Thanks to hackers, presumably Russian, we now know precisely what retired General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thinks of both Trump and Clinton.
He detests Trumps and thinks extremely little of Clinton.
According to Powell, Trump is an "international pariah," a "racist," and a "national disgrace."
Powell views Clinton as a "70-year (old) person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, (who is) greedy, (and) not transformational." And he states, "Everything H.R.C. touches she kind of screws up with hubris." In other words, Powell views Clinton as a pretentious incompetent.
General Powell, your assessment is dead on. But you have an alternative choice for President -- someone you and most other Americans strongly seek.
No, it's not Gary Johnson, who believes in no government. Nor is it Jill Stein, who believes in no private sector.
General Powell, given your influence, you can elect a President you really want simply by publicly pronouncing these seven words.
I'm Writing In Laurence Kotlikoff for President
What Do You Want
General Powell, I think I know enough about you to presume to say the following.
You want a President who will be transformational at home and abroad.
You want a President who has simple, clear, and specific plans, like those laid out at www.kotlikoff2016.com, to dramatically raise economic growth, dramatically raise real wages, fix taxes from the ground up, fix healthcare from the ground up, fix Social Security from the ground up, end the poverty trap our tax/transfer systems sets for the poor, significantly reduce inequality, revolutionize education, address, not just discuss climate change, fix the banks for real, and restore and dramatically enhance our infrastructure.
You want a President who will fully support our military and our veterans.
You want a President who will forcefully respond to North Korea's nuclear weapons testing and North Korean and Iranian missile testing.
You want a President who can cut good deals with China and Russia on our range of bi-lateral conflicts and lower tensions with those two superpowers.
You want a President who will take quick and decisive action to remove ISIS from every major city and town it occupies while ensuring that our troops never again get mired in protracted occupations.
You want a President who is socially liberal/libertarian, fiscally responsible as in putting our children's futures first, and knows two things. First, good government policies are vital to our nation. Second, our government's policies are, with few exceptions, dysfunctional and needs to be re-engineered from scratch.
You want a President with the technical knowledge, training, and international experience to fix and lead our country.
I'm the Only Presidential Candidate Standing Between the American Public and Trump or Clinton
General Powell, You may not yet have heard about my registered write-in candidacy. Registered write-in candidates get their votes counted. Non registered write-in candidates don't.
I am the only real write-in Presidential candidate in the country precisely because I'm the only write-in candidate who has registered nationwide.
So, leaving aside Johnson and Stein, I'm the only person standing between our county and your twin nightmares -- Clinton and Trump.
My background and reputation as well as my status as the only actual write-in candidate explains why my campaign has received more national media coverage than any write-in candidacy for President in our country's history.
The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BusinessWeek, The Boston Globe, PBS, NPR, Money, Forbes, CNBC, Newsmax, The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, Politico, Ozy, and many other U.S. and international media (including the top two newspapers in Germany) have covered my campaign.
General Powell, in endorsing my candidacy you will elect an economist (I'm a professor of economics at Boston University), a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the world's top 25 most influential economists (according to the Economist Magazine), a small business owner, a person who has lived and worked all over the world, a person who has worked for our government, a person who frequently testifies to Congress, and a person who has interacted with U.S. and foreign leaders at the highest levels.
In short, you will elect someone who can handle the job.
I don't claim to be the best alternative to Trump and Clinton. I claim to be the best legally electable alternative to Trump and Clinton.
7 Magic Words
General Powell, here's what will happen if you pronounce those 7 magic words.
First, you will split Trump's vote and guarantee he's not elected.
A much larger share of Trump's than Clinton's potential voters realize "their" candidate is dangerous and unfit for the job. Hence, on day one, Trump's, not Clinton's supporters will follow your lead in supporting my candidacy.
Most of Trump's "supporters" know he's everything you described plus, as Nicholas Kristof put it, a dangerous crackpot. Yet they can't, for good reason, stomach Clinton. Trump's supporters need an option, but one they can take knowing they are doing so collectively.
Put differently, if you tell the nation you are voting for me, tens of millions of voters will follow your lead because they know that tens of millions of other voters will follow your lead. Each of us wants her vote to count and voting in a pack gives one that sense.
Yes, you have that much influence and yes, American politics is all about follow the leader.
Second, your 7 words will flip traditional and social media's attention, full force, in my direction.
Third, your 7 words will get prominent Republicans, like Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, George Will, William Kristol, David Brooks, and ... to follow your lead and endorse my candidacy.
Fourth, within a few weeks, Dump Trump will be in full swing as most Republicans adopt me as their Republican notwithstanding my being an independent.
Fifth, once Trump has clearly been dumped by Republicans, your 7 words will flip tens of millions of Democrats and independents who question Clinton's competency, integrity, and leadership to my candidacy.
General Powell, I'm a trained social scientist. Making crazy pronouncements is not my line of work. I leave that to the politicians. What I'm saying is anything but crazy. The current race for President is highly unstable for a simple reason -- the majority of America's voters either don't want or can't stand both Trump and Clinton -- hence the seemingly magical power of your seven words.
Your Words, Not Mine
Let me close by saying why those seven words are yours, not mine.
I'm not some savior from academia come down from the ivory tower to fix America, who's got an ego a mile wide. I'm someone who has been doing his homework on our country's problems and how to correct them for decades. Just go to www.kotlikoff.net and peruse the books, articles, and op eds I've written on the entire range of issues. My policy proposals, each of which fits on a postcard and will dramatically reduce government bureaucracy, were designed after extensive discussions with U.S. and foreign economists. As a result, these proposals reflect what economists, as a group, recommend.
We both know what will happen with either Trump or Clinton. Neither will fix anything. Consequently, all of our nation's grave problems will get far worse.
The seven words are yours to say because you, not I, have the power to use them and, thereby, transform this election and our nation's future.