For the survival of our nation
A lot of people on Medium think I am a MAGA Trump supporter, or at least a conservative. I don’t know what they’re smoking, but we’ll come back to that.
I actually held open the possibility of voting for Trump in 2024.
In 2016, I was #nevertrump, along with much of the conservative establishment including Red State before Erick Erickson sold out.
In 2020, I remained #nevertrump.
And, after watching the Trump-Harris debate, I remain #nevertrump in 2024.
The rest of this article will be divided into three sections:
- What Trump did well
- Why I will not vote for Trump
- What I don’t care about regarding Trump
What Trump did well
Donald J. Trump was not a bad President.
There, I said it.
Here is a summary of Trump’s accomplishments:
- NO NEW WARS. Read my lips. Trump told John Bolton and the rest of the neoconservative establishment where to shove it. Trump was more pacifist than Obama, Biden, and every other president going back to Calvin Coolidge. Seriously, why are hippie liberals not absolutely LOVING Trump for this reason. Especially after the previous Republican president.
- The Abraham Accords. If any Democrat would have pulled this off, they would have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The strategy was simple, brilliant, and effective: build bridges between Israel and Sunni Muslim states, and isolate/marginalize Shia Iran. Iran is never going to be a friend under their current, evil regime. Israel and Saudi Arabia are among our top allies. Punish an enemy, boost an ally, and bring stability to the region. All without a single bullet being fired. Four wins in one brilliant move.
- Applying pressure to China and NATO. To be truthful, this is a mixed rating. Yes, something needed to be done about China. Yes, previous Presidents were too cowardly to do anything about it. Yes, we needed to bring manufacturing and other industrial services home. Yes, NATO was a complacent organization that replied on the United States for a disproportionate amount of money and military support. But no, I wouldn’t say the US has a leg up on China when it comes to trade now, and no, I wouldn’t say NATO was net stronger against the Russian threat by the end of Trump’s term. But I still give him credit for having the balls to do something.
- A strong economy. Covid aside, I don’t think anyone can dispute this. The stock market did well. Working class people did well. Everybody did well. Unemployment went down to 3.5%. Jobless claims hit a 50 year low. Corporate taxes were cut — probably too low at 21%, but something needed to be done as we could not compete with other nations at 35%. Even the Covid recession, was the shortest recession of my lifetime, and maybe the United States’ history.
- Respected by BRICS. You may not like Putin, Bolsonaro, or Salman. But BRICS is a rising force in the world. And leaders from every country respected Trump: Brasil, Russia, India, China, and Saudi Arabia. Much more than they respect Biden today. And arguably more than they respected Obama. BRICS was trying to replace the US Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency. All that talk stopped, when Trump was in office. Unfortunately, that talk has resumed under Biden.
- Covid response. Despite all of Trump’s rhetoric, we came out of Covid in surprisingly strong fashion. True, we were not as good at containment as South Korea or New Zealand. But we are also a much larger country, with infinitely more ports of entry. It took us a few months to get mobilized. But even before March 2020, Trump was on hot mic saying this was a big deal. Funding went where it needed to go. And Anthony Fauci, long regarded as the hero/savior of the Covid reponse, was recognized as both tool and fool as soon as he kept rambling during a supposedly more supportive Biden administration. I don’t think Fauci can take credit, other than being a balancing spokesperson we needed during Trump’s perceived (but not real) resistance.
- Starting to control the border with Mexico. I say starting, because the job wasn’t finished. There still is no wall. Mexico did not pay for it. Illegal immigration never really stopped under Trump. And ICE deported fewer people under Trump, than under Obama. But Trump was certainly a better steward against illegal immigration, than Joe Biden. Or than Kamala Harris will be.
Other “accomplishments” which I am neutral about, or do not care for, including nominating 3 supreme court justices who overturned Roe vs. Wade, and moving the courts far to the right in general. Although I think Mitch McConnell, political genius, deserves a lot more credit for this than Trump.
The fact that Trump is rated 41st of 44 Presidents, by C-Span’s Presidential Historians Survey, is beyond asinine. He was not 34th when it came to Economic Management. He was not 44th, dead last, when it came to Moral Authority (Harding? Wilson? Worse than Buchanan, who let Southern states secede? Worse than the 12 US Presidents who owned slaves? He was no more a womanizer than JFK, so why is JFK ranked #16?), and he was certainly not 43rd, second-to-last, when it came to International Relations.
Why I will not vote for Trump
Trump always made a big deal about hiring the best people. Billionaires, 4-star Generals, and former CEOs. It made for a good show.
Until they started to quit.
