Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul says a yearlong economic boom under President Trump is a bit of an illusion and that debt, inflation, and inequality could cause turmoil that benefits a hardcore nucleus of libertarians.
The libertarian Republican leader told the Washington Examiner that Trump could face a strong challenger in the 2020 GOP primary, especially if things are really much worse."
The big opening for us is the fact that this system is coming apart. Were on the verge of something like what happened in 89 when the Soviet system just collapsed, he said. Im just hoping our system comes apart as gracefully as the Soviet system.
Paul doesnt believe the U.S. will break into separate countries, but instead expects a rethink of monetary policy and an end to what he considers a U.S. empire overseas.
We have ownership of these countries, but its not quite like the Soviets did, he said. I think our stature in the world and our empire will end, and thats when, hopefully, the doors will be open and [people will] say, Hey, maybe these libertarians have some answers to this.
Paul said the countrys feeling a lot better, but its all on borrowed money and that the whole systems an illusion built on corporate, personal, and governmental debt. Its a bubble economy in many many different ways and its going to come unglued, he said.
The former congressman for years has presented issues in stark terms, refreshingly so for supporters and with an alarmist edge in the eyes of detractors.
Paul rose to prominence with 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential bids, running on an anti-war, pro-civil liberties message. When his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appeared well positioned for a 2016 presidential run, news outlets declared the country was experiencing a libertarian moment.
The appearance of the libertarian movement has been set back partially because of Trump, but intellectually weve been doing well, Paul said, describing a large "hardcore nucleus" of conference-attending enthusiasts.
Although broadly critical of Trump, Paul likes the president's talk about removing government regulations and implementing tax cuts.
Trumps being a good cheerleader. Hes a cheerleader for Wall Street, and I keep my fingers crossed, maybe lowering some of the taxes will help, certainly lowering the regulations. But I think the problems are so deep and structural, he said.
Paul said he's disappointed with Trump's foreign policy, especially his approach toward North Korea and his support for Saudi Arabia's military role in Yemen.
I think the foreign policy is a total disaster. Trumps approach sounds good one day but the next day hes antagonizing everyone in the world and thinks we should start a war here and there," he said.
Domestically, Paul views Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a threat to civil liberties and said he would be delighted if Trump fired him, though hes not hopeful the replacement would be better.
The former congressman said he continues to view the U.S. as being on a path to fascism on a long historical arch featuring authoritarian policies of Presidents Lincoln and Wilson.
This time when we have a permanent war on terrorism theres no backing off and with the war on immigrants, and the borders, he said. Anybody who thinks were not doing too badly has not been flying on an airplane lately. Thats about as authoritarian-fascism as you can get.
Paul said government policies that steer money to the wealthy create understandable anger among poorer Americans pointing to the success of Sen. Bernie Sander, the Vermont socialist, in his 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination. Paul said a libertarian answer, halting inflation and "crony capitalism," would result in more freedom.
We as libertarians have some work to do before [voters] are going to accept a true- blue libertarian, he said, but I think moving in that direction and having a popular candidate [in 2020] is very possible.
"If they only hear our message, I know they would choose liberty and sound money and freedom and peace over the mess we have today," Paul said.
Poster Comment:
We as libertarians have some work to do before [voters] are going to accept a true- blue libertarian, he [Ron Paul] said.
***SNICKER***
#1: GrandIsland To: Gatlin (#0)
The king of the PAULTARDS... Ron himself. Kindly shut your 6% followed shit spitter. Retire or die.
Please and thank you.
GrandIsland posted on 2017-12-26 21:54:38 Reply Private Reply
#2: Gatlin To: GrandIsland (#1)
Gatlin posted on 2017-12-26 22:02:44 Reply Private Reply
#3: Vicomte13 To: Gatlin (#0)
It's not an illusion. It's real. The illusion is that debt is real. Once a large enough constellation of people decide that the debt isn't real, they treat it as unreal, it ceases to BE real and becomes uncollectible paper.
Debt is only real if there are people willing to - or coerced to - honor it. But if the coercive forces align with the borrowers, the lenders simply lose.
