Quote:
Originally Posted by zeek
I respect that. You'll be able to hold your head up high when the **** goes down. But, my passion is to stop Trump. I hate bullies.
|
Reminded of the contrast between TR and LBJ. TR talked about "walking softly but carrying a big stick". One beloved story was when he was in the Badlands. He went into a bar late one night, and was confronted with a bully, holding two pistols in his hands and threatening TR (who wore glasses), bullying him into paying for a round for the whole bar. TR said "if I must then I guess I must", stood up and knocked the bully out. As he hit the ground he fired off a couple of rounds. He then took the guns away from him.
Compare that with LBJ. Students at college knew him and said he would act very tough, threatening and bullying. But when confronted he literally jumped on his bed with his legs out kicking and screaming. He was an incredible coward.
My feeling is this: if Clinton is elected things will continue as they are. Taxes will not go up very much, National debt will not skyrocket, ISIS and the relations with Russia will get worse. Obamacare will also be a catastrophe. Behind the scenes corruption will go wild as the election will be seen as carte blanche.
If Trump is elected it will be an international humiliation with someone who is a jerk, insulting very many people, tweeting at 3 am, being played like a fiddle by the Russians and Chinese. A giant boondoggle will be started as he builds the wall he has promised. There will be new tax dodges created to help Trump get another 20 years of tax free living. He will renegotiate many treaties and I have no idea if that will be a total catastrophe or if he can actually get a better treaty, I would say it will be a crap shoot. This is a guy who focuses on golf courses, casinos and fancy resorts. Best case scenario the entire line that he doesn't have the temperament to be the one with the finger on the nuclear button will have merely been worrying in vain.
But either way I think the ultimate goal is to reform the political process. TR was one of the first to warn about the dangers of corporate trusts, collusion, and their involvement in the political process. At the time many felt that business interests naturally align with political interests so it was fine for the two to be closely allied. If Trump is elected I think the movement towards reform will be much greater. If Clinton is, it is more like termites eating out the foundation of the house. We might not really notice that much until our foot goes through the floorboards.
It was LBJ that completely and totally sold his soul. Today we associate LBJ with civil rights reform, but at the time of his being chosen to be VP you couldn't pin him down to any particular policies. He didn't stand for anything except winning elections.