resident Trump went to an Ivy League school, but he came out still talking like a New Yorker, with his street smarts intact. What does it mean to have street smarts? It’s knowledge of how to spot trouble coming, how to cope with mean bastards, and thrive. It is knowledge gained from gritty life, which gives you “a bank of courage to depend on when you are tested.” Your knowledge is based in your life experience, not conventional wisdom or academic notions, so it is actually real.
Street smarts combines common sense, self-preservation, and assertiveness. Think President Trump.
The person with street smarts has a great bullshit detector. You know how to deal with bullies and cheats, whether they be elite media or political opponents. As Willie Dixon put it, “You can’t mess with the messer, the messer’s gonna mess with you.”
Trump’s success dominating his dirty-dealing opponents has amazed and dumbfounded Democrats and the old GOP alike. They don’t understand his strengths. Like a martial arts master, Trump doesn’t absorb his enemies’ attacks. He transforms their assaults into his own energy to win.
President Trump’s street smarts go way beyond dealing with enemies. It is the key to how he carved his own successful path in life, and in the White House. The key to street smarts is noticing life as it is and dealing with it. In high falutin’ psychology terms, it is reality testing, the highest order of brain functioning.
Reality testing is essential to good judgment and effectiveness in life. It means dealing with the world as it is, not as you want it to be, nor as you fear it to be. No socialism, no global warming, no free lunch.
Good judgment requires facing things as they are. Democrats lack it almost entirely. President Trump has it in excess. Reality testing is a rare gift. It is called common sense, but it is not common.
This is why President Trump has managed to accomplish so much that was deemed impossible in the two difficult areas of the economy and foreign affairs. He pays no attention to the received truths of other people. He looks simply and without equivocation at what’s in front of him. Like any builder, President Trump has his two feet solidly on the ground at all times.
It has been a delight to conservatives to discover that President Trump is against suffocating government not because of ideology, but as a practical man. A bloated government sucking up the wealth of the country and churning out stultifying regulations is not a force for good. It is not good for the economy or opportunity or fairness or freedom. So, he’s done more to deregulate than any president before him.
Trumps is the guy everyone that complains about government ineptitude, cronyism, graft and corruption has always wanted. Liberals just hate that it exposes how much a part of the problem THEY are .
All successful rats have street smarts. Put them in a fancy Ivy League suit that’s bought rather than merited, and they’re still rats. Give them enough power, and they’ll pull everything down to their own level.
That’s how we got to a situation where the finer things of our culture are being defiled, values are only a matter of dollar worth, and those who aspire to elevate our culture are disdained.
@Greg: What matters is results. Obama, Harvard “educated” with all his “class” was an unmitigated disaster for the nation and world. Terrorism spread, the recession lingered, race relations worsened. Trump has reversed most of Obama’s damage and can repair the rest.
Trump is so clean you liberals have to invent reasons to criticize him.
Hitler was credited with creating an economic miracle. For a while, that’s all the German people paid any attention to. His followers were seriously deluded. They were convinced he was their nation’s savior.
@Greg: What has the left attempted to elevate in our culture?
Please provide examples.
@Greg:
Yeah, Obama has been falsely credited with the same thing. He also brought socialism and fascism with him, weaponized the justice and intelligence departments and state propaganda. No one is more deluded than HIS followers.
@Deplorable Me, #3:
When considering “results”, you’ve got to look at the whole picture, not just a particular detail. There’s definitely something wrong with this picture, if it’s supposed to represent a sustainable economy with a long-term future for the nation as a whole. Anyone viewing it from a traditional conservative, common-sense perspective would recognize a serious problem immediately.
Today:
July 12, 2019 — US government is running out of money faster than expected, Mnuchin warns
One week ago:
July 5, 2019 — Trump again calls on Fed to juice an already-strong economy
When you stand back far enough to take in the entire picture at once, it looks more like another pirate raid or robbery in progress than anything else. You know who will get left holding an empty bag—again. And you know who will vanish with the loot—again.
Nobody can make someone see what they don’t want to see, no matter how obvious it appears to be—particularly when there’s a thick smoke screen of endlessly contrived distractions being generated.
@Greg:
And you wonder why Trump is critical?
Mnuchin says to an addict to increase his dosage, alcoholics to buy a couple of cases to go. Rather than stimulate the economy a little and increase tax revenues just borrow more?
How about not increasing every ABC departments budget every time, causing them to go on a spending spree to get more? Maybe cut each budget by 1 dollar, act to combine departments that overlap. Eliminate 1 or 2 departments, that states can handle? Did you ever find out how many ABC departments we tax slaves support?
Mnuchin is pitching for a quick increase of the debt ceiling before the Congressional recess, knowing full there would be no time for negotiation of program cuts.
Trump is pitching for the Fed to lower interest rates to further stimulate a booming economy that has already been irresponsibly stimulated with unsustainable tax cuts.
None of this is even remotely resembles conservative fiscal policy or responsible economic stewardship. It’s another high-end cash grab. And they’ve put a cherry on top of this one by drastically reduced the taxes they’ll have to pay on their loot. They’ll sail off with the take, while the rest of us will be left with trillions more in public debt, a flagging economy with virtually no means left of stimulating it, and the likelihood of runaway inflation if it’s tried.
