Trump is prepared to be president

I'd start by saying the President of the United States is by far the most challenging job in the nation. Most candidates are woefully unprepared for the duties of office. I don't believe Barak Obama could be considered to have been prepared for the role, nor would I say George W Bush was prepared for the role either. It is a high bar. There are three main areas of competency a candidate must demonstrate mastery of before being considered "prepared" for the office of the presidency: 1) Commander and Chief of the Military. The commander and chief is responsible for making the life and death decisions of military intervention abroad. This requires first and foremost a base of knowledge about the existing state of foreign affairs. This is an immensely complicated area of expertise, and Donald Trump has shown no interest in learning it. His major foreign policy initiative seems to be disengagement with Allies who have been under our protection since the end of World War 2. This includes making allies pay more for NATO, and encouraging nuclear proliferation in Asia. Many in the military would consider these steps dangerous and reckless. Very few candidates are truly prepared for the role. Those who do generally come from a military background, where they were promoted to the top of their organizations because of their continued demonstrated competency. I'd name Dwight Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush as having the prerequisite experience required. Donald Trump does not live to those standards. 2) Chief Legislature. Historically, it is the presidency that has been required to bring major legislative action to fruition. There are a few major components to successfully fulfilling this role. a) Policy rooted in principals. Good ideas are embraced by the public because they speak to our identity as Americans. Both the Republicans and Democrats have forged their principals in the crucible of hard realities. Ideas reflect a collective identity of their constituency. Men like Lincoln and Rosevelt came to office prepared, because they understood how their ideas underpinned this American identity. Men like Trump lack a solid ground. Their policy is rooted in emotion. Ultimately, this does not stand the test of time. b) Relationships with congress. The presidency is not a dictatorship. All legislation needs to pass through the house and senate. Presidents prepared for this role know how to grease the gears to get legislation through congress. Coalition builders like Johnson, who knew how to twist all the arms in the backrooms were prepared. Men like Obama, who try to let legislation stand on its own merit, tend to demonstrate that they were not prepared for this role. Trump has lost the support of his own party in Congress. Even today, he can be quoted as saying "Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don"t know how to win - I will teach them!". These aren't the words of a coalition builder. They are the words of an outsider, unprepared for the realities of office. c) Ability to sell your program to the public. Being prepared for legislation requires an understanding of how your ideas fit into the American identity. Ronald Reagan was able to sell tax cuts as raising all ships. Lyndon Johnson was able to push through civil rights legislation because its what JFK would have wanted. Donald Trump, on the other hand, doesn't even seem to be able to sell himself as a capable president to a majority of Americans, if polls are to be trusted. While his core will believe in him to the end, he needs to be prepared to sell his ideas to the wider public. 3) Head of State. The president is the figurehead for all Americans. A prepared president has the moral standing amongst those he leads to speak on their behalf to the rest of the world. Their personal character becomes the bedrock on what that trust is built. Men like Lincoln and Eisenhower embrace these qualities. When they call us to War, we know it to be right. It is an intrinsic quality of character that we follow. Trump has shown himself to fall far short of those standards time after time. He uses power to project petty attacks on his enemies. Few would be willing to follow him into battle. In conclusion, nearly all candidates fall short of this standard of preparedness for the presidency, for at least one category or another. It is the hardest job in the world to be prepared for. Trump falls far behind on all fronts. ---------------- With regard to my opponents claims. 1) Is Trump is a successful businessman? This is debatable. He has declared bankruptcy at least 6 times, and carries at least 15 other failed businesses. He has built his fortune in part by not paying taxes, and not paying his contractors. Additionally, it has been estimated that the growth of his fortune since the 1980s hasn't even outpaced index funds. http://fortune.com... 2) Is he brutally honest? I think even die hard republicans have to choke a laugh back when he says Hillary Clinton started the Birther movement. Just today, he tweeted that he won the debate unanimously in the polls, when all scientific polls actually show the opposite to be true. Trump has said some of the most dishonest things I've ever heard from a politician over the course of this campaign. https://twitter.com... http://www.vox.com...