From a recent radio interview, reported on by Right Wisconsin:
There’s not a whole lot of difference between the two [Trump and Clinton]. They’ve taken the same positions on TPP, they’re both pro-choice. I don’t see big distinctions between either of them; however, Mr. Trump is quite a bit to the left of where I am philosophically and ideologically.
But I would do my civic duty and I’d vote. But there’s going to be Libertarian candidates, Constitution Party candidates. There would be other people that I’d take a look at.
More coverage here from Fox 6.
Trump via antiwar.com: “We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to the Middle East, we’ve done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It’s not like we had victory. It’s a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess.”
Right. So what does Trump propose to do instead? “I’d bomb the hell out of the oil fields,” he said. “I’d then get Exxon, I’d then get these great oil companies to go in — they would rebuild them so fast your head will spin … you ever see how fast they put up rigs? These guys are unbelievable.”
Asked if you’d need U.S. troops to protect the oil companies, Mr. Trump said: “Yes — you put a ring around ‘em. You put a ring — you’ve just taken all of the wealth away. This is what should be done. But no politician’s [going to] do that.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/9/donald-trump-id-bomb-hell-out-oil-fields/
Bombing and sending in troops is a failure; let’s bomb and send in troops. Both antiwar and prowar Republicans can get behind that, and both are; Trump panders to both sides, and both sides hear the part they want to hear. Not just in foreign policy, either.
Sorry that you don’t get it. I don’t have time or inclination to explain it again, but I think my past comments on other threads already did, especially if you follow the links.
Paulie,
What you evaluate as “oneupsmanship temperament” I evaluate differently. He is currently engaged in a contest ending Tuesday, November 8th, 2016. For him to succeed he must defeat his opponents which day by day he has done. He has done so in spite of uniform media criticism.
You and others seem to think that he has ill intent behind his professed positions. My template for such a character is former Arizona Senator Russell Pearce (he lost a portion of a finger to an illegal immigrant while employed as a deputy). It is possible that Trump also has some traumatic event that would have negatively effected his psyche. I haven’t seen it. It is possible that it is there just not visible to me.
There is plenty of power on tap by the US government. I believe that a reasonable person can come to the conclusion that Trump is less likely to misuse power compared to the last four presidents.
Which, again, means nothing, because all of his “positions” are infinitely malleable. The oneupsmanship temperament is far more indicative of whether he would be a war or peace president than any stated positions.
I’ll just mention in passing a segment from antiwar.com on Trump in the last debate. The full quote has some commentary that is critical of his words and actions but I thought some might find it to be worth considering…
“We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to the Middle East, we’ve done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It’s not like we had victory. It’s a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess.”
http://original.antiwar.com/Justin_Pavoni/2015/12/18/the-clash-of-stupidity-republican-debate-part-v/
Look it up yourself. He changes them all the time. It’s not a mater of evolving. His “positions” are just vehicles or tools, to be changed or discarded anytime they are no longer the most advantageous to him. He has a lifelong history with this and I don’t have time to get into it.
Paulie> He’ll say whatever he thinks is advantageous to him at any given point in time, with no regard to anything he said previously.
Many political candidates change their positions. The only question is to the sincerity of the specific change. Has there been a change in a Trump position that you think is notable?
He’ll say whatever he thinks is advantageous to him at any given point in time, with no regard to anything he said previously.
Very good point Paulie. I also should have added that the claim made was relative his ability to push issues into general discussion such as media credibility (and lack of same).
Sadly Donald Trump’s web site is missing any mention of foreign policy. Very sad.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions
Ron Paul sure doesn’t think so.
“Donald Trump is the new Ron Paul.”
I wonder what that league has been smoking?
Not so much.
My personal paraphrase of what a guest on this show says…
“Donald Trump is the new Ron Paul.”
“2015-12-22 Hour 3 Jeff Greenspan, Phranq Tamburri”
https://vimeo.com/149787196
The segment is 2 hours long but I found it to be worth listening to.
“Uncovering the secrets, exposing the lies.” – Ernie Hancock League of Ebulence
And for anyone who hasn’t already seen it, Trump is now having to think two or three times whether he is in favor of having journalists killed and thinks women using the toilet is “absolutely disgusting.” Not that this will help the LP or CP – if the real money ends up walking, they can easily create something like AE, but with a candidate this time, and quite possibly one who could actually win. However, don’t count out Trump or Clinton actually winning under that scenario either, or the other one where Trump is the one to take his ball outside the duopoly sandbox.
