HERE WE GO AGAIN
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me - Chinese Proverb
The big joke on democracy is that it gives its mortal enemies the tools to its own destruction - Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, 1933-45
I started my last presidential pre-election blog in 2020 with these words - "... another of a seeming endless series of existential must-win elections. It never seems to get any less critical. The counter-enlightenment just won't go away." And neither, it seems, will Donald Trump. But even worse for any hope of retaining the public's respect for our electoral process and maintaining the historic aspirations of a republican form of government is the demise of the Republican Party from a rational, legitimate expression of so-called conservative policies of governance to a corrupt party of non-governance motivated by a desire for autocratic control of the levers of government by a self-selected elite of the "right" kind of people who will install a hierarchy of "real" Americans which will keep the "others" permanently in their places as ordained by the "natural' order, that is, as defined in biblical, racist, ethno-centrist and misogynistic terms. As one commentator has written: a kind of cargo cult; a real woo-woo. More graphically and vulgarly, although no less accurate - b_ s__ today, b_ s__ tomorrow, b_ s_ forever.
So here we are once more. Maybe it's in the nature of democratic politics that each election is always more important than the last one, since evolution, and thereby, history, has no purpose. Or maybe we are just living in the Age of Stupidity, a sort of modern Dark Ages.
Assuming that in each election cycle about 90% of the voting population is evenly split between the Democratic and Republican candidates, whoever they may be, there are about 10% of the voters who will choose the next President in each presidential election. So here are what these so-called independent voters should be considering, even if they view the choice as less than ideal. To me this should not be a challenging choice. Kamala Harris and the Democrats running for Congress represent positive values; Donald Trump and the Republican Party stand in for the dark, destructive side, the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and the Party in George Orwell's 1984.
Let's go down the list.
1. Character
Although, strictly speaking, age is not usually considered a part of a person's character, it is a similar fixture. Trump, if elected, would, at 78, be the oldest person sworn in as the President of the United States, older that Biden was when he was sworn in. Since Trump's supporters are constantly harping on Biden's mental acuity due to his age, it ill behooves them to now ignore Trump's own age. He would be 82 at the end of his term if elected, a little older than Biden will be at the end of his current term. The Democrats were wise enough to recognize that this was not what the country needed or wanted. As with so many other issues the Republican Party does not see these as legitimate concerns. This is particularly concerning in the case of Trump who has never been known for his mental acuity, to say nothing of his judgement, even as a much younger man. In fact, quite to the contrary. Even when he was in the White House this was patently obvious. If there was ever any doubt that he is mentally unstable his words and actions of the last few days of his campaign should put any such doubts to rest. He is a certifiable madman. Whatever his mental state may have been before his defeat in 2020, that event pushed him over the edge leading to his denial of the loss to this day, and his attempt to overthrow the election certification process on January 6, the political equivalent of Pearl Harbor as a Day of Infamy in U.S. history, in parallel with the firing on Fort Sumter. Irrespective of ideology or partisanship, this is not a person who should be installed in the White House to lead the nation. There are different institution which are more appropriate for such a person. His latest, that he "shouldn't have left the White House", at the end of his term and "I don't mind if reporters are shot at" should cement the case. "I'm just not going to leave", he told one aide. "We're never leaving." These are not just the manifestations of a bad sport or poor loser but of something far more serious.
Recently, this mental instability has become even more apparent. Some of his supporters say they see no mental decline. This may well be, as in "decline from what?".
A few recent examples:
blaming Ukraine for Russia's invasion
bopping for nearly 40 minutes at a recent town hall
criticizing Lincoln for not settling the civil war: "Lincoln probably was a great president. Although I've always said, why wasn't that settled, you know? I'm a guy that - it doesn't make sense we had a civil war."
riffing on a pro golfer's anatomy
told women he will be "your protector"
declared himself "the father of IVF"
promoted Trump branded watches, silver coins, cryptocurrency
said Jews would be partially to blame if he loses
lashed out at multiple women by name who accused him of sexual misconduct
said crowds Kamala Harris has drawn were not real but the creation of artificial intelligence
said the US is like the garbage for the world
said he made peace in the Middle East.
