Donald Trump is the Republican “Miracle Man”. He claims to be an outsider. Yet, as a politician, he has outsmarted all his competitors. This and his policies makes him the most dangerous man in the US.

Every day he says something incredibly foolish or outlandish. He calls Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary”, yet one of his speeches has more falsehoods in it than Ms. Clinton tells in a year.

Miracles for everyone!

Trump promises to wipe out the US’s debt while making huge increases in defense spending. If his poll numbers are down among women, he promises them government-funded maternity leave and day care. Silly us for questioning how he is going to pay for all this. It will all be funded by all the economic growth his policies will bring! In other words, a miracle.

Other presidential candidates like former Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2012 made a number of small mistakes and one Trump sized one in forgetting which federal agencies he was going to close. After that, he was finished. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said stupid things during his presidential run and just like Trump, simply makes stuff up. Walker topped the Republican polls for months. But after his Canadian border fence gaffe and removing any doubt about his lack of intelligence during the presidential debates, his star faded and he was finished. These are not Miracle Men.

Yet, Donald Trump somehow is managing to stay within a few percentage points of Hillary Clinton and could very well win this election. So, how does he get away with it? Here are a few random thoughts on his success.

• Establish a bedrock super dedicated base with the least educated, gullible and most easily manipulated voters. For Trump, no matter how bad he does, he can count on his white non college educated base to provide continued support. Throw in rural Republicans who will vote a straight ticket regardless of who is on the ballot and you have a credible percentage.
• Trump’s core voters want to believe him. Trump identified white men without college degrees as a group that believes they are disenfranchised. He promises them just what they want to hear, that he is going to bring their high paying manufacturing jobs back. He gets them to believe this whopper and anything else he says seems believable.
• Sexism. A female large animal veterinarian breaking into a male dominated field in northern Wisconsin in the late 1980’s provides some unique perspectives that apply to politics. For a woman to gain acceptance, she can’t be as good as her male colleagues. Being better than them doesn’t cut it either.  She has to be perfect. Hillary Clinton is by no means perfect. Of course, there is a double standard here. But, that is the way it is and Trump and surrogates play it to perfection.
• Consistent deflection. Donald Trump is a weak candidate. Yet, when he or his surrogates are pressed to explain his unexplainable policies, they use a rhetorical tool called deflection. They simply change the conversation to Hillary Clinton and typically, her e-mails. It is amazing how many supposedly high-powered interviewers let them get away with this.
• If there isn’t an external threat to safety, make one up. Trump continually overstates the threat ISIS poses to the U.S. How credible is this?  In 2015 and so far in 2016, toddlers with guns killed  more U.S. citizens than Islamic terrorists have. http://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/01/toddlers-have-shot-at-least-23-people-this-year/
• Irrational supporters. Trump supporters somehow justify their loyalty with illogic. One favorite: “Congress will step in and stop some of Trump’s craziest plans.” Yup, just like Congress stopped President George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, his tax cuts and his out of control spending and borrowing that brought on the Bush Recession.
• A weak competitor. Democrats do extremely well when they have a charismatic genius as their candidate. Some examples are John Kennedy, who surrounded himself with the best and the brightest, Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton and University of Chicago Law School Professor Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton is certainly not charismatic. I can’t imagine Bill letting her out of the house with those god-awful sunglasses. She may be intelligent, but one has a hard time believing it with some of her decision-making. People simply don’t like Hillary Clinton and she may very well be the biggest reason Trump could win this race.

The reality

The Miracle Man constantly promises to bring jobs back to the US by renegotiating trade deals.  The US’s Merchandise and Trade Balance is out of whack indicating a net export of jobs. However, some bellicose president trying to pressure his country’s biggest lender to change their legitimate trade policies isn’t a solution.

Unfortunately our trade deficit is our fault. It is not caused by some other country. We need to recognize the reality that every country’s Merchandise and Trade Balance equals that country’s Net National Savings. The way to end our country’s Net National Savings deficit is to eliminate our $500 billion federal government spending deficit. That requires a conservative president making the federal government live within its means, not some blundering ignoramus enacting tax cuts for the rich and huge spending increases for defense and whatever his daughter suggests.

Summary

While Frugal Ron recognizes Hillary Clinton’s faults, he remains convinced  a Donald Trump presidency will be an unparalleled disaster. However, considering people’s blind desire for change in light of today’s low unemployment rates, the record number of people working, the unprecedented rises in median income levels of late, the record high stock market levels, the low levels of chronically unemployed, the record low-level of inflation and the few U.S soldiers in harm’s way, maybe Donald Trump is what voters deserve.

The only call to action in this article is simple. Rational people must out vote the irrational. The stakes have never been higher.