Constitutional Presidential Qualifications Need To Change

Donald Trump
Donald Trump

I had an Irish friend ask me recently if African Americans will vote for Donald Trump for president. My answer was, “Hell no, but Muslims, Mexicans, veterans and some Republicans won’t be voting for him, either.”

Everyone around us began to laugh out loud, saying that was a real gem of an answer. My friend was trying so hard to hang on to Trump, but he, too, was revealing frustration.

The political conventions are over. We are now in countdown mode waiting for the political debates. Both Trump and Hillary Clinton pulled out the kitchen sink to state their political cases.

The highlights of the Republican convention was Trump’s children, particularly, his daughter Ivanka. Using the children was a smart marketing ploy, as they appealed to their particular generations and genders. Perhaps the children should be running instead of the dad.

Mrs. Trump, the wife, was a goof. Beautiful she was, as she plagiarized Michelle Obama’s previous convention speech in her pretty white dress. Perhaps this is a compliment to Mrs. Obama.

The overall tone of the GOP convention was gloom and doom, sounding like the boogey man will appear very soon and Mr. Trump is the only one who can save the country from him.

His convention was pessimistic, with the glass half empty. In essence, it was a one-man show, the coronation of a dictatorship – that was the message from the man who says he will make America great again.

Trump seemed to be taking lessons from the Mussolini playbook. The convention was mean spirited overall, as many of the conventioneers chanted loudly and repeatedly for Hillary to be jailed.


Trump Not Running For President

It has been my contention all along that Trump is not running for president for real. He is running for branding and marketing purposes. He is a super salesman, the ultimate positive thinker.

He is a salesman who never stops selling. He is a salesman who oversells, even after he has sold you. He sells you the property, then the living experience, then the greatness, then the appreciation.

But Trump will implode; just keep on watching and give him enough rope and he will probably hang himself, if he hasn’t already.

He, along with Democrat Bernie Sanders, reflects the frustration that many Americans have with the political system and political leadership. That segment of fed-up voters claims that the system is a broken, corrupt, old boys network and there is public outcry for political revolt. Trump and Bernie fall into the can-you-fix-it-please category.

Trump is a media creation. He is on TV constantly, for free, on interview shows, by phone if necessary, because he is good for the ratings. He plays free-form discussion. He doesn’t even have to make sense as he utters his sensational comments. Trump on TV is a political reality soap opera.

He has put The Grand Old Party in a funky place. He took full advantage of their weaknesses, just like a surgical fighter. I call it the Ali style – call you out, browbeat you and then punch hard.

What will he say next? Who will he attack? He plays a grand game of attack politics, to the point where he knocked out 17 established Republican candidates just like he was boxing. None were clever enough to take him on as they followed the traditional political rules, while they watched Trump in disbelief as he disavowed protocol.

Now, to stay a step ahead, Trump suggests that the November election will be rigged, which just might be his way out. Wouldn’t that be something if he used that as an out to resign from his own candidacy? I predict that he will avoid the one-on-one debates with Mrs. Clinton.

You have to be at least 35 years old and a naturalized citizen. That’s it to lead the free world election vote in November.

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton

Mrs. Clinton

The highlight was Michelle Obama, who was so beautiful, elegant, and passionate that she made all that followed her go back to the drawing board to enhance their speeches, including the President. After her brilliant speech, Michelle left the convention, came home to Chicago to visit and to start packing.

Bill Clinton told a love story of a partnership with the girl he met that he asked three times to be his wife. Chelsea was the proud daughter who introduced her mother.

Politics is an unpredictable animal; you never know what speech will resonate or whom people will connect with. It was genius to put Mr. and Mrs. Kahn on the stage to speak of their hero son who was lost in the war.

Mr. Khan was simple and elegant and gave Trump the hardest reprimand. If you didn’t cry when you watched and heard the story of their heroic son, then God bless you.

Mr. and Mrs. Kahn at the DNC Convention.
Mr. and Mrs. Kahn at the DNC Convention.

Attorney Kahn asked if Trump had read the Constitution of the United States as his wife stood by his side, obviously in pain, trying to get through it. Most poignantly, he asked Trump what have you sacrificed for your country.

