A 'Tale of Two Candidates' Who Couldn't Be More Different : Today, We Look at Donald Trump

It's Part 2 of Listen Up, America -- Listen Up, World -- today it's Donald Trump's turn under the 'Tale of Two Candidates' presidential election microscope. ~~~~~~ On Monday, American Thinker's Brett David Fawcett asked an interesting question : Is Donald Trump More Conservative Than Conservatives? Fawcett noted that much of the "backlash against Donald Trump from a lot of groups is predictable, but one of the more interesting cases of this reaction is from the conservative intelligentsia." He says : "Trump's sins against conservatism are, they tell us, that he is not pro-liberty enough. His proposals, from the infamous wall to a potential tax on imported goods, all smack of statism, rather than the crystalline purity of the free market and all its attendant liberties." But, Fawcett explains : "what this criticism conceals is the fact that, broadly speaking, there are two major strains, or streams, of tradition within what is commonly called "conservatism." One may be called the "capitalist" strain, which extols liberty as the highest good in and of itself. The other may perhaps be called the "localist" tradition, which views liberty as a means rather than an end, and not always a good in itself. The localist tradition extols the family, the community, and, by extension, the nation as the highest social good, with liberty as its handmaid....the localist tradition is the more "original" conservatism, and the Trump phenomenon represents [localist] conservatism..." The American School of Economics was the economic program that dominated the country until the 1970s. Fawcett summarizes this system : "America's strength and independence should be assured by a strong, well equipped standing army, by protective tariffs, and by subsidies into roads and canals. All of this was inspired by the German economist Friedrich List, who rejected Adam Smith's economic philosophy of individual interest in favor of a philosophy of national or communal interest." This, according to Fawcett, is almost exactly Trump's platform, and it is exactly why he is denounced as a bad conservative : because all the spending he is proposing is meant to strengthen the localist form of conservatism : "strengthening the military is a prominent aspect of his platform, but less well-reported on are his suggestion of tariffs to protect American industry and his intention to increase spending on infrastructure. Moreover, he wishes to subsidize American industries such as ethanol, completely counter to the ruthless logic of the free market, simply because it is American. This is how Trump's now iconic slogan must be understood; this is the perceived one-time greatness of America he wishes to restore." It is important, says Fawcett, "for self-identified conservatives, especially those who are baffled by conservative support for Trump, to understand the intellectual and philosophical heritage that gave rise to his campaign and his candidacy." Trump conservatives understand that traditional morality cannot be preserved if the tradition-bearing community is not. Fawcett thinks it is clear that this is why so many social conservatives support Trump despite his New York accent and lifestyle so unlike theirs : "to many, the appeal of Trump is that they think he will protect that community. Say what you will about that belief, but it is certainly conservative." ~~~~~~ Former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan found the localist conservative underpinnings of Trump's conservative appeal when he outlined the four issues Trump should focus on for the rest of his campaign during his appearance on Newsmax's "The Howie Carr Show." Buchanan echoed what Trump has promised to do : "First, secure the border and halt the invasion of the United States from abroad. Secondly, you've got to stay out of these foolish wars that they get all these kids killed and cost us trillions of dollars and never end right. Third, you got to have new trade agreements and a new trade policy that will bring manufacturing and manufacturing jobs for the working and middle class of this country. Also, I would put a fourth one in there. We're going to give no more indulgence to people who riot and burn and loot no matter what they say the cause is." Buchanan added that the media is working against Trump on several fronts : "I've never seen it this bad. Goldwater got it very badly of course. And Gerald Ford got it terribly and they really wanted him out of there but nothing like the savagery and the relentlessness. Many of them feel a positive obligation to take him out as a duty." ~~~~~~ Conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter last week accused President Barack Obama of leading "a very racially agitating presidency," saying he's playing a role in the anti-police sentiment that is enveloping the country. "I think Obama actually does have something to do with at least what's happening in Milwaukee," Coulter said on "The Howie Carr Show" : "He has really run a very racially agitating presidency, from attacking that cop up in Cambridge to all of these speeches citing statistics that he knows are irrelevant or untrue, as does Hillary, about the shockingly high percentage of young black men in prison -- as if the number of people in prison ought to be the same as their representation in the population. No, we want to