I saw the vid clip of Cruz dealing with the Code Pink people. He calmly neutralized them by actually inviting one of their spokes persons onto the stage for a civilized mini-debate. The crowd settled down and listened. THIS is how one converts others. It simply is not done by telling one's supporters to, "knock the hell" out of protestors.

Exactly. My how people want to forget the other half of the equation, i.e. along with rights come responsibilities.

Senator Cruz did defend the right of free speech and assembly. His criticism was of the incendiary nature of much of Trump's discourse, and he is correct.

Welcome to the Gulch Mark.

Sir, do you really believe after having observed Trump's authoritarianism and bullying techniques for the past 8 months or so that Trump would not be the king of executive orders?

Agreed.

I just got here and am debating about staying. I can't imagine any Objectivist defending anything about Donald Trump. He is a crony capitalist looter. I take it you have problems with the quality of discourse on the subject of this man?

You are making the assumption that U.S. companies are making products and putting effort into opening sales in foreign markets, yet, are only denied because of stiff import regulations.

I spent 15+ years selling U.S. products into asian markets. I can tell you the ONLY thing preventing U.S. companies from selling overseas is their own ineptitude. Primarily, the U.S. electorate assumes that everything in the U.S. is appropriate and just what everyone else in the world needs/wants. That is plain wrong. People in Nigeria, India, China, or Japan do not wake up and think --- "what can I get from the U.S. today"? That thinking is as old as the maligned protectionist views of Clyde Prestowitz. People in Japan aren't going to just pick up the phone and call John Deere to buy a tractor; a.) John Deere hardly has a presence there. b.) John Deere tractors are wholly inappropriate for Japanese farmers - field size, crop are completely different. And yet, you would blame the Japanese for being 'closed' due to trade deals and what-not.

China has a 17% import tax on everything. Chinese consumers will gladly pay that in order to not get Shanghai'd by their own with fake products. HOW.ev.er. You still need to make a quality product for the Chinese consumer.. they need to a.) know about it, and b.) understand why its a good value for them to want to buy it.

I can tell you how many U.S. companies are NOT marketing in China. Nearly all. Motorola (now owned by Google) was one of the few companies that did well in the Chinese market early on in the phone market. They dominated the Chinese mobile market for years - ever hear them complain about unfair competition and such? Nope. Who complained loudest - GM? I recall a similar story about U.S. car manufacturers about selling into Japan 2, 3 decades prior. Waaah, waaah, waaah.

Trump (and a good majority of Americans it seems) has no idea how to do international trade. No idea. But, he'll play the Clyde Prestowitz scare card to garner support. Its a good talk.

Import tax negotiation is bad only for us Americans---get that into your head, please!

"Regulatory overhead" -- boom, you nailed it. Somehow, we have more regulatory overhead in this country than a communist country like China does. Why? Because we have National, State, AND Local regulations that all companies need to somehow adhere to.

Japan and even China have at most 2-levels - National and local. The amount of regulatory control is SPARSE compared to U.S. mandates on companies here. We are buried in regulations here. Buried. Trump ought to be championing the utter reduction (as Ted is) of regulations at all levels to spur the economy.

As things currently go, I can only hope you and the rest of the Trumpsters are correct.

Good luck to us all.

The same was said of Reagan, and his first convention was also contested.

You use the threat to negotiate opening of foreign markets to our goods. We have one-sided free trade.

As to the cost of making things in America, regulatory overhead is another one of those components -- and one that the government could have some control over.

And, yes, once I stopped the flow of water I could stop and think about how to deal with the water on the floor.

I'm not referring to Donald's tax returns here.

I'm telling you Donald's story does not check out.. that you are betting on a wild-card. And, more-often-than-not, the House wins when the American public bets on 'Hope & Change'. Americans hoped. Washington and Wall-Street kept our change.

・ Why is there even a 'deal' to be made on import taxation? I thought I made it clear that 35% import tax .. or even a 2% import tax only adds to the final purchase price for the American consumer---in particular, it does not guarantee that a pair of tennis shoes will no longer be made in China.

If it costs $3.25 to make a pair of shoes in China, versus $14.65 in Ohio, adding 35% import tax has no effect on the manufacturing location or reason. It ONLY penalizes the American public.

The true cost of production is a culmination of material, labor, transportation, & energy costs. The U.S. is just too expensive in a majority of those items. Where does rubber come from? Malaysia. Where is labor cheap? China. Where is energy cheap? China. Where is it easy to ship from (worldwide)? Hong Kong.
Guess where its ideal to manufacture shoes?

Blindly asking the American public to take-a-hit for the good of ... a blank dream is ridiculous.

As to your dishwasher incident, I bet you still wiped up the spill rather than waiting for it to air-dry, molding much in the process.

Lowering tax rates from 35% to 10% will not get a majority of the money repatriated. It will not move until that number is 0%.. something even Donald would not do.

Donald speaks a good story -- but, details and reality and stubborn facts will get in the way of his theory.

That tunnel they deserve is a good place for them.

Trump is blunt and chooses his words to inflame peoples passions.Liberals are weak-minded and cannot debate on points and tend to lash out violently when they run out of material to regurgitate. Trump did not cause the violence nor did he invite it. Still he has a responsibility for the violence occurring because of how he crafted and delivered his message.

He has the right to speak. He did not need to consider his words. Even so, he is partially responsible for stoking weak minds into action.

The 35% is the opening position in a negotiation, Trump has said as much. You never start with your final position.

As to the 11 million illegals already here, we will figure out a way to deal with that once we stop the flow. I came home one night and found my dishwasher was flooding my kitchen. My first thought was not how to deal with the water on the floor -- I needed to shut off the water.

You entice the money back into the U.S. by lowering the tax rates so that they are willing to pay the tax to have access to the money, and you get some of it.

With 10s of thousands of employees, he's paid billions in payroll and income tax, without a doubt, his tax returns are irrelevant.

At this point, you may be correct about Ted's chances at a nomination.

If so, I can only hope that rounding error is in our favor, and the Trump really is who he claims to be.

Ted's time in the Senate, however, have been nothing but spot on in terms of volitional support of conservative principles. Beit on the tax payer dime or not, he actively pursued such endeavors. What has Trump done?

I'd recommend you read Ted's real bio.. there simply isn't much there, if you can find more than 36 months he wasn't sucking on the taxpayer tit, I'd be very amazed, frankly. He's really no better than Rubio, if you look at Rubio's age, his years in various offices, he really hasn't had a private sector job beyond the K-mart ones or whatever in college.

I don't disagree with Ted's positions and politics, I just highly question they are really 'his'.

Nonetheless, after tonight, he really has no chance of winning the nomination. If he loses big in Ohio, which is really the last of the Bible Belt states, he's done... I'm sorry, but its just an electoral fact. He may pick up Missouri or whatever, but compared to California/New Jersey/New York, it's a rounding error.

You are making the presumption that Trump wants to move the goal posts in the direction you are hoping.

What action has he shown, other than his rhetoric, that gives you comfort he can/will do that?

・ As Ted has pointed out, taxing imports at 35% only impacts the American consumer.. not the overseas producer.
・ Building a wall, getting Mexico to pay for it. How does that eliminate the 11+ million illegals already here?
・ How can he entice the repatriation of $1+ Trillion back into the U.S. Economy from various US companies that, frankly, only stand to lose money by doing so? Whether it gets taxed at 35% or 11% or 5%.. all of that is MORE than 0% + interest for leaving it in foreign bank deposits.