General

Unless you’ve been living in Outer Slobbobia for the past twenty years, you probably know who Donald Trump is: multi-billionaire New York businessman, boss the of the reality show “The Apprentice” and other offshoots, big hair, big mouth and now candidate for president of the United States.

You’re also probably aware that since announcing his candidacy. Trump has taken off like a shooting star to the top of the national polls. That despite some gaffes, straight talk, and denials and hand-wringing by GOP insiders and the drive-by media.

So what should we think about Donald Trump?

To keep my thoughts organized and hopefully keep you reading, here is my ten point analysis of the “Trump Card” now being played in US politics.

1.  We should give credit to Donald Trump for being a very successful businessman over the past few decades. He’s created thousands of jobs, amassed a personal wealth of over 10 billion dollars, and been a fighter for free enterprise, honest currencies and “Making America Great Again” in the world.

Yes,  there have been some close calls with bankruptcy and some debatable enterprises (the Miss Universe Contest?), but his balance sheet is much better than the politicians who’ve guided America into eighteen trillion dollars of debt with no end in sight.

America is bankrupt–it just has the advantage of printing more currency when it runs out. Donald Trump, (like Mitt Romney might have done), could bring some real economic expertise back to the USA.

2.  Trump has always been a ladies’ man with three marriages to model-like women. But he’s probably been less manipulative and cheating than Bill Clinton who did two terms in the White House. Trump is not a good example of til death do us part, but he’s also not a serial philanderer. 

3.  He’s brash, oftentimes speaks before thinking, and got in trouble in his presidential announcement message that illegal aliens are murderers, rapists etc. The media pounced on those statements and began writing his political epitaph. But instead of dying politically, he surged. Trump’s rating are higher now than before the gaffe.

Donald Trump’s brashness and honesty are his strengths–not his weakness. Americans are tired of lying, sniveling, politically correct wimps in national public life. Trump is riding high at the moment because he is a fresh breath of air in the political smog.

4. Rush Limbaugh believes that Trump has the elites and PC police wetting their pants because no matter how hard they try to bring him down (which worked with Republican candidates in the past), nothing so far is slowing his momentum. 

Even the 25-year old deposition that he raped his first wife Ivana was met with a current statement of hers that it wasn’t true, she still loved him, and that she thought he would make a great president.

How’s that for deflating a political hit piece? As Limbaugh says, I wouldn’t get on the theme of rape regarding Trump because it only brings up images of Bill Cosby and, in a round-about way, Bill and Hillary Clinton and the 1990’s Bimbo Eruption Unit in the White House.

Oh yes, Hillary is also running for president and Bill could be tagging along.

5.  Donald Trump is not beholden to any interest groups in this nation because he is a self-made man who will fund his own campaign. Some say this is a bad thing because he’s “buying” the election through his personal wealth and influence.

But, actually, it’s the other way around. Trump is a populist rock star because the America people are sick and tried of Republican and Democratic politicians groveling to K and Wall Street lobbyists while getting nothing done on behalf of the people.

One example of corruption is the recent renewal of the Export-Import  Bank in which (Ted Cruz was right!) Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell lied to the Republican causus then followed the money by introducing and approving one of the most corrupt entities in current political life–the Ex-Im Bank.

It’s not Donald Trump who’s in danger of buying something. The current occupants of the Congress are the ones being bought off–to the shame of our republic.

6. This is the main reason for Trump’s success.  The electorate are so angry at politicians in both parties who say they will solve problems and do what they promise–and then don’t do it–that they are willing to consider hiring a trash-talkin’ businessman to run the nation’s affairs.

Money is buying us bad leadership these days. But it’s not Trump’s money. It’s the corrupt system of the entrenched oligarchy. To the American voter, Donald Trump using his own wealth to say what he wants, what he will do, and the fact that he can’t be manipulated by PAC or corporate donations, is a positive change they’re willing to consider.

7.  At this point, Trump appears to be conservative on most issues such as pro-life, traditional marriage, free enterprise, lowering taxes, created jobs and, and dealing with terrorism. But it’s also true that he must have “evolved” on these issues because not long ago he was a social liberal who donated to many Democratic politicians and causes.

