Tuesday morning 27 September 2016
Editorial Article by Jim Lantern
My Review – Winner of 2016 First Presidential Debate: NO ONE! Barely a Tie. Clinton a hair better than Trump.
SCORING… Polls indicate the majority of viewers believe Clinton won the debate, about two thirds to three quarters. It has been funny that “#TrumpWon” has been at the top of United States Trends at Twitter this morning. To whoever created “#TrumpWon” at Twitter I’d have to ask: What did he win? I’d say maybe Trump won the Booby Prize. I do not agree the difference is that great. When I add it up, my own means of scoring the debate, Clinton scores slightly better than Trump. I scored Clinton at 40 points. I scored Trump at 38 points.
FUTURE DEBATES… I believe two more presidential debates, and especially the scheduled debate for the two vice president candidates, will make no difference – will not cause any voters to switch candidates, and therefore are not necessary to help anyone decide on who to vote for.
JOHNSON… I believed both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would perform so bad, to disgust voters to such an extent that enough would switch to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, giving him a real chance now. Wrong. I doubt the debate caused any voters to switch to Johnson. Further, I doubt the debate caused any voters to switch from Clinton to Trump or from Trump to Clinton. Maybe a few, but not enough to make a difference. However, now the reverse of what I’d hoped for could happen, Instead of Johnson gaining votes, he probably lost some to Clinton and lost some to Trump. I now believe Johnson has less than no chance of winning. I do believe he should remain in the race, to remain on the ballot in all 50 states and Washington DC, so voters who refuse to vote for Clinton or Trump will still have a third choice, not limited to the lesser of two evils, can still exercise their right to vote. I will very likely be one of those voters – for Johnson, because I refuse to vote for Clinton or Trump.
TEMPERAMENT… Both candidates, Clinton and Trump, remained much calmer than I believed they would. On this subject, Clinton performed slightly better. Trump is suffering from self-delusion that he has good temperament as one of his best qualities, when in fact it is one of his worst. Because of such self-delusion, Trump should not be President. Clinton is known to have a short temper, but she does a better job of controlling her temper than Trump does controlling his temper. She knows when not to show it. But make no mistake about it, it’s there, and it will fuel her revenge upon whoever or whatever angered her at the appropriate time and place, and by appropriate means. In other words, she is vindictive, and is known to have an actual list of enemies comparable to “Dissidents List” of The White House created by President Obama. A New York attorney I know, who has had access to it, confirmed I’m on it for having written editorial articles against Obama.
BIRTHER ISSUE… I observed the Clinton vs. Obama battle in 2007 very closely. I clearly remember the Clinton side brought up the birth certificate issue, but then dropped it. That’s when Trump picked it up and then ran with it like a dumb viscous dog that’s bit down on a bone and will not let go of it. Even so, Obama’s resistance to showing it fanned the flames, making the place of his birth a reasonable question, for which the answer was not easy to get. It should never have been an issue in the first place. Releasing proof of place of birth should be required and routine for all presidential candidates. It was finally made available. Trump failed to back off when he should have. When he finally did back off, the issue should have become moot for Election 2016. I believe it is a mistake for Clinton to keep the issue alive as a means to slam Trump. Thus, feeding that issue is bad for both of them.
TRUMP TAX RETURNS ISSUE… I’m surprised Trump’s tax returned have not yet been leaked by someone at the IRS, while under Obama control, to WikiLeaks. Trump has been evasive on this issue, and was very evasive during the debate. He continues to claim he can’t release his tax returns during an IRS audit, and will do so after the audit, even though the IRS claims an audit in progress does not prevent the person being audited from releasing their tax returns. His performance on this issue during the debate convinced me Trump will never release his tax returns. I have no doubt now he is hiding a bombshell – more than one bombshell, which his tax returns would reveal. I believe Trump would rather drop out of the race than to provide his tax returns to the general public. I believe releasing them would knock him out of the race anyway, and then might also wreck his business empire for certain truths having been revealed to everyone. This is a reason why voters should not vote for him. Further, I believe it is true he has not paid federal income tax, found legal means to avoid paying it, and he believes that makes him smart.
