What would Rand think of Donald J Trump?

Posted by mdk2608 9 years, 3 months ago to Politics
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He is a builder of beautiful buildings. He is an American success story. He gets things done. He is his own man. He is wealthy and is an advocate of capitalism but what would Rand have to say about Trump if she were here today? I have not posted in several weeks so maybe this discussion is redundant but I am curious to see what fellow Gulchers have to say?


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  • Posted by handyman 9 years, 3 months ago
    Rand might cheer him for his outspokenness and willingness to take an aggressive stand against the PC pablum so prevalent in the mass media. On the negative side, he is very cagey about policy issues other than immigration and certain international relationships. Last night he hinted that he would be in support of federal assistance on women's health issues, although he was, again, very unspecific. My guess on Rand's net evaluation - negative.
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  • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 3 months ago
    He does what he has to in order to get things done. To make a profit things need to get done quickly. Trump could sit back and say, "I''m not going to do this or say that because of the principle of the thing or how it might look on my record if I run for politics." But that won't cut it in the actual business world where profit is life or death for the company and payroll for its employees. You actually need to cut the bull (or give it) to get it done in reality not just on paper.
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    • Posted by IamTheBeav 9 years, 3 months ago
      So, you're more in the Orren Boyle school of thought instead of the Hank Readen school?

      If it's all the same to you, I'll build my own business with principles I can believe in and sleep well with at night. If the Machiavellian mindset works for you, you're welcome to it. I'd rather build value for myself and my clients where we both benefit than to buy a favor from some politician so I can jam my power down someone's else's throat.

      This garbage about how that "won't cut it in the actual business world where profit is life or death for the company and payroll for its employees" is pure horse manure. Anybody espousing the trash you're spewing likely has no idea what building a real business is like.

      Go vote for Trump if you like, but don't come crying to me when you get an unprincipled, loudmouth, incompetent windbag jamming more government policies nobody ever voted for down your throat.

      As for me, I'm voting for Ted Cruz.
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      • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 3 months ago
        I am gonna vote for Trump... twice.
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        • Posted by IamTheBeav 9 years, 3 months ago
          So, you're from Chicago then? That explains alot.
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          • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 3 months ago
            Your not making any sense. I don't want a president who listens to bleeding heart stories and gets involved in social justice. Just run the country, balance the budget, protect my property. Your comments are really better with a violin playing a sad song in the background.
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            • Posted by IamTheBeav 9 years, 3 months ago
              Run the country? How, by presidential fiat? Where has that gotten us in the last 6 and half years? If you listen to his rhetoric, you'd think he was running for king, not president.

              Balance the budget? How? I haven't heard Trump ever say that the budget needed to be balanced. I also have never heard him mention one thing he is going to cut from the budget. Enlighten me.

              Protect your property? I guess he'll protect your property as long as he doesn't want it for himself. You don't happen to own any land near a casino do you?

              You mention 3 specific things you want Trump to do, and he has either not addressed them at all or simply done the exact opposite of what you are saying in real life.

              That brings me to the last thing I am going to say in the discussion with you. You are either a troll (meaning I have been played like a fiddle) or you are an idiot/ignorant of Trump's record or complete lack thereof. Either way, you are not worth my time. Go cast your 2 votes elsewhere, and have a nice day. As for me, I feel dumber for having bothered with you in the first place.
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    • Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 3 months ago
      "He does what he has to in order to get things done." So does Obama. The desire to make a profit does not justify seizing the property of others against their will. It might be a viable "business" strategy in the short run, but in the long run it leads to the lawlessness and contempt for individual rights that we see all around us today.
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      • Posted by ewv 9 years, 3 months ago
        It is and also "leads to the lawlessness and contempt for individual rights" in the short run. It is no more a viable "business strategy" than any other gangsterism. Putting that mentality in the White House is frightening.
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      • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 3 months ago
        You can be opposed to Social Security and still accept the social security checks. Being opposed to the law does not prohibit you from taking advantage of it.
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        • Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 3 months ago
          True, but Trump is not opposed to eminent domain. He endorsed the Supreme Court's Kelo decision in 2005.
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          • Posted by ewv 9 years, 3 months ago
            Trump did not just endorse the infamous Kelo eminent domain expansion decision rewriting the Constitution, he loudly lauded it in his usual dictatorial style:

