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I hesitate to put a number to it, since it is increasing so rapidly, but more than 400,000 people, in the UK, have petitioned the UK government to ban GOP hopeful Donald Trump, from visiting the UK.
The cause is said to be his statements that America should ban all Muslims from entering the country. It seems that many people find Trump’s views as undemocratic, and unworthy of the American ideals of free speech etc.
So the solution is, to show the value that the British put on free speech by banning Donald Trump’s right to free speech. Funny old world!
I don’t particularly like Donald Trump and find his brand of politics is just ‘Mr Angry with a loud voice’ but he has undoubtedly struck a chord with many Americans. So far, with Trump, all we have really heard are sound bites, particularly around immigration and latterly concerning Daesh and Muslims.
You might think his views are obnoxious but he has the right to say them.
If British people want to petition the UK Government, why not do so in opposition to the UK Government allowing Islamic terrorists, who have fought for Daesh, in Syria and Iraq, back into the UK? Why not petition the UK Government to ban the hate preacher Anjem Choudary? Why not shut-down Finsbury Park mosque and some of the other radical mosques? Why not ban the wearing of the burka? These are subjects worthy of a petition. Donald Trump’s right to free speech, isn’t.
My major concern with Trump is with his egotism and over-confidence in his own self-belief. Trump is running as a candidate for the Republican nomination. It is well known that he is very wealthy but I have a fear that he is anti-democratic. The Donald, as he styles himself, doesn’t do humble and doesn’t think he has to listen to the people who he professes to want to serve. If the Republican voters, in the various primary elections decide to reject Trump and plump for another candidate, it is my strong expectation that Trump will cry foul and then decide to run as an independent. This would then make, the Democrat front-runner, the highly ethically-dodgy Hillary Clinton, a shoo-in for the Presidency.
The questions that I believe should be asked of Donald Trump are these:
If, following the Primary Elections, you do not have sufficient delegates to secure the Republican nomination, will you accept the result of the National Convention and publicly and privately endorse the chosen candidate?
Will you now state, that there are no circumstances, none (as in zero, nada, nil) under which you would run as an independent third party candidate and thus split the Republican vote.
If you get the chance, ask Mr Trump these questions, and keep asking them.
Part of Mr Trump’s appeal is his supposed straight talking and his not being part of the Washington insider gang. He is not one of ‘them’. Reading around the subject of Donald Trump, we do find though that he has, himself, flip-flopped on policy and political allegiance, in the past. One would hope, that if he did answer on the record, the above questions, he would do so honestly and would then honour his responses. That he wouldn’t, like we usually find with Washington politicians, say one thing and do something different and then justify it with mealy-mouthed excuses. Is Mr Trump up to the challenge?
As said earlier, there is far too little policy meat on the carcass to allow one to back Trump. I am not an American voter, so couldn’t vote for him nor would I if I had the chance. Making America Great again, is a catchy slogan but how? That is the question. How will Trump tackle the ever ballooning deficit and debt that has been run-up by the Obama administration and the Congress? The American National Debt has doubled, under Obama, to $17 trillion! I was going to write that out with 17 followed by a series of 000s but I am not entirely sure I know how many or if they would all fit on one line!
America’s biggest problems are on the domestic scene.
America’s economy is, in my view, stuttering. The jobless figures are flattered by people leaving the jobs market, altogether – people taking early retirement, because they see no prospect of getting a job, young women taking the career break now, to have children because they see no prospect of a job, etc., etc.. It is going to take much more than building a wall across the southern frontier to get America’s economy moving. It has been bloated by fake money – Quantitative Easing, to you and I – for far too long. Interest rates are far too low, though if now raised, would likely lead to other pain for ordinary Americans. These ordinary Americans have taken their cue from the US government (successive ones of both hues) and keep on kicking the debt can, down the road. If Americans want to understand why they are losing jobs overseas and power and prestige on the World’s stage it is because the once mighty US Dollar has become and continues to become devalued and weak. That weakness is currently hidden within an overall weak global picture, but it is there!
The Obama administration has been obsessed with changing America. Pushing ever more changes to the definition of marriage, to the education of future generations and a whole other raft of politically liberal, minority issues, which pull apart the weave in the tapestry that made America what it is.
Making America great again – on the international front – wouldn’t be too difficult. It would require just about a 180 degree shift in policy but that shouldn’t be above an incoming President. It would require recognition that international terrorism is the greatest threat to America (and the World). It would require that radical Islam is identified as the founding father of international terrorism. No radical Islam would largely mean an end to international terrorism. It would require that the new administration recognise it has sorely tested the patience and allegiance of its allies. In the Middle East, America should be backing Israel, should be actively against Iran and Saudi Arabia, should rein in and make clear its opposition to the potentially genocidal Erdogan of Turkey.
Militarily, America should be prepared to intervene, and that has to mean ‘boots on the ground’. Failed states like Libya and Syria need a global policeman to come in and ‘bang a few heads together’ and to restore a semblance of order. Maybe such countries aren’t ready or right for democracy, maybe a strong man, who is not anti-West is what is needed, rather than a focus on women’s issues and climate change, when it comes to nation building.
We’re just not hearing, from Donald Trump, what he would do!
So long as Texas Senator, Ted Cruz, has the funding to stay the course, he will be up against Donald Trump. Cruz also isn’t an ‘establishment’ candidate but he is consistent and consistently right on the issues that face America. I suppose it is too much to ask that the also rans – Rubio, Bush, etc., depart the stage before Iowa and New Hampshire but they should do so, as soon as possible. Republicans need to be united behind a candidate. That candidate should be Ted Cruz!
