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Although my writing about the presidential race should leave no doubt about whom I support, some of my readers have asked me to make it official. So here it is.

I, John Gaver, officially endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States of America.

I will admit that Trump was not my first or even second choice. But of the three who remain in the race, Trump is the ONLY candidate for whom I would vote.

My criteria:

• Being President of the United States is analogous to being CEO of the largest corporation in the world. Furthermore, that virtual corporation has a TRILLION DOLLAR budget and 18 TRILLION DOLLARS Debt. Therefore the primary qualification for that office should be that the candidate MUST have senior executive experience, either in the private or public sector.
• Conservatism is a must, for a President of the United States. Unfortunately, all of the most solid conservatives have been eliminated and we are left with just three, who appear to have at least rather significant conservative credentials.
• Honesty is another prime qualification for the office of President of the United States. Unfortunately, Every President in my lifetime has been known to stretch the truth and a few have been outright liars. As much as I disliked him as President and thought him to be disqualified in most other areas, I believe that Jimmy Carter was the most honest President in my lifetime and yet, even he was known to stretch the truth on occasion. So my criteria here is that the candidate must be at least basically honest (as much as a politician can be) and not stretch the truth to the breaking point.
• Another major criteria for President of the United States, is that he must be both willing and able to take on the GOP Establishment, in order to re-instill a backbone within the GOP Establishment. This requires more than just a desire to make such changes, but a proven ability to undertake such a difficult challenge and succeed.
• I would prefer a FairTax supporter as President. But most importantly, I don’t want a President whose tax plan will kill any chance of passing the FairTax in the near future

So let’s look at the candidates.

John Kasich – plain and simple – he is part of the problem.

• Kasich is the only person in the race, other than Trump, who has any senior executive experience, due to his tenure as Governor of Ohio. On this criteria, he is qualified.
• Despite his claims otherwise, Kasich is part of the GOP Establishment, who got us into the mess we’re in today. He is conservative, only when it suits the Establishment. He represents the same GOP Establishment that has repeatedly failed to stand up to special interests and have allowed the Democrats to have virtual free-rein, since 1989. He cannot be considered to be conservative.
• I believe that Kasich is a “basically” honest man. He does stretch the truth fairly regularly, but not as much as most other politicians. If he agreed to a deal, I believe that I could trust his handshake as a bond. On this criteria, he is qualified.
• Kasich’s fatal flaw is that he is owned, like every other member of the GOP Establishment. He has no desire to make the changes necessary to save the GOP and the nation. For this reason alone, even if Trump were not in the race, I would never vote for Kasich for president. In fact, I will never again vote for an Establishment candidate for that high office. Kasich fails on this criteria.
• Kasich is clearly a progressive income tax person and being part of the Establishment, would likely veto the FairTax, if it came across his desk. But at least his plan would not kill the chance of passing the FairTax, in the near future. For this criteria, I have to rate Kasich a definite maybe.

Ted Cruz – is a pretend conservative, with zero executive experience, and a track record of blatant LIES. (Note: I campaigned for Cruz for Senate in 2012.)