Moving on for the moment from his frequently recurring mental lapses, let's look at his intentional false factual statements as reflections of a deeply flawed character. Trump may be a sick man who is mentally and emotionally disturbed, and in need of therapy, but he must be held accountable if he is going to run for public office.
A recently small sampling:
FEMA is withholding hurricane aid from North Carolina
VP Harris wants seniors to pay more Social Security taxes while she gives Medicare and Social Security to illegals
Harris plan will raise taxes for the typical American family by an estimated $3,000
I've been to Gaza
Kamala Harris let in 13,099 convicted murderers and opposed all efforts to find them and to remove them
Vice President Kamala Harris even wants to legalize fentanyl
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was calling President Joe Biden after Hurricane Helene but hasn't been able to get him
Kamala Harris wants to forcibly compel doctors and nurses against their will to give chemical castration drugs to young children
Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to cut Medicare by $273 billion
Lower insulin prices were the work of the Trump administration, not crooked Joe Biden. He had nothing to do with it
Joe Biden's immigration order limiting asylum is "pro-child trafficking"
Joe Biden wants to quadruple your taxes
Biden wants to immediately stop all aid to Israel
All legal scholars, both sides, wanted, and in fact demanded, that Roe v. Wade be overturned
Crime is down in Venezuela by 67% because they're taking their gangs and their criminal and depositing them very nicely into the United States
Democrats support abortion measures that result in the execution of babies after birth
In February alone, nearly 1 million jobs held by native-born Americans disappeared
They want to make our Army tanks all electric
With the historic Abraham Accords, I even made peace in the Middle East
Violent crime in Manhattan is now at a record level
The percentage of Americans with natural immunity from getting Covid- 19 is a very powerful vaccine in itself
Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets
Aurora, Colorado, is a war zone overrun with members of a Venezuelan gang
We are headed toward WW III
Questioned whether Vice President Harris had a problem with alcohol or drugs
This is consistent with a long history of disrespect for generally accepted rules of behavior. He has been taken to court for stiffing his vendors, stiffing his bankers and even stiffing his own family. He avoided the draft during the Vietnam War and avoided paying any income taxes for years. He has boasted of grabbing women by their private parts, been reported to have cheated on all three of his wives and been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women. He is the only president in American history impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors and only saved from being convicted on the second occasion by a vote in the Senate in favor of conviction of 57 to 43 by the requirement of a two-thirds supermajority.
He has commercialized his political campaigns as a marketing tool for his various "snake oil" gimmicks, i.e., Bibles, T-shirts, sneakers, men's fragrances, posters, bumper stickers, coins, watches, coffee mugs and bitcoins, and turned the White House into his personal piggy bank through his Trump International Hotel in Washington and Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. Effectively he has offered to sell the White House, if he wins, to large corporate benefactors and billionaire supporters like Elon Musk. He is the classic American huckster.
A group of mental health professionals has now released a letter (233 signatories) which states that Trump's symptoms of severe untreatable personality disorder-malignant narcissism makes him deceitful, destructive, deluded, and dangerous; that he is grossly unfit for leadership. The letter goes on to say that Trump exhibits behavior that tracks with the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder and paranoid personality disorder, all made worse by his intense sadism, which is a symptom of malignant narcissism. The letter adds that Trump shows a lifetime pattern of failure to conform to social norms and laws, repeated lying, reckless disregard for the safety of others, irritability, impulsivity, irresponsibility and lack of remorse.
To make matters worse the letter states, Trump appears to be showing signs of cognitive decline that urgently cry out for a full neurological workup. If, as the signatories to the letter suspect, Trump does have organically based cognitive decline, it will only get worse over time, grossly degrading his already impaired judgment, impulse control, memory, attention, reality testing, and capacity to process information, while dramatically exacerbating the symptoms of his toxic personality disorder.