@Greg:
Who is they? Why are you so worried about what others are taxed? You dont seem worried about the massive tax grab the Dem candidates will require for the candy they are offering to those who dont want to be self reliant and responsible for themselves.
I have news for you and your msnbc economics failures, they dont just grab cash and stuff it in huge mattresses, “they” reinvest.
Companies are on track to plow a record $1 trillion into boosting dividends and buying back their own stock this year, says Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Who are they? They are the ones who will have the bags of loot after the robbery. They’ll be pointing their fingers at somebody else. “The poor have robbed you, aided by the Democratic Party!”
Our “street smart” administration also just got out-maneuvered by their good buddy Vlad:
Turkey Accepts Russian S-400 Missile System, Rankling U.S. And NATO
So now we’ve got a NATO member receiving anti-aircraft missile upgrades from Russia. The cracks in Western Europe’s bulwark against Putin’s ambitions are beginning to widen. We’ll retaliate by depriving our NATO ally of 100 Lockheed F-35 fighters, which will be a win/win situation for Russia—assuming we don’t retract our threat not to sell, owing to industry pressure. Many dollars would be lost.
@Greg: The poor have not robbed us brother, the tax takers rob us. Johnsons war on poverty robbed us, making generations welfare slaves. https://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/the-war-poverty-after-50-years.
How much has education improved since Carter began that federal money pit?
https://charliebigfeet.blogspot.com/2011/06/since-may-16-1980-united-states.html
Centralized big government is bad.
@Greg: Oh my…I see this post flagged for trolling…
Thanks for the partisan hack opinion which has nothing to do with real analysis or thought. Turkey bought missiles from Russia: seriously, that’s the f*cking best you can do? That’s a scandal? Hahahaha.
You should be focused on helping your party find a viable presidential candidates, rather than the far left clown show that currently eating each other.
Seems your “career politician smarts” group of candidates have already been out-maneuvered by their good buddy Trump.
npr writing about how Turkey….TURKEY….bought missiles from Russia as some kind of failure by Trump.
God, I can’t take how much Trump has already won in 2020. It’s staggering. He’s owning it, on trade, economy, helping minorities, peace with other nations…
Turkey….my god. I hope you’re getting paid well.
@kitt, #12:
For a technology-based 21st century nation of 327 million people existing within an increasingly competitive global economic environment, it makes about as much sense to assert that a body could function without a coordinating central nervous system.
@Nathan Blue, #13:
Want another? Trump is an effing idiot. He’s not smart enough to know what he doesn’t know. Do you truly believe people need to be paid to express such views? All that is required is for someone to be smart enough to figure things out, and to care about where this sort of abysmal stupidity could be leading.
@Greg: Answer the questions how much better are our kids educated?
Has poverty been defeated or drugs?
Central nervous system, seriously, seems the US government is suffering Parkinson’s disease, or dystonia brother.
How many agencies are there?
@Greg:
“Trump is an effing idiot.”
No, Greggie Goebbels, you are the effing idiot. You have been since the day you landed on this website.
So you are shocked, shocked you tell us, that Turkey is dealing with the Russians. And of course, there is no other reason for that but……Trump. So why don’t you tell us all how Turkey has been such a friend in the past. Remind us how, after we had Muslims murder almost 3,000 Americans on 9-11, Turkey stepped up to the plate when our troops wanted to enter Iraq to take out Saddam.
You want to continue making a fool out of yourself, be my guest. Continue to prove what an idiot you are with every one of your posts.
@retire05:
There is a consensus so that means it is settled science. No debate, no new evidence to be presented, he is an effing idiot.
@Greg: Um… you mean guy you whiny, crybaby liberals say Trump has such a cozy relationship with? Do you ever consider how stupid you sound in your mindless, factless Trump-hate?
@Greg:
Yes, I’m aware this is the true extent of your “analysis”.
Just need your team to win, or in this case, your employer.
@Nathan Blue, #19:
I’m not seeing much in the way of substantive responses to posts #7, #9, or #11, which raised some actual issues. Why would that be? Here’s a theory: You’ve got none to offer. Neither does Trump. The man is a fraud.
@Greg: Do you realize that the House dictates how funds are spent? There is no line item veto that can be used by the President. Numerous law suits initiate by the left have been filed to prevent the President from executing fiscal restraint. More than 50% of the budget is welfare, medical support, food stamps and other programs initiated by the left that can not be changed. You are the idiot by not understanding the restraints the left has placed on Trump and the way a central government works when so much has been taken away from the local community governments.
@Randy: Greg has a difficult time grasping the form of government we have let alone how it works.
@kitt: I know but I hope the old potato peeler has a lick of a brain cell somewhere.
I have no problem with “our form of government”. I have trouble with the the fact that it has been hijacked by a professional swindler who is totally incompetent in all matters relating to government.
