[Libertas]

Now's the chance to get our detailed plans and comments to Trump. I'll post one. If someone can find LOZ's to put here that'd be good too.

(07-27-2016 12:48 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

So I know Trump is supposed to be doing an AMA on Reddit tonight, I think this would be a good question or suggestion to counter one of the Dem's major platforms. Free College

We already have a Free College program in place, it's called the G.I. Bill.

By re-instituting the Draft, or at least encouraging 18 year olds to go to the Army first instead of College we could accomplish a litany of things to Make America Great Again, primarily we could re-build our armed services and make them better than before. We could stop much of the govt funding of these liberal indoctrination think-tanks the colleges have become, and give young people real world experiences and life skills instead of coddling them and giving them safe spaces from reality. And by waiting a few years to go into college, it will make the students much more likely to complete their degrees, instead of the massive amount of college dropouts we have now wasting govt money and contributing to the Great American College Racket.

Many other countries have mandatory military service for young adults, and this is one of the major cornerstones of their societies that keep the youth from becoming like the young thugs and criminals we have in this country. We could definitely train the next generation of kids who are being polluted and lost by the liberal college safe space nonsense, and create a new generation of upstanding men and women with better work ethic and more pride in their country. I wonder how much the youth crime rate has risen as it correlates to the ending of the Draft after Vietnam? Who doesn't think all these inner city youths who are killing each other in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit etc wouldn't be better off learning some discipline and life skills in the Armed Services while giving them opportunities to learn a trade and be able to go to college out of that?

It would force the people calling for Free College to buy into their own futures by paying for their own education with 2+ years of service, instead of waiting for another hand out while giving nothing of themselves in return.

Want to Make America Great Again? Re-institute the Draft.

[SamuelBRoberts]

"We already have a Free College program in place, it's called the G.I. Bill.

By re-instituting the Draft, or at least encouraging 18 year olds to go to the Army first instead of College we could accomplish a litany of things to Make America Great Again, primarily we could re-build our armed services and make them better than before. We could stop much of the govt funding of these liberal indoctrination think-tanks the colleges have become, and give young people real world experiences and life skills instead of coddling them and giving them safe spaces from reality. And by waiting a few years to go into college, it will make the students much more likely to complete their degrees, instead of the massive amount of college dropouts we have now wasting govt money and contributing to the Great American College Racket."

Trump is not going to suddenly call to re-institute the draft, 3 months before the election, because someone on an AMA thread told him to.
Don't be a goofball.

[Libertas]

I was looking at it from the "free college? join the military angle." Reinstituting the draft when people are calling him Hitler is unwise, but the proposal can be tweaked.

LOZ (infrastructure):

(05-04-2016 10:05 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  

Now that the Republican primary is over, it's time to turn our attention to what will be a tough and brutal general election campaign against the HAG.

In this thread and (perhaps) others to follow, I would like to outline some policy proposals that will help Trump gain the upper hand in this election. Before I start, a few comments to set the stage:

The most important observation is the most obvious one. The general election is very different from the GOP primary because voters who comprise the general electorate are very different from GOP primary voters. This is a truism, but it has very important consequences for the kind of campaign Trump needs to run.

Some of Trump's main themes in the GOP primary: building a wall; deporting illegal immigrants; banning Muslim non-citizens from entering the US; etc -- are a LOT less popular with the public in general than they are with the GOP primary electorate. To many independent voters these proposals sound extreme. In addition, their thrust is negative: they are all about keeping people away, walls, deportations, bans, etc. These proposals helped Trump with many Republican voters, but it can be a different story with the public at large.

Trump cannot completely back away from these policies in the general election, nor does he need to. But what he must do is to put a greater emphasis on other themes: themes which are positive, which can appeal to a broad swath of the general electorate, and which at the same time can allow Trump to differentiate himself from the HAG. These should be themes that Trump has already mentioned in the primary campaign, so it would not be as if they are just being invented now -- they simply need to be brought into the foreground and given a stronger and more pointed emphasis.

With that, I'd like to suggest the first such policy proposal which, in my opinion, is a great fit for all these requirements. Here it is:

Rebuilding America's Infastructure; or, in short, REBUILDING AMERICA.

What this means is easy to understand. America's infrastructure is crumbling; our bridges, tunnels, roads, airports, and even our Internet and communications infrastructure, are in disrepair. Compared to some places in the world our infrastructure might as well be that of a third world country. This needs to end, and NOW. It is time for a massive project to rebuild America. Trump is the president that will get this done.

