PRESIDENT TRUMP: WILL HE RUN, SHOULD HE RUN

FACTS BEARING ON THE ISSUE:

Our country is becoming more chaotic, vulnerable and dangerous every day under Democrat power and control.  Here are some of the reasons:

The FBI, Justice, IRS and Environmental Protection Agency are being weaponized against we-the-people. National security is being threatened by open borders. Three hundred Americans die every day from China/Cartel delivered drug overdoses. Taxes are going up. Net take-home pay for wage-earners is going down. Our strategic oil reserve is being diminished every day. Our enemies have lost all respect for our once-great military.  Throughout America, the debilitating concept of diversity/equity/inclusion is the order of the day.  Under Biden the national debt increased over $2.1 trillion in his first year with no relief in sight. Behind the scenes Democrats are pushing amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S.  Democrats want total federal control legislation to “reform” elections. The concept of sanctuary cities is unamerican. 19 of 20 of the most violent cities in America are run by far-left Democrats. One out of every three San Francisco residents have been robbed during the current reign of lawlessness. Democrats push trillion-dollar legislation in Congress that has not been vetted or even read and is full of actions for greater government control. CRT taught in our schools is racially divisive. Foreign relations are a mess and getting worse. The Energy Information Administration predicts net crude oil imports in 2023 of 3.4 million barrels per day costing about $300 million and all of it is a Biden self-inflicted wound.  In 19 months, Biden has offered leases for 126,000 acres of federal land for gas and oil exploration, the smallest amount in 77 years and 97% less than Trump in his first 19 months.  Wokism in the military is a complete contradiction to warfighting expertise at every level.

WHERE ARE WE HEADED? 

Based on this 20-month track record, recent polls have been reporting that between 74% and 88% of Americans believe Biden is leading us on the wrong track.  What is that “track”?  Is “it” really happening?  How do we recognize what is happening? Here is some food for thought:

A doomsday opinion piece published by Tom Del Deccaro, NINE STEPS FROM FREEDON TO SOCIETAL BREAKDOWN:

  • Massive government spending with the federal government at the center of the economy.
  • Massive tax systems that reduce incentives.
  • Reduced growth leading to economic stagnation.
  • National debt and continued deficit spending.
  • Government printing money to pay for programs.

Any of this look familiar so far?

  • Government price fixing.
  • Underground economies rise.
  • Class warfare begins tearing at the fabric of society.
  • Total societal discord.

Here is another set of rules that have influenced our nation’s movement to the far left. Saul Alinsky, 1909-1972, was a radical social activist based in Chicago in the 1960’s; he published Rules for Radicals in 1971. A central theme was wealth-redistribution. Hillary Clinton wrote her bachelor’s degree thesis on him and was offered a job working for him but departed for Yale law school instead.  Barack Obama was trained as a community organizer in Chicago by Alinsky’s disciples in the 1980’s.

Here are Alinsky’s eight steps from democracy to a socialist society:

  • Healthcare: Control healthcare and you control the people. (Obamacare)
  • Poverty: Increase the poverty level; poor people are easier to control. (Democrat identity politics)
  • Debt: Increase the national debt to an unsustainable level, leading to greater taxes, leading to greater poverty. (Obama increased the national debt by 88% in eight years)
  • Gun control leading to a police state. (Biden’s obsession)
  • Welfare: Cradle-to-grave control. Create dependency on the government. (Democrat policy for the last 50 years)
  • Education: control what people read, listen to and learn. (Democrat’s revisionist history)
  • Religion: Remove God from government and schools. (Democrat initiative for decades)
  • Class Warfare:  Divide the people into the wealthy against the poor; destroy the middleclass. (Identity politics’ long-term strategy)

Do these lists tell us that there are tens of millions of Americans who want a socialist United States?  No, but it does tell us that the Democrats have a history that favors elements of the movement.  For example, many favor massive welfare programs, thereby creating a dependent voting class. Most favor gun control, with emphasis on the word “control”.  They favor massive government, power and control vs states’ rights. “Medicare for all” is a common Democrat campaign theme.  A regulation-nation gives them greater control over businesses and we-the-people. They have no sense of fiscal constraints.  Considered individually, these Democrat platforms do not spell socialism, but the reality is that the totality of their efforts are relentlessly moving us towards a place we do not want to be; socialism.  “If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck.”

REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP:

Where the nation is headed is very scary stuff and someone has to clean up this mess and stop the movement before it destroys our once great nation. As the Democrat party moves further to the left, it will be up to the Republicans to counter it. This conclusion implies that there is a Republican leader who is available, recognizable and ready. Therein lies the problem; currently there is no leader.

Trump is not the Republican Party leader until he announces he will run in 2024.  Mitch McConnell can’t lead himself around the block.  The wannabe Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is afraid, unwilling or unable to lay out a Republican platform for the election only a few weeks away; recall Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” which helped the Republicans win big in the 1994 midterm elections. The Republican National Committee should have a full-court-press in their website to guide every Republican candidate in America through a detailed discussion of the issues and the Republican solutions.  Zip, nothing from the RNC.  They get an “F” for this election cycle.

So, is it up to President Trump to pick up the guidon and change the course we are currently on?  If so, can he?  If so, should he? Those are the questions that need answers right now. 

CAN TRUMP FIX AMERICA? 

We only need to look at the blueprint for America that he campaigned on in 2016 to conclude that, yes, he can possibly change direction of our nation.  Candidate Trump, in 2016 told us he would take the following actions: energy independence, year to year economic growth, lower taxes for everyone, employ more women and Black Americans, support for Israel, no nuclear weapons for Iran, shut down North Korea’s missile and nuclear testing, secure borders, best qualified leaders for Executive Branch Departments, each NATO country paying their share, deregulate the federal government, support to small businesses, lower corporate taxes, states’ rights, support for police, if you are able to work and there are jobs available, get one, etc. Given what politics is normally about, it was amazing to watch all of those promises become a reality for the benefit of all Americans, not just for some identity groups.

SHOULD TRUMP RUN?

It is easy to just say yes because he fixed the Obama/Biden mess, he can surely do it again. But that may be a shallow conclusion because 2024 will not be 2016-2020. On inauguration day, January 2021 no one could foresee the depth and breadth of the hate, ugliness and government weaponization that the Democrat Party would unleash against President Trump every day of his tenure as he persevered to accomplish all he had promised the American people. 

One could conclude that if elected in 2024 the farther-left Democrats across the country would unite in creating an enhanced version of the culture of hate they perpetrated on the country 2017-2021.  The mass media would, in all likelihood, reach new heights of irresponsible “reporting”, relentlessly tainting daily events and administration accomplishments.  The embedded “deep state” buried in the government’s massive bureaucracy would be working cross purposes to the president’s intent every day.

No one likes to be irresponsibly criticized and Trump has demonstrated that he does not suffer fools lightly; we can expect him to immediately strike back at the opposition and from that will be blamed for dividing America. On 20 January, 2017, inauguration day, the Washington Post published an article, “The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.”  The New York Daily News: “Here is how President Trump may have already set himself up for impeachment.”. On the same day, GQ Magazine published an article on how to impeach a president.  If Trump is reelected in 2024, it is likely that 20 January 2025 would see the call for impeachment across the nation by the left loonies; Pelosi, Schumer, Maxine Watters, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, social media moguls, and activist billionaires like George Soros.  Depending on the majority parties in the Congress, it is possible even Trump could not successfully govern through that environment.

THE BENCH: 

The good news is that the Republican Party currently has perhaps the strongest bench of presidential candidates in recent history. Just to name a few: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has demonstrated bold and insightful leadership.  Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley appears eminently qualified.  Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton would be great.  Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seems to have it all together; intelligence, perspective, leadership skills, articulate. But what is most important, as we look ahead, is a generational shift. The Republican Party needs a cast of new leaders in their 50s.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our once great nation is in serious trouble.

Given a few more years of the current Democrat programs, it may be too late to turn our country around. 

The 2022 vote is already underway.  It is too late to strengthen this campaign.

TO vs FOR intent.  Trump’s presidency was a classic example of a clear intent to make things better FOR we-the-people, all of us.  Contrast that with the Biden administration and all they are doing TO us. The next president has to get this right.

The 2024 campaign should begin on 9 November, 2022 with the strongest possible lineup of Republican contenders, all with a common theme taken from the Trump administration accomplishments.

BOTTOM LINE:

President Trump should do what is in the best interest of our country at this critical juncture in our history and not be a candidate for president in 2024.

Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of VISION TO EXECUTION, a book for leaders, and a new book May 2022, FIX THE SYSTEMS, TRANSFORM AMERICA as well as the author of a blog WeThePeopleSpeaking.com.