Above, Hotel Aloft in Abu Dhabi.
There seems to be a huge
conceptual gap between Trump and his most implacable critics on the left. Many
highly educated, snobbish, upper-middle-class Democrats regard themselves as exemplars of
"compassion" (which they have elevated into a supreme political
principle) and yet they routinely assail Trump voters as ignorant, callous
hate-mongers. These elite Democrats occupy an amorphous realm of subjective
emotion, theoretical abstractions, and refined language.
But who is Trump? Trump is by
trade a builder who deals in the tangible, objective world of physical
materials, geometry, and construction projects, where communication often
reverts to the brusque, coarse, high-impact level of modern working-class
life of getting the stressful job done under budget.
Last week, that conceptual gap
was on prominent display, as the media, consumed with their preposterous
Russian fantasies and mirages, were fixated on former FBI director James Comey's so-called
testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. In my opinion, Comey is an
effete charlatan crook who should have been fired within 48 hours of either Hillary
or Trump taking office.
Meanwhile, Trump was going about
his business of building. The following morning, he made remarks at the
Department of Transportation about "regulatory relief." He spoke about mundane iron, aluminum, and steel and he cut like a concrete saw through the
airwaves. I later found the entire text on
the White House website. Below, are some key passages that are well worth reading because they reveal the real Donald J. Trump:
We are here today to
focus on solving one of the biggest obstacles to creating this new and
desperately needed infrastructure, and that is the painfully slow, costly, and
time-consuming process of getting permits and approvals to build. And I also
knew that from the private sector. It is a long, slow, unnecessarily burdensome
process. My administration is committed to ending these terrible delays once
and for all. The excruciating wait time for permitting has inflicted enormous
financial pain to cities and states all throughout our nation and has blocked
many important projects from ever getting off the ground…
For too long, America has poured trillions and trillions of dollars into rebuilding foreign countries while allowing our own country—the country that we love—and its infrastructure to fall into a state of total disrepair. We have structurally deficient bridges, clogged roads, crumbling dams and locks. Our rivers are in trouble. Our railways are aging. And chronic traffic that slows commerce and diminishes our citizens' quality of life. Other than that, we're doing very well. Instead of rebuilding our country, Washington has spent decades building a dense thicket of rules, regulations and red tape. It took only four years to build the Golden Gate Bridge and five years to build the Hoover Dam and less than one year to build the Empire State Building. People don't believe that. It took less than one year. But today, it can take 10 years and far more than that just to get the approvals and permits needed to build a major infrastructure project.
These charts beside me are actually a simplified version of our highway permitting process. It includes 16 different approvals involving 10 different federal agencies being governed by 26 different statutes. As one example—and this happened just 30 minutes ago—I was sitting with a great group of people responsible for their state's economic development and roadways. All of you are in the room now. And one gentleman from Maryland was talking about an 18-mile road. And he brought with him some of the approvals that they've gotten and paid for. They spent $29 million for an environmental report, weighing 70 pounds and costing $24,000 per page…
I was not elected to continue a failed system. I was elected to change it. All of us in government service were elected to solve the problems that have plagued our nation. We are here to think big, to act boldly, and to rise above the petty partisan squabbling of Washington D.C. We are here to take action. It's time to start building in our country, with American workers and with American iron and aluminum and steel. It's time to put up soaring new infrastructure that inspires pride in our people and our towns.
No longer can we allow these rules and regulations to tie down our economy, chain up our prosperity, and sap our great American spirit. That is why we will lift these restrictions and unleash the full potential of the United States of America. We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money. Our goal is to give you one point of contact to deliver one decision—yes or no—for the entire federal government, and to deliver that decision quickly, whether it's a road, whether it's a highway, a bridge, a dam.
To do this, we are setting up a new council to help project managers navigate the bureaucratic maze. This council will also improve transparency by creating a new online dashboard allowing everyone to easily track major projects through every stage of the approval process. This council will make sure that every federal agency that is consistently delaying projects by missing deadlines will face tough, new penalties…
Together, we will build projects to inspire our youth, employ our workers, and create true prosperity for our people. We will pour new concrete, lay new brick, and watch new sparks light our factories as we forge metal from the furnaces of our Rust Belt and our beloved heartland—which has been forgotten. It's not forgotten anymore.
We will put new American steel into the spine of our country. American workers will construct gleaming new lanes of commerce across our landscape. They will build these monuments from coast to coast, and from city to city. And with these new roads, bridges, airports and seaports, we will embark on a wonderful new journey into a bright and glorious future. We will build again. We will grow again. We will thrive again. And we will make America great again.