compare it to the crime rate, not the numbers in the population." Coulter said part of the problem lies in federal programs signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the mid-1960s that provide financial aid to unmarried women with children. That, Coulter said, has led to "illegitimacy. We have an idea from 50 years of illegitimacy leading to utterly dysfunctional individuals. And as I pointed out in my book "Mugged" about racial demagoguery, I think this can't be said often enough, according to the liberal Urban Institute, if you remove the factor of illegitimacy, the difference in the black and white crime rate goes away." Now, Ann Coulter is often not a politically correct conservative, but she is a reflection of the Trump branch of localist conservatism, and if we see her comments as coming from this branch of conservatism, she is arguing that "utterly dysfunctional individuals" destroy the "tradition-bearing community," so that America cannot be "Great." ~~~~~~ Very much in this vein, Donald Trump made his most direct appeal to African Americans last Friday, asking "What do you have to lose?" while slamming longstanding Democratic policies that have destroyed inner cities and sent manufacturing jobs to Mexico and other countries. Trump told a rally in Dimondale, Michigan, a suburb of Lansing : "We cannot fix our problems by relying on the same politicians who created our problems in the first place. A new future requires brand-new leadership. Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?....at the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95% of the African-American vote -- because I will produce. I will produce for the inner cities and I will produce for the African Americans. One thing we know for sure is if you keep voting for the same people, you will keep getting the same -- exactly the same result." Trump said : "Hillary Clinton is a throwback to an ugly past where politicians preyed on our poorer citizens while selling them out for personal gain." Trump has been referencing African Americans in speeches since last week's racial unrest over a police-involved shooting in Milwaukee, but Friday's speech was his most direct appeal to date. He cited the contributions blacks have made to the country throughout history, hammered Democrat Hillary Clinton for backing policies that have "harmed" African American communities over the years and said that his jobs plan would restore manufacturing to cities like Detroit and other Midwestern states. Trump said : "The African American community has given so much to this country. They fought and died in every war since the Revolution. They've lifted up the conscience of our nation in the long march toward civil rights. They've sacrificed so much for the national good. Yet, nearly four in 10 African-American children still live in poverty, and 58% of young African Americans are not working. They cannot find a job. We must do better as a country." That is Trump's appeal to the African American part of the "tradition-bearing community" which has been sidetracked by Democrat policies that have failed the black community : “Hillary Clinton is a legacy of death, destruction and terrorism. America deserves a better legacy. All of you deserve a better future. I am the change agent. I am your messenger...nothing more than your messenger. It’s a message of strong defense, common sense, take care of our vets, great education, get rid of Common Core, great healthcare, get rid of ObamaCare, save our Second Amendment, which is under tremendous siege. Hillary Clinton is the defender of the status quo, or what we have.” Trump is also reaching out to Hispanic voters, holding meetings with leaders in the Latino community as he considers making changes to what has been a tough immigration position focused on building a wall on the Mexican border and deporting illegal immigrants. Republican officials say publicly that Trump needs to do better with minorities. Polls suggest that as few as 1% of black voters may back Trump, and the GOP nominee is doing worse with Hispanics in polls than Mitt Romney in 2012. ~~~~~~ Trump has gone into cities run by Democrats to argue that liberal policies have exacerbated the social and economic hardships that African Americans face. The organized anti-Trump protest group Black Lives Matter has dogged Trump campaign rallies. It isn't clear if George Soros-supported BLM was behind the protests in Minneapolis Friday. The Star Tribune reported that protesters harassed and spat on Donald Trump supporters Friday night as they left a private fundraiser for the Republican nominee, with tensions mounting so much that local police were needed to escort attendees to safety as shouting demonstrators jostled attendees and threw paper at them while leaving the Minneapolis Convention Center. Video posted by the Star Tribune website shows protesters yelling and shouting obscenities at the attendees, while others hurled paper and other objects. Some could be seen throwing punches. The Star Tribune reported that : "No arrests were made or injuries reported, but graffiti was found on the walls inside the Convention Center, along with other minor damage." Former US Representative Michele Bachmann, who was at the rally, told the Star Tribune : "People want to live, mind their own business and have a good job -- and I think that’s something Donald Trump understands. He’s a common-sense guy, not