Finally, the letter concludes, people suffering with mental illness are no more likely to be dangerous than the general population, but malignant narcissism is the rare exception. Without question, malignant narcissists have been history's most grandiose, paranoid and murderous leaders. Inevitably, they escalate until they are completely out of control, ultimately destroying themselves and the nations they lead.
This is a devastating diagnosis, confirming what should be obvious to even a layman without professional training - Donald Trump is an aging, sick man who is totally unfit to run for, much less serve as, President of the United States.
Is this the the role model we want to hold up to our children as an example of the leadership for which they should strive and emulate? How can we explain to them how we went from George Washington ("I cannot tell a lie") and Abraham Lincoln ("Honest Abe") to Donald Trump?
Sure, from early on we know the cherry tree story is a only a foundational, aspirational myth, but there's a reason we continue to tell it, although Fred Trump seems to have omitted it from his son's upbringing; Lincoln's biblical reference to the house divided is equally relevant today. Four more years of Trump's divisiveness and self-indulgence may indeed bring the house down. Do we really need to endure four more years of his vulgarity and ad hominem schoolyard attacks on anyone who doesn't kowtow to him? Four more years of chaos? Four more years of government paralysis? Four years of "retribution'?
Trump's latest rally at Madison Square Garden, recreating the atmosphere of the pro-Nazi rally at that site in 1939, only emphasizes what a disgusting, despicable human being he is as he spews dark and hateful rhetoric. Highlights include vulgar and racist remarks by him and his allies. Trump referred to migrants as "vicious and bloodthirsty criminals" and called his opponent a "very low IQ individual". Speakers referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage", mocked Hispanics as failing to use birth control, Jews as cheap, Palestinians as rock throwers, called out a Black man with a reference to watermelon, likened Vice President Kamala Harris to a prostitute with "pimp handlers", called her the Antichrist and the devil and mocked her as vying to become "the first Samoan-Malaysian, low IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president"; also, Hillary Clinton as a "sick son of a bitch" and the entire Democratic Party as " a bunch of degenerates, lowlives, Jew-haters and lowlives". Is this the person and the Party we want to speak for the United States? Is this how we make America great?
The unhinged Trump refers to the US as an occupied country. His attitude and that of his acolytes, in their denigration of the U.S., are reminiscent of Republican Vice President Spiro Agnew's description of Democrats as "nattering nabobs of negativism". (Agnew you may recall pleaded "no contest" to a felony charge and resigned from office.) Trump on Chicago - "worse than Afghanistan"; on the District of Columbia - "rat-infested, graffiti-infested shithole"; Atlanta - "killing field"; Portland - 'a burned-down hulk of a city"; San Francisco - "destroyed"; on Detroit - "once a great city"; on New York City - "city in decline"
The much disgraced and disbarred Rudy Giuliani, a former personal lawyer for Trump, claims Kamala Harris is on the side of the terrorists in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, continuing his torrent of outrageous lies which resulted in a $148 million defamation judgement against him. Furthermore, according to Giuliani, "the Palestinian people are taught to kill us at two years old".
Explain all of this to your children. If Trump is elected we will get four years of it, and worse. But it is okay according to VP candidate J D Vance - "we have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America". Sure, what's the big deal about making up stories about immigrants eating people's pets; or claiming that the entire purpose of a woman who is too old to bear children is to raise grandchildren, or complaining that the country is being run by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. This is the man running with the biggest crybaby of them all when it comes to being the subject of criticism for his non-stop lies and statements of misinformation.
Let's look at some further examples of Trump's character insofar as they reflect on his attitude toward the American system.
No American commander in chief over the past couple of centuries has so aggressively sought to discredit the institutions of democracy at home while so openly embracing and envying dictators abroad, including Vladimir Putin who repeatedly denigrates American institutions.