• Cruz is a lawyer, who has never created a job, written a business plan, had to meet a payroll, of overseen a large budget. He has never been a mayor, governor, CEO, COO, or held any other senior executive position that would qualify him to manage a TRILLION DOLLAR budget and 18 TRILLION DOLLARS of debt.
• Cruz’s conservative credentials are all smoke and mirrors. Conservatives always castigate Democrats, who claim good intentions, when their programs fail, pointing out that an ounce of success is worth more than a ton of good intentions. Conservatives expect more than just good intentions. So looking at Ted Cruz, a failed filibuster is not a conservative credential. Co-sponsoring a bill and then failing to show up for the vote is not a conservative credential. In fact, it seems that the only time Cruz shows up for a vote in the Senate is when he has an opportunity to make a headline out of it. The only thing conservative about Cruz, is in his words and we’ll get to that in the next point.
• Ted Cruz’s defining trait seems to be that he is a pathological LIAR. This is not a Trump Talking point. I say this from personal experience. At his primary run-off victory party, Cruz shook my hand and then LIED to me five times in a period of maybe 20 to 30 seconds. He held eye-contact and passed a lie off as truth, to me. I should point out that I supplemented my Navy pay by playing poker. I always won, because if I can look a man in the eye, when he bluffs (or lies), I can almost always detect the bluff (lie). Only a pathological liar can look a good a good poker player in the eye and pass off a lie as the truth. Out of five promises, he broke four within his first year in office and he broke the fifth one, when he failed to show up to vote for “Audit the Fed”. But let’s get specific with something that is provable right now. Cruz claims that he will pass a flat income tax AND abolish the IRS. Doing both at the same time is NOT POSSIBLE. Rather than go into detail here, I suggest that you read “No type of income tax – flat or progressive – can exist without an IRS“ (opens in new window). If we assume that Cruz is not a complete idiot, he must know this or have someone on his staff who has informed him of this. That means that, once again, he is lying. But if there was ever any doubt about his lack of character, his campaign tactics make it clear that there is no level so low that he will not stoop to it, in order to steal the election. That is NOT the kind of person we want at the helm of this nation. This and the fact that he LIED to me personally, one-on-one, not once but five times, is why I would never vote for Ted Cruz for any office, ever again.
• Cruz, like Kasich, is owned. The only difference is who the owners are. For Kasich, the owners are the GOP Establishment. For Cruz, the owners are Goldman Sachs, Woodforest National Bank, and the Wall Street community, in general. But now that his negatives have gone so high and he knows that he likely won’t win re-election to the U.S. Senate, here in Texas (he only won only 44% of the vote, in the primary, where he won both the primary and general election with 58% in 2012), he has begun trying to ingratiate himself to the GOP Establishment, by trying to undermine the will of GOP voters, at the convention. So although he claims that he is not Establishment and will strive to fix the problems created by the Establishment, he has recently begun doing everything he can to curry favor with the Establishment, in a last ditch effort to save his political career. But it gets worse. Even if he really wanted to take on the Establishment, he could not succeed. He is, without a doubt, the most hated member of the Senate, by members of both parties. Cruz is considered to be the most polarizing member of Congress. Such a person cannot possibly make any progress, which is shown by his failure to achieve anything significant during his tenure in the Senate. If good intentions were all it took, Ron Paul would have passed dozens of bills, during his time in the House. But when you’re seen as being recalcitrant, nobody will deal with you. So not only is Cruz now trying to curry favor with the Establishment, he would have no chance of making any major changes, even if he tried.
• One of the top issues on which Cruz ran for office was the FairTax. So it would seem that he would qualify under this criteria. However, once he was elected, it took me and many other Texas FairTax supporters phoning and emailing him, asking him to co-sponsor the bill that was so much a part of his campaign. Finally, two months after the FairTax bill was introduced into the Senate, Sen. Cruz signed on as a co-sponsor. Then within days, he began talking about a flat income tax and has not mentioned the FairTax since, except in response to questions about his switching plans. (Mark up one promise broken.) But what’s worse is that his flat income tax would destroy any chance of the FairTax even being considered within the next decade. That’s because, any time someone brought up the FairTax, the Establishment of both parties would complain that “We just passed a flat income tax, the most significant tax reform in 100 years and you FairTax people don’t even want to give it time to work. Besides, the flat tax still needs some tweaking.” Of course, the tweaking they would talk about would be adding in more tax brackets and shelters. But the point is that their “give it time to work” excuse would keep the FairTax from being considered for at least a decade, by which time, the Establishment, including Cruz, would hope that support for the FairTax would die. Cruz definitely fails on this criteria.

Donald J. Trump – Mostly conservative, successful CEO and problem solver, who comes without a filter – he says what’s on his mind.

