Donald Trump, “New York Values”, Ted Cruz… and a BORING, Profitable Investment Strategy  |  Episode 186.----Hello, SDI Nation!  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!  Get ready for another dose of Predictably Profitable thinking!So, another Republican debate happened last night, and it was entertaining as ever.  Without commenting on anyone’s political views, I have an observation…Ted Cruz is a brilliant, brilliant man… and a masterful debater.  His skill in that area is without peer.But Donald Trump really got the best of him in a big moment last night… and I think that moment is instructive for all of us.The context was simple:  Ted Cruz was making the point that Trump is from New York, and New York isn’t known as a place that’s particularly supportive of conservative, i.e. Republican, values.  The suggestion was that there’s something unattractive about New York values, from the conservative point of view.It’s a reasonable thing Cruz was trying to do… to tie Trump to a label that wouldn’t be helpful for him in this campaign.And again, I’ve got to tell you… I think Ted Cruz is just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant man, and his debate skill is simply over the top.  But Trump ate his lunch in a very un-Trump-like way:  He talked about shared values of a community, he talked about coming together against a challenge as New York did in the aftermath of 911, he spoke as one proud of his community and as a leader among them.So, Cruz really stepped in it… because the comment came off as him insulting New Yorkers, which I don’t think was the point at all.  But I was really shocked by Trump last night.  He took a solemn tone, spoke calmly and acted as a leader who is personally invested in the reputations and success of “his people”… New Yorkers.  I’ve got to admit… it might be nice to have a President who is PROUD of AMERICA… proud of it’s PEOPLE… and puts the values of America ahead of the values of every other country in the world… that would be a very, very nice change indeed.No, this isn’t an endorsement of Trump.  I’m undecided still.  But it is a segue into a deeper topic that’s highly relevant to me and you as investors… particularly as self-directed investors.Politics is an unsavory thing.  I suspect that politics used to be more noble – though I’m not entirely sure that’s true since political rivalries were settled with duels as recently as the late 1800’s.  On second thought… maybe dueling is a more elegant solution.  But I digress…Still, politics matters to me and you in a REALLY REALLY big way.  Here’s just one recent example:Last year, President Obama proposed drastically cutting the 1031 exchange, a tax deferral strategy strategy that’s almost exclusively used by real estate investors.  The government claims the impact of that would have been $18B more in tax collections.  But the impact of that is HORRENDOUS.  Here’s a point of comparison… in the entire 3rd quarter of last year, a TOTAL of about $7.9B was spent to buy houses that were flipped.  A lot of money for sure… but far less than HALF of the amount of money that would have been sucked out of the real estate market through Obama’s proposed changes.  With the stroke of a pen, he would have obliterated that capital.  Fortunately, he failed to achieve that goal… and that is to your benefit and mine… even if you’re not a user of 1031 exchanges.So, as much as I hate it… you and I as self-directed investors MUST pay attention to these things.  It would be so much better if I could just steer clear of these things.  But being a leader sometimes means stepping into dangerous territory, and as your fearless leader of the Self Directed Investor movement in America, I gladly step into the line of fire.This election happens in a very big year for America.  There’s every indication so far that this could be a very rough year for the stock market, and it COULD spill over into the broader economy.  But even more importantly, there’s a br