Posted on 09/25/2016 12:39:13 PM PDT by Be Careful
As most of you know, I had been endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, for my personal safety, because I live in California. It isn’t safe to be a Trump supporter where I live. And it’s bad for business too. But recently I switched my endorsement to Trump, and I owe you an explanation. So here it goes.
1. Things I Don’t Know: There are many things I don’t know. For example, I don’t know the best way to defeat ISIS. Neither do you. I don’t know the best way to negotiate trade policies. Neither do you. I don’t know the best tax policy to lift all boats. Neither do you. My opinion on abortion is that men should follow the lead of women on that topic because doing so produces the most credible laws. So on most political topics, I don’t know enough to make a decision. Neither do you, but you probably think you do.
Given the uncertainty about each candidate – at least in my own mind – I have been saying I am not smart enough to know who would be the best president. That neutrality changed when Clinton proposed raising estate taxes. I understand that issue and I view it as robbery by government.
I’ll say more about that, plus some other issues I do understand, below.
2. Confiscation of Property: Clinton proposed a new top Estate Tax of 65% on people with net worth over $500 million. Her website goes to great length to obscure the actual policy details, including the fact that taxes would increase on lower value estates as well. See the total lack of transparency here, where the text simply refers to going back to 2009 rates. It is clear that the intent of the page is to mislead, not inform.
So don’t fall for the claim that Clinton has plenty of policy details on her website. She does, but it is organized to mislead, not to inform. That’s far worse than having no details.
The bottom line is that under Clinton’s plan, estate taxes would be higher for anyone with estates over $5 million(ish). I call this a confiscation tax because income taxes have already been paid on this money. In my case, a dollar I earn today will be taxed at about 50% by various government entities, collectively. With Clinton’s plan, my remaining 50 cents will be taxed again at 50% when I die. So the government would take 75% of my earnings from now on.
Yes, I can do clever things with trusts to avoid estate taxes. But that is just welfare for lawyers. If the impact of the estate tax is nothing but higher fees for my attorney, and hassle for me, that isn’t good news either.
You can argue whether an estate tax is fair or unfair, but fairness is an argument for idiots and children. Fairness isn’t an objective quality of the universe. I oppose the estate tax because I was born to modest means and worked 7-days a week for most of my life to be in my current position. (I’m working today, Sunday, as per usual.) And I don’t want to give 75% of my earnings to the government. (Would you?)
3. Party or Wake: It seems to me that Trump supporters are planning for the world’s biggest party on election night whereas Clinton supporters seem to be preparing for a funeral. I want to be invited to the event that doesn’t involve crying and moving to Canada. (This issue isn’t my biggest reason.)
4. Clinton’s Health: To my untrained eyes and ears, Hillary Clinton doesn’t look sufficiently healthy – mentally or otherwise – to be leading the country. If you disagree, take a look at the now-famous “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead” video clip. Likewise, Bill Clinton seems to be in bad shape too, and Hillary wouldn’t be much use to the country if she is taking care of a dying husband on the side.
5. Pacing and Leading: Trump always takes the extreme position on matters of safety and security for the country, even if those positions are unconstitutional, impractical, evil, or something that the military would refuse to do. Normal people see this as a dangerous situation. Trained persuaders like me see this as something called pacing and leading. Trump “paces” the public – meaning he matches them in their emotional state, and then some. He does that with his extreme responses on immigration, fighting ISIS, stop-and-frisk, etc. Once Trump has established himself as the biggest bad-ass on the topic, he is free to “lead,” which we see him do by softening his deportation stand, limiting his stop-and-frisk comment to Chicago, reversing his first answer on penalties for abortion, and so on. If you are not trained in persuasion, Trump look scary. If you understand pacing and leading, you might see him as the safest candidate who has ever gotten this close to the presidency. That’s how I see him.
So when Clinton supporters ask me how I could support a “fascist,” the answer is that he isn’t one. Clinton’s team, with the help of Godzilla, have effectively persuaded the public to see Trump as scary. The persuasion works because Trump’s “pacing” system is not obvious to the public. They see his “first offers” as evidence of evil. They are not. They are technique.
