In 'Crippled America,' Trump gets down to business

In Crippled America, Donald Trump's campaign book, which hit stores in November, Trump notes that his critics "have been claiming I haven't put out enough specifics." His response is interesting. Not only does he not deny the charge. He cites it as a point in his favor:

"There's a good reason for this, and it fits perfectly with my overall philosophy of leadership: Many of our problems, caused by years of stupid decisions or no decisions at all, have grown into a huge mess. If I could wave a magic wand and fix them, I'd do it. But there are a lot of different voices — and interests — that have to be considered when working toward solutions."

Sounds both reasonable and realistic, a departure from the braggadocio Trump is wont to indulge in. Of course, there's plenty of that in the book as well, and he has some interesting things to say about that, too. Take his reaction to a story in which a businessman is quoted as saying that Trump is unpredictable. Trump agrees. He thinks unpredictability is a good thing:

"Now that I am running for president, which so many experts predicted I would not do, that same trait has made it really hard for all my critics to figure out how to compete with my message. They're … following all the establishment rules, taking every predictable step, trying to fit inside the conventional wisdom — and when I don't play that game, they don't know how to respond."

That's actually as good an explanation as any of Trump's success. It makes one wonder why so little reference has been made to Trump's book in the debates, either by his rivals or the moderators.

In the acknowledgments, Trump thanks more than a score of people for their help in writing the book. It still comes off as pure Trump. And, as it happens, it is not entirely devoid of specifics.

Trump admits to having entertained the idea of a single-payer health-care system, but says he no longer thinks that makes sense, at least in this country (though he doesn't say why). At any rate, he now favors allowing insurance companies to operate across state lines. He also wants the government "to make sure the insurance companies are financially strong so that if there is a catastrophic event or they make some kind of miscalculation, they have the resources they'll need to handle it" — though he doesn't explain how that would work.

He is most specific on taxes, with a chapter that is much the same — as he admits — as an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal in September of last year. He advocates replacing the federal tax code entirely. (He claims, as do many others, that the tax code is more than 70,000 pages long, but according to the U.S. Government Bookstore, the actual Title 26, Internal Revenue Code is a mere 1,404 pages and a lithe 5.3125 pounds, to say nothing of a bargain at $139.)

Be that as it may, Trump's idea is to have four tax brackets: zero percent, 10 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent (single persons making less than $25,000 a year and married couples making less than $50,000 would pay no tax). He also favors abolishing the estate tax. According to his plan, "any business of any size will pay no more than 15 percent of their business income in taxes." It will further "require companies with offshore capital to bring that money back to the United States at a repatriation rate of only 10 percent."

All of this sounds like solid ground for substantive debate. Still, it isn't details of policy that stick in one's mind after reading Crippled America. No, the takeaway is a sense of who Trump is.

If there is one topic Trump returns to again and again, it is how well he runs things. He is a businessman born and bred. He mentions how his father would "drag me around with him while he collected rents in tough sections of Brooklyn." He is also at pains to rebut the story that he got his start with a $200 million gift from his father, pointing out that the older Trump didn't have that kind of money. What his father did was lend him about $1 million at interest.

Without a doubt, Trump is a showman. Lots of people in business are. Anybody remember Madman Muntz? And he was only selling TVs. Trump's had a hit TV show. Showmanship has its uses in making a pitch.

Trump's pitch is that he has been successful in business because he knows how to do things politicians only talk about. All good business people know a market when they see one. Trump saw there was a market for disaffected voters, mostly Republican, but including a sizable number of independents, and maybe even some Democrats.

Trump may not be conservative enough for the staff of National Review. But neither are a good many people who routinely vote Republican. They are not ideologues. They do not spend their evenings reading Friedrich von Hayek or Milton Friedman. They love their country, work hard, pay their bills, and worry about their kids. Lots of them go to church on Sunday but are not especially missionary about their faith — unless pushed.

These voters helped the Republican Party gain control of both houses of Congress. But a lot of them think they got nothing in return. They don't trust the politicians anymore, especially the ones they voted for.

Donald Trump has taken it upon himself to address their concerns in ways that they understand and appreciate. Crippled America is a 193-page sales pitch aimed at what Trump takes to be his electoral customer base. Which is why, should he be elected, he will likely make a point of providing that base with a lot of what it wants.

Frank Wilson is a retired Inquirer book editor who blogs at Books, Inq. — The Epilogue. PresterFrank@gmail.com