Review: Donald J. Trump. Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again. New York: Threshold Books, 2015.
Crippled America is the first “campaign book” I ever read. I did so because I wanted to read Trump’s own (probably ghost written) words without benefit of media filtering. Also, Trump presents something very different from the usually politician’s Newspeak. The book lays out the basic ideas behind his political agenda for Making America Great Again. It’s clear after reading this book that by “Great” he means a prosperous, civilized country that we can be proud of, and that is respected abroad.
Reading this book does provides a revealing glimpse into the mind of a man who has been a public figure for nearly forty years. I would like to share a few quotes describing a famous, but fictional, businessman:
"Hank Rearden is the kind of man who sticks his name on everything he touches. You may, from this, form your own opinion about the character of Hank Reardon.
[Rearden] went on calmly: I am rich and I am proud of every penny I own … I refuse to apologize for my success—I refuse to apologize for my money." (Atlas Shrugged)
From Crippled America:
"I put my own name on my buildings and on my products, and I stand behind them. People have come to expect top qualities from anything that carries my name…I work hard. I’ve been honest and I’m very successful. The billions I have? I earned every penny." (pp. 136, 98)
The book makes it clear that Trump is man of “mixed premises,” as are most people. But, the mixture is weighted heavily on the egoistic and individualistic side of the equation. For example, on his chapter on health care he alludes to believing in such a thing as a “right” to treatment. On the other hand, his prescription is to repeal Obamacare and that the “government should get out of the way and let insurance companies compete for your business.” He continues, “The government doesn’t belong in health care except as the very last resort” (75). This is a mixture that the country can live with in the short and mid-terms.
In the book’s picture insert there are many photographs of what are clearly Trump’s two proudest accomplishments. First, there are pictures of the numerous beautiful buildings he has erected “on time and under budget.” Second, there are pictures of his family. His career as developer doesn’t need much discussion for informed voters. He does use the “about the author” section to go into some detail about the projects he is most proud of. Unlike most politicians whose only discernable motivation is naked power lust and greed for the unearned, Trump has personal values outside of holding office and looting the nation.
He does pay lip service to religion. Although abortion is not mentioned in the book, he has made statements about supporting the reversal of Roe v. Wade. He comes across as a “moderate” Protestant. Obviously, he isn’t a “Bible thumping” fundamentalist. Interestingly, his rhetoric is far less religious in tone than the Progressives who claim to support a separation of church and state. Even when discussing his religious beliefs, he stresses the importance of earthly happiness. Basically, his Protestantism is like that of Calvin Coolidge, U.S. Grant and Ronald Reagan. There’s no need to fear theocracy under a Trump administration. Nor will he turn his administration over to the Muslim Brotherhood. A Clinton victory will guarantee yet more lip service to the joys of sharia law while she increases the mass importation of the ummah.
Trump’s views for ending the federal government’s cultural Marxist agenda to “fundamentally transform” America into France are made clear in his chapter on education:
"A lot of people believe the Department of Education should just be eliminated. Get rid of it. If we don’t eliminate it completely, we certainly need to cut its power and reach. Education has to be run locally. Common Core, No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top are all programs that take decisions away from parents and local school boards. These programs allow the progressives in the Department of Education to indoctrinate, not educate, our kids. What they are doing does not fit the American model of governance." (51)
This, if enacted, would be a good beginning to privatizing education. Unfortunately, Trump has little to say about the mass indoctrination perpetrated in the universities (where K thru 12 teachers get brainwashed). He just briefly notes that major reform in the disastrous student loan program is necessary.
He devotes chapters to his signature issues of immigration and economic reform. On immigration, he goes further than saying he will build the border wall as was promised to the American people by Congress in 1986. He states that the insane practice of misinterpreting the 14th Amendment to create anchor babies must stop:
"There are businesses that specialize in making this happen! They call it “birth tourism”—pregnant foreign women travel to this country just so they can give birth here to babies who then automatically become American citizens." (28)
As are all real Americans, Trump is justly outraged by the devaluing of American citizenship. He doesn’t mention the relatively recent phenomenon of dual citizenship. But, that abomination should end yesterday.
One of the strongest and best chapters in the book deals with energy policy. Trump gets off to a great start by categorically denying the religious dogma of man-made climate change. He supports the building of the Keystone Pipeline. He supports fracking and freeing American energy producers to do just that. He would end the current jihad on domestic energy production that will, undoubtedly, be continued by Clinton.
One of my favorite lines in the book is in the chapter on tax reform. Trump wants to simplify tax code because “My goal is to put H&R Block out of business” (152). On the other hand, I don’t see how his plan of cutting taxes and deregulation will balance the budget if entitlements aren’t drastically cut. He says that Social Security benefits are “off the table.” But, he doesn’t explain how those commitments can possibly be met. Leonard Peikoff has stated that Social Security payments are a contractual obligation of the government. Of course, he also said that acquiring yet more such obligation should end immediately. On a positive note, Trump wrote that he would end corporate welfare. But, he makes no mention of privatizing Social Security.
Trump mentions many times his “common sense” approach to problem solving and finding the right people are keys to his business success. As Ayn Rand said in her famous essay “Don’t Let It Go,” common sense is not enough to save the country. What’s needed is an explicit political philosophy of liberty and the foundation such a politics requires. Critics have stated that Trump’s lack of such a philosophy makes him at best a “pragmatist.” This is nonsense. He understands that facts are real, must to be faced and can’t be evaded indefinitely. He is clearly not a philosophical subjectivist who believes reality is constructed out of Silly Putty.
Trump exemplifies both the best and worst in the American character. There’s his “can do” optimism and ability. There’s his “guts” and courage to standing up to the entire arsenal of the media/political/academic establishment. The smear campaign directed at Donald Trump has been breathtaking and has caused lesser men to cave under the pressure or never attempt the fight. There’s also his anti-intellectualism. As I said at the beginning of this review, he is a man of mixed premises. The mostly positive nature of the mixture—his pro-reason common sense, his egoism, his individualism, his patriotism—makes him a better candidate than the American people have any right to expect. The degenerate nature of the culture coughs up such “leaders” as the Bush and Clinton crime families and non-entities like Romney. If the American people reject the closest we have to a Hank Rearden in favor of the treasonous sociopath Clinton, the country is surely through.