By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published on June 8, 2019
Six weeks after Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States on June 16, 2015, I published an article predicting that he would defeat his 15 Republican Primary rivals and win the Presidency on November 8, 2016. The article, titled “Donald Trump’s Newest Art of the Deal – Winning the American Presidency,” provided the following explanation for why Trump would win the Presidency:
“For decades America’s super-rich billionaires have controlled the political scene in this country. This group includes Sheldon Gary Adelson, Charles and David Koch, Paul Singer, Donald Trump and scores of other power-players who have poured billions of dollars into national elections to influence the direction of American politics and policies. They have contributed heavily to political candidates, PACs and super-PACs. They own or control mainstream media organizations like Fox News, the Newhouse family national chain of newspapers, and many other news outlets that run political endorsements designed to influence our opinions about political candidates.
In recent years, this class of billionaires has lost faith in the usual “political hustlers” and career politicians who run for and hold national political office. These political hustlers are responsible for the across-the-board deterioration in the caliber and stature of candidates who offer themselves for Congress and the presidency. This pool of candidates is increasingly comprised of weak, financially broke, lazy and marginally intelligent individuals who memorize sound-bites, specialize in photo opportunities, and need to be told what to think and do on a daily basis. For the most part, these candidates have no backbone, character, work ethic, self-determined political agenda, or vision. They are just hustlers looking to make a career and living out of politics.
Trump and his billionaire friends have decided that enough is enough—no more government through weak surrogates. Trump is leading this charge by seizing direct control of the political process for electing a president the way he would do it within a private business empire. At first blush, Trump’s campaign style and tactics seem extremely bizarre to the multitude of journalists, news analysts, commentators, and talking heads who cover presidential elections. Remember, none of them are billionaires. None of them has orchestrated a corporate merger or acquisition or has led a corporate takeover initiative. None of them has practiced the art of the deal in real life. Trump has, and he does it on a routine basis.
Once Trump entered the race for the purpose of winning it, the first thing he did was to show his strength over all of the other candidates. He made himself directly accessible to the media and does not engage in scripted interviews. Trump speaks his mind on every issue and is not concerned about political correctness. His private views are expressed in public.
Whether one likes him or not, Trump is a strong leader with a demonstrated record of creating dynamic economic growth for his businesses. He does not apologize for expressing his political views, which is a rarity in today’s world. Trump has not backed down when the expression of his political views cost him money in his private businesses.
Next, Trump took the iron club he routinely uses to browbeat his business competitors and quickly bludgeoned his fellow Republican candidates with it. He nullified them as competitors in record time by showing America just how weak and pathetic these candidates are. All of them are little more than political pack mules who were created by rich Republicans and who are tasked with the job of carrying the political water of America’s super-rich individuals and corporations. None of them has ever built anything of significant economic value.
The Republican billionaire crowd has decided that starting with the 2016 election cycle, political surrogates are “out”; rich principals are “in” for the national political offices that matter the most.
Trump made a direct and strong appeal to what really scares white America – the browning of America. Trump regularly uses campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration of Mexicans, the need to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, and the unwillingness of young black males to work as a way of signaling his willingness to stem the tide on these issues. Trump has shown white Americans that he is their candidate of choice with the backbone to “make America great again." In turn, they have catapulted Trump to the top of the national polls in the race for the Republican nomination.
Knowing that most white Americans see President Barrack Obama as a nice guy who is a weak president, Trump has made his strength in business the centerpiece of his campaign. Trump works at projecting the toughness that he believes is necessary to effectively deal with world leaders in Russia, China, North Korea, Mexico, Iran and other tough spots for America around the world….
Unlike the other candidates, Trump does not have to pretend that he believes in “family values.” Trump does not have to kiss babies or act like he loves his cheering crowd of supporters. He just has to be the "Donald Trump" that America already knows….
Everybody is talking about Donald Trump. Very few people are talking about the other Republican candidates.
The Trump campaign is a reality show in real time on the art of the deal – winning the American presidency. It is being masterfully produced by Trump himself. This show is a hit with Republican voters….
No other Republican candidate has the political muscle needed to stop him.
In fact, Trump is already running against Hillary Clinton, a highly intelligent woman with a distinguished track record of public service to America and the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president….Trump will likely defeat her, too.
The Trump campaign is a perfect blend of entertainment prowess mixed with passion, intellect and a big dose of business acumen, from a man who has played hardball all of his adult life. Trump knows the art of the deal and his ultimate prize – the American presidency – is within his reach.”
The next presidential election will be held on November 3, 2020. Trump is running for re-election. Everything I said in my August 2, 2015 article is true today.
Trump’s Republican political base loves him. Many independent voters love him, as well. These voters do not care about Trump’s multitude of personality flaws and demonstrated lack of character because he faithfully advances their political interests and aggressively protects their core values, without flinching or apologizing.
In their view, Donald Trump delivered on his promised tax cuts; he is cracking down on illegal immigration; he is stacking the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts with right-wing conservative judges; unemployment is at an all-time low; the stock markets are at an all-time high; Trump broke Mexico’s political will on the immigration issue with his recent threat of tariffs on products coming out of Mexico; he is building “The Wall”; he has cleared the way for big American businesses and Wall Street to do pretty much whatever they want to do in the name of "capitalism"; he is tackling America’s trade imbalance with the Chinese by imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports; he withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change; he withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal; he withdrew from the UN Arms Trade Treaty; he has protected the NRA from tougher gun control regulations in the face of mass murders in American schools, churches, synagogues, and workplaces; he is gutting federal air, ground, and water environmental protection regulations; he is cracking down on the governments of Cuba and Venezuela; he issued travel bans on five Muslim countries; he has proven that CNN and MSNBC cannot “make” or “break” a “strong” conservative president; and he survived Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s attempted coup d'état of his 2-year-old presidency.
Trump’s base of Republican voters, together with a strong block of independent voters, represents the new “mainstream” in American politics. This voting block is here to stay.
I profiled one of Trump’s supporters on June 4, 2019. Her name is Carla Vann Nettles. She is a good, decent, well-educated, highly intelligent, and hard-working American. She is also a devoted wife and mother of three beautiful adult children. Carla Vann Nettles is NOT a racist; she is a true political conservative who cares about the future of her family and this nation.
Donald Trump has been loyal to Ms. Vann Nettles and to the tens of millions of voters who share her values. I predict that these voters will reward Trump for his political loyalty by turning out on November 3, 2020 and voting in record numbers for his re-election.
The 24 declared Democratic presidential candidates in the race are mostly talking to themselves and their narrow band of supporters. They are talking about everything except what really matters to the new “mainstream” voters.
National Democratic Party, itself, remains a prisoner of the Barack Obama-Joe Biden and Hillary-Bill Clinton factions of the Party. New voices within the Party have been stifled by its old and tired national leadership. What is worse, the Democratic Party takes its most loyal political base -- black voters -- for granted.
None of the Democratic candidates in the race has what it takes to defeat Donald Trump. What is more, none of them is listening to the new “mainstream” voters who have been won over by Trump.
In time, Donald Trump will defeat his Republican Primary challenger, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Barring divine intervention from God or a total collapse of the U.S. and global stock markets, Trump will go on to defeat the eventual Democratic nominee in the November 3, 2020 presidential election.
PHOTO: President Donald J. Trump.
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