Thanks to Trump for speaking about an issue that others won't touch.
Unfortunately, almost all his comments dance around the edges of issues, giving lip service and no real committment or solutions.

"earned his place on Mount Rushmore."
Yes, alongside that statist powermonger Teddy and dictator/war criminal Lincoln.
Or maybe you intended to remove them to make room for a Trump-sized visage of HRM Donnie?
Of course, the current occupant of the whitehouse would remove Washington and Jefferson to make room for Muhammad and Barry.

Enough with the looters pretending to be heros!
How about visages of Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison, Philo Farnsworth and Alexander Graham Bell, William Shockley and Andy Grove, Robert Heinlein and Ayn Rand.

As one with almost fifty years contact with the Pentagon cash machine (military and contractor), I can verify that about fifty cents of every dollar spent ostensibly for military purposes is wasted, duplicative, or flat out stolen. There's a good reason why no one has been able to audit the Pentagon budgets, despite over ten years of efforts to do so. No one seems to be able (or willing) to account for about $2T budgeted over the last 20 years. It's just "missing!"

How did this happen? Start with Congress. Bases with no further value kept open to prop up jobs in a congresscritter's district, against military recommendations. Juicy contracts to favored contractors, often in spite of losing contract competition. A flood of mandated minority business set aside contracts, whether the service or product is needed, driven by goals set by Congress.

Next in line is the Executive, which includes the President and the cabinet. Overseas bases and missions with no real purpose, other than to maintain a presence. The Dept. pf State has often admitted that U.S. bases in Germany have been kept open mostly to supply jobs for Germans as one example. The imperial Presidency, ignoring the Constitution and making military commitments without regard to value or expense, allowed to do so by a Congress that purposely ignores its responsibility to rein in such illegal ventures. Insane counterproductive social experiments pushed on to a military establishment without regard to consequence. The idiot idea that the Pentagon's main adversary is climate change, pushing the technical and budget envelope to the breaking point.

The Pentagon itself isn't off the hook. Despite a very negative history of multipurpose aircraft, we have the X-35 all purpose airplane that can't perform any of its multiple missions as well as the aircraft its replacing, at enormous cost. The makes-no-sense littoral combat ship, a fragile boat with little firepower designed to sail right into the teeth of shore based heavy weapons, and very expensive. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) whose leadership often brags that 99% of their projects fail, supposedly because they explore the "bleeding edge" of technology, when in fact they have a record of gross project interference and mismanagement.

I would love to have the opportunity to help Trump challenge the military and industry to produce real value to our country, instead of bleeding the taxpayer cash cow to a state of anemia.

My worry is if Trump follows through and takes on the issues and the cabals, he will suffer the same fate that Kennedy met.

Trump is essentially saying the same thing as Craig Biddle in his article in TOS.https://www.theobjectivestandard.com/2016/04/...
Biddle's is clearer and perhaps more emphatic but he is addressing an audience of Objectivists and Trump is talking to the voters. The media chooses to ignore Trumps meaning and attacks the simplicity of his statements which are dumbed down to achieve connection with his audience.

Hello straightlinelogic,
Good follow up. Much food for thought. I do think his best accomplishment to date is the shake up and disarray of the establishment GOP. Secondly, his drawing attention to the despicable, often criminal, behavior of the Clintons is essential. And finally, his attacks on the biased MSM are creating many forced errors on their part, further exposing the truth of their bias for all with eyes open to see.
That said: Is Trump the best we can do? Is he not just a statist of a different color? I long for the day when I can vote for a candidate that can win and once in office retain my respect and allow me to preserve my self respect. Until then we learn to live with the cards we are dealt, even when they are all jokers.
Respectfully,
O.A.

posted to facebook...thank you Mr Gore...

The last paragraph reminds me of Brussels sprouts: I know they're good for me but I don't want to eat them.
Terr-ific analysis.

That was a good article. kudos to you. I have wondered why there is so much negativity towards Trump when he essentially speaks out loud what we are secretly thinking anyway. But, combatting the establishment is the reason so much hate towards him is surfacing. It also surfaced relative to Bernie Sanders, and wiped him out as a candidate. Trump has my vote, and I hope he wins and carries through on his anti establishment stance.