And there it is, it really is all about the kids and that is why this fight must continue to be fought.

” Oh my God, that was hysterical! That definitely did it, along with the wonderful meditative weekend I had.”

Im glad you found the tonic effective.

Trump IS a different kind of cat in American Politics—which is what scares me!

As I’ve said before– initially intrigued by Trump, even though I never liked him as a billionaire-entertainer, real-estate-Guy.
(Tangentially– totally sick of Warren Buffet & Zuckerberg, as well. “Give your own money to the government, leave me out of the billionaire social-engineering shtick.”)
****************************************************************************

Wayne, agree, agree, agree :-)

https://youtu.be/_lkVV1SAR7s

It really is the best medicine.

https://www.levintv.com/videos/trump-is-no-juggernaut

To your media reference: A good friend came to see me for some perspective the other day. They have become sooo distraught related to the news and related confusing information / disinformation issues that they have no control over that they were on their way to a monastery to stay for the weekend to get away from it all.

I would say, tangentially, ever since I stopped watching my formally favorite news-channel, my life is infinitely less complicated. Totally sick of the RINO’s & 24/7 punditry.

I temper my position knowing that I am by nature an optimist and have high expectations, as I do with most things, and will reset those expectations as reality reconciles itself with my optimism. I suspect that all our reads will for the most part fall somewhere slightly to the right of center as this whole thing plays itself out. We can no longer move into the future if it continues to fall to the left as it has been for the past several administrations.

I think it may be short sighted to view Trump only in the light that shines on his public persona. I like to look deeper and find my optimism in of all things the quality of the children that he has somehow managed to produce. They are the best evidence for me.

I also temper my position with having several friends who have worked directly for him, over and above his egomania, they all have only positive things to say about him. My real concern, and I know it is yours, Wayne’s and everyone else who cares is that he not think that our Constitutional principles are not leverage to be used in some political compromise.

Our next president (all presidents) needs to be confident and thoughtful, benevolent, respected and reasonable yet ruthless and feared by all opponents, and of course loved for those qualities :)

And Trump IMO has that potential (there’s that word again).

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/01/donald-trump-leads-cruz-by-15-points-in-crucial-indiana-race.html

If the above story turns out to be true I think its all over but the cryin and the 1237 number for Trump will be attained.

ab-so-lutely, biased against Trump & for Cruz/Fiorina! (totally! that’s no secret!)
:)

Trump IS a different kind of cat in American Politics—which is what scares me!

As I’ve said before– initially intrigued by Trump, even though I never liked him as a billionaire-entertainer, real-estate-Guy.
(Tangentially– totally sick of Warren Buffet & Zuckerberg, as well. “Give your own money to the government, leave me out of the billionaire social-engineering shtick.”)
In contrast, and across subjects– I ‘ve been leery of Elon Musk, but the more I find about him, the better I feel. (The electric car ‘thang just smacks of cronyism to me– let’s eliminate the subsidy & see what happens. As long as Musk spends his own money, I have little objection.)

-I remain persuadable & over a range of subjects, but just don’t see anything about Trump, now or in the future, that would change my mind about him.

I’ll try not to be repetitive, but you guys all know where I stand.

Just because everyone has potential does not mean they can fulfill that potential. It is perfectly reasonable, based on the behavior and track record of both Cruz and Trump to come to the different conclusions about their actual potential, once President. You can call that bias, but someone else can call that a thoughtful educated analysis of the situation.

I could in turn say that your eager willingness to imagine Trump has this potential, despite his track record, indicates your refusal, because of your bias for Trump, to look at his track record.

Personally, I hope you are right and Wayne and I are wrong. If we are right, however, we all are going to suffer badly.

Would you say that Cruz has potential should he find himself the president? Im sure your answer is a resounding YES, of course Cruz has potential. You just do not like Trump for the many reasons that we have discussed here, and many of them I strongly agree with, but he certainly has potential.

Trump is a different kind of cat and he certainly has both the potential and drive to make a real difference. The only thing that remains to be seen is what that difference will be, just like when anyone else would find themselves in the same position.

Wayne, your bias is showing :)

–I’m doubting he has great potential or that he would rise to the occasion. He has a chance every day to ‘rise to the occasion,’ I doubt he would dramatically change if empowered.
Standard, historical checks-and-balances are not in operation anymore, once he’s in, he’s in all-the-way.

Jwing: referencing islam “It needs to be relegated to history’s ashbin now.”

Totally on board with that thought.
IMO, sadly, we are far past the point of live-and-let-live. When people scream they intend to kill you, listen to them.