Here is why this is such a perfect theme for Trump:

1. He believes it. He has mentioned this a number of times in the course of the primary, in many rallies, and -- pointedly -- in his remarks in New York on May 3rd, the night he became the presumptive and inevitable nominee.

2. It is a popular theme with the general public. People know that our infrastructure is in bad shape. They also know that a massive infrastructure investment project will jumpstart the economy and put millions of Americans to work. It appeals to both white collar voters who are consumers of infrastructure, and to blue collar voters who will know that they will be getting good high paying jobs rebuilding America.

3. It allows Trump to put forward a theme that no Republican president has ever done. In fact, it's more of a Democratic theme, and many "true conservative" types will scream and shout about "Big Government" and how evil it is, and how we don't have money for it. That's great -- it will allow the general public to see Trump for the pragmatic, centrist moderate that he is, someone who is not afraid to borrow ideas from the left and who only cares about America first, not any rigid ideology. And to the deficit whiners he can retort that interest rates are at record lows, and that he will save money by reducing our foreign entanglements, making other countries pay their fair share of the defense burden, and streamlining useless and wasteful government agencies like the EPA and others.

4. It allows Trump to remind the voters of the sphere in which he has the most real world experience and expertise: he is a BUILDER, he has built and rebuilt so many great structures all over the world, he loves it and understands it. So far, this has mainly been associated with the wall, but the wall is a structure meant to keep people out; it may be necessary but it should not be the only structure that Trump is associated with. Voters should think of him as someone who will lead the rebuilding of America's roads, bridges, airports, tunnels and so on. He will rebuild America and make it NEW and BEAUTIFUL.

In addition -- and this is very important -- Trump can say that he knows how to make these projects happen on time and under budget. The usual knock against infrastructure spending is that it's a massive boondoggle for corrupt construction companies that milk the taxpayer and take forever to get anything done. Trump can credibly say: that won't happen with me. He can say:

Quote:

"Remember Obama's stimulus? We spent almost a trillion dollars and what did we get? How come all our infrastructure is in worse shape than ever? That's because it was run by incompetent politicians who have no idea what the hell they're doing. It won't happen that way with me folks, that I can tell you. We will REBUILD AMERICA and we will do it ahead of time and under budget. It's going to be so beautiful -- we're going to have the country we deserve".

He can say all of this with a straight face and voters will believe him because he really will know what he's talking about. Even if the HAG and the Democrats try to steal this theme from him, they just can't compete with his credibility and expertise when it comes to REBUILDING AMERICA.

Trump needs to be associated in voters' minds with America's future; he will Make America Great Again by literally rebuilding it, by making it a shining and sparkling place the reflects our proper role in the world. He will make it a country that looks and feels and runs great.

It's a win/win/win/win. Sometime soon, Trump should give a major speech about rebuilding American infrastructure; and he should make it one of the major cornerstones of his general election campaign.

LOZ (family):

(05-07-2016 12:23 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  

This thread is the next installment in a series of policy proposals that are designed to help Trump win the general election and Make America Great Again. Part 1 can be found here: Rebuilding America's Infrastructure.

To briefly recap what I feel are the keys to successful Trump policy proposals:

1. They have to be positions he believes in and that are a natural fit for his overall message.

2. They have to be FRESH and cut across political ideologies and party lines. They should resonate with a wide swath of the population, left right and center.

3. They have to play to one of Trump's personal strengths and allow him to highlight that strength in a natural and organic way.

The infrastructure proposal satisfied all of these requirements. It is needed because our infrastructure is crumbling; it is part of Trump's core message; it has nothing to do with Republican orthodoxy and can win over independent and Democratic voters; and it allows Trump to highlight his strength as a BUILDER, someone who knows how to get things built, and to do it ahead of schedule and under budget.

Here, I want to present the next proposal in the series:

Reviving the American Family: A Commitment to Supporting Bigger and Stronger Families

The motivation for this is simple: the fertility rate in the US (as in much of the West) is barely at replacement level. We cannot keep growing as a country and as a vibrant economy if we don't grow our population. We need policies that will spur the revival of the American family, a new baby boom -- the TRUMP BABY BOOM.

What Trump should say is that he will look very hard at a whole range of policies that will make it easier for American families to have 1, 2, 3 or more kids -- as many as they want. He can mention that Marco Rubio -- Trump: a great guy, by the way, no seriously he is a good guy -- had the very interesting idea of a new child tax credit, and the Trump administration is going to look hard at that. It will also look hard at maternity leave, and it will be open to many different specific suggestions that all contribute to the goal of Reviving the American Family.

