Advising Europeans on How to Think about Trump & America

#1. Everybody who was afraid of Reagan was wrong, except the Russians. I can remember all of the same accusations of stupidity hurled at Reagan and Bush, but none at Clinton. Look who turned out to be the rapist. Obama was a decent and principled man, but he turned America inward on itself because he was truly ignorant of the world and geopolitics. So what you now see is the result of 8 years of Americans judging each other and ignoring the rest of the world.

#2. I hardly expect anyone from a country that elected Berlusconi to talk about corrupt American politics. If Berlusconi's corruption makes Italy become fascist again and ready to collaborate with Nazis, then you can be afraid of Trump making America what..? Save Europe again?

#3 What Europeans need to understand about American Conservatives is this - if you learn nothing else. American Conservatives think Americans are fat and lazy the exact same way that Europeans do. And so they are dedicated to keep socialist government pork away from fat and lazy Americans, so that we can be lean and hungry and appreciate the fight for liberty. Meryl Streep is not lean or hungry.

#4 America, like Italy, can survive mediocrity in politics. It can survive corruption. And the character of Americans has not changed. The character of American NEWS reporting has changed primarily because it's threatened by the Internet and the ability for people to talk to each other.

#5 Trump = Brexit. Same thing. Nobody wants their government run by distant dictatorial bureaucrats. Trump is not a Conservative. He is not an idealist. He is not a formalist. He is totally unexpected. He is a crass, brazen, transparent pragmatist who will try anything once, and then negotiate his way into a good deal. The only people who should worry about America under Trump are people who believe a single individual can and should have dictatorial powers AND they believe such an individual can completely overwhelm the checks and balances of American government.

Guess who those people are? The people who elected Obama to be their own personal savior. In other words, if you really are afraid of Trump, it's because you want a Pope, and you think Trump is going to be Pope. No, he's going to be President.

#6. Trump does not control Republicans the way Obama controlled Democrats. I've heard a lot of people complaining that Trump is trying to hire military generals to run large government bureaucracies and the CEO of a multinational corporation to run the State Department. I actually like the idea. Besides that, who did Obama let get any glory in his administration besides himself? Nobody. Obama had one ultra-competent Democrat operator I respected. That was Rahm Emanuel; he lasted 18 months.