To your point about Cruz not inspiring I present this as supporting documentation from another country:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-favourite-run-london-racially-charged-campaign-092839903–sector.html

The straight conservative narrative anywhere in the world needs a revamping, Trump appears to be a more acceptable popular alternative and once in office must be strongly influenced by the organized groups of individual people who have empowered him. He will have great potential, but will he be able to rise to the occasion?

Trump is a complete wildcard…but I’ll take that over Hillary any day. Cruz is unelectable not because of his conservative position but because he lacks the ability to inspire in this modern era of social media and he can’t control the 24/7 news cycle as Trump can. It comes down to showmanship…sadly.

Fully agree Cruz is not the best public speaker on Earth, given the norms to which we have been told, are supposed to matter. I am however, never left with the impression he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or exactly why he believes something. Trump on the other hand– changes with the wind & the sentence/thought-fragments he speaks aloud, drive me nuts. (On the other extreme, Trump is terrible on-prompter.)
Cruz does drive me crazy with his cadence at times, but never with his content.
(Lincoln apparently had a terrible voice but boy could he write!)

I’m more in the a-thesist camp, (maybe a deist in the lurch,) so I’m not Cruz’s target audience with the religious stuff, but it matters not to me & I don’t fear it. (The only crazies that want a Theocracy, are the Muslims, and I do fear them.)((and would advocate any action that destroys them in large measure. sorry, I’ll say it aloud– any Religion that wants to kill me for a number of reasons, needs to GO, by whatever means necessary, but I digress terribly.))

Can’t speak to the Religiosity of the Founder’s; only that that were educated men of their time, and everything that entails, including the Christian God and/or Natures God, and Enlightenment Thinking. And they knew what religious oppression was & tried to prevent it ever being institutionalized here.

It’s a Republic if we can keep it… not some agrarian-populist-nationalist Kleptocracy “movement.”

Trump is not perfect, but he will have to do in beginning the process of righting our ship of state and correcting it away from pure socialism or worse.

Cruz is simply too pious and a stiff, yet I agree with him as a constitutional conservative. Let’s not forget that the founders were not as religiously conservative as Cruz imagines them… (i.e. Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, et al), and yet they were geniuses in creating a sound constitutional republic.

NASA is many things, including Muslin outreach, but I don’t think they can be accused of wandering the Galaxy…

Interesting Biblical take on Trump. Unfortunately I don’t think he’s ever read it cover-to-cover. He doesn’t appear to have the intellectual weight to even read our Constitution or Declaration, much less the Bible.
He does appear to have read & embraced the Communist Manifesto. Not saying he is a Communist, just that he’s a classical useful-idiot at best & a fellow-traveler at worst.
“Populist, agrarian, nationalist,” something like that, even Trump has no clue about his alleged “movement.”
We’ve seen this movie before & it never ends well.

As for Trumps heavy Mafia connections & his IRS problems– to those I just can’t speak.

There was a different classic 1960’s character that Trump brought to my mind.
A tycoon who was also known to cheat at golf…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-D2k4P_mGM

The indictment is not what will further undermine the she devil, its the anticipated leaks. I am wondering what Obama will attempt to legally do to stop out such actions? Unless he is willing for the leaks to appear so that she becomes tainted to the point that someone else may become the solution and a more acceptable politician to carry on the leftist legacy, which I do not see the people of America wanting.

But my intuition says that Hillary will just soldier on, hopefully to a crushing defeat. At which point she and her underlings, which I think would also include her daughter, who participated in the un-secure dissemination of State Department communications, up to top secret, will have some real serious legal decisions to make.

My liberal friends / Hillary supporters think this is all just about some BS accusations that have been manufactured by the Republicans, until I sit them down and reasonably explain what she actually did. And I understand what her intention was which was to set up a system in which after her service SHE would be able to control all communications that might be used against her. She thought it reasonable to circumvent the security systems used by the government.

That IMO is truly a fatal paranoid decision that will cost her, and her people who surrounded her who knew better but said nothing “because it was Hillary”, dearly.

wodun/Cotour: some good points as well.
“Deju Vu all over again”.. we’ve had this discussion, no? Good input.
:)
I sincerely think Carly is a net plus.
People who support Trump, -in general-, I don’t believe, care a lot about the down ballot & would instinctively vote for the same whomever, absent Trump.

No surprise–Ted remains my Guy & I have no deal-breaking problems with Carly so… we shall see.

If I may tangentially digress…
Tell me that Trump doesn’t resemble (to a high degree) the corrupt gangster “Bela Oxmyx” played by Anthony Caruso, in season 2, episode 17, Star Trek original series, “A Piece of the Action?” (aka “Planet of the Gangsters,” aka what the old Soviet Union morphed into
I know it’s fiction… but it’s more “true” than not.
Want the geeky kid from Debate Team, not the future Used Car Salesman or Al Capone.