"The Donald" finally did it and got into the presidential race (contest ... not 'skin color' for those of you who parse words conveniently.)

And what a 'ride' that has already been with sparks flying in every direction! The 'entertainment' value seems on par with the 'practical' value of the debates and conversations created therefrom.

As of today ... Trump has a 24% approval according to mainstream polls ... after just a couple weeks into the fray.

How does someone outside of the established 'political community' command such an impressive lead right out of the gate?

Answer: TRUTH in simple language ... I think people are hungering for some straight talk, even if it is not the most 'eloquent', 'politically correct' and/or 'slick'.

How much did the vague "Hope & Change" line benefit anyone?

"The Donald" is a New Yorker ... how many New Yorkers have you met who are tikky poo polite and sensitive? (few if any) ... but despite their lack of that, they are blunt and to the point ... sort of "anti-political speak" if you think about it!

For those of you who remember ... Joe Pecci (a New Yorker) in 'My Cousin Vinny', ran into some linguistic issues as a New Yorker  ... "yoots" vs 'Yooothhhs'. (Watch the movie for any clarification.)

Anderson Cooper drilled 'The Donald' recently and focused on a 35 year old deal Trump was involved with and about his 'immigrant employees'. After watching that I had to struggle to remember when Cooper drilled Hillary about 2 years ago in Benghazi or Holder about Fast & Furious just a while further back.

Nada ... no recollections.

Isn't it poignant that Trump should be expected to remember (and account for) details about a 35 year old deal where employees were under a sub contractor ... yet Hillary seems to get a pass on remembering events only a couple years ago by saying "at this point what does it matter?". And Holder was just a series of "I don't knows" about Fast & Furious ... and NOTHING ever came out of his Contempt of Congress charge ... I think Cooper lost track of any 'investigative' training he may have ever had!

Pity the voter who makes decisions based on what is presented by "experts" in the main stream media. No ... pity the country that falls on the basis of those helplessly/hopelessly under-informed "voters." (Democracy vs a Republic ... a blurred definition)

May I preempt what I believe may be the next slur(s) about Trump?

"He's a rich guy and only in this for himself" ... beware if you try to pull that card out of your rhetorical deck ... you will entrap yourself within your own naivete/stupidity. Trump's fortune has been made on the basis that America (Americans) are prosperous, as they were not so long ago ... at least until until Obama showed up on the scene. So, as 'quid pro quo' always applies ... if he does well it is because you are doing well also ... that is LOGIC ... not RHETORIC.

15,000 people in Phoenix PAID to hear what 'The Donald' had to say (the "Crazies" according to John McCain), and he doesn't need the money to wage a full fledged campaign ... but he likes it, as he said. Who wouldn't? Last I checked, Ron Paul is the only other candidate to draw those numbers to a speech. And the correlation is that both men spoke a plain truth that "We the people" rally around and understand because it's plain-spoken.

As nice as it is to think that TRUTH yields results in elections ... it's the ballot box that counts ... provided the ballot box can be trusted. When I was running elections with automated counting systems it was a legal requisite that there was a paper trail for audit purposes. That is sound thinking and good logic, and election laws required it ... back in the 90s when I was doing so.

Dieboldt bought our company, and paper ballots (audit trails) apparently vanished in favor of touch screen voting ... no way to physically audit a result. If you think about all the hacking news even lately, how tough to hack an election? And NOBODY will ever convince me that there isn't something 'wonky' about voting results in the last ten years or so.

As Josef Stalin once said: "It matters not who casts the votes ... it matters who counts the votes." (Paraphrased slightly I'm sure") Without a paper trail you are helpless to prove how you voted and that is even more difficult when the counting has been sub-contracted to a foreign company. Like THAT makes any sovereign sense at all!

"The Donald" is scorching a lot of comfortably ensconced political buts ... with plain and 'politically incorrect' truths and being pilloried over it.

"Politically Correct" ... correct according to politics.
"Truthful" ... correct according to logic and values.

Martin Luther King said "The truth will set you free" ... it certainly set him free of his mortal body because he was an annoyance to those who were threatened by his clean and clear, truthful message.

Mr. Trump ... take care, beware, spare nothing on your security ... and keep speaking the truth ... it's working and it's needed at this critical juncture in history!

Mr. & Mrs. America ... Do you prefer Truth or Rhetoric?

Your choice!