Trump’s Election Victory

Trump’s Election Victory

My well-meaning, if mis-guided liberal/progressive friends & family have my sympathy at what I’m sure they feel is a loss that impinges on their very cultural being. Trump must seem like the antithesis of many closely and dearly held, liberal beliefs and tenets.  Somewhat like conservatives felt with the election of Barrack Obama, but worse, because Trump attacked the very core of the political establishment, singlehandedly, and won using his own intelligence and personality, and inimitable ways, and not using, to any extent, a political party machine.  He is not Liberal or Conservative. He is Pro-America, and anti-establishment.  Liberals hate him.  Conservatives hate him.  Americans love him.  God bless America!

I predicted when I saw him walking down that escalator in mid 2015, that he would win the Republican nomination, and then go on to win the presidency.  Not because I particularly like the man, but because I knew that he did not undertake anything in life without a strong chance of winning, After 30 years of “neon Trump” during my main career in NYC, I liked his business acumen and daring, but disliked his braggadocio and elaborate life style.

It was also evident to me that there existed a strong anti-establishment sentiment in the western world that was railing against the elitism, socialism, secularism and erosion of morals and ethics that had become inherent in Europe and the U.S.. Trump obviously saw the same in our country exemplified by the Obama and potential Hillary Clinton administrations. He attacked these with a fervor, using techniques never before seen in our politics. Who can forget the name calling, ridicule and other antics of the nomination campaign? It kept him in the news, though, and on everyone’s mind. That was the reason for his antics.

Brexit in June of 2016 should have been a wake up call to the political establishment of this country.  England’s population is smaller than ours, but there are similarities and analogues there.  Brexit symbolized this opposition of a the majority of a nation against these same establishment elitists represented by the EU and the “united Europe” movement,  The blokes in Liverpool and Birmingham and Manchester said “up yours!”, London.  Some took it as an example of what Trump was talking about in this country.  Many more should have.

Many people felt that this country needed a reset from the doctrines of Obama, the Clintons and the ruling liberals of the last eight years.  We sure got that reset with Trump’s victory November 8^th.  Too bad Ol’ Blue Eyes is gone. If anyone ever deserved the songs “I Did It My Way”, or “New York, New York”, Donald Trump certainly does.  He won his own way, against all opposition, against all odds, against all efforts to cast him as a bigot and a misogynist, and in spite of continued “mal mots” that flowed from him during the whole campaign, or better said, during the movement. 

How could this New York billionaire and TV personality win in the rust belt with poor and disenfranchised blue collar workers?  Or with educated white collar career types?  Or among blacks and latinos and women in sufficient numbers to make a difference?   Because he resonated with the regular, honest Americans in this country, across the board, that the establishment in Washington and in the media are liars, and care more for themselves than in the people they profess to hold in such high regard. This is what Trump capitalized on, and what the people voted on – the blatant dishonesty and hypocrisy of the so called elite. The vote was not anti-Democrat or anti-Republican.  It was anti-corruption and anti-duplicity and anti-cynicism coached in glowing progressive rhetoric. To be Trump-like, the vote was anti-bullshit.

Now we have anti-Trump street demonstrations claiming that Hillary won the popular vote.  She did, by some 200,000 votes, but only because she had a plurality of 2,500,000 votes in late reporting California.  The math speaks for itself.  Trump easily won the popular vote if one sets aside the People’s Republic of California.  Hopefully the protests will be brief and peaceful.  We all certainly have the right to peaceable protests.

Hopefully also, the transition to a Trump administration in January, 2017 will be smooth and follow our democratic principles, as expressed by Trump in his acceptance speech, by Hillary’s graceful concession speech and by President Obama’s comments congratulating Trump.

