This seems to be a very politically partisan article, though the observations about Trump are valid. He's seen as a buffoon by many of us overseas, but as with the emporer with no clothes analogy, a dangerous one if he gets to be leader of the free world.
The unabashed hatred of Obama by the Republication party (to a man it seems to us) has held America back in the attempt to build a better country than it already is. It seems that no matter what he proposes, it's rejected! I wouldn't be surprised if Obamcare isn't dismantled in due course. Everyone's entitled to good ideas and in an ideal world the elected representatives should vote on its merits, not by which way a lobbyist or pork barreling leads.
The inspired words of the founding fathers are long gone at least in the sense of the original intent. It's as true in Joseph Smiths time as it is today.
VaderDecember 20, 2015
"...and the GOP's (and our) main goal has to be beating HIllary, and Trump is the only one who can do it."
That notion puzzles me, since polls show that Trump is the one Republican candidate who *would* lose to Clinton.
But then I'm seeing a lot of self-deception on the part of Trump supporters.
PattiDecember 19, 2015
"Trump is very open about his disregard for the Constitution and his desire to accomplish what he wants rather than what is right and people are flocking to him."
I've never heard him say anything like this about the Constitution, quite the opposite. And he is nothing like Obama...he may be arrogant and obnoxious at times but certainly is not evil and conniving like Obama.
GaryDecember 18, 2015
All food for thought, but timing is everything - and anyone who becomes president - no matter his current policies, affiliations or promises must realize that our present administration and policies will continue for another year - then it may take another year or more for a new president to enact his policies and campaign promises - by then we could be living in a much changed political and economic world, with many new challenges that we might not now consider in selecting a new president - what then?
Possibly we need to widen and deepen our perspectives and understanding of the political and economic world in which we live, and consider how it may change in the near future - for it will change - and then try to understand the national and international challenges that a new president may confront - and then support the man most capable for the job.
Rpnnie BrayDecember 17, 2015
What a clever piece of writing this is, promising to explain why Trump will not make it to the white house but using that subject as a woomera to attack President Obama.
Anyone that expects the US President to be a white horse saviour is buying a foolish dream. So President Obama has faults just as Reagan had, and the Bushes, and any other president including George and Abraham.
I am always disturbed when Latter-day Sainmts rail on as if they were ubnaware of Church policy on political parties, namely that the Church does not endorse any party or any candidate and members are free to weight matters political and then support the person and parties to which their consciences lead them.
I am an English transplant into the US and have had a rough time from fellow Saints that believe only Republicans can be faithful Mormons. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have been rudely and crudely hammered, insulted, and told I am, variously, anti-Christ, apostate, demonic, and on the high road to Hell.
While political positions and opinions will differ among most people, I fail to understand how Latter-day Saints can ignore Church policies and become as virulent to other Saints as anti-Mormons are to all Saints.
Where is the balance that intelligent people maintain in civil discourse?
Janet CrinerDecember 16, 2015
No politician ever keeps all his promises...and the GOP's (and our) main goal has to be beating HIllary, and Trump is the only one who can do it. Not to mention, ANYONE is going to be better than Obama, who only seeks the downfall of America as we know it.
A ConstitutionistDecember 16, 2015
What is especially scary to me is that people actually want to elect an emperor rather than a President. Trump is very open about his disregard for the Constitution and his desire to accomplish what he wants rather than what is right and people are flocking to him. And his followers are rabid. Speak against him and boy do they lash out. Yet he is the emperor on the white horse with no clothes! He will do no better than Obama in many respects in regards to maintaining our rights and the Constitution. Much of his rhetoric is very dangerous but the people do not seem to care because I guess it makes them feel safe...until he turns on them and it is too late. There are better candidates out there, we would do well to elect one of them. We, the people, are throwing the future of this country away and assisting in the ushering in of the foretold future. When you try to talk to people they do not want to hear it. It is very sad.
KateDecember 16, 2015
I was teaching a Book of Mormon class this morning and we were discussing Alma 61, when chief judge Pahoran is explaining to Moroni how the king-men have successfully staged a coup in Zarahemla and taken over the government, banishing Pahoran. Pahoran explains, "they have used great flattery, and they have led away the hearts of many people"--sounds eerily familiar. In fact, in an NPR interview last week a political commentator was asked why, in his opinion, were so many people supporting Trump. His answer? "Trump begins every speech by flattering his audience..." Wow.
ArleneDecember 16, 2015
Good article, but I disagree that the opening comments about Trump aren't also "real trouble". He is foolish to think that he can do all he says he wants to do, but it is down right scary that people want him to do all he says he wants to do.
mary janeDecember 16, 2015
Good explanation. To me, we need a president who will govern, not rule. The legislature is intended to make the laws, the president to execute them. This is a big issue!