That's the way great debt inequalities get resolved over the course of history. The borrowers revolt, the enforcers are borrowers too and side with the borrowers, the lenders get stiffed. The borrowers can't borrow for awhile but a new generation of people with excess money who want to earn money on it, dare to lend, and the system resets.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-12-26 22:11:59 Reply Private Reply
#4: Hondo68 To: Gatlin, One Term Donnell (#0)
Trump could face challenge in 2020 primary, Republican warns
Senator Jeff Flake, pictured with Donald Trump in this December 5, 2017 photo, has been critical of both the president and his Republican party (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump may face competition to be the Republican party's nominee for the 2020 White House race if he decides to pursue a second term, a US senator said in an interview broadcast Sunday.
"I do believe if the president is running for re-election, if he continues on the path that he's on, that that's going to leave a huge swath of voters looking for something else," Jeff Flake, one of the few elected Republicans to publicly criticize Trump, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."
"If he's the Republican nominee again, we're likely to see an independent candidate" in the November 2020 presidential election, said Flake, who announced this fall that was stepping down from his Senate seat in late 2018.
"He's probably inviting a Republican challenge as well" for the 2020 primaries to tap a nominee for the Republican party, he warned.
Sitting presidents are typically considered shoo-ins as the nominee for their party at the end of the first term, although an intra-party challenge is not unheard of.
Democratic President Jimmy Carter faced off against Senator Ted Kennedy in 1980, and four years before that, Republican President Gerald Ford clashed with Ronald Reagan.
Flake is among the few Republican lawmakers who have publicly criticized the president, both on a personal level and for his policies which the senator deems extreme.
"You look at the audiences cheering for Republicans... you look out there and say, those are the spasms of a dying party," he said in the interview.
"By and large, we're appealing to older white men. And there are just a limited number of them. And anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."
Flake was circumspect when asked if he was considering a run in 2020.
"I don't rule anything out but it's not in my plans," he said.
Congressman Charlie Dent, a leading Republican moderate in the House of Representatives who is also stepping down next year, on Sunday denounced what he characterized as the party's blind loyalty to Trump.
"The issue is loyalty to the man. To the president. And for some, loyalty is not enough. You have to be angry and aggrieved," he said on ABC.
"I have said to folks, if I set myself on fire for them, they would complain that the temperature of the flame is not hot enough."
Dent said that even though he expects Republicans to maintain their legislative majority in mid-term elections in November 2018, the party can still expect to lose seats.
His advice to colleagues: "Be prepared for the worst because this could be a really tough year."
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-26 23:39:16 Reply Private Reply
#5: GrandIsland To: hondo68 (#4)
Is a dirty shitbag traitor... and only a RINO loving fecal feeder would propagate anything fuckhead Flake has to say.
It's not Xmas any longer... the gloves are back off, Hondope
GrandIsland posted on 2017-12-27 00:22:44 Reply Private Reply
#6: Hondo68 To: GrandIsland, *2020 The Likely Suspects* (#5)
Roy Moore/Austin Petersen 2020! - Independent
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-27 01:17:40 Reply Private Reply
#7: Stoner To: GrandIsland (#5)
Flake is a FLAKE !!
He is an example of one of several problems with the Republican Party.
The party has too, too many globalists, RINO'S, and " Moderates " = which is another word for wussie shitbags. Other prime examples are McStain, Collins, etc.
Stoner posted on 2017-12-27 06:36:37 Reply Private Reply
#8: A K A Stone To: Gatlin (#0)
I'm not saying Paul is bad on everything because he certainly isn3t.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-27 08:18:43 Reply Private Reply
#9: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#3)
I say we pay China in blue money then devalue it and say it can only be spent in USA by the entity that got the blue money in the first place.
Not just China bit other countries and entities too.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-27 08:21:48 Reply Private Reply
#10: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#4)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-27 08:23:34 Reply Private Reply
#11: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#9)
That is EXACTLY how you handle China, etc., if they become militarily aggressive: you cancel all debt with them, particularly US Treasury debt, and stop paying, and you nationalize their property within the United States.
This effectively reduces the US National Debt by literally trillions of dollars in one fell swoop, and removes the debt from hundreds of millions from Americans, while adding to the coffers.
You simply TAKE IT and KEEP IT.