Ray Gruszecki

November 8, 2016

Trump, Republicans, The Media

Recent accusations against Donald Trump concerning past sexual activities, and his vehement denials have resulted in lower and lower poll numbers in the 7 or 8 so called battleground states, those states he needs to win to get anywhere near the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency.  The campaign has degenerated into concerted media attacks on Trump and his belligerent responses to the biased media.  The topics have become whether Trump kissed and groped various starlets in the past, rather than trade, terrorism, jobs, the economy and the Clintons’ past criminal proclivities

Trump was a businessman, and an entertainer, and yea, a playboy in the mold of what that meant in the 60’s and 70’s.  Off color speech, kissing and groping seem to be the worst of the worst that he has been accused of.  In this time of political correctness, no one condones such forward actions toward women and the braggadocio surrounding such activities.  However they do not make Trump the devil incarnate as espoused by the NYT and Michelle Obama and others of their political ilk.

We have heard Trump’s sophomoric comments about the easy access of women in the entertainment business on a You Tube clip released by NBC as an obviously pro-Clinton “October surprise”, and to detract from real content – the emails that Julian Assange released at the same time.  Several women from his past have also, suddenly this October, accused him of “kissing and groping”.  Not rape.  Nothing he has been legally accused of – “kissing and groping” are his unpardonable sins.

I cannot continue in good faith without referencing the hypocrisy around this topic vis-à-vis both Clintons.  It has been well established over 50 years that Bill Clinton has been a sexual predator that has assaulted and raped numerous women, not only “kissed and groped.  Hillary has indeed “stood by her man”, or by her accomplice, by threatening and persecuting these same victims.  What unmitigated cynicism and disregard of moral principles (and the law)!  This is only one example of moral, ethical and legal infractions.  There are many, and the allegations against Trump, even if they are true, being brought out by the Clinton campaign this late in the election, literally pale by comparison.

Not to say that Trump is some model citizen.  Not being a politician for most of his life, and forged in the crucible, first of privilege in New York City society, then of the rough world of New York real estate development and construction, and then of Hollywood and the reality shows, one can hardly expect him to be a model of behavior and decorum.  He is rough and tumble, brash and lewd – and he has seized upon these characteristics as part of his public persona.  His private life, as evidenced by his offspring seems to be another story.

His movement is comprised of working Americans; not just Larry the Cable Guy types, but also honest, straightforward and proud Americans who are fed up with the political correctness and ineptitude and inactivity which have made our country nearly laughable at home and abroad.  They are not upset, like some liberal elitists purport to be, when someone, in a locker room and Hollywood oriented environment says “pussy” and does not refer to their cat. (In fact sometimes the reference is to the president and his minions).  They have heard it all and seen it all in their normal work environments, whether in the business towers of Manhattan, or on our jobs, or in our schools, or in graphic TV programming that we Americans are assaulted with every night (and not only by CNN, the Clinton News Network), but by our TV programming in general.  What we experience in the work place or see on TV is certainly as bad, and sometimes much worse than anything that Trump has said or done, notwithstanding Michelle Obama’s attempts to demonize him, and to make him the poster boy for true evil in our society.

We don’t have to watch TV, and some of us don’t.  Personally, I do not watch reality shows, I do not need to live vicariously in a fictional world.  I do watch other TV, much of it from Europe.  I feel that I need to keep up with the times.  (Although I do not watch commercials, so I feel like I’m missing some small part of Americana).  The content of our U.S. TV programming is not much removed from Trump’s trailer comments or his “kissing and groping”, if any.

It is also conveniently forgotten or just not acknowledged by our terribly biased media, that historically, the Republican Party are the ones who freed the black Americans and then later enfranchised them.  The Republicans also enfranchised women early last century.  Don’t take my word, research the votes by Congress and the States on these topics.  See below. Yet Republicans are made by the liberal elitists to be the bad guys.  Ask anyone who truly freed and enfranchised the slaves, and enfranchised women.  I’ll bet the response you get are “the Democrats”.  Thank you, CNN, ABC, NBC, NYT, Time Mag and all you biased left wing media!

The ferocious and vituperative barrage against Trump and his movement by the media in this country is way beyond the pale.  I understand that it is meant to mask the Clinton disregard of the law over the years, and I understand that this is payback for Trump’s posture of not adhering to the “good old boy” backroom politician’s and media diktats, but it has to be obvious to any thinking voter that this constitutes a gross violation of media ethics.  Trump and his followers at rallies are lashing back at the media bias and dishonesty.