Here is why this is such a slam dunk for Trump:

1. It fits naturally within the framework of a national revival and of Making America Great Again. How can America be great without great American families? A family with 1 child -- let alone a childless family -- is not much of a family. If we're going to be great again we need to start growing our population above replacement level, we need NEW ENERGIES and a part of those new energies is making babies at a higher rate than we have been for too long.

2. It allows Trump to naturally highlight a very important personal strength, and that is his own extraordinary family which reflects so well on him. He can say:

Quote:

I've been so lucky to raise 5 incredible children -- FIVE -- they're all tremendous and it's like the best thing in my life honestly. Ivanka -- everyone knows Ivanka right she's a superstar. But I was rich -- it's never easy but it's a lot easier when you're rich. I want Americans who are middle class to have beautiful BIG families like I had so we can grow the country and grow the economy. We're going to look at maternity leave and a lot of other things. It's too hard for American women to be mothers that needs to change.

The American Family theme will allow him to bring his own family on the stage in a way that is natural and organic, rather than forced or showy. He can say, I just want all Americans even if they aren't wealthy to be able to have BIG BEAUTIFUL families like I've been so lucky and privileged to have. And it will allow him to connect with women in a deep and serious way and outline specific proposals that will help women more than anyone else.

I believe that Trump's family town hall with Anderson Cooper was one of the two or three things -- along with bringing Paul Manafort on board, and making the "rigged system" argument about Colorado and other delegate conventions -- that decisively shifted the primary in Trump's favor. It was that good. This theme will allow Trump to bring his family into the election in a way that is not really about him but about America and what can be done to grow and revive the American family. That will make it even more powerful.

Implicitly it will be a good contrast with the Clintons who only managed to pump out one daughter and a not very prepossessing one at that (but that's not something he should say, of course, let people figure it out for themselves). It's a telling contrast and if he hammers the American Family theme it's one that quite a few people will notice.

3. It's a theme that cuts across all ideologies, left and right, and appeals to all population groups. He can say how it's going to be great for Hispanics, great for African Americans, great for American Muslims, great for everyone. We all want BIG BEAUTIFUL families but we need policies that help make this a reality. The Trump administration is going to be a time to make a lot of BABIES in the US. It's going to be FUN -- he can give a little wink about that, and everyone will love it.

Parenthetically, he can say that this is also a reason we need to make our education and healthcare much cheaper and much better. Education needs to become useful and spur a "new revolution in the trades" -- we are going to have new, brilliant blue collar web-connected trades, something which is already happening to some extent -- we are seeing trades workers, plumbers and electricians and HVAC specialists walking around with iPads and getting much more efficient at their jobs. To that we will soon be adding much cheaper and much more efficient healthcare, competitive web-infused healthcare that will cut waste and produce better results. These efficiency gains will help us reduce costs across the board and we'll be able to Revive the American Family, so we can Make America Great Again.

*************

As always, if you feel that this proposal is useful and can help Trump in the general election, feel free to communicate it to his people and to the main Trumpers online -- such as Bill Mitchell and also others.

Reviving the American Family will Make America Great Again. The TRUMP BABY BOOM. Spread the word.

[kbell]

I would like to know his views on medical marijuana and if he will downgrade medical mj from a schedule 1 drug to at least schedule 2. Its ridiculous regulated. I personally could benefit from it, but most doctors are sheepish on prescribing it for that reason.

[Kickb]

Shouldn't the questions be more condensed? I doubt he or the people who read the questions to him want to read walls of text.

[SamuelBRoberts]

They should. And the medical marijuana one is actually a very, very good question.

[kbell]

You also have to spend 125-150 a year on green card. 250 if its a dependent since they the parent or guardian have to get it as well. Getting this card can take more than 6 months, in my close relatives case. The stuff is incredible for severe anxiety and epilepsy in her case. But your suffering till you get it. Its very easy to get percocet or another prescription opioid which is far more addictive, no cards or anything. Simple RX.

[DamienCasanova]

(07-27-2016 02:09 PM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:  

Trump is not going to suddenly call to re-institute the draft, 3 months before the election, because someone on an AMA thread told him to.
Don't be a goofball.

Well we are at war with ISIS....and in times of war it's the President's job to do exactly this sort of thing.