            At the public outrage against it "he told Neil Cavuto on Fox News:'I happen to agree with it 100%. if you have a person living in an area that’s not even necessarily a good area, and … government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and … create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good.'” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisf...
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          • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 3 months ago
            In some very limited circumstances eminent domain needs to be used. I worked for a major shopping center builder who purchased and held properties all over the country in various blind owner-ships to block projects. And/or expansion of others or just to squeeze. It was fair commerce but affected property values for thousands of surrounding homes and communities.
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            • Posted by ewv 9 years, 3 months ago
              Forcing a property owner to sell to you at any price is not "fair commerce". Trump and the Kelo decision have gone far beyond even the original improper eminent domain provision in the Constitution, going beyond ordinary statist takings to fascist takings for crony "capitalists".
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      • Posted by Turfprint 9 years, 3 months ago
        Obama could not run a hot dog stand successfully. Trump's net worth proves he knows how to make money and how to keep it. That's what I want him to do for America.
        I don't want a president who listens to bleeding heart stories and gets involved in social justice. Just run the country.
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        • Posted by ewv 9 years, 3 months ago
          The government of a free society is supposed to protect the rights of the individual, not "make money and keep it for America", "doing what it has to in order to get things done". That is nationalist fascism.
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        • Posted by $ CBJ 9 years, 3 months ago
          "Social justice" generally involves redistribution of wealth from those who have earned it to those who have not. Justice in a free enterprise system requires protection of an individual's property against confiscation by other entities, public or private. Big difference.
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  • -1
    Posted by NealS 9 years, 3 months ago
    I think she might see that Trump's just like Obama, arrogant, my way or else, ignore the facts, and makes stupid decisions based on his own prejudices and force them down the throats of the people. HIs characteristics are definitely beneficial for his personal life, but how would they be in a republic? World wide he might be a disaster. Like I said just like Obama, just that his intent would be in the other direction on may subjects. I'd have to reread it to find his nearest character in AS.
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    • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago
      No, he is not like Obama. The problems with Obama do not come from incompetence - Obama is an American terrorist, whose goal is the destruction of the country.
      Trump's goal is to stop that destruction. A fundamental difference.
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      • Posted by NealS 9 years, 3 months ago
        I was speaking of manner and methods, not direction or goals. In any event more than half the population would be livid about Trump's methods, as about half the population is now about Obama. I think if we just get someone that will obey the law and use a little common sense about cooperation without being a bully, we'll be a lot further ahead. Somehow my parents friend Ronnie comes to mind. We need some diplomacy too but definitely not the cowardess that John Kerry is again showing the world in front of Iran.
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        • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago
          In terms of the manner and methods, Hitler would be the closest comparison (although Hitler was a much better speaker; and without the teleprompter).
          Don't look at Kerry, and Obama, as cowards or incompetents - everything that they do accomplishes their goals - to destroy the country. This maybe difficult to accept, but if you add up all that they have done, their deeds speak for themselves. At this point, the country is in such an abyss that Trump may be the last parachute available for our eventual splatter.
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          • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 3 months ago
            "Don't look at Kerry, and Obama, as cowards or incompetents - everything that they do accomplishes their goals - to destroy the country."
            It's like the people selling this crap have gone so far that even people not involved in promoting politicians can believe the most absurd claims. I kept hearing this with President Bush, how his puppet masters had set the goal of destroying the United States. It's beyond absurd. People who go into politics and get to that level are good at building networks, remembering people, and learning to navigate all the interest groups and ideologies. They're not people who decide they want to destroy the country and decide to go into politics to do it. It's just absurd, but there are more media choices than ever and people doing commentary have to say more and more bizarre absurdities to get attention.
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          • Posted by NealS 9 years, 3 months ago
            I have no qualms against Trump, he would/will make a better president than anything the D's are considering at this time. I only hope for another open honest actor to come forth to give us a better choice. (I know too that practically no politician is honest, perhaps none really, perhaps).