I know when you’re a pragmatic businessman, you need to hedge your bets and give to both sides because you don’t who’s going to win. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that. But we really don’t know what Donald Trump really believes because of his lifetime of different positions. If he were ever elected president, I believe he would be fairly good on the economy and peace through strength, but I’m not so sure about the great moral issues of our day.

8. Donald Trump needs to get right with his Creator and develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He was asked in a recent town hall meeting about asking God’s forgiveness for his sins and he replied: “I’ve never asked God’s forgiveness for anything.”

That’s quite a tragedy. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7) and humility and repentance are essential to reconcile us to our Maker through the death of Jesus Christ. Sounds like Donald Trump is spiritually lost–despite his billions. Like all people, he needs to be saved from his sins which begins with honesty and brokenness before God.

Pray for Donald Trump.

9.  How should we analyze Trump’s candidacy?  The same way we look at all other leaders for public office. Three things are paramount:

1) Character. Donald Trump is a mixed bag on this one. He has good character is his work ethic, business habits, and philanthropy. He is weak in some moral areas (broken marriages and adultery) and loose with his lips.

2) Competence – he’s high on this chart because of his vast and successful career as a businessman. It’s true, he’s never been in political office, but these days, that’s an asset, not a liability. The POTUS is really the CEO of the world’s biggest corporation. Trump is well qualified for that role and could lean on many others for the political nuances that are required for running a government.

3) Policies or Worldview – At the moment, he appears to be like every other Republican with a limited view of government, a biblical orientation toward life and marriage, and a strong commitment to national security and defeating evil in the world.  The question is if he ever attained high office, would he revert to some of his past positions?

Overall, Donald Trump gets pretty high grades in these areas. By comparison, Barack Obama is low on character (he lies alot) and promotes immoral practices, he is incompetent and had never run anything before becoming president (lack of experience), and has a thoroughly secular worldview.

How about Hillary?  Low on character (she also lies alot), has some experience as a Senator and Secretary of State (though she did those jobs fairly poorly), and is also secular in her policies.

So Trump scores higher than both of them. He’s probably lower than some other Republican candidates who possess greater consistency and breadth of character, equal competence (many as governors, Carly Fiorina as a businesswoman, senators, etc.), and a conservative worldview.

So even Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton is a no-brainer. He wins on character, competence, and issues.

Others might win even bigger.

10. I actually think Donald Trump is good for the GOP and nation. He’s caused us to focus on the issues of immigration, terrorism, and “making America great again.” By sucking all the oxygen out of the political room, he’s forcing everybody else to raise their game.

I would liken him to the John Wayne of politics. Maybe Rambo is a good image. Yet, the policial power brokers and liberal media say he’s too brash, too extreme, too gaffe-prone to ascend to the highest office in the land.

Brash? You’d want him to stare down Putin, the Iranian Ayatollah and ISIS. Former NY mayor Rudy Guliani complimented Trump recently: “What America needs right now is a guy who can fight for us.”  

Extreme?  Barack Obama gave us changing the definition of marriage, Obamacare, and nukes for Iran.

Gaffe-prone?  “If you like your doctor, you can keep you doctor” (Barack Obama), and “What difference does it make?” (Hillary Clinton when four Americans died in Ben Ghazi, Libya and she blamed an Internet video).

Could Donald Trump be elected the 44th president of the United States? 

Only God knows. And He never tells.

We make a tragic mistake when we view the decisions of the Supreme Court as either final or wise. After all, they are decisions made by nine fallible people who sometimes get it wrong as all human beings do.

American history contains a number of SCOTUS blunders.

The recent same sex marriage decision announced on June 30, is a case in point. I believe the justices got it wrong–very wrong. And when the Supreme Court errors, millions of people suffer.

Here are four examples.

I’m not a lawyer, constitutional scholar or an ardent follower of the Supreme Court. But I am a student of history and understand a few things about the rise and fall of nations and how civilizations destroy themselves.

We are currently witnessing that prospect in the Western World and in particular, in its pillar nation, the United States of America. 