Some (very reluctantly given) credit to Scott Walker, too. He made his dropping out a plea against Trump, and while it didn’t have the desired national effect, I think it did here in Wisconsin, of pretty well unifying WisGOP as openly anti-Trump. His poll numbers here are the worst in the nation, and GOP politicos but just as important, talk radio hosts (the real power in WisGOP), have been openly hostile to Trump much moreso and for longer than is typical nationwide or in other states.
A pretty good article about it in the Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/363038801.html
I don’t think it’s a shocker. Ribble has shown himself to be more than just a knee-jerk party drone (which Wisconsinites appreciate) and in a Trump vs. Clinton contest he’s going to vote his convictions not his party which is more than I can say for the other members of the state’s GOP.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pussy-riot-donald-trump-vladimir-putin_56741df9e4b0b958f65644d0?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
Pussy Riot On Trump: We Laughed When Vladimir Putin Rose To Power, Too
If the U.S. wants “a really crazy president” like Putin, vote Trump.
MERRY CHRISTMAS LIBERTARIANS!
A Christmas message from Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate,
Derrick Michael Reid, December 17 2015.
Merry Christmas Libertarians!
The Libertarian Party has many state conventions scheduled for the January-May time period of 2016, that will provide much additional valuable information about the presidential candidates in advance of the May 2016 LP national convention. In advance thereof, Santa brings forth to the Libertarian cause a Christmas present, and that is, a status report. The election season is proceeding very well as expected.
The two pandering political machines are in disarray, in fighting, using their conventional empty pandering, sound bites and spin, as expected, to not only humiliate each other but embarrass themselves, digging their graves of ultimate defeat. From a critical analysis perspective, their leading candidates are atrocious. The Republican Party two front runners consist of a bombastic property mogul and an empty panderer, while the Democrat Party two front runners consist of a pandering criminal and a misguided socialist. Their party candidates are performing exactly as expected, spewing their pander, spin and sound bites, without providing any significant solutions to solving the major systemic problems facing the nation.
These two pandering political machines have mismanaged the affairs of the country resulting in 50m hungry, 100m unemployed, 20T$ debt, national insolvency, staggering trade deficits, rigged markets, fake money, a bastardized Constitution, a destroyed Republic, debased currency, cemented corruption, transferring wealth to the top 1%, decimating the middle class, decimating the manufacturing base, suppressing wages, limiting our liberties and freedoms from government, and engaging is ignoble foreign policies for benefiting profiteering banksters and transnationals, all done by creating a totalitarian socialistic fascist regime in DC, that has enslaved us Americans as tax mules, perpetual debtors and state dependents. It is truly time to throw these pandering incompetent bums out.
With critical awareness, one can readily detect their pander for what it is, and fully explain the deficiencies of their tabled proposals, offering no real solutions at all to the huge problems facing the country. The Republican and Democrat debates are really no such thing, but mere panderbates as political party infomercials. Having a keen eye for detecting pander for what it is, and how proposed plans would be ineffective, their panderbates are simply pathetic, if not comical and farcical.
The stage is set for a Libertarian Party presidential victory, positioning the Libertarian Party as a solid national 3rd party force in US politics as a viable and indispensable choice in the voting booth. A Libertarian Party presidential victory in 2016 is assured over the Republican Party and Democrat Party by 1) pointing out their habitual farcical meaningless pander, 2) their gross mismanagement of the country, 3) their deficient and ineffective plans, and 4) offering libertarian integrated comprehensive and sweeping plans that will solve major systemic problems facing the country, saving the country from social chaos and economic ruination.
My friends, their pander will be exposed for the farcical electioneering ploy that it is, as their plans are shown to be ineffective, as their incompetence is demonstrated for all to clearly see, and as the Libertarian Party offers significant solutions to problems facing the country. Electorate logic, intelligence and patriotism will attract sufficient attention to prevail over their meaningless pander, demonstrated ineptness, and endless repetitive empty advertizements, assuring a Libertarian Party Victory in November 2016. Merry Christmas my friends.
Very Truly Yours, in Liberty and Freedom,
Derrick Michael Reid B.S.E.E., J.D.,
2016 Presidential Candidate, Libertarian Party,
Engineer, Patent Lawyer, Military Scientist,
Market Analyst, and Geopolitical Analyst.
