On This 4th Of July We Should Ask Ourselves How Hard Will Daesh Work To Get Trump Elected President?

Trump is probably correct when he says the global elite is out the get him and that they'd prefer Hillary over him. They'd also prefer Hillary over Bernie, probably by even higher numbers. But can there really be any doubt that every dedicated enemy of America is rooting for Trump to win the presidency? And in the case of Putin, one suspects the rooting is more than just passive cheering from the sidelines. Actually, that may very well be the case with Daesh/ISIS fanatics as well-- and for the same exact reasons-- a bubbling idiot in the White House sewing discord and disharmony every time he opens his mouth.

He may be the most flawed of messengers but Trump has taken up the populist banner against global elites pushing the devastating trade agenda that Trump has used to make himself wealthy and now sees as a blunt instrument to use against Clinton who he accuses to secretly supporting globalization type treaties like the TPP. Much to the horror of the dominant Paul Ryan wing of the GOP, Trump has appropriated Bernie Sanders' critique of the TPP, right down to the phrase "rigged economy." Keep in mind, that just over a year ago, when the House voted on granting Obama fast track powers, the 219-211 approval came because 191 Republicans merged with just 54 Democratic corporate whores to pass it. 157 Democrats (and a lonely 28 Republicans) opposed giving Obama fast track authority. Among the Republicans facing tough reelection battles whose votes would be harshly judged by followers of Trump are, aside from Ryan and McCarthy themselves, electorally vulnerable Republicans like Frank Guinta (R-NH), Fred Upton (R-MI), Cresent Hardy (R-NV), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Mike Coffman (R-CO), Peter King (R-NY), Pat Meehan (R-PA), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz... oops, she's supposedly a Democrat but she voted with the GOP on that one. "I want you to imagine," the carnival barker barked at a rally near Pittsburgh last week, "how much better our future can be if we declare independence from the elites who've led us to one financial and foreign policy disaster after another."

Tom Donohue, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, responded to Trump on behalf of the 191 House Republicans who voted for TPP Fast Track, knocking down-- from the GOP establishment perspective-- each point Trump made, demagogue-fashion, at his anti-globalization rally.

Tom Donohue is hardly alone among global elitists warned Americans about Trumps. The Italians are jumping up and down, waving their arms over their heads and throwing plates of taglierini, conchiglie, farfalle, capellini, rotini, bucatini, fusilli, pappardelle, and cannelloni-- both stuffed and unstuffed-- frantically warning us that Trump is just another horrid version of their own latter day fascist, Silvio Berlusconi.

Speaking from hard-earned experience, Italians offer a warning to American voters: Think twice before electing Donald Trump.

That advice is based on the fact that Italy chose a Trump-like leader-- and many later came to regret it.

Italy's version of Trump is Silvio Berlusconi, 79, the media tycoon who served as Italy’s prime minister four times, dating to 1994. The two men have much in common.

They are both billionaires who got their start in real-estate development and who came into politics as newcomers promising to use their business acumen to revitalize their country’s economy. Both are brash and self-confident with reputations as womanizers. Both blame much of their country’s woes on immigration. Both seem impervious to critiques and gaffes that would sink other political careers. They even share an obvious concern about their hair: Trump’s billowy coif is an integral part of his look, while Berlusconi admits to at least two hair transplants to cover up an expanding bald spot.

“For Italy watching the election in the U.S. gives us a sense of déjà vu,” said Gian Franco Gallo, a political affairs analyst with ABS Securities in Milan. “It’s like you’re rewatching a horror movie, and as the protagonist is about to get ambushed, you throw your hands up and scream at the screen, ‘Don’t go through that door!’”

That negative view stems from the fact that during Berlusconi's long tenure, which ended in 2011, Italy suffered prolonged periods of economic weakness, political corruption got worse, and Berlusconi became ensnared in sex scandals and legal troubles that included a wide range of charges, from false accounting and tax evasion to bribery and paying a minor for sex.

Most Americans see Clinton as a safer bet for who would deal with terrorism better (50-39% in the latest polling), especially after the mass shooting in Orlando. As Greg Sargent wrote for Washington Post readers last week, "It’s true that Trump’s anti-Muslim xenophobia and demagoguery did cause his numbers to rise among Republican primary voters in the wake of the Paris attacks. But in the wake of the carnage in Orlando, and even in spite of the raw public emotion it produced, the broader public has been treated to a vivid look at his approach, and Americans have recoiled... [T]he result of both candidates’ response to the Orlando attacks was also that Clinton holds a 34-point edge on which one showed the better temperament in response (it’s 59-25); a 19-point edge on which could handle the situation as president (it’s 53-34); and a nine-point edge on which has the best proposals to prevent future attacks (it’s 44-35).

This may be pushing Trump to bellow at his appearances that ISIS views Clinton as weak and that only he will bring back torture and set the U.S. on a path that includes war crimes like executing family members of suspected terrorists. "They want her to get in so badly. They have dreams at night, and their dreams are that Hillary Clinton becomes president of our country," he asserted to his poorly educated fans who are probably unaware that one of the strongest criticisms of Clinton is that she's a dedicated neocon hawk who is viewed all over the world as frighteningly warlike, far more so than Trump, who is generally viewed as a pompous, bill-mouthed buffoon who would likely stumble from one crisis to another, alienating friends and foes alike. If Daesh leaders dream about anyone in the White House, it's Trump, and if they get the idea that stepping up terrorist attacks will help elect him, expect more terrorism far and wide.