What would be the potential negatives to instituting a draft and declaring mandatory military service of 2 years for all eligible adults from 18-20? Other than a lot of crying and calling for safe spaces from coddled brats and their liberal parents. It would reduce the amount of kids staying at home with mommy into their 20s, and give young adults real world experiences and teach them proper discipline, hygiene and conduct. We could use reserves or soldiers training in trades to help re-build the country's infrastructure, airports, transportation networks, communications networks, and all sorts of other things you could use all the extra man power to rebuild on a local level. After your service you would be trained in a skill or trade and more likely to be able to find work as an engineer, computer tech, police officer, or any number of professions you could be trained for in the Armed Forces. You could choose to go to college afterwards and further your education, and you would be more likely to succeed in your late 20s as opposed to your teenage years. Or one could always choose to stay in the Military and make a career there. It would solve a lot of the problems with our depleted military, with unemployment, with juvenile crime, with re-building infrastructure, and many other (anti) social problems we are currently experiencing.

I agree with your point Samuel, No he probably won't make a call to re-institute a draft at this point in the election based on a Reddit AMA. But it's still an excellent counter to the Democrat's argument for Free College. You want free college? Sure, the free college program has been in existence since 1944, it's called the G.I. Bill! Now sign up and go fight for your rich Uncle Sam.

Otherwise, the Free College Platform will very likely become what ObamaCare is, government funding of private business institutions with guaranteed monetary increases.

[Charles Martel]

I created a reddit account, just to partake in the Trump AMA. Unfortunately, I will be at work during it, if one of ya'll would like to pose this question, I would be supremely grateful...

Mr Trump, given the vast discrepancies in family courts and the crushing effect that alimony/child support has on so many, do you plan to address this as President? If so, how?

[Libertas]

(07-27-2016 02:21 PM)Kickb Wrote:  

Shouldn't the questions be more condensed? I doubt he or the people who read the questions to him want to read walls of text.

Definitely. If we have something big to add I would suggest putting those kinds of things on Google Drive and linking to them in the question, then asking it succinctly and covering the major points that could be of interest.

[kbell]

Another few questions could be. How does he plan to take on media defamation and yellow journalism?

How to allow conservative and non liberal viewpoints in colleges?

[GlobalMan]

(07-27-2016 02:32 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

What would be the potential negatives to instituting a draft and declaring mandatory military service of 2 years for all eligible adults from 18-20?

The fact that the vast majority of people on both sides would be against it. Would kill the campaign the instant it was proposed.

Even if there was anything viable about the idea, which there isn't, it's not necessary to achieve any of or military goals. We are not lacking in bodies- we are lacking in ideas, strategy, commitment, leadership and balls.

[eradicator]

From the other thread

I guess my main question for Trump is this: what can he do to combat the inevitable voter and election fraud that Hillary will surely try in November?

Now that the Democrat Party is fractured after the wikileaks email scandal, will he try to make some attack ads to get the word out? The average american voter is not plugged into twitter, and there is almost a full media blackout talking about the scandal, how exactly is he going to get the word out with the press shielding Hillary?

[LINUX]

The GI Bill is an investment, it's not free. You buy in to it. You can opt out of it when you join the military.

I paid $1200 for it in 2001, I'm not sure what the going rate is now. I actually think most of the money comes from the expectation that veterans will not take advantage of it.

[DamienCasanova]

(07-27-2016 02:39 PM)GlobalMan Wrote:  

(07-27-2016 02:32 PM)DamienCasanova Wrote:  

What would be the potential negatives to instituting a draft and declaring mandatory military service of 2 years for all eligible adults from 18-20?

The fact that the vast majority of people on both sides would be against it. Would kill the campaign the instant it was proposed.

Even if there was anything viable about the idea, which there isn't, it's not necessary to achieve any of or military goals. We are not lacking in bodies- we are lacking in ideas, strategy, commitment, leadership and balls.

Of course the libs would be against it, but I don't know that the vast majority would be against it from the right.

And we are lacking in strategy, commitment, leadership and balls. All the missing elements from our youth that the armed forces could instill in them.

This is a classic Trump negotiation style, ask for a Draft, shock the country, and then negotiate it down to mandatory military service with many bonuses.

Or just use the GI Bill as a counter to the Free College platform, highlighting the fact that nothing is free, and only people who buy into the country with their service will be rewarded in turn.

[Sam Malone]

LOZ's question:

"Mr Trump, why do you keep bringing up Bobby Knight ?"

[weambulance]

We don't need the draft or any kind of mandatory service to fix problems with the youth. We simply need to stop demonizing masculinity in schools and the media, and we need to stop trying to force young boys to act like girls.

From a military standpoint unless we're being seriously invaded by multiple foreign powers I don't think we'll ever need the draft again. The nature of war has changed.