After reading Dinesh D’Souza’s “Hillary’s America”, my first reaction was that it blamed the Democrats for all of the ills perpetrated on the country for the last 250 years.  It was clearly biased!  But in retrospect, it was not any more biased than CNN or MSNBC or the New York Times when “reporting” on Trump. IMHO, we need a Dinesh D’Souza to shake up our political thinking, and we need a Donald Trump to reset our government.

Trump is not a model citizen, nor a model candidate.  If I am going to condemn him for anything, it is how he continues to drag the campaign and the party, to unforeseen depths.  Shut up Donald!!  He just has to fight every accusation, no matter how absurd and inconsequential, and bring the campaign to depths never before seen.  Concentrate on the current issues and on traditional Republican values, like support for women and support for blacks - supports that have been co-opted by the liberal elitists in spite of the historical record, - a strong economy,  pragmatic trade, immigration, law and order and anti-terrorist policies.

To the liberal or progressive elitist, and to the millennial, schooled in the same vein, Republicans are the bad guys when it comes to racial equality or women’s rights.  Not true in history.  This is only a sad fantasy in minds that have been turned by lies and untrue rhetoric.  Some links:

 Democrats. Republicans and women’s rights:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/09/15/carly-fiorinas-claim-that-the-gop-is-the-party-of-womens-suffrage/

http://spectator.org/35608_republicans-and-womens-rights-brief-reality-check/

Democrats, Republicans and slavery”

http://russp.us/racism.htm

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/08/democrats_slavery_and_the_american_record.html

Back to Trump.  I don’t like him, but I despise the other side more because of their crimes and their contempt for decency and the law.  Unfortunately the weight of the opposition stacked against him, particularly the media and, including some in his own party, does not bode well for Trump and the Republican Party at this point.  Pity our Republic under the corrupt and lawless Clinton machine, who have committed such egregious and cynical crimes, and more, in the past.

Ray Gruszecki

October 14, 2016

Trump's Audio Tape Issues

I’m inclined to write when I observe what I consider to be abuses or aberrations in thought and action on various topics.  I normally hang with professors and philosophers and scientists, and our arguments are of a more esoteric nature.  However, my origins are humble, and I have lived a long time, and in many venues.

The latest item that I feel has veered completely out of balance concerns the unbelievable uproar in the country over some private comments of an explicit nature that Donald Trump made over ten years ago in a sexually oriented Hollywood environment. We are ready to disenfranchise this abusive individual, revoke his candidacy and revile his very standing in our community.  He has been attacked by pundits, politicians, newspapers, actors and actresses and nearly all people that temper our opinions in the country. 

He has been made to be a truly evil man, and his evil far outweighs his opponents small peccadillos, - four dead Americans in Benghazi, 33,000 destroyed emails, Clinton cash, lucrative deals with Wall Street bankers, abetting sexual abuses by spouse and then attacking the victims, inveterate opportunism and cynicism, and on and on and on.  But the Donald’s transgressions by virtue of his audio comments of ten years ago are far more egregious.  So the elitist opinion makers have decreed.

Has anyone actually listened to what Trump said?  I sought the whole episode out on Youtube to hear for myself the horrors said to have been perpetrated on our daughters and wives and womankind in general.  What I heard were some sophomoric comments about the ease with which women in the entertainment business could be approached by someone who was wealthy and had sexual smarts.  The language was in the vernacular, but I did not hear solicitations to the devil or other dark powers.  I just heard some stupid locker room braggadocio that most of us males had heard in the past in one form or another.  (And I’m sure similar is heard in female locker rooms , as well).

Yet the brouhaha caused by this private citizen’s inappropriate comments ten years ago have the country in an uproar.  Why?  Could it be that the same biased media that has run rampant with other Trump mal mots and faux pas has set out to really put it to him this time?  Attempts to do so in the past have never worked for very long.

