Via Police State USA
CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump
PARTY AFFILIATION: Republican
DOB: June 14, 1946
OCCUPATION: Billionaire businessman, Reality TV Star
POLITICAL HISTORY: None
In politics, records count for more than campaign promises. Donald Trump, like all candidates, is working to shape a favorable public image of himself. It is essential that the voters look beyond the bumper sticker slogans and take a look at where the candidate has actually stood on serious issues affecting liberty.
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ON VIOLATING PROPERTY RIGHTS
Among the most egregious Supreme Court decisions of this generation was Kelo v. City of New London, a case in which the court decided that it was “constitutional” for the government to confiscate private property using eminent domain power and then hand it over to well-connected private entities for private use. The practice constitutes nothing more than outright theft. Mr. Trump voiced approval, saying, “I happen to agree with it 100 percent” in an interview with Neil Cavuto [Fox News, 19 July 2005]. The billionaire later went to be the beneficiary of the government using that power against property owners. Most egregiously, Trump tried to evict an elderly widow to expand an Atlantic City casino [Source: Club For Growth].
ON CRUSHING THE FREE MARKET
Trump’s record on economics has been alarmingly statist. He has expressed eagerness to use the government to prop up corporations and crush individual economic rights. In 2008, he advocated bailouts for the too-big-to-fail corporations. Regarding the “Big Three” auto companies, Trump promoted a federal bailout, saying to Neil Kavuto, “I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent… You cannot lose the auto companies” [Source: Fox News, 17 Dec. 2008]. Similarly, he gave support to the TARP bailout, saying to CNN’s Kiran Chetry, “I think it would be better if it passed” [Source: CNN, 30 Sep. 2008]. He also clamored for a government takeover of healthcare in the 1990s, describing himself as“very liberal when it comes to health care,” and writing “We must have universal health care” [Source: The America We Deserve]. All of these positions represent a rejection of the free market and a propensity for confiscating wealth and placing it in the hands of corporate elites and government bureaucrats.
Continue reading “Donald Trump on the issues”