Trump had no comeback other than to say he has worked hard in his business and put thousands of people to work, but by no means is that a sacrifice for your country. He said that unchallenged.

The polls are in Hillary’s favor at this time; she has taken the lead. Trump meanwhile has divided, split, upset, created chaos, and caused confusion as he has entered the world of politics.


Badly Damaged Republican Party

This will be a race to remember, as the pundits analyze Trump’s rise. His free styling and off the cuff talk have damaged the GOP. The Republicans will have to pay for his deeds for years to come, until they can unite again to rally around a real Republican who is a real politician that can express the party’s ideas and platform.

To get there, however, the Republican Party needs to embrace the brand new world. Trump has shown them it is theirs to lose on foolishness.

But now Trump’s mental competence is being questioned. Is he mentally capable of being the President of the United States? Can he rule the world? Is he to be trusted with the nuclear button?

Many think not, including key people in his party. Many Republicans will cross over to vote for Hillary, because she is the sane one. She may have a trust problem, but it is not over her discretion in using the nuclear codes. She’s the one you would want to call at three in the morning, damn those emails.

The election of 2016 is like no other and will certainly change the course of American politics. Change of some sort is definitely in the air.

All of this leads to my contention that as they currently stand, the qualifications in order to be the President of the United States are minimal and need to be changed. You have to be at least 35 years old and a naturalized citizen. That’s it…to lead the free world.

It seems obvious that we need constitutional changes requiring more than age and birth as qualifiers. If those rules don’t change, we might see Trump again, or even worse, we could see Trump actually in the White House.

As long as he is legally in the race, which he is, Trump has a chance to win and become the next president, for better or worse. It’s a long time between now and Election Day. The polls of August do not necessarily reflect the final election vote in November.

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5 Comments

  • Mrs. Hartman, you absolutely have hit the nail on the head with this piece. All along, I have opined that Donald Trump is not truly running for President–that he’s simply running for airtime. Not only that, it appears he’s been laughing at us (those of us, that is, who are listening to him and not just hearing him [I’m guilty of only hearing him and not listening to him, but as he is a nominee (of only two), it’s definitely time to listen to him]).

    I do like Hilary Clinton. I’ve always felt she would do a very good job as our leader. Of course, part of it could be my affinity for her husband, but even with that, I’ve always felt that the the once-President leaned on her–perhaps more heavily than I thought–so I am definitely pro-Mrs. Clinton. That said, I also agree with you–wholeheartedly–that the minimal qualifications for throwing one’s hat into the arena are not at the level that the Leader of the Free World (well-put, by the way, Mrs. Hartman) should be.

    Lastly, I do believe that you’re correct in that Mr. Trump is already planning his exit strategy (if not already planned). Often, I didn’t believe everything he has said in his running–and I still don’t–as he seemed to be a bit more intelligent than many of the words/opinions/etc. that he spewed, and still spews. But if I am wrong in that he turns out to not be more intelligent than his words, I would be surprised, though not shocked. And if–I believe this to be a VERY big “if”–Mr. Trump does, indeed, win the election, then we’re going to have to prepare for quite the interesting term (to say the least).

    • Thanks for writing. This has got to be the most interesting election in our lifetime. It is somewhat scary. They are now in a dead heat in the polls. Where will we go if he win?

    • Thanks for writing. This has got to be the most interesting election in our lifetime. It is somewhat scary. They are now in a dead heat in the polls. Where will we go if he wins?

  • You’re welcome.

    “If Donald Trump wins, I’m outta here.” I hear this so many times from friends and family (and friendly strangers), and I always laugh a little. Of course, it’s not funny (no where near), but that says a lot about how strongly people feel about Mr. Trump. Personally, I believe (and I hope I’m right : ) it won’t be as bad as we think it’ll be. Although I’m not “in the know” beyond what the Media gives us, even with President Obama, there were so many obstacles in place that he wasn’t ever able to do as much as he wanted (I don’t believe), so I don’t believe that Donald Trump will be able to do as much as he wants–and, certainly, not even close to the level that I believe our current President was able to get done. But it will be awesomely interesting to see what Donald Trump does in office IF he were to win.

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