Trump will not play CNN’s or NYT’s or Hollywood’s or even Fox’ games, so polls and “who won the debate” numbers have less meaning than in a normal election.  And he certainly has provided a lot of ammunition himself for the liberal elites to attack him.  However, the Trump candidacy is a movement, and he has a following that cares not what is stacked against him by the opposition.  They have heard it all before, including crude boyish reference to body parts in this 10 year old audio tape.  They are still with him.

Having said all that, the constant and ferocious attacks by the politically correct liberal elitists of various stripes cannot fail to erode some of Trump’s support in even the few flyover swing states that Trump needs to get his 270.

I am not a big Trump supporter, but the alternative is anathema to me.  The country needs a reset.  Unfortunately it may be Trump, with his controversial personality.  Let’s hope he hires the right people, like Reagan did.

Ray Gruszecki

October 9, 2016

Trump Way Behind in the Polls (Or is He?)

Why does Trump continue to do it?  Why can’t he keep his mouth shut?  Does he not see that the latest polls show that Clinton is 10 points up on him?  Does he not hear the administration and the talking heads revile him and his pronouncements and pontificate that he is unfit to lead the country responsibly?  Why does he continue to generate such controversy nearly every day?  Is he that stupid to take on all comers, including his own party?

Like a fox, ladies and gentlemen, like a fox!  His constituency is not a political party – it is a populist movement.  His rallies continue to be SRO with attendance from all across the political spectrum, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, etc.  His diatribes are not aimed at conventional Acela or Chicago or Left Coast types (who primarily do the polls).  They are aimed at neglected, forgotten Middle Americans who are struggling economically, who are alarmed at the terrorist inspired violence in the world and who are sick and tired of a do-nothing government that values political correctness over any kind of positive action. 

Trump is a “media master”.  He knows exactly what he is doing.  He is keeping the media and the talking heads in a turmoil.  His face and his words are in front of all of us nearly as often as the Young Obama at his best in 2003-04.  His base constituency could care less about his outbreaks,  He is “their man” - the political outsider who is going to fix things.

This political movement comprising Trump backers has not drunk the Obama and Clinton Koolaid.  They see the Clintons for what they are – lying, lawbreaking corrupt, cynical Democratic machine politicians, who have lined their own pockets at the expense of the people they are supposed to represent.  These Trump supporters are not too enamored with politicians in general, and that’s why Trump, a non- politician outsider is like a breath of fresh air to them.

But what about the polls – can Trump possibly win, 10 points behind in the Fox poll, and way behind with women, blacks and Hispanics in myriad other polls?  Again, analysis along “normal” political lines seems not to be feasible in this type of populist environment.  Also, polling results can’t fail to be skewed along the biased lines of the media in the country, which inexorably leans to the left and presents polling results which are as distorted as their “news coverage” of the candidates.

The above notwithstanding, our electoral college system leaves only a few states which are truly in play during an election, so polling results which include unchangeable states like California, Illinois, and the Northeastern states really are not pertinent.  So what if 80 percent of some elective group in California shows against Trump in a poll.  California is locked in as Democrat, anyway, in so far as the electoral college is concerned.

A liberal university has smugly predicted that Clinton will “blow away” Trump in the general election by 343 electoral votes to 191.  Their map shows all of the states truly in play as going tor Clinton.  A quick spreadsheet analysis shows that a swing of just four of these “flyover” states would give an electoral college win to Trump.  Where is Trump’s main strength?  In the “flyover” states,  The polls and comments from the talking heads at this stage of the election process are next to meaningless, particularly in this populist driven election.

Ray Gruszecki,  August 6, 2016

SHAPE UP AMERICA!