The recent Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalizes gay marriage, is a decision that greatly hastens the decline of the American nation.

That subject we will take up in a future article.

Regarding the Obergefel v. Hodges case, the right outcome wouold have been based on a simple trinity: 1) Marrriage is God-created between a man and a woman for the procreation and nurture of children, 2)  God-ordained marriage and family is the social bedrock of all wise and prosperous nations, and 3) All sex outside God-designed marriage is immoral and ultimately hurts people.

This decision, like other historical mistakes, will cause many people to suffer.

It’s happened before. The Supreme Court has made a number of erroneous decisions over the past 200 years that have greatly hurt the American people. Two of them were overturned through decades of struggle. The other two are ongoing battles.

The Court is never the final word. We the People are–in concert with the favor and power of God.

Here are four of the worst decisions ever made by our highest Court. I will place them in historical order.

Dred Scott v. Sandford – 1857

In perhaps the Court’s most infamous case prior to 2015, Dred Scott, who was born a slave but brought to live in a number of states where slavery was illegal, was not only returned to slavery by the Court, but held to have no rights. All Americans of African descent were not citizens, contrary to the laws of several states and the federal Missouri Compromise.

Dred Scott was a dreadful decision that kept millions of black people in chains and lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Civil War.

The Court got it wrong and millions suffered and thousands died. 

Plessy v. Ferguson – 1896

I learned more about this decision while watching Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies television series recently on the Fox Network. The story was told on a segment which featured the probable inspiration of the Lone Ranger character–a black U.S. Marshall named Bass Reeves.

Yes, the Lone Ranger was not a white man with a black mask. He was a black man! And a very courageous one at that who rode a white horse and had an Indian sidekick. And at the end of his life, the Plessy decision hurt him very badly.

In Plessy v. Ferguson the Court foolishly upheld a Louisiana law requiring forced segregation by train car on the East Louisiana Railroad. This enshrined racial discrimination in state laws under the “separate but equal” doctrine and would remain in place until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Plessy was an incredible setback for social justice. During reconstruction, though difficult in the southern states, much progress had been made toward liberating and bringing blacks as equal partners into American society. This is sometimes forgotten by our history books.  

Plessy destroyed that progress by not just allowing for self-segregation or discrimination by private individuals. It expressly upheld the right of states to force segregation upon others.

This incredible error by the Court caused nearly seventy years of racial struggle in the United States, not fully being corrected until the Civil Rights laws of 1965.

If the Supreme Court had ruled rightly in 1896, there would have been no need for Dr. Martin Luther King. This very bad Supreme Court decision caused millions of African Americans to suffer for seven decades.

Roe v. Wade – 1972

The battle for life itself began in Texas, which outlawed any type of abortion unless a doctor determined that the mother’s life was in danger. The anonymous Jane Roe (later known to be Norma McCorvey who became a strong pro-life advocate) challenged the Texas law, and the case made its way to the highest court in 1972.

The Supreme Court struck down the Texas law, and essentially the right to life enunciated in the Declaration of Independence by an incredible 7-2 vote. Seven justices got it horribly wrong.

Using the same reasoning as the Griswold v. Connecticut decision, the majority of the justices maintained that a right to privacy was “implied” by the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments–a crazy stretch of imagination now criticized for decades. 

Fifty-five million human beings have been slaughtered through abortion since 1972 in the United States as the result of Roe. It is one of the greatest genocides of all time. 

NFIB v. Sebelius 2012 and King v. Burwell – 2012

Two of the worst SC decisions of all time relate to Obamacare, in 2012, and again last week.

In 2012 the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act). Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to hijack this decision by ruling that ObamaCare was a tax and not a mandate, and was therefore declared constitutional. The convoluted decision stunned the nation.

No one died as a result of this decision, but it affected millions of people who were left on a pathway to socialized medicine with the Federal Government strengthening its nanny state role while effectively taking over one-sixth of the US economy. The decision created great confusion among American businesses that are now sitting on 1.7 trillion dollars of cash that they’re fearful of investing in job creation.