CLINTON EMAILS ISSUE… Trump is right in saying it is not just a mistake. Not an honest mistake. It was willful misconduct, a violation of security and the law. Even so, I believe the evidence to prove it has all been destroyed. I believe the participants and witnesses granted immunity, but still refusing to give testimony, is an indication of guilt but is not proof of guilt. I have no doubt that the emails issue includes a major bombshell, which if revealed would knock Clinton out of the race and could result in criminal prosecution of her and others. This is one of the reasons why I believe she should not be President.
RACIAL ISSUES… I believe Trump is being a hypocrite on all or most racial issues. His confirmed legal history proves he and his associates have been racists. Trump claimed political candidates will say whatever it takes to gain votes of blacks, African-Americans, plus other minorities, and will then ignore them after being elected. I believe that’s true. Further, I believe it applies more to him than to Clinton, but applies to her in a different way. Trump is right when claiming Clinton has had her chance to make a difference on related issues, but has not done so. Even the best possible scenario of there being a black President, black lives did not improve – not enough to make a real difference for most of them. Even so, I believe blacks and other minorities would have a slightly better chance under a Hillary Clinton administration with participation of Bill Clinton, than under a Donald Trump administration with participation of police. He has promised to federalize police to give them more power, and to militarize police by restoring weapons to them that have been banned by Obama. I believe Trump will do so on January 20 or soon after if elected, and might declare Martial Law, to create a Police State, and to be its Dictator.
DICTATOR… Trump knows nothing of democracy, and apparently hasn’t read the U.S. Constitution. Trump is a dictator in his business world, and knows no other means of management. He praises dictators of other countries. He will become Dictator of the United States if elected President. Trump is not a Conservative. He is a Republican in name only – a RINO. He has in the past been registered as a Democrat, and has been an Independent. Even so, I believe the truth is he is a Statist – a Totalitarian. Statists are the real enemy of everyone else. “Statists want government to have a great deal of control over individuals and society. They support centralized planning, and often doubt whether liberty and freedom of choice are practical options. At the very bottom of the chart, left-authoritarians are usually called socialists, while right-authoritarians are generally called fascists.” – Excerpted from The World’s Smallest Political Quiz website. President Obama is a Statist, not a Liberal. So is Hillary Clinton. For comparison, President Bill Clinton was a Liberal, is now a Statist. Hillary Clinton is a left-leaning Statist, a socialist, of the “Big Brother” Orwellian kind. Donald Trump is a right-leaning Statist, and so I believe people who oppose him are right to refer to him as a fascist. Under Trump, we will have an actual dictator. Under Clinton, we will have a President acting like an Orwellian dictator with doublespeak and political correctness on steroids.
ISIS and related ISSUES… I believe Trump will handle the domestic terrorist threat the same way he will handle crime within the United States. He will declare Martial Law. He will federalize police, create a national police force, and increase their powers. He will militarize police, allowing them to have military weapons. Trump will suspend the Bill of Rights – the collective name for the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution. I have absolutely no doubt those events will happen if he is elected President. Further, for foreign issues, he will send in troops – use ground forces – for some locations and situations. For others, I believe he will use nuclear weapons. I believe he will use military force to take over all oil sources in the Middle East and neighboring countries, not just taking the oil in Iraq. He might nuke Iran, or make a deal for Israel to nuke Iran, if he can’t make a deal with Iran. I believe he will extort money from NATO, or will cut them off.
JOBS and TRADE ISSUES… I believe this is what matters to most Americans, has greatest impact on their lives for day-to-day living. Trump has remarked about a rich friend who moved his business to Mexico and financially is doing much better now. Considering Trump’s nature, I’d expect him to see that as a smart business move. For him to betray his rich friends to force them to return their businesses to the United States – to increase businesses, jobs, and revenue to knock down the national debt here – is unlikely. I believe he will betray voters on this issue. I have no respect for rich upper class blue book social snobs like Trump and all of his ilk. For the average American, life will not get better under either candidate. However, life might get worse under Trump. Under Clinton, the national debt will increase. Under Trump, the national debt will go sideways from under-the-table deals to reduce it.
CLINTON EXPERIENCE ISSUE… I believe Trump made a good point when he pointed out Clinton has already had her chance – “30 years” – to solve problems, and has failed to make any real difference. I believe that is the number one reason why voters should not vote for Hillary Clinton.
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Lantern Timeglass Journal 