Just look at some of their quotes, regarding their former boss:
- Vice President, Mike Pence: “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States”
- Chief of Staff, John Kelly: Trump “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more than can be said. God help us”
- Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney: “I am working hard to make sure that someone else is the nominee [in 2024]”
- Secretary of Defense, William Cohen: Trump is “a clear and present danger to democracy”
- Secretary of Defense, James Mattis: “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution”
- Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper: “Threat to democracy” “He puts himself before country”
- Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson: “It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
- Attorney General, Bill Barr: “a consummate narcissist” who “constantly engages in reckless conduct”
- Chairman to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley: “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution”
- Secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer: “the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
- National Security Advisor, HR McMaster: “We saw the absence of leadership, really anti-leadership, and what that can do to our country”
- National Security Advisor, John Bolton: “Unfit to be President”
- Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert: “The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months”
- Communications Director, Alyssa Farrah Griffin: “A second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it”
- Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci: “He is the domestic terrorist of the 21st Century”
- Communications Director, Stephanie Grisham: “I am terrified of him running in 2024”
- Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao: Trump referred to me as “Coco Chao”
- There are more
These are not fired and disgruntled mid-level staffers. These are not RINOs. These are senior Trump administration officials. 4-star generals, CEOs, and the like. People who swore an oath to protect the Constitution, and United States. In Trump’s own words, these were “the best people.”
I fully trust their judgement in this matter.
Had Trump been re-elected in 2020, he was already talking about ignoring the US Constitution so he could remain in power indefinitely. He wanted to pull a Putin. He looked up to Putin, in so many ways. The fate of the nation be damned, Trump wanted to be a dictator.
Not that Trump actually WAS a dictator. He wasn’t. I draw the line at he never started killing his own citizens. But he wanted to be one. And, I think if he had been more enabled, particularly after he lost the election, we might be living in a very different country right now.
Additionally, I hated Trump’s creation of policy by Executive Order. This is the exact tactic Republicans slammed “Emperor Obama” for practicing. Meanwhile Obama issued 276 EO’s in 8 years, while Trump issued 220 EO’s in 4 years. I won’t support the re-election of Emperor Trump.
I despised Trump’s complete abandonment of fiscal responsibility except for tax policy. Grover Norquist is NOT a fiscal conservative. Under Trump, the US Debt grew by 40%, over 4 years. While Obama grew the US Debt by 70%, over 8 years. Trump scores worse here. His response to the farming crisis, was to throw a lot of money at it. Money printing, deficit spending, and quantitative easing were problems under Trump — before Covid even hit. Didn’t Republicans used to say, “We have a SPENDING problem!!”
Last, if you listen to Trump talk, in interviews, debates, and at his speeches, he’s really not much more cognizant than Biden. He’s not there. Look at his eyes — they are vacuous dark holes now. There’s not a lot of life left. There’s no real fight. He just doesn’t have a lot of energy anymore.
All put together, there is no way I can vote for this man.
What I don’t care about regarding Trump
January 6th. Trump did not organize it. QAnon did. Trump is not capable or organized enough to lead such an incident. The only way he could have been behind it, was if his senior administration was organizing it. They weren’t. Trump was not in direct communication with the QAnon Shaman, or anybody else. Donald Trump had nothing to do with January 6th.
Trumped-up political charges. Pardon the pun. Fani Willis and Leticia James have made it abundantly clear their agenda is to Get Trump. These are false allegations. MAYBE the New York business charges, have some merit. But the fact that all 4 cases were indicted within a week of each other, after years of being in the works, strongly suggests “collusion” among the attorneys general. It’s suspect.
Supreme Court ruling on Presidential Immunity. This had actually been in effect for the nation’s entire history. Gerald Ford was right to pardon Richard Nixon. Harry Truman was desperately unpopular. George W Bush faced calls to try him for war crimes. The Presidency carries unbelievable burden and responsibility. It calls for tough choices. Any president named Obama or before will attest to that. Presidents should not be tried for duties carried out while in office. Robert Mueller said as much in his own statement. The SCOTUS decision only covered duties carried out by a president while in office. It was completely in line with 200-year established precedent.
Two impeachments for purely political purposes. Congress should just stop impeaching presidents. It was not smart to impeach Clinton, nor GWBush, nor Obama, nor Trump, nor Biden. It is a huge waste of time.
Trump’s Character. I don’t care if he is a racist, or a misogynist, or paying off prostitutes while his wife is pregnant. I mean I do, which is most of why I didn’t vote for him. But Trump’s character is all the Left ever brings up. When there are so many better arguments.
In short, if you dislike Trump, focus on the fact that he is a clear and present danger to the survival of the United States.
The rest really doesn’t matter. Stop talking about it.