And last week in a stunning decision in King v. Burwell, the Court revealed that it was illerate when it said that the word “States” in Obamacare could also refer to the “Federal Government” which was clearly not the case. The 6-3 decision was a triumph of political judiciary tyranny over the plain meaning of words. 

Millions of consumers will suffer for at least two more years as a result of these bad rulings.

Obergefell v. Hodges – 2015

Which brings us to the same-sex marriage decision. The two big constitutional questions in the case were: ” 1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? 2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?” 

The Supreme Court erroneously answered these constitutional questions this week by a 5-4 decision. The results of this case will essentially be the final death knell to marriage, family, and cultural stability in the United States.

The decision will allow same-sex marriage in public documents including marriage licenses and death certificates which translate into money, benefits for families, as well as a recognition of people’s marriages. The real outcome of the case will open a Pandora’s Box of other groups and entities seeking marital status and will greatly increase discrimination and persecution of Christians.

So should we trust the Supreme Court?

Ben Howe  of Redstate.com recently reported that “many lack trust in the Supreme Court’s handling of those two issues according to a new CNN/ORC poll…Only about half say they have at least a moderate amount of trust in the court on health care (50%) or same-sex marriage (49%).

That’s wisdom on the people’s part.

The Supreme Court sometimes gets it wrong. When they do, millions of people suffer. But the people have the “next” word and the final one will come from God.

Are we on his side, and will we persevere for justice and holiness on these great issues of our day?

I’m not trying to be disrespectful when I use Bill Clinton’s line “It’s the Economy, Stupid!” with a current twist. The original phrase was coined by a United States president and aimed at another president (George H.W. Bush).  

Now, our current president has said something that deserves the same rebuttal.

On September 11, 2014, Barack Obama uttered the following words in a prime time television address:

“Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state.”

ISIL is not Islamic? ISIL is not a state? He’s wrong. Deadly wrong. 

It’s the Islamic State, stupid.

Here’s why.

Politicians say a lot of things to please the masses or to put a twist on their remarks to send signals to various groups of people. But sometimes they simply say ridiculous things that are not backed up by reality.

I’ve said quite a few things in my life that are stupid–but never before millions of people who are depending on me to protect them.

That’s why President Barack Obama’s words need to be examined. He is the leader of the free world which is currently being threatened and publicly humiliated by a group of jihadists who may be more evil than the infamous Nazis.

This group is called various names: 1) ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), 2) ISIL (The Islamic State of the Levant – a larger geographic area that includes parts of Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and southern Turkey), and 3) The Islamic State–which is their own chosen moniker.

They are a part of historic Islam, and they are

Islamic

I have chosen the words “historic Islam” carefully. They should be used in media interviews, government speeches and press releases about this subject because they are the closest to the truth.

The historical origins of Islam and their leader, Mohammed, were bloody and violent. Mohammed was essentially a robber baron who lived off the booty of stealing from the Arabian trade caravans. He committed at least twenty raids in his lifetime, personally slaughtered hundreds of people with the sword, and established a religion that was built on the premise of “convert or die.”

That is historic Islam. It is backed up by Mohammed’s “recitations” found in the Koran–which contain over 100 “war verses” that encourage good Muslims to kill infidels (all non-Muslims) to advance their religious cause.

Yes, Mr. President, at least one religion does condone the killing of innocents (infidels).

Islam.

That’s a historical fact. 

They also kill other Muslims with impunity who don’t meet their demands. Sunnis and Shias have been killing each other for centuries. 

I have a copy of the Koran on my desk. Everyone should get one and read it. My copy is open to two of those 100 war verses that are found in Surah 8. Here they are, and they describe what ISIS is doing:

“O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve marching for war, then turn not your backs to them. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

Now you know why we call it the War on Terror. That’s what Allah of the Koran says he will bring through savage beheadings and the like. Think of Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Most recently, think of British citizen David Haines.

ISIS is thoroughly Islamic–the true historical version. It’s doing what committed Muslims have always done.

(If you want to read all of the Koran’s 109 war verses, you should purchase Don Richardson’s Secrets of the Koran and turn to Appendix B for a complete listing. Richardson’s list does not include mention of war in story-telling eg. “David slew Goliath” in Surah 2:251, nor are the verses included in which Allah afflicts infidels himself–just the verse where devout Muslims do the killing.)

