Donald Trump is a chutzpah machine. The herd submits to the alpha male. He channels Genghis Khan and every megalomaniacal demagogue in history.

Golly, Herb, I find as I get older my ability to tolerate crap gets less and less! And the last few years there is so much more crap!

No one holds Trump to any standard except he is "not Hillary" after that who cares get a Republican Congress to control Trump and things will come out pretty well. Trump is what Rand hated most an unprincipled pragmatist whim worshiper whose only whim is himself. But he is better than Hillary who is the same but a leftist with a socialist party.

Islam, Vedantics, and Christians except Deists hold to the truth of ancient texts against the findings of science because they must defend their texts against the empirical knowledge of science which contradicts every fundamental statement. There is no god, Alla and veda is not universal consciousness. We atheists are at least able to start thinking with the real world which is where we want real results. Reagan was the last great man in politics because he understood government is separate from morality...it is about rights and their protection. Cruz and other young earth creationists are really scary. You can cut a deal with Trump.

The real scorecard is Ted Cruz +9, Donald Trump -5, Hillary Clinton -1000000. (Feel free to tack more zeros on the right if you like.) :-)

So the question is, who is more likely to defeat Hillary? Answer: Trump has demonstrated in the primaries that he is better able to reach out beyond the Republican base, while maintaining significant support among Evangelicals, who are supposedly Cruz’s core constituency. Thus, if the goal is to prevent Hillary from reaching the White House, Trump is the better candidate for the job.

(Full disclosure: I plan to vote for Gary Johnson. This post relates to tactical voting only.)

I agree with your comments with one exception.
"actually cut government with both houses if they said that is their goal."
If the con-gress actually meant what they said.
They have been lying about cutting the budget and government for 50 years.

The amount has been different depending who reports it as well as whether or not he repaid it. It doesn't really matter since he was given a start from his wealthy family. Some very rich folks that I know started with next to nothing. And it's true that there are people who were given a million and worked it into a shoestring.

term2.......................I understand.

You get my vote over any of the GOP clowns, john.
(Wait that didn't sound like the compliment I intended ;^)

The question I have with Trump is that all we have are unknowns. He talks big and there are some of his proposals which I identify with (build the wall, cut corporate taxes among them) but it is still up in the air as to the execution. I'd love to see the next President gut the Executive Branch. I just question which will win out: the desire for power or the rhetoric. I'm skeptical that "The Donald" will follow through on a course of action that curtails his own power and similarly wary of the tactics he would use to accomplish that goal. If he were to work with Congress to pass a law eliminating the positions which were created by Congress, I'd be in complete support. If he does it via Executive Order, is he any better than our current President?

I'd much rather see Hillary in jail before the election, and a voter revolt when the GOP leadership picks their candidate in "smoke filled rooms" at the convention.
Better that dream than the Hillary or Trump statist nightmare.
Not that I am naive enough to think my dream will happen ;^)

Even if that were true, how is "The Donald" an exemplar of honesty?

Trump has also claimed to be Christian. Are you going to disqualify him as well?

I'm looking at the body of work, as a President may influence a panoply of issues. If you choose to make it about a particular issue in an all-or-nothing decision, that's up to you.

"give Trump a little more on the second amendment because he has a concealed carry permit."
This is typical of Trump and other elite statists. He supports gun ownership for himself, but has not been supportive of the 2nd amendment which supports the right to armed self defense for everyone..

xt88..........this coincides with my research

Good analysis, but a question. On point 5 what is the poison pill that Cruz inserted into legislation? Was it that legislation that would have legalized illegal immigrants or was it the poison pill added? I suspect the former as Cruz gets a +1.

He didn't start with millions from Dad.......I believe it was $1mil (and possibly a loan)..........many have started with $1 mil (or more) and not done well or even lost it all.

As always, you are comparing Trump to other politicians and looters, and conveniently excluding the ethical, rational, principled choice of Gary Johnson, who has built a successful business without looter assistance.

I agree, term.
Trump still hasn't learned enough from his failures to be trusted with the power of the presidency. He also shows a lack of ethics and a fondness for government looting and use of eminent domain.

How about learning from the repeated error of voting in fear instead of voting based on principles.

BIG +10

One expensive failure in the oval office after another is one good reason I'd rather not elect another one.

it's the multiplier which counts, I think. . fifty-to-one
isn't a bad increase in wealth from age 20 to age 69, I'd say. -- j
.

"Hopefully, we learn QUICKLY from failure !!"
He did.

My comments are based on reality.
I am also a global warming "denier", on the same basis.

BIG +