Donald Trump: The Man And The Myth

[Dave Benke]

Don't have the link, but David Brooks' column today is all over the connections to the earlier years of the last century and authoritarianism making its comeback because of the lack of belief in the political process, which involves reasoned compromise. 

Dave Benke

[LutherMan]

Don't have the link, but David Brooks' column today is all over the connections to the earlier years of the last century and authoritarianism making its comeback because of the lack of belief in the political process, which involves reasoned compromise. 

Dave Benke

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/the-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html

[John_Hannah]

I think that Brooks is correct.  Politicians make promises that cannot be fulfilled.  That makes people angry.  Other politicians come along and make more promises that cannot be fulfilled. That makes people angrier.  Then other politicians....  It's a cancer, indeed.

There is no future in being angry about conditions that one cannot change.  More Americans need to try tranquility.   

Peace, JOHN

[Michael Slusser]

I think that Brooks is correct.  Politicians make promises that cannot be fulfilled.  That makes people angry.  Other politicians come along and make more promises that cannot be fulfilled. That makes people angrier.  Then other politicians....  It's a cancer, indeed.

There is no future in being angry about conditions that one cannot change.  More Americans need to try tranquility.   

Peace, JOHN

Candidates for Congress make promises that can only be fulfilled if they get the cooperation of other members of Congress and acceptance by the President;  candidates for President make promises that can be fulfilled only if they get the cooperations of members of Congress. In other words, a candidate who makes promises is promising what other people will do. In these days of no compromise, so no results, a candidate would be wiser not to promise anything.

Peace,
Michael

[Pasgolf]

What Brooks misses is the regulatory authoritarianism which is the air we currently breath and the water we currently swim in.  The simple dichotomy of politics or dictatorship misleads more than it clarifies by not naming the soft fascism that is our current norm and has been for much more than the past 30 years.

[peter_speckhard]

I think that Brooks is correct.  Politicians make promises that cannot be fulfilled.  That makes people angry.  Other politicians come along and make more promises that cannot be fulfilled. That makes people angrier.  Then other politicians....  It's a cancer, indeed.

There is no future in being angry about conditions that one cannot change.  More Americans need to try tranquility.   

Peace, JOHN

At issue is the distinction between a promise that cannot be fulfilled and a promise that simply wasn't fulfilled.

[John_Hannah]

Candidates for Congress make promises that can only be fulfilled if they get the cooperation of other members of Congress and acceptance by the President;  candidates for President make promises that can be fulfilled only if they get the cooperations of members of Congress. In other words, a candidate who makes promises is promising what other people will do. In these days of no compromise, so no results, a candidate would be wiser not to promise anything.

Peace,
Michael

Agreed. Unfortunately, anyone promising nothing will be beaten by someone who promises gold at the end of the rainbow.

Peace, JOHN

[LutherMan]

Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump and Calls Marco Rubio ‘Desperate’

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/26/chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump/

[Richard Johnson]

Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump and Calls Marco Rubio ‘Desperate’

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/26/chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump/

Bullies stick together, I guess.

[James_Gale]

Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump and Calls Marco Rubio ‘Desperate’

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/26/chris-christie-endorses-donald-trump/

On the other hand, the dictionary (yes, the dictionary) used Twitter to take down The Donald for his inability to spell.  I am hopeful that last night was the beginning of the end for Mr. Trump's campaign.  I'd prefer my debates to be genteel and substantive.  But it seems that the only way to defeat a bully is to hit back hard.  That finally happened to Donald, and boy did he stagger.  He responded by taking to Twitter.  (Or as some have mused, given the spelling, perhaps ordered one of his foreign employees who is here illegally to type his dictated Tweets.) 

[James_Gale]

I'm with Senator (and former Midland College President) Ben Sasse on this.

[James_Gale]

In case anyone wonders why Marco Rubio has resorted to petty ridicule of Trump:  Look at this, and ask the media why they refused to cover substantive matters.

[Charles Austin]

So the supposedly "liberal" media give the most coverage to Mr. Trump?
We will need to think about that.
The real big question that I consider under-reported is the matter of Mr. Trump not being aligned with conservative on issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, religious liberties, and the need for a personal faith. How a man who does not even know how to say "Second Corinthians" gets all the adulation from "evangelicals" is a great mystery to me.

[Eileen Smith]

So the supposedly "liberal" media give the most coverage to Mr. Trump?
We will need to think about that.
The real big question that I consider under-reported is the matter of Mr. Trump not being aligned with conservative on issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, religious liberties, and the need for a personal faith. How a man who does not even know how to say "Second Corinthians" gets all the adulation from "evangelicals" is a great mystery to me.

If Donald Trump wins the nomination, and with great hope I still use the word "if," he'd best shout out a big thank you to Fox.  He doesn't need to spend a dime of his own money, Fox has carried the campaign for him.  And, they are hardly liberally media!

[Dan Fienen]

Donald Trump has been compared to Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series.  I think that a better comparison would be to Dudley Dursley, the school yard bully who gather a coterie of admirers to egg him on and with an outsized ego and vast sense of entitlement.