Why Trump? Part 6

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Check with Chip, broughtto you by retire Smart. I'm Chip
Maxwell. This is the sixth ina series of podcasts answering the question Why
Trump. It includes an excerpt frommy book Fix It Now, Rediscover the
Constitution and get America out of itsfiscal death spiral. Ready, here we

(00:20):
go. Are you still having troubleunderstanding my support for Trump? Let me
try an example from history that othersalso have used to explain their support for
Trump. At the outbreak of theCivil War in April eighteen sixty one,
George mc clellan was a ben sassamong generals, a rising star of the

(00:43):
political ruling class. Nicknamed Young Napoleon, he had fine family, educational and
military pedigrees. He was handsome andintelligent, A consummate officer and gentleman.
He was politically sharp. He wouldbe elected Governor of New Jersey in eighteen
seventy seven. It was no surprisewhen McClellan was named General in chief of

(01:07):
the Union Army in November eighteen sixtyone. There was one problem. McClellan
was great in strategy sessions in thewar room, but not as good in
actual battle in the field. Theadage in the military is that no plan
survives contact with the enemy. Abattle often does not follow the script drawn

(01:30):
up by strategists. McLellan proved tobe a very cautious commander who waited to
make a move until conditions were perfect. Since conditions in battle rarely are perfect,
McClellan became known for failing to adaptand take the kind of risk required
to succeed. He blamed failures toachieve battlefield objectives on the failure of the

(01:53):
commander in chief, President Abraham Lincoln, to provide enough men, weapons,
and equipment. Senator Sass shows asimilar tendency toward paralysis when he does not
feel he controls a situation and insteadmight have to take a risk to prevail.
As a member of the Senate JudiciaryCommittee, Sas did a fine job

(02:15):
shepherding two conservative Nebraska attorneys through leftistmine fields in the confirmation process on their
way to becoming federal judges. Incontrast, Sas was a wall during a
major judicial battle that was beyond hiscontrol and very risky for combatants. Sassi's
not shy toward cameras and microphones,but he hunkered down and took cover when

(02:39):
the left unleashed a diabolically false andvicious personal attack on Supreme Court nominee Brett
Kavanaugh. Sass later said he wasworking behind the scenes to advance the nomination.
Okay, but it's possible to walkand chew gum at the same time.

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He could have joined fellow Judiciary Committeemember US Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican
from South Carolina, on the firingline in the public arena, defending Kavanaugh
and denouncing the left's demonic attempt todefile him, and still lobbied colleagues privately
on the matter. Sas also wasawall on the effort to repeal and replace

(03:23):
Obamacare. He ran in twenty fourteenas the man with the plan on healthcare,
but when political bullets were flying andthe Obamacare battle reached its peak,
Sas was invisible and inaudible, neitherseen nor heard. His absence from the
fray was so noticeable that our localnewspaper ran a where's ben story Back to

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McClellan, a rift developed between Lincoln, the rustic from the frontier, and
the Eastern patrician McClellan. McClellan wroteto his wife that Lincoln was a well
meaning baboon. He publicly referred tothe president as a guerrilla. Soon after

(04:08):
being appointed General in chief, McLellancame home one evening and was informed that
the President was in the front parlor, where he had been waiting an hour
to see McClellan. The General inchief went straight to bed without acknowledging the
presence of the commander in chief.Lincoln overlooked the personal insults, he could

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not overlook what he considered too muchexcuse making and not enough winning. In
March eighteen sixty two, Lincoln removedMcLellan from the position of General in Chief,
but left him in command of theArmy of the Potomac, the main
Union force in the Eastern Theater.McClellan's criticism of Lincoln intensified, as did

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Lincoln's frustration with McLellan. In Novembereighteen sixty two, Lincoln removed McLellan from
the Potomac command. Their beef cameto a head in the presidential campaign of
eighteen sixty four. As the Democraticnominee, McClellan challenged Republican incumbent Lincoln.

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He lost, perhaps due to votersweird worship of homespun populist Lincoln Ulysses S.
Grant was the general Lincoln eventually putin command of all Union forces.
Like McLellan, Grant was a graduateof the US Military Academy at West Point.
There the similarities ended. Grant wasa hard drinking commoner from the midwest

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Ohio, rough around the edges.What appealed to Lincoln was that Grant found
ways to win with whatever men andmateriel were available. He did not whine
about logistics. He attacked even ifconditions were not ideal, and did not
stop until the enemy was totally defeated. A quip of that era was that

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Grant's initials US stood for unconditional surrender. Republican politician Alexander McClure wrote about his
meeting with Lincoln in eighteen sixty twoto complain about Grant's deficiencies. At the
time, Grant led an army inthe Western Theater. McClure said he urged

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Lincoln to remove Grant from command.According to McClure, Lincoln denied his request
for this reason, I can't sparethis man. He fights, and there
you have the reason for the Trumpphenomenon. He fights with a ferocity too,

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seldom seen in Republicans. The nastierthe conflict, the more forcefully Trump
engages, and the harder he goesfor unconditional surrender. Sass is a McClellan
show horse. He has shown admirableguts on pro life issues, but otherwise
boys conflicts that are anything less thana sure win for him. Trump is

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a grant workhorse. It's not alwayspretty, but he plows into conflicts regardless
of the odds because the good ofthe nation requires it. I suppose Trump
also is part show horse. Hehas been a pop culture icon. He
drew and entertained crowds in the tensof thousands at political rallies. Yet he

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is not a traditional political show horse. If a conservative workhorse also is an
elegant show horse, such as Reagan, great, If not, I'll take
a grinding workhorse over a preening showhorse. That's an excerpt from my book
Fix It Now, Rediscover the Constitutionand Get America out of its fiscal death

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Spiral. If you like what youheard and want to read the whole chapter
on the Trump phenomenon, go tofix It Now Chip dot com. Fix
It Now Chip dot com and getyour copy of fix it. Now,
rediscover the Constitution, and get Americaout of its fiscal death spiral. That's

(08:11):
check with Chip. I'm Chip Maxwell. Thank you for listening.