Third-Party Candidates

Rich Galen / Townhall Columnist

 

An A-1 story in Sunday’s Washington Post examined the frenzied activity surrounding what appears to be a diminishing number of Republican Party insiders to find and fund a candidate to run as an independent for President this Fall.

 

The lede by Post reportersPhilip Rucker and Robert Costa read:

“A band of exasperated Republicans — including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a handful of veteran consultants and members of the conservative intelligentsia — is actively plotting to draft an independent presidential candidate who could keep Donald Trump from the White House.”

As you are all too aware, I am most assuredly not a member of the “conservative intelligentsia.” I am neither that smart nor that conservative.

It is almost impossible to see how, at this late date, a citizen can be plucked out of the 323.5 million people who live in the United States who meets the Constitutional requirements (natural born at least 35 years ago, and a resident of the U.S. for at least 14 years) and can demonstrate the excitement, ideas, and philosophy that will allow him or her to win enough states to generate 270 electoral votes.

Alternatively, as the article points out, you might be able to find someone who can win just enough states to keep either of the two major party candidates from reaching the magic 270 votes.

Democrats introduce bill to oppose Trump’s proposed Muslim immigration ban
By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

“Beyer said the legislation is an attempt to ‘appeal to hope rather than fear.'” In our pusillanimous and puerile age, “fear” is not just a weakness of character, but a moral flaw: if you fear being beheaded or blown up by Islamic jihadists, you’re an evil person. And to be sure, fear is never to […]
 
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Texas Game Wardens Just Issued Nuclear Radiation Detectors

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

Obama says, “we’re fortunate to be living in the ‘most peaceful’ era in human history.”
Mad or evil? The latter.

Open borders = nuclear radiation detectors.

“Why Were Texas Game Wardens Just Issued Nuclear Radiation Detectors?” by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, 05/13/2016:

After countless reports about the potential for nuclear or radioactive weapons of mass destruction being smuggled into the United States, the State of Texas is has begun to take the threat seriously.

Via Houston Public Media:

Up and down the Texas Gulf Coast, the state’s game wardens are on the water, looking for people fishing or hunting illegally. But as we’ve reported, they sometimes come across things like illegal chemical...

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Trump’s “John Miller” Con…Exposed

By Craig Andresen Right Side Patriots http://www.americanpbn.com/

 

Back in 1991, Donald J. Trump was giving interviews to magazines and newspapers. That in and of itself, is not surprising. But he was giving those interviews, not as Donald J. Trump…but as Donald Trump’s PR spokesman…John Miller.

In fact, in a court case in 1990, Trump admitted, under oath, that he sometimes posed as John Miller or John Baron…concocted PR representatives for himself.

Add to that, the fact that Trump, as Miller, once gave an interview to People magazine where he said some rather off-the-cuff things regarding Marla Maples and Carla Bruni. The reporter, suspecting that she had, in fact, been talking to Trump himself, played that recorded interview FOR Maples and she IDENTIFIED the voice on the tape AS Donald Trump.

Now, fast forward 25 years, to just a day or two ago, when in a telephone interview on the Today Show, when confronted with the leaked tape of the Miller interview…Trump claimed it WASN’T him and he didn’t even know a thing ABOUT this John Miller thing.

“No, I don’t think it — I don’t know anything about it. You’re telling me about it for the first time and it doesn’t sound like my voice at all. I have many, many people that are trying to imitate my voice and then you can imagine that, and this sounds like one of the scams, one of the many scams — doesn’t sound like me.”

Trump then continued…

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Op-ed:
Making Good Deals...I Don't Think So
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on http://americanpbn.com/

“I mean this is a guy that’s taken Trump airlines bankrupt, Trump vodka, nobody wanted it, Trump mortgage, was a disaster, Trump university was a fraud.”
- Former presidential candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, on the truth about Donald Trump's business record

Well isn't this interesting...Donald Trump refuses to release his tax returns before the November election...that is if he does in the end secure the nomination.

"There's nothing to learn from them," Trump keeps claiming as he says we voters have no interest in seeing them...which by the way is not true as I and countless others would like to see all the information pertaining to his bankruptcies and failed business ventures he is so desperately trying to hide. Using the excuse that because he is currently in the middle of an audit he has to withhold this information for now, tax experts rightfully question what his logic is on this. So now I ask what about previous returns prior to this current one if that's the only one Trump is so concerned about...why can't we see those...just saying.

And as he always does, Trump has again successfully 'played' the low-information voter no matter the facts presented to them...as witnessed by how fast they forget Trump's nationally televised promise made last October to release his tax returns...going back quite a few years in fact...once Hillary released her emails... which she has done even though we don't like the as expected traitorous actions that they showed. And to add to Trump's calculatingly deceptive action, Hillary already has online 15 years of her tax returns for anyone who cares to peruse them.

And know that candidates releasing their tax returns is not something new just to target, trap, and deny Trump the nomination as his Trumpers so love to claim...as presidential candidates from both parties have been releasing said returns since 1976. In fact, in 2012, Trump urged a hesitant Mitt Romney to release his tax returns before gaining his endorsement...which he did. And now Trump's urging has come full-circle.

So the question remains why is Trump hemming-and-hawing over releasing said returns...it really is quite simple as, I believe, Donald J. Trump is not worth the $10+ billions he claims he is nor does he want the public to know about his many business failures...failures beyond the well-publicized and now well-known Trump University, Trump Vodka, and Trump Airlines...failures like Trump Steaks, Trump Ice, Trump Banquet and Catering, Trump Casinos, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Radio, Trump.com, Trump Broadcasting, Trump Mortgage, Trump Tower Tampa, just to name a few...a few that failed within a mere year or two.