Refer to post #20. Got anything more specific than “it’s all the democrats’ fault”? That seems to be the Trump administration’s all-purpose explanation everything.
Yesterday I watched Pence acting all concerned and compassionate about the utterly appalling humanitarian situation their ineptness has created on the border, trying to simultaneously deny it’s really that bad while blaming the obvious badness of it on congressional democrats’ refusal to hand Donald a blank check to pursue his draconian policies.
There was a bipartisan immigration policy compromise reached in Congress. It just wasn’t Donald’s policy, so he killed it on the spot with a promised veto. News flash: Congress is part of our form of government.
@Greg: You need to be a bit more detailed in your accusations.
Don hasnt hijacked anything he is the ONLY representative elected nationally, the people chose him.
Yes the conditions at our detention facillities dont meet the high standards of those who broke the law and strolled over the border, sometimes with a rent a kid fresh from the cartel, to turn themselves in with a phoney asylum story trying to get into the interior where they ignore court ordered appearances.
With the numbers coming we simply do not have the space to hold them all, not against their will cause they can go back to their home country anytime.
Perhaps liberals should not protest the US government purchasing them beds.
Did you watch the ignorant disgusting dems trying to grill the 34 year veteran of border security, AOC making a complete ass of herself as Garcia did?
Secure the border, reform immigration thats the job of congress, deal with it with legislation and fund that legislation. Earn their 6 figure salary and stop just sucking on the tax payer tit.
@Greg:
Greggie Goebbels, you are a disgusting pig. You don’t care about these illegals. You, like your disgusting Democrats who don’t give a damn about our laws or our sovereignty. You care about turning millions of illegals into Democratic Party voters.
Tell us, Greggie Goebbels, how many illegals have you taken in and been responsible for? How many family members, or friends, have you helped bury that was murdered by an illegal? How many times has your home been broken into by an illegal? How many young girls have you talked to that were bought across our border by someone who sold them into the sex trade?
So while you slam Pence NOT ONE TIME did the disgusting Democrats bring up the crime that us in border states endure because of illegal immigration in their stupid hearing yesterday.
@Greg:
News flash:Trump is PRESIDENT and he has not only the right but the DUTY to push for policies that the people that voted for him want passed. In this case, it is securing the border and curtailing as much as is possible illegal immigration and lying illegal immigrants claiming asylum.
And, YES, you do NOT support our form of government; you support the leftists trying to impose socialism, use the justice department as a leftist political weapon and supporting fascist political violence.
@Greg:
I was under the impression that your related to Obama. I was surprised you have finally found out that he is a professional swindler.
@Greg:
Your party is dead right now, and you know it. These ramblings are mere thrashings of a lame beast.
Go back, get a platform, and offer us something real.
For now, the Dem party is completely irrelevant. The whole country is watching you twist positive into the negatives for mere political gain.
What’s more insane, is how surprised you and your party are going to be when you lose the House. It’s coming in 2020.
@Nathan Blue, #29:
The GOP as an advocate of traditional conservative values, moral decency, and fiscal responsibility is dead. It has become a zombie party serving as an instrument of Donald Trump, whose words and deeds demonstrate no concern whatsoever for any of the foregoing.
Given that the average IQ in the United States is now 2 points below the former average of 100, that half the country can’t differentiate between right-wing propaganda and responsible journalism, and that the Trump administration has taken no meaningful action to protect our election system against sophisticated social media manipulation, nothing at all would surprise me.
@Deplorable Me:
Read the above paragraph the next time you’re about to go off on President Obama and the Affordable Care Act.
@Greg:
I’d agree with that. It’s closer to being a party of “classical liberalism” than anything else. Add to that the Independent candidate Trump who had to choose a party to run in, and you get the powerhouse of both independents and moderate conservatives that make up the majority of the electorate today.
But as I said, your party has no platform. The best you can do to refute that is say “The GOP isn’t the GOP of the 80s” Very astute.
Already have you lame excuse picked out? Sound’s like you already know your party is broken. Since you showed me you lost a few IQ points with your faulty logic above, I can say the loss of intelligence is clearly within the Democratic Party.
@Greg: I don’t have to. Obama had the right and obligation to advance his agenda; that doesn’t mean it wasn’t BAD. It was terrible and a failure. YOUR contention was that because the Democrats demand something different than what Trump proposes, Trump should bow to their demands. Not only are their demands bad for the country, but Trump has the obligation to pursue HIS agenda. Add to that the FACT that what Trump pursues regarding the border is the exact same agenda most Democrats have proposed and supported in their campaigns.
@Nathan Blue:Oh, they have an agenda. It is “Hate Trump. Oppose Trump. Do the opposite of what Trump wants.” So, when Trump’s agenda is to improve the economy, strengthen our ability to fight terrorism and secure our borders, the Democrat agenda is to destroy America.
We haven’t been totally taken in by a button-pushing reality television host who’s more qualified to be pitching miracle no-stick skillets on late night cable than to hold any public office. One only has to read through his Twitter posts to figure out who he’s pitching to. The man is a symptom of a nation and culture in decline.
@Greg: No, you just worship lying racists that hate this nation.