RobertDecember 16, 2015
Finally, someone who sees Trump as he really is. While he has excited the masses with his rhetoric it is obvious he really does not understand what he is promising. Bill O'Reilly thinks his strategy is a brilliant one, but under neath it all I think Trump has no real idea what he is getting into. He will not be able to bully other Heads of State nor Congress, so like Obama he will simply try to do everything with an Executive Order and they will flow like honey. If he continues his offensive and name calling manners, and "I don't care attitude (because I'm rich) he will alienate everyone and get no cooperation at all. We have suffered from one President for 8 years who promised to bring us together and "transform" America (which he certainly has, although not for the better) and with Trump we will experience at least 4 years of unbearable chaos. When he comes up against others that have just as much power as he does, he will find that he won't get his way all the time. But what do I know, just an opinion.
DebbieDecember 16, 2015
This is a well-written article with much food for thought. Good leadership is certainly hard to come by. It's too bad America wasn't (isn't) ready for a Romney. He wouldn't have had the power to turn things around, but at least, perhaps, he could have helped to curb the tide of a downward spiral.
Bob SpielDecember 16, 2015
This article took the concerns I have had inside and put words to them. It isn't that Trump is a bad person, etc. It's that, on both sides of the aisle, we seem to be searching for the knight on the white horse who is going to save us. But, as the article shows, white knights only stay on the horse so long and then followers become disillusioned, feel betrayed and become angry.
It seems to me that unlike any time in my life, America is at a cross roads. Are we going to continue to clamor for this white knight who scratches our itching ears, or do what American's have done in the past: buck up, come together and solve our problems?
KathrynDecember 16, 2015
It strikes me that this article also illustrates the real trouble with humans in general, not just in politics. We're looking for a savior--someone on a white horse--but in the wrong places. People do it in marriages, in careers, in hobbies. But our only hope for a savior is in the one true Savior, Jesus Christ.
Harold RustDecember 16, 2015
Well written. It is so easy for the "masses" to clamor for a self-confident, outspoken, dynamic leader who will not be "one of the establishment", but the reality is we instead need a statesman as president---a man or woman who places highest priority on what the nation needs most rather on what the president or other politicians need most. Unfortunately, Trump is for Trump first, for all the "smart" people in the world second,and for the nation third. That means that we,the people, will only benefit by what he has left over after helping himself and his friends.
So much for a confident, dynamic, outspoken leader.
Comments | Return to Story
GerryMDecember 21, 2015
This seems to be a very politically partisan article, though the observations about Trump are valid. He's seen as a buffoon by many of us overseas, but as with the emporer with no clothes analogy, a dangerous one if he gets to be leader of the free world. The unabashed hatred of Obama by the Republication party (to a man it seems to us) has held America back in the attempt to build a better country than it already is. It seems that no matter what he proposes, it's rejected! I wouldn't be surprised if Obamcare isn't dismantled in due course. Everyone's entitled to good ideas and in an ideal world the elected representatives should vote on its merits, not by which way a lobbyist or pork barreling leads. The inspired words of the founding fathers are long gone at least in the sense of the original intent. It's as true in Joseph Smiths time as it is today.
VaderDecember 20, 2015
"...and the GOP's (and our) main goal has to be beating HIllary, and Trump is the only one who can do it." That notion puzzles me, since polls show that Trump is the one Republican candidate who *would* lose to Clinton. But then I'm seeing a lot of self-deception on the part of Trump supporters.
PattiDecember 19, 2015
"Trump is very open about his disregard for the Constitution and his desire to accomplish what he wants rather than what is right and people are flocking to him." I've never heard him say anything like this about the Constitution, quite the opposite. And he is nothing like Obama...he may be arrogant and obnoxious at times but certainly is not evil and conniving like Obama.
GaryDecember 18, 2015
All food for thought, but timing is everything - and anyone who becomes president - no matter his current policies, affiliations or promises must realize that our present administration and policies will continue for another year - then it may take another year or more for a new president to enact his policies and campaign promises - by then we could be living in a much changed political and economic world, with many new challenges that we might not now consider in selecting a new president - what then? Possibly we need to widen and deepen our perspectives and understanding of the political and economic world in which we live, and consider how it may change in the near future - for it will change - and then try to understand the national and international challenges that a new president may confront - and then support the man most capable for the job.