PO Box 1584, Laguna Beach, CA 92652
Contact Email: [email protected]
http://www.totalitariandemocracy.com/
Donald Trump
Trump, so far, is the only REP candidate with courage to propose a real fix, and that is, build a wall on the southern border. Enforcing law and closing the border to only lawful immigration is a compenent of a successful immigration problem. Trump does not offer a comprehensive solution to the immigration problem, but rally US nationalist with a partial solution. Trump has also proposed eradicating sanctuary cities. That shows character, to be bold, regardless of political fall out. Trump indicated he would spend $100,000,000.00 to win the White House. That is one sad testimony to the nature of the pandering TV Ads necessary for a modern presidential candidate to win, and Trump is following that school of thought, to inundate the electorate with pandering sound bites to gain votes. This is how one buys an election in modern America, and Trump seems determine to buy as many votes as necessary.
Trump seems to not pander either, socialism or band aids. Trump can be respected for being his own man, and calling it like it is. He is courageous by risking political fallout to speak his mind openly. When sizing up a man, character is first, and in this, Trump appears honest and courageous. However, the solutions so far considered by Trump will be less than effectual, even if his heart is in the right place. Trump reminds me of a story in our US History. In Mid 1864 as general Johnston was back peddling the CSA Army of Tennessee on defense to the gates of Atlanta, pressed by General Sherman’s 3 USA armies, CSA President Davis wanted fight, and Johnston kept retreating. So, Davis was going to replace General Johnston. In Virginia, Davis asked RE Lee what he thought of Hood. “Hood is a bold fighter. Other qualities are doubtful.” Hood did show fight, with 3 sorties out of Atlanta, but gave it up, and went on to wreck the CSA Army of Tennessee in the disastrous Tennessee invasion. Notwithstanding the rise of Trump, he has yet to address the fundamental problem, totalitarian socialistic fascism of the US totalitarian democracy from 110 year slide by leftist political pandering, as in so doing, would have to address the corruption of the Constitution, and the solutions thereto, aspects that is business experience is not well suited. Telling is that Trump has not mentioned the Constitution one time during first few months of campaigning? Trump is a closet democrat, running in the republican wing, which is consistent with the little or no practical differences between the DEMs and REPs. Trump has indicated he will GIVE Americans a ‘Zero’ Tax Rate. So, the value of money is zero, as Trump panders attempting to buy votes with further currency debasement. Trump would find allies debasing the currency and throwing out bread, as did Romans during collapse of the Roman Empire.
Trumps says that as president he will get all saying Merry Christmas again. Of course, that warms the heart of us Christians. But curious, how does that fit into separation of church and state, and exactly how will he accomplish the same? Will Santa Trump declare marshal law, limiting free speech? I dont know, because, as all panderers do, there is allot of emotional button pushing, but no plan, of course. Trump must be attending Cruz-U.
Trump is not hard to figure out. He is honest and courageous. He exudes confidence and use to command and control. He exhibits his psych qualities in a bombastic manner, in line with republican (as well and democrat) pandering, pushing hot buttons, to garner support, though, out does trump when it comes to meaningless pander.
Trump to date has indicated:
1) deport all illegal immigrants (which necessary mean untold inhumane misery to millions)
2) bomb ISIS (when he does not know if ISIS is a Saudi mercenary army, under Israel influence, assisted by Turkey, to further US desires to oust Shia Assad, so that the Sunnie oil production can flow to syria, capturing more production in Iraq, in competition with Russia, the neocon arch enemy of imagination)
3) ban Muslims (when the vast majority of them are tolerant and peaceful)
4) Negotiate with Putin (when its not about the price of a bag of potatoes, but rather a clash between Russian territorial imperialism and US Military-Industrial-banking-transnational complex desire to penetrate and exploit foreign markets and peoples, that is, its embedded cultural tensions, and not a mere negotiated price, as Trump apparently has no clue how to effectively deal with the Russians)
I have concluded, as predicted in June 2015, that Trump should not be the president based upon a defective psych profile and lack of intellectual flexibility in dealing with complex cultural, social, military and economic interconnected issues, both domestically and internationally, but he would make a good sec of commerce, that is, put the right man in the right job, for max results.
Trump said he would have everybody saying merry christmas. of course, he spelled out no plan to do just that, but, like Cruz, pushes the religious hot button for the pander that it is. These guys are so obvious, once you understand the DEM/REP pander game, and then you can expose them for the farcical show that they are, and just pick em apart. Cruz has cute kids, a darling wife, prays solemnly, pledges patriotically, and shoots straight. If that guy could kiss a couple thousand babies, the White House is a lock!!
