Dear Don and Paul ... how to kiss and make up

Donald Trump and Paul Ryan will meet very soon to discuss their differences. What's at stake is basically the level of commitment of the GOP to the Donald Trump candidacy.

Don and Paul, read this, and see if you can't both agree that this would be a great platform for any Republican candidate for president:

1. Fair taxation. Simplify, rationalize, reduce spending rather than increase taxes wherever possible. Fix Obamacare and make sure medical coverage does not pose a threat to the health of the economy.

2. Rational foreign policy. We have reached a point where it is quite possible to say that American foreign policy makes no sense. We pay for the defence of other nations who can afford to pay for their own needs. We intervene on the wrong side of messy conflicts in a part of the world where we only have one vital interest. We seem to be drifting towards a new cold war when really our interests and those of Putin's Russia are generally similar. All this can be fixed by a Republican president but not by Hillary Clinton.

3. Sensible climate and energy policies. This writes itself. Large scale spending on wind and solar is just a boondoggle, the percentage of energy that they produce is down around the asterisk level, and the real impact on climate is measurable in thousandths of degrees. Tens of thousands of endangered bird species are being chopped to pieces by these infernal wind turbines. Let's back off this myth-driven economic program and return to sanity.

4. Respect for the constitution. The current president has shown that there are dangers in expanding the role and powers of the presidency. The Republican Party and its nominee should pledge adherence to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.

5. Jobs, jobs, jobs. The party can put all minds to work on this file. Donald Trump may not have all the answers but he represents the fact that the American people are fed up with the trend of outsourcing and stocking our own labor force with cheap, often illegal workers. It has to end or the nation will surely lose its economic viability. The Democrats will just apply window dressing and allow the massive influx of illegals to continue.

That's the basic thrust of a winning campaign. The question of Muslim immigration can be reduced to a more legally viable concept like strict enforcement of security protocols and improvement of those where needed. The basic idea of keeping dangerous or parasitical immigrants out of the country is a no brainer. Every sovereign nation should do that. Most already do (some in Europe do not, Canada is wavering).

One final agreement should be this -- give the Bill Clinton factor a rest. We get it, Bill Clinton was not a very nice man. Most people in politics are not exactly candidates for sainthood anyway. The real question is, who can get things going in the right direction -- us or them? How is this not a no-brainer at this point in time?

Don, Paul, tear down this party and rebuild it on an honest agreement to work for the American people and not for wealthy elites.

You and I may have our opinions about the two men but they can answer these questions any way they wish by their actions from today on.

I think Ryan and the GOP establishment have to make more moves than Donald Trump, but the idea that Trump should ignore all dissent and just steam ahead regardless has the downside of threatening his chances of election for no gain other than momentary self-gratification.

Politics remains the art of the possible. I hope that many things are possible but the final positions that Trump will take even if elected will (mark my words) adjust his current rhetoric to that which can actually be done.

There may or may not be a wall but if there is at least vigorous action on finding illegals and deporting them, that will be an improvement. There may or may not be a temporary ban on further Muslim immigration, but if there is at least much more stringent security checks of those who seek to come, that again will be an improvement.

Politics sadly is a place where the perfect is often the enemy of the good. When the other side offers a mixture of evil and mediocre, we should be pretty happy to find good and just keep working on perfect.

I tend to agree that Trump has might on his side in this meeting. But Ryan has some valid points. This does not have to be win-lose, it can be win-win. Why not?

Thanks for your thoughts. I don't disagree about "art of the possible" and "perfect=enemy of good".

But I am with Sundance on a revamp of the Party apparatus, and some of his personnel possibilities are interesting:

♦ Donald Trump could put Mike Huckabee in charge of the convention; and former head of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), Texas Governor Rick Perry, could easily replace Reince Preibus.

♦ Mr. Trump also has key figures at his disposal to play roles in National Finance. Example: former Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels would be great at accurately controlling very nickel of campaign finance. He’s the consummate bean counter.

There’s a litany of political resources available to act as key executives: ♦Newt Gingrich, ♦Sarah Palin, ♦Jan Brewer, ♦Allen West, ♦Joe Miller, ♦Ben Carson, ♦Rudy Giuliani, as few more examples; with Governor Chris Christie saved as adviser and head of the Trump transition team.

Trump could even use the insufferable former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour if needed (big “if”), just put Mitch Tyner (former Chris McDaniel attorney) on Boss Hog’s team to keep him in check.

The bottom line is – if Trump really wanted to kick out the entire mechanism of the failed GOPe the replacement possibilities are numerous. And that doesn’t include the top shelf private sector people Trump could assign to any of the myriad of General Election needs.

The media keep insisting that Donald Trump will have to acquiesce to the indulgences of Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McConnell. However, the reality is there are numerous options to assemble a far more trustworthy group than currently exists within the corrupt DC beltway.

Removing the remaining vestiges of the failed Bush/Romney legacies, including Karl Rove, would be an exceptional first step in sending a message that things are going to be entirely different now. Taking this approach would most likely elevate the impression of Donald Trump amid a national electorate who are far more politically intelligent than the insiders ever give us credit for.

Donald Trump walks in to these meetings holding all the leverage. It would be great if he began deconstructing the entire apparatus this week.

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