Rpnnie BrayDecember 17, 2015
What a clever piece of writing this is, promising to explain why Trump will not make it to the white house but using that subject as a woomera to attack President Obama. Anyone that expects the US President to be a white horse saviour is buying a foolish dream. So President Obama has faults just as Reagan had, and the Bushes, and any other president including George and Abraham. I am always disturbed when Latter-day Sainmts rail on as if they were ubnaware of Church policy on political parties, namely that the Church does not endorse any party or any candidate and members are free to weight matters political and then support the person and parties to which their consciences lead them. I am an English transplant into the US and have had a rough time from fellow Saints that believe only Republicans can be faithful Mormons. I do not exaggerate when I say that I have been rudely and crudely hammered, insulted, and told I am, variously, anti-Christ, apostate, demonic, and on the high road to Hell. While political positions and opinions will differ among most people, I fail to understand how Latter-day Saints can ignore Church policies and become as virulent to other Saints as anti-Mormons are to all Saints. Where is the balance that intelligent people maintain in civil discourse?
Janet CrinerDecember 16, 2015
No politician ever keeps all his promises...and the GOP's (and our) main goal has to be beating HIllary, and Trump is the only one who can do it. Not to mention, ANYONE is going to be better than Obama, who only seeks the downfall of America as we know it.
A ConstitutionistDecember 16, 2015
What is especially scary to me is that people actually want to elect an emperor rather than a President. Trump is very open about his disregard for the Constitution and his desire to accomplish what he wants rather than what is right and people are flocking to him. And his followers are rabid. Speak against him and boy do they lash out. Yet he is the emperor on the white horse with no clothes! He will do no better than Obama in many respects in regards to maintaining our rights and the Constitution. Much of his rhetoric is very dangerous but the people do not seem to care because I guess it makes them feel safe...until he turns on them and it is too late. There are better candidates out there, we would do well to elect one of them. We, the people, are throwing the future of this country away and assisting in the ushering in of the foretold future. When you try to talk to people they do not want to hear it. It is very sad.
KateDecember 16, 2015
I was teaching a Book of Mormon class this morning and we were discussing Alma 61, when chief judge Pahoran is explaining to Moroni how the king-men have successfully staged a coup in Zarahemla and taken over the government, banishing Pahoran. Pahoran explains, "they have used great flattery, and they have led away the hearts of many people"--sounds eerily familiar. In fact, in an NPR interview last week a political commentator was asked why, in his opinion, were so many people supporting Trump. His answer? "Trump begins every speech by flattering his audience..." Wow.
ArleneDecember 16, 2015
Good article, but I disagree that the opening comments about Trump aren't also "real trouble". He is foolish to think that he can do all he says he wants to do, but it is down right scary that people want him to do all he says he wants to do.
mary janeDecember 16, 2015
Good explanation. To me, we need a president who will govern, not rule. The legislature is intended to make the laws, the president to execute them. This is a big issue!
RobertDecember 16, 2015
Finally, someone who sees Trump as he really is. While he has excited the masses with his rhetoric it is obvious he really does not understand what he is promising. Bill O'Reilly thinks his strategy is a brilliant one, but under neath it all I think Trump has no real idea what he is getting into. He will not be able to bully other Heads of State nor Congress, so like Obama he will simply try to do everything with an Executive Order and they will flow like honey. If he continues his offensive and name calling manners, and "I don't care attitude (because I'm rich) he will alienate everyone and get no cooperation at all. We have suffered from one President for 8 years who promised to bring us together and "transform" America (which he certainly has, although not for the better) and with Trump we will experience at least 4 years of unbearable chaos. When he comes up against others that have just as much power as he does, he will find that he won't get his way all the time. But what do I know, just an opinion.
DebbieDecember 16, 2015
This is a well-written article with much food for thought. Good leadership is certainly hard to come by. It's too bad America wasn't (isn't) ready for a Romney. He wouldn't have had the power to turn things around, but at least, perhaps, he could have helped to curb the tide of a downward spiral.
Bob SpielDecember 16, 2015
This article took the concerns I have had inside and put words to them. It isn't that Trump is a bad person, etc. It's that, on both sides of the aisle, we seem to be searching for the knight on the white horse who is going to save us. But, as the article shows, white knights only stay on the horse so long and then followers become disillusioned, feel betrayed and become angry. It seems to me that unlike any time in my life, America is at a cross roads. Are we going to continue to clamor for this white knight who scratches our itching ears, or do what American's have done in the past: buck up, come together and solve our problems?
KathrynDecember 16, 2015
It strikes me that this article also illustrates the real trouble with humans in general, not just in politics. We're looking for a savior--someone on a white horse--but in the wrong places. People do it in marriages, in careers, in hobbies. But our only hope for a savior is in the one true Savior, Jesus Christ.
Harold RustDecember 16, 2015
Well written. It is so easy for the "masses" to clamor for a self-confident, outspoken, dynamic leader who will not be "one of the establishment", but the reality is we instead need a statesman as president---a man or woman who places highest priority on what the nation needs most rather on what the president or other politicians need most. Unfortunately, Trump is for Trump first, for all the "smart" people in the world second,and for the nation third. That means that we,the people, will only benefit by what he has left over after helping himself and his friends. So much for a confident, dynamic, outspoken leader.
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