into political correctness," she added. "He has turned businesses around, and that’s what he wants to do with the country." Bachmann was offering the same Trump localist conservative message. ~~~~~~ Trump was dressed casually at the Friday rally in Michigan, wearing a white “Make America Great Again” hat and no tie, noting that he was just off a plane from Louisiana where he and running mate Mike Pence had toured devastation from flooding in the state, and visited Baton Rouge, a city with one of the highest concentrations of black people in the nation. He talked about the devastation he’d witnessed in Louisiana and then focused back on the economy : “To the people of Louisiana, we are with you and we will always be with you. In my vision, I saw not only the suffering of our people, but also their strength, courage, and really their unbeatable spirit. Their spirit will overcome, and we have a lot to overcome in our country, especially the fact that our jobs are being taken away from us and going to other lands and we’re not going to allow it to happen, and especially it’s happening right here in Michigan.” ~~~~~~ Former Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana on Friday thanked Donald Trump for visiting Louisiana in the wake of intense floods. Landrieu told CNN : "I want to thank Mr. Trump for coming to Louisiana," Landrieu said on CNN's "Wolf," adding that she thought the visit was helpful for the devastation-wracked state. Landrieu said she thought Governor John Bel Edwards' "admonition" that Trump not come to the state for a photo-op "is a good one." But, Landrieu said, the GOP presidential nominee "brought attention to our state, and we need that now because this disaster ... is far larger than people can appreciate on television." Landrieu said rain causing intense flooding covered several parts of the state outside Baton Rouge, where Trump visited Friday with his running mate Mike Pence. Louisiana Governor Bel Edwards also said he didn't want President Obama to visit for at least a week or two because he didn't want to divert resources for the President. The Advocate, a leading Louisiana newspaper, joined Republicans on Thursday in calling President Obama to cut short his summer vacation and visit the area himself. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wrote on Facebook that she spoke with the Louisiana Governor, adding "flooding there is bigger than anyone expected" and while her "heart breaks for Louisiana," the relief effort "can't afford any distractions." Hillary later said she would visit Baton Rouge at an unspecified later date. ~~~~~~ Some in the mainstream media tried to make a big deal out of Governor Bel Edwards comment about Trump's visit. American Thinker's Carol Brown on Sunday reported about CNN "propagandist" Dana Bash interviewing John Bel Edwards. Addressing Trump’s Friday visit to Baton Rouge, Bash opened with this : "So, um, Donald Trump and Mike Pence came down to Baton Rouge on Friday. You dismissed the visit as a photo op and you said you wished that Donald Trump would make a donation to a relief organization instead. We did, by the way, check with the campaign and they said Trump made a $100,000 donation to the Greenwell Springs Baptist Church where he visited. But, uh, here’s what your fellow Democrat, former Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu said about the visit. Hold on! (I’ll get to Landrieu’s comments in a second.)" After Bash’s distortion of the Governor’s message prior to Trump’s visit, CNN cut to a clip of Landrieu expressing thanks to Trump for coming to the state and drawing attention to the dire situation from massive flooding. After the clip, Bash asked Edwards the following : "So governor, why is she wrong? Hold on! (I’ll get to Edwards’s reply in a second.)" Carol Brown asks in her article : "Why was Landrieu’s appreciation for Trump’s visit wrong?! Edwards never suggested it was. Bash’s determination to put a particular spin on Trump’s visit to Louisiana was utterly transparent. Do these leftists have no shame? Do they not know how idiotic they look? (Probably not. Probably not. And they probably wouldn’t care, anyway.)" But, Bel Edwards replied to Bash : "She’s not [wrong]. But you mischaracterized what I said. I didn’t dismiss his trip as a photo op. Before he came down, I said we welcome him here and we want him to be helpful and we hope it didn’t turn into a mere photo op. So you got the story backwards." Bash then asked Bel Edwards if Trump’s visit was helpful. Edwards stated that it was, as was his lengthy phone call with Governor Pence, who expressed “sincere and genuine” interest and a desire to be of service. Carol Brown's conclusion : "Like the rest of her colleagues at CNN, Dana Bash is a clueless useful-idiot leftist non-thinking tool. How these fools live with themselves is anyone’s guess. And as long as we’re on the subject of CNN, during a Trump rally in Virginia this week-end, when CNN reporters came into the room, the crowd shouted: “Do your job!” over and over again. They didn’t surround the reporters, scream obscenities at them, try to block their passage, spit on them, throw things at them, threaten them, punch them, beat them, kick them, or otherwise threaten their well being. As compared to leftists who have been attacking Trump supporters across the country [most recently, Friday in Michigan]." ~~~~~~ On Sunday, Donald Trump's son, Eric, was