Trump, bankruptcies and looking out for #1

Companies Donald Trump was responsible for at some level declared bankruptcy 4 times.

Here’s what Trump had to say about that:

"Hundreds of companies" have filed for bankruptcy, Trump said earlier in the debate. "I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job."

The problem is that every time a company declares bankruptcy the people the company owes money to lose money and the company owners get away with not paying their bills.

The concept of bankruptcy has value but someone who can say that cheating their creditors out of their money is doing a “very good job” has a very dangerous view of personal responsibility and one’s obligation to one’s neighbor.

It’s one thing for a small family business struggling in the Obama economy to go bankrupt but it’s quite another for a man who is worth billions to use bankruptcy to keep from having to pay people he owes money to.

It’s even worse when that person says that they did good by cheating others out of their money.

If Trump were to say that he was very sad that circumstances beyond his control lead to the people who he owed money to not getting paid that would be one thing but  Trump does not appear to be too sad that he’s still rich but people who trusted he’d pay his bills were left high and dry.

Clearly Trump doesn’t seem to think that he needs to temper his business practices to ensure that he doesn’t cheat others out of their money due to future business mistakes; that seems to show that Trump is concerned for #1 not for the people.

Those who are planning to vote for Trump might want to think long and hard about whether they want a man who looks out for #1 first at the expense of people he’s made promises to as President.

The American people could end up being the next group Trump makes promises to that he can’t fulfill.

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Real NY values

The first responders to 9/11 weren’t showing New York values they were showing American values. Unless of course the folks in NY think that Chicago, Philadelphia, or say New Orleans first responders wouldn’t show the same bravery.

But a real NY value is the belief that the people in NY are better than everyone else in every way.  Many New Yorkers, especially among the liberal elites, appear to carry a big chip on their shoulder and have no problem looking down their patrician noses at anything West of the Hudson—hence the wide spread understanding of Saul Steinberg’s “View of the World from Ninth Avenue” New Yorker magazine cover.

While the cultural elites, including many “conservative” commentators, have a love affair with NY it’s unlikely that most conservatives do; after all NYC is the exemplar of East coast elitism and liberal entitlement.

Now most folk in NYC are good honest hard working men and women just like most Americans but when anyone who doesn’t live in NYC, or isn’t an East Coast elitist, hears NY values here’s what they think of—and remember it’s liberals who love NYC who tell us that perception is reality when it comes to discrimination:

1) Organized crime and corrupt unions

2) A mayor who broke the law to honeymoon in Cuba and who thinks cops are evil

3) Citizens who stand by while a woman is murdered and don’t even bother to call the police.

4) Home to banks too big to fail that take money from the rest of the country to give their employee’s bonus’s.

5) Citizens who aren’t friendly.

6) Home to Wall Street where crony capitalism reigns and people who don’t actually produce anything make immense fortunes.

7) A city where the White elites praise Planned Parenthood and 78% of abortions kill Black or Hispanic unborn babies.
8) A city where honest citizens have to struggle to buy a gun but criminals have no problem getting armed
9) A city that has such high cigarette taxes that are so vigorously enforced that at least one Black man died as a result, and don’t forget that NY also has it’s very own income tax that goes on top of State and Federal taxes.

10) A city that attacks the schools that actually educate children to defend teacher’s unions.

To be honest it’s unclear just what positive values New York City, as opposed to individual New Yorkers, brings to the table.  While there are millions of New Yorkers who are great people the simple reality is that the folk in “fly over country” don’t have a very positive view of the wonders of real NY values.

The simple reality is that while the chattering class think Trump won big by attempting to convince voters that only in NY would first responders risk their lives most Americans who don’t live in NY or the cloistered elite gated refuges where rich political commentators live aren’t fond of NY.

That’s not because New Yorkers are bad but because of the image that NY has in the rest of the country.

That Trump is defending that NY image is a good reason to question his recent “conversion” to conservatism.

If Trump’s come to conservatism moment was real instead of just defending NY value’s he would have said which NY values he supports and which ones he doesn’t like.

But instead Trump said:

When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York.

That statement shows the smug and superior attitude that really represents NY values. After all who’s to say that no other American city could have done better?  But to a New Yorker like Trump he has to make sure we in fly over country know that no one could be better than New Yorkers.

New Yorkers did do a great job dealing with 9/11 but it’s New York values that made Trump single out New Yorkers as being the best.

Notice too that Cruz listed what he thought of, and which most American’s think of, as New York values:

And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.

But Donald didn’t address any of that. Probably because he couldn’t. By politicizing 9/11 Trump took the low road and ignored a very real issue that anyone should have with the Trump candidacy; just how will Donald act if elected?

We can be fairly sure that he’s going to be good on immigration but what about abortion, same sex marriage, crony capitalism, foreign policy etc?  Will he be a real conservative or will he be another “compassionate” conservative?

It’s perfectly understandable why folks like Trump.  He was the first candidate to get a lot of coverage by pointing out the truth that Washington is corrupt and doesn’t give a darn about the American people. 

But Cruz has been pointing out that same thing for longer than Trump has; the difference is that Trump is a media star so his comments got a lot more coverage than Cruz’s did.

One last thing it’s clear that Trump does ascribe to NY values since he’s said that a child born to an American mother is not an American just so he can try and get Cruz out of the way without having to address the issues Cruz raises. That sort of underhanded attack, backed by radical liberal Democrats, against a supposedly fellow conservative is what most of America would expect from a NY values kinda guy.

We need an anti-establishment President. We need to control immigration. But we don’t need a President who’s liberal on all the other issues; we can win on immigration but still lose the country.

The question Trump fans have to face is not whether or not we need an outsider to try and fix the cesspool that is Washington, we all agree on that, the question they have to ask is is Donald, who gave money to Hillary and Chuck Schumer, really going to support conservative values across the board or is he going to fall back on old habits if he’s elected?

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The State of Denial Speech

For a great summary of all the lies, distortions, and misrepresentations in Obama's State of Denial speech I recommend this great Daily Signal article.

As with most speeches by liberal politicians the most interesting things are the one's that weren't mentioned:

1) American sailors seized by Iran and, at the time of the speech, still held captive.
2) Paris, San Bernardino, Philadelphia
3) Iran violating the nuclear accords and testing long range nuclear capable ballistic missiles
4) There are more Americans out of work today than any year since 1977--Jimmy Carter i.e. Obama light.
5) Energy prices are going up due to Obama's EPA
6) The IRS deliberately targeted Obama's political opponents
7) Black lives can't matter when we accept the mass killing of Blacks by other Blacks
8) Black women are 3 times more likely to abort their children than white women--but PP loves it
9) Obama fought fracking that is bringing down the cost of energy tooth and nail
10) If ISIS is being defeated what would they be capable of if they were winning?