I wrote the following after landing at O’Hare in Chicago after a flight from Ankara, Turkey in June, 2014.  It is pertinent now in light of recent dialogue about the poor condition of the infrastructure (including airports) in our country.  Unfortunately, the “young people in slovenly dress sprawled in walkway areas”, would most likely be originally Bernie supporters, and now Hillary supporters.  Not to paint all millennials with the same brush, but so many young people these days expect entitlements without working for them, as if these entitlements just appeared out of thin air.  Free college, $15/hr minimum wage, forgiveness of college debts, jobs appearing out of nowhere or from government largesse – and on and on.   Written in June, 2014 “As many of you know from my Facebook posts, I just returned from where I have been have travelling in Turkey for several weeks. It was great trip. I primarily went to see the antiquities that are replete in Turkey. I found much more. I expected a somewhat backward, laid back Moslem country. What I found is a proud, dynamic, vigorous secular country of “can do” people. Does that remind one of something? Maybe like our own USA in the first half of the 20th century? I did not see any Turks looking for a handout, or for unearned “entitlements”. I saw people actively working - at whatever level, from trash pickup, to service workers, to the professional classes. In Antalya we were surprised to hear a garbage truck playing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” while the men worked. The workers waved in happy, non-contrived, fashion. Long flight airports are always challenging. The airline carriers on my international flights (Germany/Turkey) were efficient, on time, with good service. Airports were clean and well appointed. I came into the USA via O’Hare in Chicago. I thought that I was in a third world country in the ‘60’s. Young people in slovenly dress sprawled in walkway areas, eating, drinking, etc. “Chaotic” does not even begin to describe the scene. I love the USA and I am saddened when I see lack of responsibility and selfishness erode the principles that made our country the greatest in the world. It really brings it home when I see a country like Turkey exhibiting the values that made our country great, while we Americans don’t seem to give a damn. Can we not instill some pride in our bearing? In our work ethic? In our identity as Americans in this greatest country on earth? I realize that using specific incidents to postulate conclusions is not intellectually fair, but these comments are a culmination of observations over a period of time. A trip like this to a foreign country is a juncture which allows highlighting our seeming erosion of values. SHAPE UP AMERICA! Starting in Washington.” I have been to East Europe, Turkey, China and Spain in the last three years.  All but China have deteriorated and have become prone to almost daily violence due primarily the actions of the the Daesh caliphate and to the migration crisis from the Middle East and Africa.  China’s technocratic rulers plot a separate course for their 1,400,000,000 people and represent another form of long term threat.  But the Western “Democracies”, including our own country, are hurting from too much micro management, too much political correctness, too much talk, and not enough action.  Some of our leaders will not even name Islamic Terrorism by name. And the reactions are not pretty to see, either.  Euroskeptic parties from both right and left are gaining strength in Europe.  Hungary and Poland are already virtually Neo-Fascist in nature.  Brexit is a reality.  Donald Trump is running a populist campaign along similar lines of dissatisfaction and will probably win the U.S. presidency.  The consensus of over 820+ million people in the U.S. and E.U. is that we cannot continue to tolerate the violence which claims innocent lives nearly every day, and which is inspired primarily by Islamic radicals.  We cannot continue to talk about it in “politically correct” terms, and to claim, as the current U.S. administration does, that “there is no problem, the crime rates are down”.  The people in the western world, not just “Larry the Cable Guy types”, but a broad range of people across all social and intellectual lines, are demanding change, and a return to actual government, not the lip service, corruption, dishonesty and political correctness that we’ve seen in recent times. A return to stronger governments and nationalism, while soothing to the dissatisfied mind, obviously can be dangerous.  Chants of “demagoguery, Fascism, racism” are already bandied about by the biased U.S. media.  Thankfully the checks and balances embedded in our U.S. system should allay abuses from any one segment of government.  Hopefully our European friends will react in a similar responsible fashion. The civilized world needs to defeat the corrosive Islamic radicalism (Daesh or ISIS), which threatens to push the world back to the 7th century.  We need to come to grips with governments where nuclear weapons are incipient, that try to keep their populations in the 11th century.  We also need to find realistic and humanitarian solutions for the world’s migration and immigration problems.  We need to somehow accommodate the millions of human refugees that have resulted from recent military and social disruptions. All of the above requires action.  Not talk, not political correctness.  Intelligent, pragmatic, decisive action.