Outsourcing Champion

Back in March, Mona Charen  recongnized that Donald Trump's insecurity and self-aggrandizement

is far beyond the puffery that most salesmen indulge to some degree. It strays well into the bizarre. Asked who he consults on foreign policy Trump said “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.” What grown man says things like that and continues to be taken seriously? How can he be leading the race for the Republican nomination?

Trump has criticized the Clinton Foundation, implying that donations from abroad received from the Foundation while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State are tainted and a conflict-of-interest. Stepping  (or it would be, if anyone noticed the irony) on that potentially powerful message, the Trump campaign recently e-mailed fund-raising appeals to politicians of foreign nations, an apparent violation of Federal Election Commission regulations barring solicitation of foreign nationals.

Whereas Charen was amazed three months ago that Donald Trump would be the front-runner for his party's nomination, it is reasonable to question whether the real-estate mogul has a single-minded determination to be President.

We maysoon find out.  ABC News' Jordyn Phelps has noted the candidate "talks tough against outsourcing" but

Harvard Trade and Investment Professor Robert Lawrence did a deep dive on the Trump-branded merchandise advertised on Trump.com and found that products made in the U.S. are the exception and not the rule.

Most of the Trump neckties, shirts and suits are made in China, Bangladesh, or simply say “imported.” And virtually all of his daughter Ivanka Trump’s extensive clothing and accessory line for women is made outside the U.S., with many items manufactured in China.

“Of the 838 Ivanka products advertised through the site, none appear to be made exclusively in the U.S.; 628 are said to be imported and 354 made specifically in China,” Lawrence, who formerly served as a member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, writes in a column revealing his findings published on PBS.

The Ivanka Trump Collection has now been removed from the Trump Organization’s website. A cached version of the page accessed in a Google search indicated that it existed as recently as March 5.

Neither the Trump Organization nor the Ivanka Trump Collection immediately responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Trump's wife, Melania, who is also in the fashion business, has a jewelry line with QVC. The jewelry is produced in China.

Trump has been wise enough to offer an explanation, however inadequate. He

has made no secret of the fact that some of his apparel is made overseas and has explained that his ties are made in China "because they’ve manipulated their currency to such an extent that it’s hard for our companies to compete.”

Usually, a Republican presidential nominee lauds business owners by arguing they, and they alone, create jobs.  Here is a (presumptive) GOP nominee who has tried to make a virtue of sending jobs abroad, all the while claiming "Hillary Clinton gave China millions of our best jobs, and effectively let China completely rebuild itself. Hillary Clinton supported Bill Clinton’s disastrous NAFTA, just like she supported China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization."

Hillary Clinton, never President, Commerce secretary, or US Trade Representative, never "gave" China jobs like Donald Trump has. Nonetheless

Trump has said that he would not let other countries manipulate currency if he's elected president.

“I wouldn’t let them manipulate their currency because that’s what they do,” Trump told CNN in an interview when asked about the fact that his ties are made in China.







If Donald Trump were thoroughly committed to winning his presidency, he could promise a major action on "Day 1." Republicans always vow to remake the world on the first day of their presidency, and Trump should announce that on January 21, 2017 he will close any factory abroad he or any member of his extended family owns or has any interest in. It would be an empty pledge, of course, in part because he could claim afterward complications preventing the closures and he would not be bound by the vow in any manner.

Still, it would sound good and blunt attacks by Democrats that he is a hypocrite. That would be impressive, given it is a characterization he so richly deserves.














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