I’m not endorsing anyone for president (yet). But I am on the record as saying Scott Walker has the perfect record (as Governor and anti-union warrior) to be the winning candidate in 2016. I’m also a fan of Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. I’ve not been a fan of Chris Christie in the past, but I happen to think the income tax plan he just unveiled is fantastic.
The fact is, the GOP has an incredible array of dynamic, diverse candidates. The Democrats have one bloated, entitled, corrupt, “past due” candidate, who is a walking scandal about to implode. The future looks bright for the GOP.
But there is a wild card on the horizon. Critics laugh at Donald Trump. They give him no chance. They say he’s too wild and unconventional. They say he’s not serious.
Well it appears he is serious. He has put “Celebrity Apprentice” on hold. That’s a $60 million sign of serious.
Are there better politicians running for president than Donald Trump? Sure. Probably all of them are better at politics, lying, spinning and telling the people what they want to hear. But is there anyone running for president who would be a better CEO for the United States of America than Donald Trump?
Trump has already built a formidable campaign organization in the early GOP primary states.
Don’t look now, but it appears “The Donald” is about to officially announce he’s entering the GOP presidential race.
So let’s debunk the critics and naysayers and look at reasons why Donald Trump as president is no joke.
Does “The Donald” have a high opinion of himself, even to the point of sounding egotistical? You bet! As one of America’s most successful CEO’s he has earned that right.
Find me a high level CEO who isn’t egotistical. Warren Buffett? Bill Gates? Steve Wynn? Sir Richard Branson? Mark Cuban? They all have high opinions of themselves. Those egos have served them well. That’s how you become a billionaire and join the most exclusive club of business moguls on a planet with over 6 billion people (most of them mired in poverty).
Does Trump say exactly what’s on his mind? You bet! Millions of Americans who are sick of lying politicians and “political correctness” will find that refreshing. Here are just a couple of his latest statements:
“President Obama is incompetent and not a good person.”
“I don’t give a sh*t about lobbyists.”
“Bowe Bergdahl is a piece of garbage.”
“Clearly, Barack Obama has failed the African-American community.”
If you, like me, agree with this kind of straight talk, which most politicians (especially wimpy establishment Republican politicians) are deathly afraid of saying, then it may be time to seriously consider Trump for President.
The president has to be a leader. Trump is certainly that.
The president has to be a motivational speaker and inspire people through the media. Trump has proven his ability to do that.
But the primary role of the president of The United States is to be CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the largest, most diverse bureaucracy of the most powerful nation in the world. And, what does a CEO do? He hires and he fires. He hires the best people he can find and doesn’t hesitate to fire them when they fail. And, we all know that no one does that better than “The Donald.”
Look at our government over the past eight years under Obama: the Benghazi scandal, IRS scandal, Fast & Furious scandal, Veteran Affairs scandal, the lies, misrepresentations and fraud of ObamaCare, the scandal of spending $1 billion on building and fixing a defective ObamaCare web site, Middle East miscalculations, failure to stop ISIS, open borders, illegal immigration invasion, $8 trillion in deadly new debt, and all-time records for new taxes, spending, entitlements and job-killing regulations.
How did all these disasters happen? Incompetent people were put in charge. Then, after the results proved just how incredibly incompetent they were, how many people responsible for these disasters have been fired? Exactly ZERO!
Trump would have brought each executive, official and bureaucrat involved into the Boardroom, looked them in the eye and said “You’re FIRED!”
Why does this Obama administration go from one scandal to another, one failure to another? This is an easy answer — forget about firing them, the people who failed should never have been hired in the first place. It starts, of course, at the very top.
No president or CEO of any large company is expected to be an expert at managing each of the diverse, often complicated departments, divisions and programs for which he is responsible. What he or she is expected to be is an expert at is hiring the best people to run them and demanding they be held accountable. Then, just as important, if they are not performing, the president needs to quickly fire them and put someone in charge who can do the job.
An exceptional CEO will recognize and fire someone not just for failure (that’s a given), but also for just average or mediocre performance. One of greatest CEOs of all time, Jack Welch of General Electric, had a standing policy that every year the bottom performing 10% of all managers were fired, even if they were meeting their targets. That’s how he turned GE into the world’s most valuable company. Now, that’s accountability!
By the way, Trump is quoted as saying that Jack Welch would make a great Secretary of Treasury. What a pleasure it would be for America to have CEOs with that level of competency running our government.
Trump and Welch are two CEOs capable of straightening out our government employee mess too. America has 22 million government employees. Most make too much money, have obscene pensions and cannot be fired — no matter how incompetent they are. It will take a tough leader to solve this mess. A leader who can make tough choices, without worrying about whether he hurts feelings. A leader willing to say “You’re FIRED.”
Do you know the name Ernest Moniz? He is the current Secretary of Energy and, sadly, along with Secretary of State John Kerry leads America’s team negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran.
Moniz is nuclear physicist who has spent his entire life in academia and government. John Kerry, of course, is a career politician married to a ketchup heir (who inherited her money when her husband died in a plane crash).
What do these two people know about negotiating? NOTHING! And from all reports, that is exactly what America is getting out of the Iranian negotiations.
Who would you rather have negotiating a nuclear deal that could wind up saving or ending the world — a college professor and lifelong politician married to a ketchup heiress (talk about bringing a butter knife to a gun fight) or Donald Trump, who wrote the book on negotiation: “Trump: The Art of the Deal”? I rest my case.
Are there better politicians running for president than Donald Trump? Sure. Probably all of them are better at politics, that is the lying, spinning and dailly routine of telling the people what they want to hear. But is there anyone running for president who would be a better CEO for The United States of America than Donald Trump? I think not.
Those who have lived their lives in the rarified air of academia and politics (like Barack Obama) have repeatedly proven to be failures at managing the U.S. economy, creating private sector jobs, reducing spending and debt, and looking out for the best interests of the American people. Our politicians have proven they can’t or won’t put America first.
Perhaps what we need is a tough-talking “get it done” CEO with an out-sized ego. Perhaps it’s time we voters hired someone with the CEO experience to hire people who can do the job right… and quickly fire them if they don’t.
A few decades back critics said it was a joke to think of a failed actor who played second fiddle to a chimp in “Bedtime for Bonzo” and whose song and dance show closed after in a week in Vegas, as president of the United States. Of course Ronald Reagan became one of the greatest and most beloved presidents in history.
Perhaps Donald Trump for president isn’t such a joke or longshot afterall.
Wayne Allyn Root is a Capitalist Evangelist, serial entrepreneur, conservative national media commentator, and proud champion of the middle class. He is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee, now back to the GOP. Wayne’s latest book is “The Murder of the Middle Class” (Regenery 2014). For more, visit his website: www.ROOTforAmerica.com. Follow him on Twitter@WayneRoot.