Dan’s Papers April 22, 2011 danshamptons.com Page 34
TWENTY SOMETHING by David Lion Rattiner
I really just can’t figure out how I feel about Donald Trump running for President of the United States. My first impression of Trump is, go get ‘em buddy, let’s make things right. But then, I don’t know, I have thoughts. During one of his many interviews, I defi-
nitely sensed his passion. I got the feeling that he just wants to bulldoze everything, start from scratch and build something great. I can feel his passion about the country; I share the same passion, like all of us do. During this interview he used the word “respect” a lot. If I run and if I win, America will be respected again. But as my heart filled with inspiration about a great American businessman running
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for president, I listened to him discuss a barrel of oil. “A barrel of oil is going to be more than $100 soon,” he said. It’s been more than $100 for a long, long time, I think. He doesn’t know this? I know a lot of people, and I mean a lot of people, who have told me that they would vote for Donald Trump if he ran for president. He’s smart with money, a brilliant businessman, they say. It’s true, the Trump brand is extremely impressive. When you hear the name Trump, you know exactly who we are talking about. He’s created a celebrity out of himself by being a businessman, and his businesses have been through a lot. Trump has been the name behind several massive bankruptcies and bad businesses, and has also been the name behind some massive successes. He talks about Obama and his birth certificate, and Washington sort of cringes when he talks about it, but in a way there is a genius behind it – it gets attention. It’s those little tricks with the media and with business that Trump does best, and how he translates them into politics remains to be seen. There are a lot of real problems facing America, and being charming and strong isn’t going to solve a growing $14 trillion deficit. And it ain’t going to solve a falling dollar, rapidly rising gas prices and global financial instability. There’s a problem too with blaming the other guy for everything that’s wrong, because when you run on that kind of platform (like Obama did), in very short order you become the other guy. What criticizing the loudest does do is get you attention from people. Criticism creates authority and the truth is that we all felt this way when Obama was running. We all tuned in for a speech about hope and the future and became believers. But what is kind of a sad reality is that Trump is benefiting from the same kind of attention, that Obama got. Things aren’t going well, so let’s get in somebody new. I’ve noticed with a lot of people that they use the words, “You really have to stay positive,” when it comes to just about anything in life. You could be in a world of trouble, but if you “stay positive” things will “work out,” they say. Well I’m getting a little tired of listening to this type of rhetoric when it comes to the country that I live in. I don’t want to have to “think positive” about this country and “hope” that things will turn around. I want things to ACTUALLY be positive and for reality not to be $4 gasoline on its way to $5 and out-of-control deficits. That would be nice for a change. There are some hard decisions on the horizon when it comes to our country, and I hope (although I’m doubtful) that the selections in November will be a little bit more about keeping this country great and a little bit less about getting elected.