• There is no doubt that Trump has the required senior executive experience to handle a TRILLION DOLLAR budget and an 18 TRILLION DOLLAR debt. On this criteria, he is the most qualified.
• Trump’s conservative credentials are not as solid as I would like. But then, people change. Remember that Ronald Reagan was originally a Democrat. People change. It’s pretty clear that Trump has undergone some changes in his political philosophy, some since deciding to run for office. Keep in mind that he’s not a politician. He’s a very successful businessman. I’ve known many successful businessmen. But very few concerned themselves with political issues, other than to have their attorneys tell them how to best take advantage of ever-changing laws. They were to busy running a business to get into the minutia of politics. But one of the things that impresses me about Trump is how quickly he is able to grasp an issue, after being blind-sided with a question, when it’s clear that he has not given the issue any serious thought. By the next day – sometimes even within a few hours – he is well versed on the issue, even if it’s a complex issue. Is he the most solid conservative we have seen in the race? No. But all of those who are more conservative have dropped out (remember that although Cruz claims to be more conservative, he has proven that he will blow whichever way he thinks will get him more campaign dollars), leaving Trump as the most conservative candidate left standing. So being generally conservative and by far the most conservative of the remaining candidates, means that he qualifies on this criteria.
• As stated above, Trump comes without a filter. I like that. When a person speaks off the cuff, as he does, it’s virtually impossible to lie and remember what lies you told, from one speech to the next. He never uses a teleprompter. Furthermore, when he says something that is politically incorrect and the Democrats or the legacy media (MSM) try to call him out on it, he stands firm or even doubles down on his statement. Those are attributes of an honest man. Does he stretch the truth sometimes? Probably. But like Kasich, he doesn’t stretch the truth beyond recognition, as does Cruz. I would trust Trump on a handshake. But I would not trust a signed contract from Cruz. On this criteria, Trump is also qualified.
• There is no doubt that Trump will take on the Establishment. That’s his whole reason for running. It’s why the Establishment is so worried about him winning. They know that he will upset their gravy train. Not only that, but they know that he has the experience and ability to make those changes happen. Will he achieve everything he wants? Probably not. But the one thing that we can count on is that, when he negotiates with Congress, he will win for Americans. The GOP Establishment knows that they don’t have anyone in Congress who can negotiate half as well as Trump. If there is one thing certain about a Trump presidency, it’s that he will take on the Establishment and the donor class and win for Americans. Trump is the ONLY candidate who qualifies under this criteria.
• Donald Trump has his own tax reform plan, which as progressive income tax plans go, is not bad. In fact, it is by far the best plan offered by any of the remaining candidates in the race. Also, since it is still a progressive income tax, there would not be enough change for the Establishment to use it as an excuse to keep the FairTax from being considered. I believe that, because Trump has presented his tax reform plan, that he will do his best to implement that plan. But that doesn’t mean that he will stop there. He’s a businessman. He will evaluate that plan and make adjustments, as necessary. He may even take a look at the FairTax and if he does, I feel that there is a very good chance that he will see all the potential in the FairTax and may help us get it to a floor vote in Congress. But that’s speculation. The point is that, like Kasich’s plan, Trump’s plan is still a progressive income tax and as such, does not represent a threat to passage of the FairTax, in the near future. Because Trump is known for being open to new ideas and his plan does not threaten the FairTax, I have to say that he barely qualifies on this criteria.

Although I did not feel this way a few weeks ago, the actions of the GOP Establishment have made me realize just how corrupt the Establishment has become. Since Trump has won far more contest, far more popular vote, and far more delegates than any other candidate, if the GOP Establishment denies the nomination to Trump, it will be a signal that the GOP has become as corrupt as the Democrat Party. Therefore, I have sworn an oath that, if that happens, I will write-in Donald J. Trump’s name on my November ballot and I will never again vote for ANY Republican for ANY office, from school board to President.

This is NOT about Trump.

It’s about either 1) taking back our party or 2) starting a new one to represent conservative voters. Trump is merely the vehicle to achieve the first of those options, so we don’t have to spend the next decade creating a new party.

CONCLUSION

If I were to mould a perfect president, he would be much like Donald Trump, but a little more conservative and a FairTax supporter. That said, I firmly believe that Trump’s heart is in the right place and he grasps new issues quickly. Most importantly, he has the necessary experience, as a senior executive, to be the USA’s effective CEO. He is the only candidate in the race, who has both the will and the requisite experience to take on the GOP Establishment and clean up DC. Trump also brings with him millions of new GOP voters, which means that he will easily defeat Hillary

I will make one final prediction. If Trump is not the GOP nominee, the GOP will fracture and go the way of the Whigs, within 8 years. The GOP Establishment should remember that there would probably be no Republican Party, if the Whig Party had not self-destructed. The voters have spoken. Fail to listen to us and we, the voters, will see to it that history records the GOP, along side the Whigs, as a party that self-destructed, because they failed to represent the voters.

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