[The Beast1]

Your questions for the AMA need to be on one sentence long and succinct.

There's no way he'll read a wall of text. Keep It Simpe Stupid!

[Gmac]

(07-27-2016 03:04 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

Your questions for the AMA need to be on one sentence long and succinct.

There's no way he'll read a wall of text. Keep It Simpe Stupid!

Bingo. Must be a one liner. Sorry guys, great ideas but no chance of getting all that info on reddit.

[Foolsgo1d]

"What are your thoughts on the Clinton Foundation?"

[Saccade]

https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comm...sident_of/ AMA is live, get in here.

FYI he'll be answering questions at 7 p.m. ET

[kbell]

looks like one guy asked my question early on. Hope he answers it.

Quote:

SmokehTheBearUSA [score hidden] 5 minutes ago

Dear Mr. Trump,

Thank you for taking time out of your extremely busy day and life to come here and answer some of our questions! It's very much appreciated, and this transparency you're bringing is one of MANY reasons I've jumped on the TrumpTrain!

I'm a disabled American, who's been unable to work fulltime in over 6-7 years. I have a very debilitating stomach disease which prevents me from enjoying the basics of life, such as eating or sleeping. After years of going through pharmaceutical products in hopes that something will help(nothing has), I've found the one thing that's been able to truly help this 24/7 pain, cannabis/marijuana.

My question for you, Mr. President; what are your plans for the legalization of cannabis, whether medicinally or recreationally? Are you going to hinder the current progress made by almost half the country(who currently have either medicinal laws or full recreational laws on the books) https://i.sli.mg/PoTdNp.jpg or will you help propel this new lucrative business opportunity for our country into new heights?

Take Colorado for example, https://i.sli.mg/U73Stu.jpg in one year since legalizing cannabis, their economy is booming better than ever, there's more money for the school systems, crime rate is down, traffic fatalities are down, the drug cartel's revenue is down, and even opiate deaths are down! https://i.sli.mg/2owZaa.jpg Imagine this type of growth for the entire country!

Even a new poll out today shows that positive interest in Cannabis Legalization is increasing in not only everyday Americans, but Republicans as well https://i.sli.mg/DEVGYs.png

And the best part about this wonderful plant which helps me get some semblance of a life? It has never, EVER killed anyone from an overdose, it's literally impossible to die from using this plant, no matter how much you take https://i.sli.mg/2ca8Fr.png

Will you help push for legalization of cannabis as President?

I know that on the list of priorities in this country, with ISIS threats and disgustingly horrible attacks happening in the Western world almost everyday, with a crumbling infrastructure, with many Americans not having fulltime jobs(me included), with even more jobs being sent away overseas to other countries, etc etc, I know that legalizing this plant may be on the lowest end of the spectrum of priorities. But for me, and many other sick Americans who rely on this plant, this issue is as important as life itself.

Thank you so much for your time in doing this AMA for all of us, thank you for taking the time to campaign around the country and giving the silent majority a voice, we all know you never had to do this, so thank you for stepping up when the time was right to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AND SAFE AGAIN!

[Adonis]

(07-27-2016 02:46 PM)LINUX Wrote:  

The GI Bill is an investment, it's not free. You buy in to it. You can opt out of it when you join the military.

I paid $1200 for it in 2001, I'm not sure what the going rate is now. I actually think most of the money comes from the expectation that veterans will not take advantage of it.

To clarify that's the Montgomery GI Bill, in which you pay $1200 (plus an optional $600 "top up" for $5400 more in benefits) and receive a certain dollar amount to be used for tuition fees only.

There is also now the Post 9/11 GI Bill for those with 36+ mo active duty after 9/11 which is fully funded at no cost to the member, that provides tuition fees, E5 w/dep BAH, and a book and fee stipend. Really an excellent benefit.

I strongly oppose a draft myself, and think Trump would be foolish to advocate for one.

Mr. Trump, I have been on active duty for 16 years. What are the first 5 things you would do to rebuild our nation's military?

Edit: Damn, I posted but it seems like they are only allowing established members to post. Edit 2: kaotic beat me to it.

[kaotic]

Bad news for anyone who just signed on and wants to ask questions:

Quote:

For this AMA we have temporarily taken extra security measures to keep our community free from troublemakers. We built the wall 10 ft taller, you might say.

Comments from brand new accounts are among those that will be removed by the automoderator. Accounts that are less than 30 days old AND that have less than 500 combined karma are ineligible and their comments will be automatically removed.

[kaotic]

Milo's questions got upvoted, asking about net neutrality (wonder why ) and H-1B Visas