149. 144, 145. Which insufficiency, due to automation, to keep the wheels of commerce grinding signals an endpoint for our current world economic order.

    Obviously mankind will survive and the duration of the ‘end’ is undetermined but the central mode of failure is that our economy can no longer maintain sufficient dollars in global transactions to fullfill its role as a reserve currency.

    The oil collapse exacerbates this reality as oil producing countries divest in dollar-denominated assets and we have a self-reinforcing cycle of dollar deflation, note recent moves of yen and euro strength.

    DNF (755a85)

  150. As we all know the top 0.1% or top 1.0% who possess the lions share cannot change America’s course, they just don’t have the numbers.

    Here is a graph of the destination:

    https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MEHOINUSA672N

    Our wealth may have peaked in the 70’s even if quality of life peaked in the 90’s.

    DNF (755a85)

  151. It seemed exceedingly strange to Ostap and Andrii that, although a crowd of people had come to the Setch with them, not a soul inquired, “Whence come these men? who are they? and what are their names?” They had come thither as though returning to a home whence they had departed only an hour before. The new-comer merely presented himself to the Koschevoi, or head chief of the Setch, who generally said, “Welcome! Do you believe in Christ?”—”I do,” replied the new-comer. “And do you believe in the Holy Trinity?”—”I do.”—”And do you go to church?”—”I do.” “Now cross yourself.” The new-comer crossed himself. “Very good,” replied the Koschevoi; “enter the kuren where you have most acquaintances.”

    Ah, the good old days on the steppes.

    nk (dbc370)

  152. I wonder what today’s challenge questions are?
    “Welcome! Do you believe in Gay marriage?”
    “Do you believe in AGW?”
    “Now go ___ yourself!”

    felipe (56556d)

  153. Trump’s a complete empty suit…..a phony.

    He would have more wealth, today, if took the money Daddy gave him and merely invested it in the S&P 500.

    He blew the biggest deals he was ever part of ….Television City, Taj Mahal, Trump airlines.

    He screwed over lenders on BILLIONS in loans after using “junk bonds” to try and finance the Taj Mahal. He bold faced, lied about it the whole time, too. He is a known liar whenever it benefits him (or he thinks it does).

    He was merely a 3rd rate realtor who became a TV celebrity on a reality show. He is the Jersey Shore. The Trump you love is a character. The actual Trump is much different.

    He is the definition of a bully. He talks tough, harasses people who dont fight back, BUT runs and whines like a baby the second someone responds to his childish behavior.

    Purely politically….Trump has a closet full of skeletons that would make Bill Clinton blush. The media is literally creating a PILE of stories that will run the second he wins the GOP nomination. NBC has bought that infamous British interview with Trump, unaired footage and all, which makes him look like a creepy stalker, just to name the latest. Its going to be 24/7 devestation….and the worst part….

    It all plays right into the media, and Democrats only chance to win in this election cycle.

    The war on women.

    Hillary’s only chance is to look like a victim, and the only candidate sufficiently scummy….and the media has the evidence….is Donald Trump.

    Like running Romney when his Achilles heal, Obamacare, was the most important issue of the day….Trump’s ugliest weakness is women…..which is the Dem’s “all in” bet.

    Trump cannot win.

    And in the process he will destroy the GOP.

    It’s all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!

    Alec j (def15e)

  154. So in just Manhattan real estate, which we know is undervalued because we’re using an average price when he has prime, Donald Trump is worth $5 billion.

    You have to subtract the debt (mortgages) on that real estate.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/13/2016 @ 7:24 am

    You argue like a Democrat/GOPe type. He’s not fooled for one second.

    Gerald A (7c7ffb)

  155. Two schools, distinct yet wholly connected…one offers a proven consistent historical stand based on a adherence to a constitutional principle; the other, well, based on prevailing wind of financial self gain.

    One dude has argued for a wall since before his run for the Senate, the other when he thought it politically expedient to feed potential voters what they wanted to hear. Why is this so difficult to discern?

    Which of these guys changed party affiliation five times since the eighties? Trumpers, grow up and smell the coffee…time to go to work.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  156. 140.nk, settle down

    nk has figured out the point I was trying to make.

