In the Debate, Attacking Trump Will Help But...

Ahead of tonight's second GOP presidential debate, I thought I'd share some thoughts on strategy for those wishing to unseat Trump as the frontrunner. Many, especially those in the Republican establishment, hope the other candidates will attack Trump. This tactic will help the attackers but unfortunately, it will also help Trump. The problem is that in these televised debates, barring any big gaffs, face time is everything. Therefore, for every minute a challenging candidate like Carly Fiorina or Jeb Bush attacks Trump, they are giving twice as much face time to Trump as they are getting - the time they are attacking him plus the time he is allowed to give a response. The end result is one step ahead for the challenger; two steps ahead for Trump.

A better tactic would be to provide better answers to the questions without attacking another Republican candidate. Once again Reagan's Eleventh Commandment, "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." is wise advice. The goal needs to be to prove oneself the better future opponent of the Democrat candidate not that you are better than Trump! However, the challengers can take a hint from "The Donald":  skip the politically correct BS and give better solutions to the county's problems than Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or any other potential socialist "Democrat" offering. In the real world where the majority of us dwell, giving better solutions than the magical world of make believe answers of the Democrat party is not that tall of an order.

Why the Appeal of Trump?

Don't interpret my attempt to explain Trump as me supporting Trump. I haven't made up my mind yet. There is still a long way to go until the Republican Convention and many debates in between so we will be a lot of opportunities to see what each of the candidates have to offer.
So here goes. I think the appeal of Trump is that he doesn't put up with the non-sense. I think he is the end of compassionate conservatism which is a bunch of crap. Nothing is more compassionate than the number of new jobs, economic growth and number of people, especially minorities, who entered the middle class under Ronald Reagan. What Trump refuses to do is allow the Leftists, especially in the media, to define the narrative about Republicans, Conservatives, or those in business. He doesn't stand for questions that start off with a false premise. The "I know all Republicans are racists but how will you be different?" or "Of course all Conservatives are anti-women, Hispanic, gay, science,..." or other more subtle implied lies. When a candidate allows those to stand or somehow tries to sound more middle of the road in response, it comes off as defensive or as a sign of lack of conviction.

I think Trump is the only candidate who has figured out what the Conservative voters have known for a while - Republicans have been doing political Tae Chi and the Progressives have been doing full on MMA. The other candidates better take off the gloves and discard the Marquis de Queensbury rules or we will lose and the rapid decline of the country will continue!

Republican Primary Tactic for Opposing Hillary

It has been 6 months since my last post. I took some time to finish a second master’s degree but now with that out of the way, it’s back to Carnivore!

So Hillary Clinton is running for president. No surprise there and chances are she will have little opposition from fellow Democrats. However, if the Democrat Party nominates Hillary, they will be backing a profoundly flawed candidate.

In contrast, the Republican Party will have a large field of perhaps twenty candidates vying for their party’s nomination. There are about 14 months until the Republican National Convention where the Republican candidate will be chosen and in that time, it is essential that those seeking the nomination refrain from sniping at each other. To do so would result in a weakened opponent emerging to face Hillary in the general election. Remember Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.

A much better course of action would be to apply the military tactic of concentration of firepower - that is: all the Republican primary candidates focus their efforts against Hillary. The candidate that most effectively attacks the record and capability of Hillary will earn the right to face her in the general election without being bloodied by their fellow Republicans. The challenge will be for the GOP primary candidates to resist the urge to attack each other. 

In my next post, I will discuss Hillary’s biggest vulnerability – her complete lack of understanding of economics.