He told me the story of how he got to the US. His dad brought him when he was only sixteen years old, escaping the misery and guerilla that reigned in Nicaragua, and being in his teen years, he never had the chance of getting educated or even dream of have a decent income. He arrived in the US without having reached sixth grade in Nicaragua, having no formal education, and knowing no English at all. At one point in the conversation he asked me: Do you know who are you voting for in november?
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| Do you know who are you voting for? |
At that point I had pretty much decided who I was voting for, but I normally tend to avoid political discussions, especially elections, so I answered that I was making up my mind. The next lines he pronounced were simply unbelieveable.
"This country is ready to change" he said. "McCain is going to lose, it doesn't matter who he runs again."
I nodded in order to let him follow his idea, which he did very elegantly:
"Bush has not been a very good president. He's very qualified, but he ran into too many problems and I think the job ended up being too big for him. He had good intentions though." He continued. "But the main failure of Bush, is that he failed to be the 21st Century President this country needs. He's a 20th Century President. Do you understand what I mean?" - he asked.
That part rang interesting to me. "I think so" - I said. He then continued
"Listen. You look like a really smart person." (earlier we had talked about what I studied in college, what was I doing in Miami and where I was working. I guess my $10,000 diamond watch kind of tipped him off regarding my success in life). "To be honest with you, I never made it past sixth grade. I can be considered as what most people would refer as an ignorant person. But I do know a thing or two. And I know that right now, the world is changing. Cars are not mass-produced the way Henry Ford manufactured Ford Ts. Do you know he once said 'you can have a brand new Ford T in any color you like as long as the color is black'?"
At this point I found remarkable the fact that a Nicaraguan taxi driver would know this. Let alone, use the correct terminology "mass-produced".
"Now you have japanese cars, german cars, american cars, all big brands are competing for customer satisfaction. It is a different market era you know?" - he added. "And just like that, the political era is also changing." - he said. "In the 20th Century, America was driven by outlasting and outdoing the Soviet Communist System, and they did it, you know why? Because this is the greatest country in the world." - He said. -"But now we are in the 21st Century. The Soviets are dead, and Communism is dead. America now has a different enemy to compete against. This is not the space race, the arms race or the nuclear race. It's a different race and therefore, the strategy that has to be employed is different"
"And that is why the next president is going to make history. You see, the next president of this great country, will either be Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. That means that for the first time in the US history, there will be, either a woman or a black man in the white house. Personally, I think it will be the latter"
"Those two represent a new era in US presidency. Either of them will be a president for the new Century. A 21st Century President. And that is why McCain will lose. He's still a 20st Century man."
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| Back in 2008... |
And then he dropped the final beauty: "But either way, whoever wins, this country, which is entering a recession right now, will get back up again. Look at Europe!... " - he said -"They had to unite and form the EU, to try to keep up with the US. Look at China and India. They had to exploit workers paying them 2 cents a day to try to keep up with the US. And still, the US is able to be on top of them! Those guys in the Federal Reserve Bank, or at the White House, or at those World G7 summits... there is not a single mind in the world that can comprehend the superpower that the United States' economy is."
"God Bless America" - he said.
I was speechless. I had never ever in my life seen such a humble, yet powerful and sincere analysis of my country, in such a simple and down to Earth way. We arrived back at the airport after circling the city all day long, and after changing subjects to sports, entertainment and hobbies, I had yet to figure what I had just heard. I also wondered who would the guy vote for: McCain, Hillary or Obama.
Fast forward to today's presidency campaign and I can't help but make the connection that again we have reached a defining moment in US history. But this time, we are setting up to move forward with a change, whether we vote Republican or Democrat.
If Trump wins, it means that for the first time in US history, we'll have a president with little to no poltical background. A businessman, a celebrity, a real-estate mogul. But someone who had never been senator, governor, major, or even congressman
If Hillary wins, it means that the prophecy stated by the Nicaraguan cab driver, will become true: for the first time we'll have a female president.
As today, most powerful players in the US are against Trump (or adverse at least) as it has been pretty clear with the never-ending daily bombardment of anti-Trump stories. Some justified, some not so. Some self-infringed, some infringed by others.
Some Trump followers happen to be anti-Obama, which kind of makes sense -regarding the political view- but doesn't make much sense when you go by the numbers. Like it or not, Obama:
- Brought unemployment rate to 4.9% the lowest levels since the recession
- Increased oil production to make the US the #1 oil producer in the world
- Brought oil and gas prices down, shattering oil-dependent country economies
- Captured and killed Osama Bin Laden
- Ended the 2008-09 recession
- Is a better, way better speaker than Bush
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| President are measured by what they achieve. Not by what they promised |
So under that logic, if I were a Trump voter (which I'm not saying I am, or I am not), I would expect Trump to achieve similar objectives, probably within the lines of:
- Bringing unemployment down to 2.5%
- Maintain the US as the #1 oil producer
- Bring oil prices to $20 or lower and gas prices under $1.50
- Capture and kill ISIL (ISIS) leaders
- Boost the US economy to favor small entrepeneurs
- Be a better, way better speaker than Obama
plus of course...