Yes, it is true that there are Muslims who do not practice the 100 war verses. Why?  Because a lot of people who are moderately or culturally Muslim are peace-loving and non-violent folks who overlook those sections of the Koran. That’s true in every religion. People pick and choose what they feel comfortable doing.

But if you are a true believer in Islam–a radical believer (getting to the root), then you are fully justified in using horrific violence to bring the entire world under sharia law and a global caliphate.

The Koran demands it.

Thus ISIS, or the Islamic State, is perfectly Islamic.

(As this column went to press, I received an e-mail from a person doing humanitarian aid work in Iraq. The aid worker said that the town next to his had just fallen to ISIS and he was fearful for his staff (they live ten minutes away). He also said that to plant fear in the hearts of the townspeople, ISIS had started beheading children. That’s a fact from the ground.)

For some historical context, here’s a brief history of Islam’s three attempts at taking over the world through violence and force.

The first jihad started with Mohammad when his armies conquered all of Arabia. In the hundred years after his death, they subjugated most of the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. The first jihad lasted from 622 AD until 750 AD. Scores of thousands of innocent people were killed in the name of Islam.

The second major jihad started in 1071 AD. Islamic armies toppled Constantinople and spread into Europe, India, and further into Africa. The second jihad began to decline when the Muslim army was stopped on September 11th, 1683 at the gates of Vienna, Austria. (Notice the interesting date of 9-11-1683.)

Its remnants lived on until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. During the second jihad, hundreds of thousands were killed to advance the religion of Allah.

After that, there was a sixty year lull in Islamic expansion which ended when oil was found in Saudi Arabia. This launched the Wahhabiism era of the third jihad in the 1980s. Funded by petro dollars, militant Islamicists flexed their muscles once again, trying to remove Israel from Palestine and igniting a barrage of terrorism which continues to this day.

Think Osama bin Laden, Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram, and numerous others. 

During the past thirty years, thousands more have died at the hands of jihadists and millions of people have been displaced. If those who practice historic Islam have their way in the 21st century, then millions will die and billions will be forced under global sharia law.

The big bully of the third jihad right now is ISIS–the Islamic State.

A State

President Obama spoke like a nuanced college professor when he also said that ISIS is not a state because they are not recognized by other governments or the United Nations.

Hello? Is there anybody home?

ISIS has declared themselves an Islamic state by taking over territory in Syria and Iraq that is geographically the size of Belgium. They have an organized and trained military that has grown into the thousands, control scores of cities including the Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, have a caliph (Islamic president or dictator) Ibrahim ibn Awwad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai, more commonly known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and they are making 1-3 million dollars a day to fund their government and holy jihad through oil revenues.

It doesn’t matter what the UN thinks.  It doesn’t matter whether we “recognize” them diplomatically. That’s goverment-ese gobblety-gook.

ISIS has established an Islamic STATE. They have land, leadership, military and money. No amount of nuancing can take away that fact.

One of the first rules of warfare (confronting and defeating evil) is to be able to clearly define your enemy. If you can’t define them (their motivation, strengths, geography and plans), then you can’t defeat them.

It’s time to stop being stupid in foreign affairs. 

The Islamic State has declared war on the Middle East and the world. Because nuclear weapons exist and can get into the wrong hands, we do not have the luxury of saying this is a regional war, we can’t afford to have boots on the ground, or that others should take the lead.

As the world’s lone superpower, the United States must have the clarity and the will to lead a coalition of free nations that will fight tyranny just as we did during World War II. Sixty years ago we defeated Nazi Germany and imperial Japan and helped rebuild and revive both Europe and Asia.

During this new era, we must defeat historic Islam and its most recent expression–the Islamic State.

That’s the role of government–to protect people from evil.

The rest of us should pray for the Muslim world, support missionaries in those nations, and help Muslims everywhere reject the false teachings of the Koran and come into a saving relationship with one of the Koran’s leading figures–Isa (Jesus)–who is the Prince of Peace.

That’s wouldn’t be stupid–it would be wise.

It would bring salvation.