If you understand their methods, you can understand them for the clowns they truly are. You think about this, 20T$ in debt, 50m hungry, 100m unemployed, markets rigged, constitution bastardized, republic dead, money a con job, corruption in congress, all for wealth transfer to top 1%. The mismanagement of the country’s affairs is absolutely astounding. Now honestly, should not trump fire them all in DC?
There is then the problem becoming focused. On one hand, Trump is fear mongering to pander republicans who believe that Muslim immigration should be halted to protect the homeland. The Libertarian Party embraces all people, regardless of national origin or creed, two of the equal protection aspects in the US Constitution. It is true that the Koran, written 1000 years ago, was based upon the spread of Islam by the sword of Mohamed. Muslims do have in a tiny percentage a brutal ideology towards Jihad and Infidels and the spread of Islam, while the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and tolerant of others. The United Sates is a melting pot. All new comers should assimilate into Americana, of liberty, democracy and free speech. The goal is not to ban Muslims, but to assimilate them, as good citizens, for those who want to come to the US, into Americana culture, so as to teach Constitution, Liberty, Freedom, to make Muslims love America for what it is, a land of liberty. Trump bombastic pronouncements do not solve problems, but are counter-productive to solving ethic and religious problems, and are inherently divisive, pandering and fear mongering, sowing seeds of social strife. The better approach is to screen violent persons, but welcome, teach and assimilate those who want to live in the land of freedom and liberty.
Trump is going to deport illegals, bomb ISIS and ban Muslims. He is on a roll with pandering the US Nationalists.
I dont begrudge Trump for plagiarizing my campaign slogan, but his plans in no way will be effectively for making anything great, but, perhaps an ego on the stump.
The Putin Endorsement of Trumpski.
Russian strong man president Putin has endorsed Trump. There are two things that are most important to Russia, 1) holding on to the Crimea, in the face of NATO supporting Ukraine against Russian incursions, proposed arm sells to Ukraine and US economic support, IMF approved Ukrainian default on Russian debt, and US transnational penetration into Ukraine, and 2) the lifting of sanctions for annexing the Crimea in violation of norms, while the Russian economy is tanking and while the Russian Ruble is collapsing. Trumpski got a favorable read from Putin, so the question is, did Trump promise to surrender the Crimea and lift sanctions? You make the call. So, the question arises. Did Trumpski promise Putin to force Ukraine to surrender the Crimea to the Russians and did Trumpski promise Putin to lift economic sanctions.
These two aspects are the most important to Russia and Putin’s hold on power there. This early endorsement of Trumpski must have some factual basis. It is true that Putin has warned the US about socialism, mostly from debasing treasury notes with Russia holds in its forex reserves, and that means rejecting Sanders, and HRC, beside being a pandering criminal, is very anti-Russian. On the Republican side, JEB and Rubio have already staked out territory on increasing sanctions, war mongering, and targeting Russia as a premiere threat to the US. It may be that Putin’s endorsement of Trump, is merely the lesser of 4 evils, but the endorsement, this early on, suggest something else is in play.
Very Truly Yours, in Liberty and Freedom,
Derrick Michael Reid B.S.E.E., J.D.,
2016 Presidential Candidate, Libertarian Party,
Engineer, Patent Lawyer, Military Scientist,
Market Analyst, and Geopolitical Analyst.
PO Box 1584, Laguna Beach, CA 92652
Contact Email: [email protected]
http://www.totalitariandemocracy.com/
“Gene Berkman is correct. The Libertarian Party is well-known to the smarter of Republican State Legislators, many of whom are libertarian minarchists, and quietly root for the Libertarian Party to become a serious political entity (which it currently is not)”
That’s been my experience, that there are some GOP state legislators of that sort of sentiment, but very few of them will admit it on the record. I don’t doubt that there are some who would switch parties, if they thought they would have a more viable party organization behind them to support their re-election, and at least make it possible they’d still have an ongoing career. There are also a lot of state legislators- in both parties- who know us from past elections when they’ve had a Libertarian opponent, sometimes only a Libertarian opponent. And there are of course those who hate us and think we’re just spoilers, etc. I think those are probably much more numerous.
Just so we’re clear though, Ribble is Congress, not the WI State Legislature. But the same observations about their awareness of us are true there, albeit probably to a lesser degree.
