by Stephen Lendman

Call it the silly season. A host of unworthy presidential aspirants announced their candidacy. Donald Trump is the latest: a billionaire con man, Trump Organization head, self-styled celebrity, outspoken to a fault.

In 2010, he expressed interest in a possible presidential run, then backed off, saying he wasn't "ready to leave the private sector."

Modesty isn't a Trump long suit. He claimed at the time if he ran, he'd "be able to win the primary and, ultimately, the general election."

He added "business is (his) greatest passion and" he wasn't ready for politics. Now he claims he spent over $1 million researching a possible 2016 presidential run.

On June 16, he made it official at his New York City Trump Tower with the usual political blather announcement, saying:

"We are going to make our country great again" - immodestly claiming he'll be the "greatest jobs president God ever created (and) restore the American Dream."

His official campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again" - spoken like a bonafide demagogue.

The only thing we know for sure about Trump is his passion for making money the old-fashioned way, apply his deal-making to Balzac's maxim about a crime behind every great fortune, and understanding billionaires aren't known for being populists.

In announcing his candidacy, Trump delivered a rambling, boastful speech promising he'll create more jobs than any previous president - without explaining how.

Except for saying he'll bring back offshored jobs by heavily taxing imports (with 20% tariffs) - a surefire inflationary disaster besides sparking a trade war;

He'll seal off America's southern border with a Great Wall and force Mexico to pay for it - claiming their people bring drugs, crime and "(t)hey're rapists…They're destroying the fabric of the country," he blustered.

Spoken like a true racist - claiming America "has become a dumping ground for everybody else's problems."

Trump supports trade with China but wants its currency taxed - saying it has an unfair advantage over America.

Beijing's leaders are smarter than their US counterparts, he said. "It’s like, take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team."

"That’s the difference between China’s leaders and our leaders. We have all the cards but our leaders don’t understand the game."

He criticized American education quality and cost without explaining how he'd change things.

He called Obamacare "the big lie. It's a disaster." Replace it with something "far superior" and cheaper - corporate controlled, of course, not publicly guaranteed universal healthcare everyone deserves.

He criticized US national security blustering no plan exists. He lied claiming "Iran is racing toward developing nuclear weapons."

"China is exponentially expanding its military power…Iran and ISIS…are taking over vast areas of the Middle East…Our president has no plan."

"Our country is in serious trouble. We are not respected by anyone. We are the laughingstock all over the world." He claims he devised a "foolproof way" to defeat ISIS but won't divulge it saying he doesn't "want the enemy to know what I'm doing."

A good start would be for Washington to stop recruiting, arming, funding and directing takfiri terrorists to use as US proxy foot soldiers in Syria, Iraq and wherever else policymakers intend deploying them. Are Russia, China and Iran next?

Don't expect Trump to explain - or say why Obama is "one of the worst things that ever happened to Israel." Earlier he called the Jewish state "our unsinkable Mideast aircraft carrier."

He supports its worst crimes like virtually everyone else in Washington. Two rogue states partner in their imperial agendas.

Trump called for "us(ing) force to stop North Korean nuke development" - without explaining Pyongyang threatens no one.

He absurdly said the "USA is the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known" - ignoring its sordid history of high crimes at home and abroad from massacring its native people to slavery to homeland police state harshness to exploiting its workers to endless wars of aggression for unchallenged global dominance.

He ludicrously claims Donbass rebels challenge Kiev rule because America isn't "a respected country and we don't have respected leadership at this moment."

He calls global warming a hoax. He favors zero corporate taxes. He opposes social justice. He's against same-sex marriage.

He says reckless borrow and spend policies threaten America's longterm economic health - without condemning banker bailouts, other corporate handouts and bloated defense spending for endless imperial wars.

He opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal - calling it "an attack on America's business."

Like all other duopoly presidential candidates, Trump represents business as usual - the triumph of monied interests over popular ones. Whichever aspirant wins next year, ordinary Americans will lose - perhaps more than ever before.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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