            Are you saying that Obama and Kerry are not cowards or incompetents, or just not to look at them that way? Kerry is definitely a coward and incompetent as a human being and especially as a leader, he has already proven that in 1968-'69 and again in 1971 in front of the whole world. I believe they both are so incompetent, they have no idea what they are doing, no idea that they are destroying this country, and making complete asses of themselves. No American could possibly have an agenda to destroy their own country especially someone with children. Do they really want their children to grow up in the mess they're creating? It's gotta be incompetence, or some other extreme mental disorder. We as Americans are also incompetent cowards by leaving them continue the degradation of our country. How do we even tolerate those that just close their eyes and still support these kinds of people? Hillary is next for the chopping block. If she runs and gets elected I don't even want to live here anymore, and I'm really too old to move to another country now. How could any true American possibly even support her, who would be willing to take the chance with all the 'Clinton' unknowns? _ Nuff said, those are just my opinions, I could be wrong.
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            • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 3 months ago
              I understand that it is difficult to even imagine that someone would want to destroy their own country. It is also difficult to imagine that someone would want to destroy their own lives. Yet, everyday, people commit suicide, either out of desperation or for ideological reasons. It is not necessary to "walk in their shoes" to accept the fact that it is so. If you read Obama's book and listen to his early talks and speeches, you will see that he has deep seated hatred for America, especially White America, as instilled in him by his mentor Frank Marshall Davis. His hatred is not unlike that of the 9/11 hijackers, who lived in America and Europe, enjoyed the benefits and received Western education. Nevertheless, the hatred transcended not only the advantages that they had, but even the natural human love of their own lives. Regardless of the pronouncements of our illustrious past president, GW, I do not consider them cowards at all. Now, Kerry may be an imbecile, and so may other people in Obama's cabinet be incompetents, but they are there for a purpose. They have been chosen for their incompetence. But the conductor of this show has a clear goal and every one of his actions has been to cause damage to the country, whether internal or external. Add them up - everyone! One can't deny the facts. As for his children, first, considering their position, he expects that their well being is assured and, secondly, remember that the 9/11 hijackers also had families.
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              • Posted by NealS 9 years, 3 months ago
                As a combat vet I understand things can push one towards making ridiculous personal decisions. And seeing the results of almost everything this administration has done, I can buy into your theory. But I still think they are also cowards and incompetents. Unfortunately I can relate to suicide, lost three comrades in Nam to suicide, my 39 year old brother a few years later, and recently a 49 year old niece who had a wonderful 17 year old straight "A" daughter. Why, how could this be?

                Obviously that's why Hillary was chosen for Secretary of State, for her incompetence. Thinking back, many of them have left this administration, perhaps they weren't incompetent enough for the king. There really must be a devil..
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          • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago
            Well stated
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            • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 3 months ago
              Don't say that unless you are 90 or so. Just south of the border about a hundred miles south or more is a grand place to live either full or part time. First make sure you retire in an income tax free state. Second do not have an account with Bank America. Third choose RV, House, Boat or two of the above or all three Only problem is the kids are picking up on rap but you can always turn the dial....

              And you can still sing ROCK in the USM instead of USSA?.
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  • -1
    Posted by DennisKebrdle 9 years, 3 months ago
    She'd say he is a classic american big mouth, that the rest of world calls the "ugly American" that has enough money to not give a crap about whatever the gang has to say.
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    • Posted by ewv 9 years, 3 months ago
      Ayn Rand was fiercely pro American. She might have called Trump a "big mouth", among much else, but not a "classic American" big mouth or an "ugly American".
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      • Posted by DennisKebrdle 9 years, 3 months ago
        I wasn't clear enough obviouly. I wasn't being critical but affirming him as the "classic american big mouth" reflecting how many around the world i've met see us. we're saying the same thing
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