For too long, America has poured trillions and trillions of dollars into rebuilding foreign countries while allowing our own country—the country that we love—and its infrastructure to fall into a state of total disrepair. We have structurally deficient bridges, clogged roads, crumbling dams and locks. Our rivers are in trouble. Our railways are aging. And chronic traffic that slows commerce and diminishes our citizens' quality of life. Other than that, we're doing very well. Instead of rebuilding our country, Washington has spent decades building a dense thicket of rules, regulations and red tape. It took only four years to build the Golden Gate Bridge and five years to build the Hoover Dam and less than one year to build the Empire State Building. People don't believe that. It took less than one year. But today, it can take 10 years and far more than that just to get the approvals and permits needed to build a major infrastructure project.
These charts beside me are actually a simplified version of our highway permitting process. It includes 16 different approvals involving 10 different federal agencies being governed by 26 different statutes. As one example—and this happened just 30 minutes ago—I was sitting with a great group of people responsible for their state's economic development and roadways. All of you are in the room now. And one gentleman from Maryland was talking about an 18-mile road. And he brought with him some of the approvals that they've gotten and paid for. They spent $29 million for an environmental report, weighing 70 pounds and costing $24,000 per page…
I was not elected to continue a failed system. I was elected to change it. All of us in government service were elected to solve the problems that have plagued our nation. We are here to think big, to act boldly, and to rise above the petty partisan squabbling of Washington D.C. We are here to take action. It's time to start building in our country, with American workers and with American iron and aluminum and steel. It's time to put up soaring new infrastructure that inspires pride in our people and our towns.
No longer can we allow these rules and regulations to tie down our economy, chain up our prosperity, and sap our great American spirit. That is why we will lift these restrictions and unleash the full potential of the United States of America. We will get rid of the redundancy and duplication that wastes your time and your money. Our goal is to give you one point of contact to deliver one decision—yes or no—for the entire federal government, and to deliver that decision quickly, whether it's a road, whether it's a highway, a bridge, a dam.
To do this, we are setting up a new council to help project managers navigate the bureaucratic maze. This council will also improve transparency by creating a new online dashboard allowing everyone to easily track major projects through every stage of the approval process. This council will make sure that every federal agency that is consistently delaying projects by missing deadlines will face tough, new penalties…
Together, we will build projects to inspire our youth, employ our workers, and create true prosperity for our people. We will pour new concrete, lay new brick, and watch new sparks light our factories as we forge metal from the furnaces of our Rust Belt and our beloved heartland—which has been forgotten. It's not forgotten anymore.
We will put new American steel into the spine of our country. American workers will construct gleaming new lanes of commerce across our landscape. They will build these monuments from coast to coast, and from city to city. And with these new roads, bridges, airports and seaports, we will embark on a wonderful new journey into a bright and glorious future. We will build again. We will grow again. We will thrive again. And we will make America great again.
Below, a photo of modern Hiroshima, Japan, contrast that with Detroit, Michigan.
Of course this
rousing can-do speech got scant coverage in the “lame stream media or with the
presstitutes. Middle-class and upper class elite journalists can't be bothered
to notice the complex physical constructions that make modern civilization
possible. The laborers who build and maintain these marvels are recognized only
if they can be shoehorned into victim status. But if they dare to think for
themselves and vote differently from their liberal Democratic overlords and plantation
masters, they are branded as rubes and pariahs.
Below, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
By the way, when
President Trump spoke recently in Cincinnati, Ohio at Rivertowne Marina to
business and union leaders and he said essentially the same thing that he said above.
President Trump recognizes that the business of America is business and
Democrats have lost that focus and
vision. The Democratic Party use to be the friend of the working man. They no
longer ask what Jimmy Hoffa asked. Are you a friend of labor? President Trump is a friend of labor because
he wants to put idle builders back to work.
Below, a photo of modern Tel Aviv, Israel
So, President
Trump, you “keep truckin on brother and put the pedal to the metal” and build,
build, build!!!!!!!
Me and my “Make America
Great Again” friends are sick of grid lock, potholes and crumbling roads in the
U.S. We are sick of our crumbling inner cities and jealous of the glimmering
buildings and economic dynamism in Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Israel, Hiroshima,
Malaysia, Dubai, etc.
Dubai skyline below.
If Democrats have
any hope of making the Democratic Party Great Again and retaking the White
House, they must get off their high horse, lose the rabid, lunatic rhetoric, cast off the lunatic fringe and re-orient themselves toward practical reality and the free country they are
damned lucky to live in.
Below, modern Qatar.
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