Donald Trump recently tied in a poll for the Republican presidential candidacy, Trump along with other presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee both polled 19% with Sarah Palin a distant third with 12% of the vote. The question is, is Donald Trump really a viable candidate for the presidency?
Trump is currently attempting to paint himself as the white knight of U.S politics the reluctant candidate who is running purely out patriotism and love for his country, giving straight answers to questions, not beating around the bush and claiming he will get things done where others have failed. So far at least among Republicans and Republican leaning independents this image is resonating. His roots in the business world that would of once spelled the death knell for a potential political career are suddenly virtues in an economy where politicians and economists even those in the White House are perceived as not grasping the depth of the current economic turmoil. The media once said that Ronald Reagan could never be president and Arnold Schwarzenegger could never be governor of California, they were wrong, in everything especially politics anything can happen.
With so much momentum with the Republican party currently and the Obama administration almost constantly under political siege there has never been a better time for a man like Trump to "throw his hat in the ring", where once he would of been laughed off the political stage he is being taken increasingly seriously in the race for the White House.
The ability for a man such as Donald Trump to be taken seriously for the presidential candidacy is largely thanks to the current administration which is perceived as ineffectual and weak by both sides of the political spectrum. The Obama administration ran their campaign on the message of change and little to no change has actually occurred, Guantanamo Bay is still open, Health care is still deeply unaffordable and out of reach for many Americans and the United States is still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would be unfair to heap all of the blame on the White House, because in actual fact there is plenty of blame to go around on Capitol hill. The Democrats had a historic opportunity to ram through some real game changing legislation like true universal health care and ending the fiscally irresponsible tax cuts to the incredibly wealthy while they were in control of the house and senate but for some inexplicable reason they chose not to do so.
Trump recently said the following about Libya.
"Look at Libya. Look at this mess, we go in, we don't go in, he shouldn't be removed, we don't want to remove him, we don't want to touch him, but he should be removed. Nobody knows what they're doing on Gaddafi. I'd do one thing. Either I'd go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all. In the old days, when you have a war and you win, that nation is yours."
And had this to say on the issue of China.
"If you look at what China is doing, they're stealing our jobs, they're taking our money. They're then loaning our money back. It's amazing. They're making all of our products. They are also manipulating the currency that makes it almost impossible for our companies to compete with China."
This simple message in black and white will resonate with voters on both sides of politics who are tired of politicians spinning their opinion every which way, some may prefer a straight talking president even if he doesn't say what they want to hear. The aggressive tone of his rhetoric on U.S foreign policy especially towards the economic behaviour of China may be very successful in winning votes in a potential election especially considering the vast majority of politicians try to ignore China's ongoing march toward economic supremacy.
The race for the White House has scarcely begun and two things are certain with people like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin in the mix it will be very interesting and secondly Saturday night live will have a field day.
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