Remember, Trump has been bloviating for almost a year now about what "good deals" he'll make for America...how he'll bring jobs back to America... but how can Trump make "good deals" for our country when his successes involve real estate deals...luxury real estate deals...deals to pad his pockets alone and last time I checked America does not go around buying up foreign real estate...like the Chinese and the Saudis do.

Also know that the business of government is a vastly different animal than Trump's private sector business ventures. And if truth be told government should not be thought of as a business per se no matter what many think for truly successful business people know that the government is strictly an entity of control over 'We the People' and as such manufactures nothing tangible. And they also know that the greatest obstacle to a truly successful private business is the very political nature of government itself.

And while many do think government should be run like a business an equal number think not, but either way there remains major differences between the two no matter one's line of thinking. First, the most important difference is that private sector business...which is Trump's 'supposed' area of expertise...is based solely upon market-driven competition with profit as its prime objective, while the so-called business of government is most times what's referred to by many leading economists as a 'legislated monopoly'...meaning it's workings are boggled down in restrictions due to laws, regulations, and set in stone policies that can prevent sometimes necessary actions from being implemented in a timely manner.

Case in point, in private business increasing the revenue bottom line requires selling more products and/or services...meaning putting money into said business with the intention of yielding a profitable return. However, in government, increasing revenue means increasing taxes on 'We the People' and/or on businesses and corporations. In the private business sector spending cuts means the obvious...cutting spending as in cardinal rule of economics 101...do not spend more than you take in. In government it seems to mean nothing is as it should be as spending cuts means freezing or just marginally reducing the rate of increase in spending...spending our taxpayer dollars that is...with no concern for 'value, return, or improvement in productivity.'

And Trump's not understanding this major difference can be witnessed by his wanting to place higher tariffs (in other words 'taxes') on foreign goods entering our country...which in turn will start a trade war...a very bad scenario for both the business of the government and for the consumer as 'Made in America' goods will rise in price along with their foreign counterparts. So much for 'free market' enterprise.

Also, Trump seems to forget that government budget constraints allow for little flexibility, meaning he can and most likely will run out of budget designated monies...as in our taxpayer dollars...long before he gets anything he says he'll do done. And who gets punished from these actions... predominately the struggling middle class who tax-wise have already been monetarily bled dry by the government.

And why...because as the economy and business conditions change...as they move forward two steps and then back one step...Trump has forgotten that the best outcome as far as trade deals are concerned is when both the buyer and the seller reach a mutually beneficial agreement not when there is one clear winner and one clear loser. Again, why is this...because in a national or in a global economy certain happenings are impossible to control through any sort of deal...happenings like inflation and unemployment rates.

For example, in the private sector you have more flexibility...as in options and time...to respond to economic changes accordingly whether that flexibility is for the betterment of said business or not...as in you can transfer...paper shift actually...monies from one budget line-item to another at the business owners whim. This is something you cannot do when it comes to the 'so-called' business of government...a business mired down in not only regulations and policies, but in set-in-stone earmarks where monies must stay where they were designated to go from the beginning...because if government laws are broken those caught in transferring even one bloody dime of said earmark can land one in jail.

And while you can try to fight 'big' government as Trump claims he is doing but isn't, in the end the government not private sector business always wins as said laws, regulations, and policies, become walls made of differences that even Trump cannot cross when it comes to government spending.

And almost as important as the prime difference cited above concerns the actual management of monies in the private business sector vs. the 'so-called' business of government. Remember, the business of government is not profit-driven like private businesses are, because the government does not have a profit level to reach, maintain, or increase...something that's critical in the private business sector if a business is to survive its competition. In fact, according to an article by Jerry Shenk for The National Review, "according to government officials themselves, one can scarcely make a distinction between government and business or between elected officials and business people. But in the real world, little is shared by the two other than an interest in special deals for special business interests and the return of campaign contributions from business owners and executives to incumbents."

And this description fits Donald J. Trump to a tee for in Trump's little world of ego-driven narcissistic special deals that serve his private business interests alone...special interests serving the Trump empire's all-important bottom line...meaning nothing Trump does or attempts to do as president will increase his personal business coffers. Therefore, he must vacillate, flip-flop, and just plain lie if that's what it takes to make him 'appear' to have won in regards to the business of government.

Forgetting a reality check that no political leader, not even the president, yields the kind of power or authority corporate heads do...as in the ability to hire and fire people based upon job performance whether good or bad, real or perceived; to pay bonuses to give incentives to underlings; and to promote or even demote people at their discretion alone...Trump would become not the consummate negotiator he claims to be, but a man caught up in the very bureaucracy and red tape he claims to hate. Remember, a sitting president would have to convince others to do his bidding for commanding is the stuff of dictators and kings...executive orders not withstanding.

The stuff of dictators and kings, but then again maybe that's what Donald J. Trump sees himself as for in no way do I believe that Trump will voluntarily downsize the powers or authority he yields in his private business dealings to accept that his powers and his authority as president...thanks to our system of checks and balances...would be greatly limited. His ego coupled with his quest to be 'the boss' of everything won't let him and that is something he has made clear time and again in how he loves to pat himself on the back every chance he gets...after all he always says he's smarter and richer than almost anyone else.

Talk about the ultimate in arrogance...kind of makes Obama's actions as the media anointed 'savior of us all' seem like deceit-lite.

So as Donald J. Trump's arrogance is in the forefront for all to see by his refusal to make public his tax returns...something all other candidates have done... one really has to wonder if what he's obviously hiding would expose not only his many failed business ventures but his lack of understanding the intricacies of government business as well, allowing all to see that the man who claims he's the consummate businessman who would make "good deals" for America is really as incompetent to steward America's ship as is one Barack HUSSEIN Obama....as is one Hillary Rodham Clinton or one Bernie Sanders.