- Put a halt and an end to China's growth
- Fix the border and immigration problem
- Improve law enforcement and reduce gun violence
- Implement a better Tax system.
As it happened with my chat with the Nicaraguan Cab Driver, I won't be sharing who is my candidate of choice in this article. But I will dedicate a few lines to analyze what I have decided to call "The Trump Legacy", referring to the impact and influence that Donald has generated ever since he announced his candidacy.
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| Will he be fired or hired? |
1. Some of Trump's ideas are actually spot on.
The problem doesn't lay in his ideas. It lays in the execution of these ideas -or the way he's planning to do them-. It is true that the southern border has more holes than a swiss cheese, but the idea of a wall across the US-Mexico border is just ridiculous. There are dozens of other ways to reinforce, tackle and solve the immigration reform.
Enforcing the laws on the books is another true course that we have to take. But empower gun owners to take matters in their own hands, is like travelling back 150 years to the time of the wild west (or 50 years in Clint Eastwood movies). That is why we have law enforcement entities.
2. A Republican Debate (or any debate for that matter) shouldn't have as focus or even mentioned, the size of a candidate's penis
Marco Rubio's call on Trump's hands and "something else" was perhaps the lowest shot I have ever seen... in ANY debate ever (and that includes WWF and pre-school debates). However Trump fell for it (in my opinion) and replied accordingly (or not).
This is the primary election to select the candidate of the Republican party to run for the most important job in the world. Whether a candidate has large or small hands, or has "something else" large or small, definitely doesn't add or disqualify merit to anyone running for President.
3. The reality of Trump becoming President is a scary fact
The funniest tweet I have read regarding the campaign has been:
2016: Trump won't win
2017: President Trump can't do that, can he?
2018: You watching The Hunger Games tonight? I hope my District wins
It sums up the combination of how Trump's fantasy scenario of becoming US President -perhaps imagined ten or fifteen years ago- has grown up and developed in the the possibility that he may actually end up facing Jennifer Lawrence in Capitol City... I mean Washington DC.
4. Trump preaches a slogan that is a fallacy
Here is where I take a strong stance. "Making America Great Again" is a fallacy. Like it or not, Obama gave an astounding truth in his last state of the union speech. "The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period."
Apparently Trump hasn't been to China, India, Mexico, Southamerica, Africa, Spain, Russia, Italy, and etc. There are no utopias in the world. Every nation has stengths and weaknesses. But all in all, the American Dream still exists and it's still there. America is a great nation. It is the greatest nation in the world. I would like it if Trump's slogan was "Making America Even Greater Than It IS!"
5. Trump is a successful man
Whether you like it or not, Donald Trump is one of the richest and most succesful men on Earth. Yes, Trump University, Trump Airlines and many other Trump ventures have failed, but we can't use that as leverage to judge him. How many of Steve Jobs' projects failed? It's not about how many times a man has failed. It's more about how many times he has gotten up.
I am quite sure that the list of successful businessman who haven't failed in their life is less than 5%. And don't get me started on the list of successful politicians.
6. Trump talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk
I cannot get over how this doesn't make sense and no one so far has capitalized on it in any of the debates.
Why does Donald talk about smart negotiatiors that serve the interests of American workers, yet has his clothing line serving the interest of Chinese workers?
7. Trump has a valid and good point when he says he's "telling it like it is"
Unfortunately, the Brian Williams issue has been misinterpreted as to whether it matters if Brian lied or not, or whether if it should be a big deal the fact that he changed his story. That's not the point. People lie everyday and that is an intrinsic behavior of human life.
What matters is that Brian changed his story for personal gain, recognition or satisfaction. He was at a talk-show host and at a hockey game with a US Veteran. Hence breaking ethical journalism codes. As NBC ended Trump's contract, it should have also ended any relation with the most respected prime-time news anchor of its network.
8. Trump has brought the campaign into his confort zone
Trump likes attention. He likes showmanship. He likes exposure. He likes being the man in charge. He likes being in the spotlight. With all this, Trump as turned the campaign into a circus, which is the environment where he is comfortable with.
Also, there is no need to use curse words and insult everyone on sight. That's why they are called "politicians". If we didn't need them, we would just have the WWF champion in the White House and the Russian equivalent in the Kremlin, and just have them fight each other when the topic of trade agreements and foreign policy on Syria is brought on the table.
Even if Trump does not win the US Presidency, he may end as the most celebrity-like candidate in US history. The US election will end up having a president that was chosen, either because people didn't want Trump to be President, or because people wanted Trump to be President.
This should be a huge warning sign for US politicians who should take it as a signal that candidates should be preparing for a US election and have us US citizens actually choose which candidate we want to run our country, and not pick one guy because we didn't like the other guy, or blindly liked the our guy despite everyone hating him.
That is The Trump Legacy.
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