Chump Sides With The FBI Against Apple; On Torture Proclaims “Water Boarding Is Fine But Not Tough Enough”

When Donald Trump was asked about Apple’s decision, Trump did not bring up the complexity of the situation, the constant battle between government and individual, between private and public selves, between technology and law enforcement. He did not commend Apple for trying to stave off government’s incursion into our personal details. He did what Trump does: He came up with the easiest, simplest, basest possible reaction to an endlessly complicated issue, and he ran with it.
On Fox & Friends this morning, Trump said, “To think that Apple won’t allow us to get into her cellphone? Who do they think they are? No, we have to open it.”
– From Bloomberg
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from the 2016 election season is the obvious fact that the GOP base has absolutely no interest in freedom, civil liberties or the Constitution. The huge success of the megalomaniac statist Donald Trump, as well as the pitiful performance of Rand Paul, has proven this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Many people will argue this has been obvious for quite some time, but the reason I bring it up is because both Ron Paul and his son Rand believed that the Republican party could serve as a useless albeit unwilling vessel to bring back liberty to these United States. The 2016 GOP primary has proven once and for all that this was pure fantasy.

Donald Trump is a lot of things, but a defender of freedom, due process and the Constitution he is certainly not. In fact, he doesn’t even pretend to be and is unquestionably a big government statist. Trump has absolutely no issue with a U.S. President abusing executive authority, he just wants to be the guy doing it. The fact that he makes this perfectly clear and still doesn’t lose any ground in the primary demonstrates that the GOP base isn’t merely holding its nose on the topic, they agree with him.
The good news is that only a very small percentage of Americans identify as Republicans (or Democrats for that matter). As Gallup reported recently in its piece, Democratic, Republican Identification Near Historical Lows:

PRINCETON, N.J. — In 2015, for the fifth consecutive year, at least four in 10 U.S. adults identified as political independents. The 42% identifying as independents in 2015 was down slightly from the record 43% in 2014. This elevated percentage of political independents leaves Democratic (29%) and Republican (26%) identification at or near recent low points, with the modest Democratic advantage roughly where it has been over the past five years.

The above chart is very compelling, as well as encouraging, not merely due to the absolute numbers, but when it comes to the overall trend. Americans increasingly don’t want anything to do with either corrupt and useless mainstream political party. That’s the good news. The bad news is that our political system still forces us to choose between a candidate picked by the members of these establishment political clubs.
When it comes to the 26% who identify as Republicans, Donald Trump seems to be their man. A person who shows contempt for individual liberties and the founding principles of this Republic. His recent position on the Apple vs. FBI debate once again makes that perfectly clear.
Bloomberg reports:

When Donald Trump was asked about Apple’s decision, Trump did not bring up the complexity of the situation, the constant battle between government and individual, between private and public selves, between technology and law enforcement. He did not commend Apple for trying to stave off government’s incursion into our personal details. He did what Trump does: He came up with the easiest, simplest, basest possible reaction to an endlessly complicated issue, and he ran with it.
On Fox & Friends this morning, Trump said, “To think that Apple won’t allow us to get into her cellphone? Who do they think they are? No, we have to open it.”
“I agree 100 percent with the courts,” he said. “In that case, we should open it up. I think security overall—we have to open it up. And we have to use our heads. We have to use common sense. Somebody the other day called me a common-sense conservative. We have to use common sense. Our country has so many problems.”
This is classic Trump. Take an issue that requires more time and thought than he—and the average American—is willing to give it, take a strong, unequivocal stance on it and then segue into the stump points of “common sense” and “I’m gonna fix all the problems in this country.” It is extraordinarily unlikely that Trump knew any details of the case, or Apple’s view: The release had just come out this morning, mere minutes before Trump’s appearance. And his explanation didn’t make much sense: As The Verge noted, what Trump was basically saying is that Apple should create a technology—remember, this technology does not currently exist—that could break into any locked phone…but that it should only be used this one time. The notion is absurd to anyone who has looked at the issue for longer than five seconds. One can believe that the government should have the right to get into locked phones. One can believe that the tech companies are right to block them. But the idea that Apple should build this technology for this one particular incident is not intellectually serious in any sense of the word. (It’s not even something the government is claiming!) This is the view of someone who is just talking.

But that didn’t stop Trump, because it has never stopped Trump. He hit Cook and Apple as hard as he hits Ted Cruz, or President Barack Obama, or poor Jeb Bush. And it has already changed the conversation. Now that Trump has weighed in—as much as you can classify what he did as “weighing in”—other candidates are being asked the question, and the whole issue is being filtered through Trump’s reaction, rather than the facts and complexities of the case.

Trump is basically a confidence man. Knowing what he’s talking about is of no concern to Trump supporters who adore his penchant for quickly formulating uninformed opinions and running with them. Since a disconcertingly large percentage of Americans prefer to come to their own conclusions via emotion rather than logic and analysis, Trump seems to be the candidate they’ve been waiting for. He’s basically a less refined and more aggressive iteration of George W. Bush.
Think I’m exaggerating? Ok, well why don’t you see for yourself. Here’s what Trump recently had to say on the topic of torture:

Yep, Trump is essentially positioning himself as the torture candidate.
Make America Great Again, indeed. 

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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