This delivers a trillion dollar blow to them while simultaneously handing trillions in wealth to the United States. It's the modern version of literally sacking an enemy country upon conquest, and you never have to fire a shot to do this.
Now, of course, before you do that, you stand them up in front of an open grave and SHOW THEM what you are about to do. Then they either back down, or they suffer the greatest instantaneous wealth transfer and transfer of power from one country to another in the history of mankind. without firing a shot.
That doesn't mean you wipe out ALL debt. You just selectively cancel all debt owed by either the US government or any private citizen to either the Chinese government or any Chinese citizen. You steal all of the Chinese wealth IN America, you reneg on all American debt TO China, and you free every American from every tie of debt obligation to anything Chinese.
It's theft - but in war, theft if called "conquest" and "plunder". And it's very effective.
Of course, the Chinese won't reinvest in you again if you do that. But if you time the blow properly, you upend the Chinese economy so badly their government falls apart, they have a revolution, and then you choose the winning side by offering to reinstate THEIR portion of the debt, while screwing the rest.
In this way, the money you owe becomes a tremendous lever of power. Trump used this technique to great advantage in his business bankruptcies.
Remember the old adage: If I owe you $1000, I have a problem. If I owe you $1 million, you have a problem.
Of course, when it comes to war, I am always ready to play the hardest of hardball. I'm not only willing to shed blood and incinerate cities. I am ALSO ready and eager to seize wealth, cancel debt and extract wealth from the enemy.
Money is another weapon in war. You use all weapons.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-12-27 11:33:24 Reply Private Reply
#12: tpaine To: Vicomte13 (#3)
Our national debt has been unreal since we went off the gold standard.. --- It's funny money, fiat paper. The fiat paper debt can be paid off with more fiat paper.
As you noted; -- " Debt is only real if there are people willing to - or coerced to - honor it. But if the coercive forces align with the borrowers, the lenders simply lose. "
tpaine posted on 2017-12-27 13:33:43 Reply Private Reply
#13: sneakypete To: hondo68 (#6)
Ask someone who seems to know you if you have been repeatedly dropped on your head recently.
You owe it to yourself.
sneakypete posted on 2017-12-27 14:40:52 Reply Private Reply
#14: A K A Stone To: sneakypete (#13)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-27 15:59:47 Reply Private Reply
#15: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone, sneakypete, loyal party hacks, *Constitution Party* (#14)
This is America, believe whatever stupid stuff you like!
Austin Petersen would whoop Mike Pence in the debates, for sure.
How come you two dummies haven't figured out that the Democrat Republican party is the problem, not the solution?
Keep doing what you've always done, and you'll keep getting what you always got - Big Stupid Corrupt Government.
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-27 16:23:05 Reply Private Reply
#16: GrandIsland To: hondo68 (#15)
You haven't figured that out yet... because Trump ain't neither. He's been attacked from all sides of the POLITICAL SPECTRUM... cause he ain't a politician. He's hated most BY THE LEFT... and you hate him. That makes you a faggot cake loving shitbird.
GrandIsland posted on 2017-12-27 22:00:54 Reply Private Reply
#17: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#15)
You were willing to have that piece of shit.
Trump was better then him. He appointed Gorsuch and stripped abortion funding.
He is doing more on the border and will do more when Congress acts.
Do you disagree with his tax cuts?
So get your head out of your ass and look at things objectively.
Now one question and answer it honestly or you will forever be known as a dumb ass clown.
Who would be the better President Trump or Gary Johnson?
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 00:23:28 Reply Private Reply
#18: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone (#17)
He has his DHS chief giving sanctuary to the DACA illegal aliens. Congress can do NOTHING to make Trump do his job and deport illegal aliens, other than impeach and remove him. How can congress make Trump deport the illegal aliens? They can't! What he's really asking Congress to do is work out some kind of amnesty deal. That they CAN do, and the Reconquista Ronnie Republicans already did so once before in the '80's.
The so called "tax cut" is a fraud. It will increase the National Debt and likely crash the economy. Your children and grandchildren will pay dearly for what little you get in the way of a tax break.
YOU be serious, take off the rose colored glasses and look at things as they really are, IMO.
Time will tell.
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 01:11:33 Reply Private Reply
#19: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone (#17)
I will never vote for either one!