also in the localist Trump branch of conservatism when he said his father's presidential administration will "focus on" and "fix" the struggles of education in inner cities, capping a week of campaigning for the minority vote : "You have a lot of people from inner cities, especially minorities, who aren't getting higher-level education," Eric Trump told host John Catsimatidis on his radio program "The Cats Roundtable" on Sunday, "The schools around them are totally failing them. There's 60% unemployment in some of these communities. We're not giving the youth the opportunities that they so rightfully deserve. My father's going to focus on that, and he's going to change that, and he's going to fix it because it's just not right." ~~~~~~ Former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson has been connecting Trump with leaders in the black community, Carson adviser Armstrong Williams said, and meetings with key African American figures are expected to take place in Detroit and other cities before election day. Williams said : “Trump finds it outrageous that black people think he doesn’t have their interests at heart or that he’s a racist. He’s working to correct that now and it’s a sincere effort. He’s not going to let the media or Democrats have the final word on his relationship with the black community." Romney took only 6% support among African Americans. Trump consistently polls around 1% or less. Trump’s allies insist that’s about to change. They argue the GOP nominee’s recent moves show he is committed to running an inclusive campaign. Some Republicans are skeptical that Trump can do better than Romney. GOP pollster Frank Luntz said Trump risks playing into Democrats’ hands by narrowing his message to focus on specific demographic groups : "It is better for Trump to attempt to appeal to all voters rather than trying to segment them. Trump is at his best when he addresses issues that all voters care about. Trying to appeal to an individual voter segment will be seen as pandering.” Trump and the Republican National Committee have launched a joint campaign to court Hispanic voters, who are the fastest growing segment of the electorate. The RNC released a video on Monday arguing that Hispanics have disproportionately suffered under the Obama economy. And at a meeting with Hispanic leaders over the weekend, Trump said that he’s reconsidering his position that a mass-deportation task force is needed to round up undocumented immigrants and send them home. Trump’s private pitch to the Hispanic leaders marked a shift in tone for the nominee and was encouraging to his supporters. Evangical pastor Mario Bramnick, who was in the Saturday meeting with Trump, said : “Hispanics have not closed off to Trump, there are still a great many that hang in the balance this election cycle. I’ve seen the development and growth of Trump’s Hispanic outreach in closed settings and I can tell you his heart is into it and I’m very excited about what we’ll hear from him in the coming weeks.” Trump’s critics, both Republican and Democrat, are angry at his Hispanic outreach and are increasingly ramping up their rhetoric against him. Ana Navarro, a GOP strategist who has long supported Jeb Bush, called Trump a “racist” on CNN on Monday, and Democrats are working overtime to highlight his past positions and statements. They’re also hammering Trump for hiring Steve Bannon, who has been accused of race-baiting as an executive at Breitbart News. Some are arguing that Trump’s warning that the election is “rigged” is coded language meant to arouse suspicions about black voters. We can only say that this is electioneering at its ugliest. Donald Trump is not a racist and he is a better Republican than the GOP Hispanic-turned-elitist Ana Navarro, who has never gotten over the defeat of Jeb at Trump's hands during the primary debate season. ~~~~~~ A sign of the maturing of Donald Trump as a national candidate who will represent all Americans if elected, Trump last Thursday expressed "regret" over some of the controversial remarks he has made -- vowing in North Carolina to "offer the American people a new future of honesty, justice, and opportunity." Trump said : "Sometimes, in the heat of debate, and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. And, believe it or not, I regret it. I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues. But one thing I can promise you is this: I will always tell you the truth." Something we already know Hillary is incapable of doing. ~~~~~~ Trump's Charlotte speech was his first since a major shake-up in his campaign on Wednesday. Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen Bannon was named chief executive and pollster Kellyanne Conway was promoted to campaign manager. The campaign has also committed nearly $5 million in advertising in four key battleground states beginning on Friday. Trump said in Charlotte : "I speak the truth for all of you and for everyone in this country who doesn't have a voice, of which there are many. I speak the truth on behalf of the factory worker who lost his or her job -- and that's happening more and more in our country. I speak the truth on behalf of the veteran who has been denied the medical care they need and the medical care they deserve and so many are not making it. But they're going to make it if Trump becomes President." Trump sounded the call to inclusiveness and diversity and rejected bigotry in his speech, declaring : “our campaign is about representing the great majority of Americans. Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, and liberals, who read the newspaper or turn on the television and don't hear anyone speaking for them. All they hear are insiders fighting for other insiders. These are the forgotten men and women in our society -- and they are angry at so much and on so many levels." Trump pledged to "never tell you something I do not believe." Trump challenged Democrat Hillary Clinton to come clean with voters, saying : "While sometimes I can be too honest, Hillary Clinton is the exact opposite. She never tells the truth. One lie after another and getting worse with each passing day." Trump repeated many of his earlier campaign promises -- building the wall on the US-Mexico border, destroying the Islamic State and radical jihadism, and banning refugees from countries that support terrorism -- and he was proud about making : "the powerful, and I mean very powerful, a little uncomfortable now and again. Including some of the powerful people, frankly, in my own party, because it means that I'm fighting for real change." ~~~~~~ With those words as background, consider that Jerry Falwell, Jr. last Saturday called Donald Trump the "Churchillian" leader the United States needs, saying he is the clear choice in a "historic" presidential race that does not pit an establishment Republican against a liberal Democrat. Falwell, one of Trump's early presidential endorsers wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, in which he said : "We are at a crossroads where our first priority must be saving our nation. We need a leader with qualities that resemble those of Winston Churchill, and I believe that leader is Donald Trump. As Churchill did, Trump possesses the resolve to put his country first and to never give up in a world that is increasingly hostile to our values." And, he wrote, the nation's $150 billion nuclear deal with Iran will clear the way for that country, "the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world and a nation committed to the destruction of Israel," to become a nuclear power. The deal reminds Falwell of British prime minister Chamberlain's deal with Hitler, saying Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remind him of Chamberlain -- their policies had the "intended or unintended" effect of breathing life into ISIS, and the "feckless establishment" GOP-led Congress enabled them. Obama and Clinton also pushed the nation's debt to $19 trillion, and law enforcement has been "demonized" by them, Falwell said, warning that there will be "dire consequences" if Americans don't unite for Trump and his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence : "If Clinton appoints the next few Supreme Court justices, not only will the Second Amendment right to bear arms be effectively lost, but also activist judges will rewrite our Constitution in ways that would make it unrecognizable to our Founders." Do you hear the localist conservative ring to Jerry Falwell's article?? ~~~~~~ Dear readers, you do not have to think that Donald Trump is the best thing since sliced bread in order to vote for him. What is required is that you understand what is at stake. At least one, and more likely three or four, Supreme Court appointments will be made by the next President. Do you trust Trump or Clinton to make the best appointment for America -- appointing Justices who will protect the Second Amendment right to bear arms and the separation of powers that constrains an imperial-minded President from shredding the Constitution. Which candidate will nominate Justices who respect state’s rights in matters of religious protections and civil law within the states, or nominate Justices who support the control of regulatory burden on American business. Will Trump or Clinton support our military and our allies in Israel, or our nation’s law enforcement officers, targeted by militant agitators disguised as legitimate civil rights advocates? While we only know how Donald Trump will act based on his campaign promises, we know exactly how Hillary Clinton will act based on her history. What I find inexplicable are the conservatives who are now imploring other conservatives to either stay home or vote for unelectable third party candidates, even though before Trump was nominated, they were pointing out all the things that Trump now says show that Hillary would be a disaster as President. What changed?? Trump defied the odds and was nominated, something the conservative elite never thought would happen. He did it with immensely popular candor on important issues like illegal immigration, a complete rejection of political correctness, and unequaled media mastery. Those traits could easily give Trump and the GOP the White House in 2106. It is so clear that the only way to save America is to vote for Donald Trump, not for some third party candidate with no reasonable chance of winning. I don't want to bash Republicans and conservatives who would prefer Cruz or some other GOP standardbearer. I simply appeal to their reason. A vote for Hillary is suicide, if you truly believe in fundamental American principles. There is no reasonable choice to not vote, or to vote for a third party candidate doomed to lose. That way leads to a Hillary Clinton presidency. Suicide for America will follow. Vote Trump. Make America Great Again.