THE ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES ENDORSES NY BUSINESSMAN DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT

Not many saw Donald Trump’s rise to frontrunner status of the GOP presidential nomination coming back in July. A political novice who had been a sometimes less than serious personality in his prior incarnation as reality star and tabloid headliner, Trump caught the entire GOP field sleeping as he found hot button issues in trade, immigration and political correctness that played not just to the GOP base, but other votings bases tired of the status quo, as well. His political star would ultimately rise into orbit and no gaffe seemed to halt his initial ascent.

Mr. Trump has highlighted issues long left dormant in America and has shown backbone where none prior had been detectable amongst the political class. He has reminded us we hold many cards as a nation. We can stop rolling over and actually play our hand.

In addition to changing the narrative and possibilities of action on immigration reform, Trump has brought up the elephant in the economic room; massive trade deficits and just who benefits from the current model of globalist trade deals? Trump has been consistent for over 30 years on this point, our free trade pacts are only helping certain people and not helping the massses of people of this country. The neoliberal trade regime has had its run and been mostly disappointing. It’s time to try another approach.

On the world stage, Trump strikes a balance of non-interventionism on one hand with killer instinct toward our true enemies on the other. If the nation ever did go to war under Trump, one would expect the fight to be for the win, not a tie or a quagmire. He has expressed a desire to crush ISIS, but avoid more Libyas and Iraqs, which created fertile ground for ISIS in the first place. He has not subjected Vladimir Putin to bellicose warmongering rhetoric, which is refreshing, as aiming the nation toward perpetual conflict with Russia hardly sounds productive. Instead Trump has jumped on the third rail and questioned how much we really need NATO to serve its traditional Cold War purpose? It’s about time somebody asked.

When Trump proposed a halt on Muslim immigration, it rubbed some wrong, but even on this point, it is fair to ask why can’t Americans question whether a new group of migrants fits in within the country or pose too many problems? The fact Trump reframes questions like this is a strength. Sometimes when he tries he fails and we move on. It is interesting to have a candidate who sometimes uses the public as his filter. Such an approach has its positive and negative points, but it is not a disqualifier.

Trump has stood before America for months and reminded millions of upon millions of citizens of the simple fact that this is indeed a country and we are responsible for taking care of our own things, including our people, our border and our culture. Being an American means something. One cannot just walk into this country [or most any country] and claim to be a countrymen of the locals without a lawful process and cultural assimilation over the span of many years or even generations. Sadly, for more than a generation, Americans have been told by political elites on both sides of the aisle to tolerate giving away the house, to tolerate lawlessness and unfairness.

The policy of looking the other way at massive illegal immigration has benefitted liberal elites who want to eliminate the white working and middle class as the most influential bloc in the nation and it has benefitted business interests who would just as soon pay lower wages to immigrants than pay the price of domestic labor.

Trump has shown he is able to speak to the people as one of them who cares about America and not as a programmed PC machine who runs all of his thoughts through donor-approved messaging. This is actually a very big deal. A great deal of Trump’s appeal is that he has has broken rules that needed to be broken. In the era of “safe spaces,” for crying out loud, America needs someone like Trump.

Hopefully, if Trump does win, he cleans up his act a bit, as he has cost himself votes and public trust at times through the creation of needless drama. Through the course of the campaign, he has also shown too many positive qualities to overlook.

One hopes and can logically expect that his knowledge of governmental processess will improve by leaps and bounds with on-the-job experience. Vote Trump.