Gene Berkman is correct. The Libertarian Party is well-known to the smarter of Republican State Legislators, many of whom are libertarian minarchists, and quietly root for the Libertarian Party to become a serious political entity (which it currently is not). The most success the Libertarian Party ever had was in 1980, two years after Alaska Republican State House member Dick Randolph switched to Libertarian, and was re-elected as a big-L Libertarian (along with two other big-Ls, Andre Marrou and Ken Fanning, and one GOP member who solidly voted with them).
Gary Johnson was elected as a Republican, before the Republican Party united against him, and used procedural rules to deny him democratic opportunities (they denied him continued access to televised debates, and thereby denied him access to potential primary supporters in 2011).
The “Republican” mainstream are generally prohibitionist idiots who know absolutely nothing of the Bill of Rights, Constitution, common law, or any other republican principles they nominally support. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own well-educated minority that is biding their time and waiting for opportunity.
Reid Ribble is probably not the most intelligent member of that minority. As he notes, he is “pro-life” and claims to be “right wing” without qualifications. As most libertarians are aware, the conceptions of “right” and “left” in the USA are just Historically-determined mixtures of inconsistent political views. They are historically-determined because of limited human intelligence, which has been refined at its best to a far greater level of understanding than existed in the 1700s. (F. A. Hayek’s Why I am Not a Conservative comes to mind, as does the Nolan Chart.)
People who are basically creatures of their own parties but are being nudged out (due to the incremental totalitarianism they once-supported) are not that interesting to me.
If Ribble isn’t already out of the mainstream Republican Party that indicates an extreme lack of commitment to any consistent set of principles that could be considered pro-freedom or even pro-American.
I really doubt most people in Wisconsin politics are as familiar with CPoW’s antics as IPR readers are. What I’ve seen of their (very limited) public messaging, press releases and campaign ads and the like, is much more standard CP fare.
I won’t pretend to know too much about Ribble, but I know he’s fairly conservative and his district, while perhaps more famous for the Packers, is also the heart of Bircher country and home of their HQ. While paulie’s right that anybody elected could see the problem in Hood’s rantings, I think Ribble in particular probably has plenty of experience filtering through what sorts of far-right are safe to embraceo, vs. what needs to be kept at arm’s length (Indeed his condemnation of Trump is pretty good evidence of exactly that)
I also think one particularly crazy former state chair wouldn’t really have much impact on whether or not he chose to endorse (or perhaps just vote for) the CP nominee. Nor does anybody really care about, or ever even hear about, who each party’s slate of presidential electors are.
But while we’re on that topic, CPoW and LPWI (along with the Greens and big-two) will all be meeting at the state capitol on the same day to formally pick their electors, sometime next fall. I’m looking forward to that, and I’ll probably report on it here, including the roster of who’s picked. I think it’s something that deserves more attention… I’ve had trouble even finding published anywhere the identity of my state’s electors in the past. And that was *after* the election, when all I was even trying to find was the winning slate, not the losing ones.
Riley is much more extreme.
I fal to see a difference between Riley Hood and say, Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum. Semantical differences aside of course.
I doubt anyone who can actually get elected would consider it a positive.
I don’t know much about Mr. Ribble, is he one that would consider Hood’s rhetoric a negative?
Agreed, which is why I messaged several Reid Ribble facebook pages and forwarded Hood’s and a few of Grundmann’s articles to him.
It would probably literally be casting a vote for Riley Hood, since it’s a safe bet he will be on their slate of pledged electors for whoever the CP nominee is. It’s not like they have a very long list from which to pull ten names.
I think the CP would be his last LAST voting choice, however.
For one, I cannot see him casting a vote for Riley Hood.
Kewl!
Sort of Denis Peron is the father of medical marijuana in California.
Was he related to Juan Peron?
1998
I acknowledge that in 1988 I voted for Dennis Peron when he ran in the California Republican Primary against Dan Lungren for California Governor.
Actually, Republicans acknowledge the existence of The Libertarian Party all the time. In California on several occasions Republican officeholders have admitted voting for a Libertarian candidate when the Republicans nominated someone they don’t like.
Other times they acknowledge us when they complain that we split the vote and help Democrats. And in California we have worked with Republicans to promote school choice or tax limitation initiatives.
Fascinating. Surprised a GOP rep would even acknowledge our existence, even in dire circumstances.