    James B. Shearer (0f56fb)

  157. Alex, the GOPe deserves a painful demise…absolutely brought upon themselves for ignoring and later attacking the outraged voices in their ranks. The TEA party was the canary in the coal mine, the establishment used their outrage for political gain such as putting Rubio in office and then baldfaced insulted them as “whacko-birds” once the short-term benefit derived. Screw the Republican party.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  158. yes yes yes the meghan’s coward daddy party what’s done so much to accommodate food stamp’s creeping authoritarianism (sp?)

    they whine they cry about Mr. The Donald

    they tear out their hairs ouch ouch ouch

    you have to voted for greasy marco sleazio they wheedle

    where dem pups

    happyfeet (831175)

  159. Pieter, even if the GOPe does deserve a painful demise I refuse to believe America does…yet! Although after electing a nobody, unaccomplished, no nothing of very questionable past, friends and mentors, TWICE, perhaps America does deserve a painful demise.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  160. failmerica’s getting it’s sleazy coward ass kicked in syria as we speak Mr. Reverend

    food stamp thought he could play in the middle east sandbox

    now his lunch monies all gone away

    happyfeet (831175)

  161. Is Newsweek out of business?

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  162. how would you tell

    happyfeet (831175)

  163. Rev…thought experiment time. OK, say you’re right and we, “Republicans”, nominate Trump as the standard bearer for the general election…we will hold our noses, make apocryphal rationalizations and do our duty hoping for something beyond our good judgement?

    Meh. America does not deserve a painful demise…it deserves lessons it can survive. Perhaps Trump and Obama are such. I won’t vote for Trump, ever. Ammo and prayer are better effort spent…May God have mercy on our children.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  164. TO Gerald A (7c7ffb) — 2/12/2016 @ 6:29 pm

    NO, I certainly don’t. AND HERE’S WHY:
    Cruz’s ensuring passage of the Trans Pacific Trade Deal (TPP)*
    is MUCH WORSE than just “a politician/lawyer who steps along
    the narrowest line of technical correctness, so he can say it’s not a lie,”

    because Cruz is destroying the entirety of the country as a sovereign nation…
    …dragging everyone in it under a “global” thumb.

    The TPP is “the other side of the coin of the immigration issue”
    …except that the Trans Pacific Trade Deal does it all in one big swoop all at once,
    as opposed to the immigration “invasion” doing it over generations.
    If you care about one, you MUST also look carefully at the other.

    And, as far as Cruz saying how horrible TPP is (yes, he’s “shocked! SHOCKED!” I’m sure…):
    IT’S JUST LIKE his Holy Roller Revival Tent Preacher act after winning Iowa due to
    his dirty tricks… playing both sides.
    It’s like the WOLF saying “yeah…sure is a shame what happened to those poor little SHEEP, ain’t it?”

    —–

    * May 2015 – Cruz creates a “Fast Track” Trans Pacific trade rider to attach to TPA,
    which changes the vote threshold for approval/disapproval to a simple majority – thereby ensuring its passage.
    Cruz also votes down an Amendment requiring congressional notification prior to China/Russia joining deal.

    June/July 2015 – Cruz votes against his own TPA bill, though the rider created ensures its passage.

    Kauf Buch (a9260b)

  165. a god what did obama on america twice is not merciful – god hates america

    you have to understand that’s how loathsome this p.o.s. country is anymore

    the rent is too damn high and i’m out of crystal light

    happyfeet (831175)

  166. Kauf, the guy cowrote an article advocating the trade deal and later pulled support due to stipulations in the final bill he could not stomach. Where’s the beef? Toughest lesson is being lied to by your supposed friends and peers.

    pieter (ec44a2)

  167. So what you are saying Pieter is rather than a not-real Republican like Trump you’d rather have an all-too-real communist with his/her as President? Really? You believe Trump would more to damage America by being pro-Trump than Sanders or Hillary! by being pro-Marx?

    Exactly who would the leftist have to run in order for you anti-Trump guys to vote Republican if Trump wins the primary? Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro or Kim Jong-un? Or should we just not hold a damn election and keep Obama as Dear Leader for life?

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  168. Or should we just not hold a damn election and keep Obama as Dear Leader for life?

    Language Rev.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  169. Sorry, you’re right.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  170. At the beginning of my diatribe I wanted to do the gladiator thing from Spartacus.

    Like this.

    Capua! Shall I begin?

    Forgot to do it. Bummer.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  171. In the movie Tony Stark has a skyscraper that originally said “Stark”, but the letters got knocked off in the Avengers movie so it only has “A”.
    IN the comic series Stark went through a period of alcoholism during which his holdings took a big hit.
    He couldn’t have afforded that building in lower Manhattan. Which is why I’m going to postulate that,

    DONALD TRUMP IS IRONMAN!