Why would anyone ever vote for Hillary, Trump, or Gary Johnson? They'd have to hate America, or be deranged and F'd in the head too!
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 01:16:34 Reply Private Reply
#20: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#19)
If you were so fucking stupid back then why should anyone take someone with such a moronic view seriously?
Hmm douche?
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 02:52:16 Reply Private Reply
#21: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone (#20)
The only on in the USA dumb enough to vote for him.
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 19:53:22 Reply Private Reply
#22: GrandIsland To: hondo68 (#18)
You should be on the VIEW... they propagate the same progressive liberal fear monger bullshit. You've swallowed too much OWS Commie Sanders man meat.
GrandIsland posted on 2017-12-28 20:14:47 Reply Private Reply
#23: Hondo68 To: GrandIsland, The View (#22)
Why am I not surprised that it's your favorite show?
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 20:18:28 Reply Private Reply
#24: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#23)
We all know you told us dozens if not hundreds of times to support Gary Johnson. You said he as the ultimate. He was the shit.
So I asked you a simple straightforward question. But you're to much of a liberal to answer, you just throw out hour mumbo jumbo lie that stone is gonna vote for Johnson. I would leave you alone about this if you grew up and responded courteouslysly.
So answer the question who would be the better President Trump or Johnson?
I insist you answer because of what I said in an earlier question.
So answer it or get lost asshole because I'm done with you.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 20:57:03 Reply Private Reply
#25: buckeroo To: A K A Stone, hondo68 (#24)
You can't handle conflict, can you? Why can't you be civil with hondo68?
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-28 21:31:25 Reply Private Reply
#26: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone, *Constitution Party* (#24)
I'm not choosing between those crappy specimens. I must refuse to choose between those two satanic candidates. It's like an election where the sheeple think that they have to choose between a D and an R.
Just NO to both, in the vast majority of cases!
I choose Darrell Castle.
Georgia Right to Life PAC Endorses Darrell Castle for President
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 21:46:08 Reply Private Reply
#27: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#26)
Why did you tell us to do that and now you whine like the wuss liberal you are when aaTrump goes to the right of everything the candidate you repeatedly assured us was the answer and the one to vote for?
It comes down to I can't stand liars. Or people who can't admit when they are wtong. Then when called on it flat out lie about my position with stone is for johnson. If you can't do that get the fuck off the site.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 22:27:38 Reply Private Reply
#28: buckeroo To: A K A Stone (#27)
The world is only ... how many years old: 2000 years?
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-28 22:33:39 Reply Private Reply
#29: A K A Stone To: buckeroo (#25)
I can handle disagreement but not contradictory liars.
I like you Buck and I used to like Hondo. Not so much hondo anymore. Becuause he is a liar.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 22:33:51 Reply Private Reply
#30: A K A Stone To: buckeroo (#28)
I was typing on touch screen tablet. It sucks.
I'm on regular keyboard now. So faster responses and accurate typing.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-28 22:34:44 Reply Private Reply
#31: buckeroo To: A K A Stone (#30)
That is your problem not mine.
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-28 22:36:54 Reply Private Reply
#32: buckeroo To: A K A Stone, hondo68 (#29)
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-28 22:40:04 Reply Private Reply
#33: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone (#27)
Some of my Castle advocacy...
www.libertysflame.com/cgi...gi?ArtNum=48453&Disp=6#C6
Hondo68 posted on 2017-12-28 22:44:02 Reply Private Reply
#34: buckeroo To: A K A Stone, hondo68 (#29)
Cut it out, pal. I am the longest standing poster on LF besides you, Stone. You have to stop the games; this is your department, probably beyond scope of the channel.
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-28 22:53:52 Reply Private Reply
#35: We The People To: A K A Stone (#29)
Well, I see youre still an idiot.
We The People posted on 2017-12-28 23:19:11 Reply Private Reply
#36: A K A Stone To: We The People (#35)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-29 07:58:57 Reply Private Reply
#37: A K A Stone To: buckeroo (#32)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-12-29 23:48:59 Reply Private Reply
#38: buckeroo To: A K A Stone (#37)
buckeroo posted on 2017-12-30 00:05:52 Reply Private Reply