And being chummy with Putin is more likely to keep us safe, whether you find that distasteful or not. Clinton wants to insult Putin into doing what we want. That approach seems dangerous as hell to me.
6. Persuasion: Economies are driven by psychology. If you expect things to go well tomorrow, you invest today, which causes things to go well tomorrow, as long as others are doing the same. The best kind of president for managing the psychology of citizens – and therefore the economy – is a trained persuader. You can call that persuader a con man, a snake oil salesman, a carnival barker, or full of shit. It’s all persuasion. And Trump simply does it better than I have ever seen anyone do it.
The battle with ISIS is also a persuasion problem. The entire purpose of military action against ISIS is to persuade them to stop, not to kill every single one of them. We need military-grade persuasion to get at the root of the problem. Trump understands persuasion, so he is likely to put more emphasis in that area.
Most of the job of president is persuasion. Presidents don’t need to understand policy minutia. They need to listen to experts and then help sell the best expert solutions to the public. Trump sells better than anyone you have ever seen, even if you haven’t personally bought into him yet. You can’t deny his persuasion talents that have gotten him this far.
In summary, I don’t understand the policy details and implications of most of either Trump’s or Clinton’s proposed ideas. Neither do you. But I do understand persuasion. I also understand when the government is planning to confiscate the majority of my assets. And I can also distinguish between a deeply unhealthy person and a healthy person, even though I have no medical training. (So can you.)
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I will be live streaming my viewing of the debate Monday night, with my co-host and neighbor, Kristina Basham. Tune your television to the debate and use your phone or iPad with the Periscope app, and look for me at @ScottAdamsSays.
He never really considered voting for Clinton. His earlier Clinton endorsement was 'tongue in cheek'. Nothing more than comedic entertainment.
Okay, then I guess Trump should refrain from doing anything.
Got it.
Hang every single criminal using the Magic Mulla Method. Large crane. But leave them for the buzzards, vultures, and crows to munch on...
I’m glad he’s endorsed Trump too. This election is crucial to the continuance of the USA as I know it. If the vile witch gets in we’re well on our way to a mixture of Venezeula and Pol Pot’s Cambodia with the black lives matter thugs and you local friendly police making sure that our assets are fully utilized by the government.
Bump for great info/artillery in the LIV war....
Scott is a comic strip writer/illustrator who lives in the belly of the beast. He's serious when he says he has to be careful about what he says. He doesn't want his house fire bombed by 'tolerant' liberals.
He has lots of good insights, not a confirmed conservative. He’s had a lot of good things to say about this election tho.
LOL, you’ve got a point there.
We seem to have trouble communicating.
If I want someone to put words in my mouth, I’ll get my wife to do it. She has had decades of practice.
That is all.
Didn’t you just say we should let the women take the lead?
I’m not sure what logical conclusion you would expect related to Trump.
You said the first part here. I simply reminded you that we’re going to have a guy that can do something soon, and you didn’t seem to think men should take the lead.
Scott Adams has stated for months he was endorsing Hillary Clinton for his safety, due to threats he received for talking positively about Trump.
I had heard that for a long time and honestly it doesn’t surprise me, but I can’t cite the source.
I can see why a majority of men would be more for it than a majority of women.
I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with you.
In certain situations I can think of, sure, the guy will want one.
If the guy actually cares about the woman, we won’t. If he’s a Christian he may not want the child destroyed, whether he engaged in premarital sex or not.
It’s a big deal. Men have been taken totally out of the equation. To my way of thinking, that has led to far more abortions than there needed to be.
Men can be responsible, loving, and good parents without the mom too.
He predicted long ago that Trump would win in a landslide.
Not what she said cause Adams says nobody cares it was the tone and scolding way she said it...she knows she is losing.
...
Her horrible personality showed through. Her internal polling must show she is losing.
This is pretty good. I think it could convince some people who would otherwise vote for Hillary.
I wish I had ever paid attention to Dilbert now.
Indeed. We’re almost there now.
“The answer is fairly simple.”
Everything in war is simple, but the simple things are always difficult. -Clausewitz
Of course, and I agree with you.
Well his Hillary endorsement was tongue and cheek ...he said he was doing it out of personal safety reason
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