    Having fun still.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  172. oh my goodness Mr. Trump just castrated sleazy chambermaid reince priebus like a pig

    now he can’t have no more children

    rough justice indeed

    i’m not sure how i feel about this

    happyfeet (831175)

  173. Pieter, the Illinois board’s decision is about who appears on a printed ballot for a Republican primary. The constituiton doesn’t say anything at all about that, so Trump has no basis for any lawsuit. There’s no constitutional reason why the Republican party couldn’t nominate a five-year-old Korean; on the contrary, the first amendment protects its right to do so, if it likes.

    Courts are not allowed to give advisory opinions. They can’t say anything until lthere is an actual case for them to decide, so even if the clause were justiciable, which it isn’t, they couldn’t hear anything until the president is elected, on 19-Dec-2016.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  174. Well, Trump didn’t just put his money into a fund, did he? He used it to grow his company and construct some of the most famous buildings in the world.

    And the point is that all this activity he engaged in was completely useless. With all his efforts he added no value to the world over what would exist if he’d just put it in a fund and done nothing. So his wole career has been a giant waste.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  175. I don’t know what you mean by value but there are buildings and towers and developed real estate that are there. People have homes, apartments and condos. Businesses rent space, employ people and provide goods and services that exist in the projects he built. The property is (for the sake of argument) worth as you say 4 or 5 billion just as if he put it in a fund, except there is also the developed property which now exists plus the 5 million it’s worth. Before there was just 5 billion. If he sells everything lets say he gets 5 billion, he’s even. But the real estate still exists worth 5 billion. So he doubled the value of what he had.

    Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27)

  176. You are missing what could have been in existence if he had put his money in an index fund and allowed more competent businessmen to use the capital.

    Classic Bastiat’s “seen and unseen” problem.

    Patterico (d5f843)

  177. Do you also think keeping Mexican workers out of the US by force is immoral?

    I believe it’s moral to prevent someone from entering the country if only if it’s because that person poses an unreasonable risk of harming the people who live here, e.g. because of a criminal record, gang membership, or an easily communicable disease, or if they are likely to be a burden on the public charity. But to exclude people who don’t seem likely to do any harm to anyone, merely because they will compete with other providers of some good or service, and drive its price down, yes, that is immoral and contrary to the principle of natural liberty on which the liberal (now known as conservative) political movement was founded.

    Driving down the price of any good or service is a good thing, because it’s in the interest of consumers, i.e. the general interest; preventing it is serving the special interest of the existing providers, who don’t like competition. And that applies every bit as much to labor as it does to steel or sugar. If you don’t accept that then the Republican tent isn’t big enough for you and you should get the **** out of it.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  178. except there is also the developed property which now exists plus the 5 million it’s worth.

    No, there isn’t. The developed property is its worth. Value doesn’t exist as some abstract entity on its own; things have value. Putting money in an index fund means putting it to work creating things of value. Had Trump put his $400M inheritance in a fund it would by now have created about $3B worth of stuff. With all his work he’s created…about $3B worth of stuff. Therefore all his work was worthless.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  179. If he sells everything lets say he gets 5 billion, he’s even. But the real estate still exists worth 5 billion. So he doubled the value of what he had.

    Just read that back to yourself and you’ll see that it makes no sense. Let’s say I’ve got an object with a market value of $1, and you’ve got a dollar bill. Between us we have $2. Now you buy my object for your dollar (because to you right now the object is worth $1.10, while to me it’s only worth 90¢). Now between us we still have $2, no more. We’re both better off, because our subjective value has gone up, but the objective combined value of our assets hasn’t changed.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  180. or if they are likely to be a burden on the public charity

    Actually I don’t accept that this is a valid reason to keep someone out, so long as the charity they will be a burden on is private and voluntary, not coerced. So I believe people who are not likely to be able or willing to support themselves, but are not likely to commit crimes, should be admitted to the country but should be barred from receiving any kind of welfare. If they can support themselves by begging, good and well. Excluding them because we don’t like to look at beggars is the sin of Sodom. If they can’t support themselves by begging they can always go home.

    I wouldn’t mind requiring such people to deposit a bond for their bus fare home, to be returned if they manage not to claim it for some specified period, e.g. ten years.

    Milhouse (87c499)

  181. Is trump the only guy who ever lost money on a gambling casino?

    jkstewart2 (8c4cbc)


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