Trump has vowed if re-elected to use the military to crack down on dissent, to use the Justice Department to prosecute and imprison his foes, to shut down news media outlets that displease him, to claim authority that his predecessors did not have and to round up millions of people living in the country illegally and put them in camps or deport them en masse (even if they have been here for decades, have American children, have jobs and pay taxes).
He has sought to overturn a fair election that even his own advisers told him he had lost, all in a bid to hold on to power despite the will of the voters, something no other sitting president ever tried to do. He then called for the "termination" of the Constitution so that President Biden could be instantly removed from power and himself reinstalled without a new election.
He calls Kamala Harris both a "fascist" and a "communist" without seeming to realize they were historical and ideological enemies of one another, another example of his penchant for campaigning by calling people names rather than by proposing policies or solutions to problems.
Trump has affiliated himself with the modern world's autocrats. He has praised some of of today's most authoritarian and, in some cases, murderous leaders, including President Vladimir Putin of Russia ("genius"), President Xi Jinping of China ("a brilliant man"), Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea ("very honorable"), President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt ("my favorite dictator"), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia ("a great guy"), former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines ("what a great job you are doing"), President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey ("a hell of a leader") and Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary ("one of the most respected men").
On the other hand, he has scorned democratic leaders, such as former Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany ("stupid"), former Prime Minister Theresa May of Great Britain ("a fool"), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada ('two-faced") and President Emmanuel Macron of France (very, very nasty).
In asserting his view on presidential power, "I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." Reminiscent of Richard Nixon who resigned as president in disgrace to preempt impeachment - "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal".
When an interviewer gave Trump an opportunity to clarify his comment that his conservative Christian supporters "don't have to vote again" if they put him back in office, noting that the left interpreted that to mean he might try to end future elections, he repeated that Christians should vote on November 5. "After that, you don't have worry about voting anymore. I don't care, because we're going to fix it."
Trump promoted a social media post saying that former Representative Liz Cheney should face a military tribunal for investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. More recently he said that she should be put somewhere "with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her".
He calls Democrats "the enemy from within" and suggested that he would order the National Guard or active-duty military members to round up American citizens who opposed his candidacy.
As an add-on: Trump's running mate , J.D. Vance, said that if the Trump won he should "fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people", in effect turning the nonpartisan government work force into a partisan cadre of loyalists.
Hard to see how any of this makes America great.
2. Insights of those who know or worked with Trump
John Bolton, National Security Adviser, 2018-19 - "In no arena of American affairs has the Trump aberration been more destructive than in national security. His short attention span renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable." "Donald Trump will make a lot of damage if he is elected in a second term."
Fiona Hill, Trump administration's top Russia and Europe adviser - "He was extremely vulnerable to manipulation."
Gary Cohn, Chief Economic Adviser, 2017-18 - "Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the K.K.K."
Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary, 2017-21 - "it was about public service rising above self. The president had lost track of that. ... His behavior had grown increasingly erratic and unnerving."
Mark Esper, Secretary of the Army, 2017-19; Secretary of Defense, 2019-2020 - "And yes, I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it, our institutions, our political culture, all those things that make America great and have defined us as, you know, the oldest democracy on this planet."
"I think he's unfit for office.... He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country."
Dan Coats, former Indiana Republican Senator; Director of National Intelligence under Trump - "To him, a lie is not a lie. It's just what he thinks. He doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie."
Jim Mattis, retired four-star Marine Corps. general; Secretary of Defense under Trump - "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people - does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us."
"Today's violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump."
H.R. McMaster, National Security Adviser, 2017-18 - "Putin. a ruthless former K.G.B. operator, played to Trump's ego and insecurities with flattery.
Mike Pence, Republican Vice President, 2017-21 - "...[Anyone] that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again."
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, 2017-18 - His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited."
Ty Cobb, a former White House lawyer - "Trump relentlessly . . . puts forth claims that simply are not true."
Maryanne Trump Barry, Trump's sister and a former federal judge - "You can't trust him."
Bill Pruitt, a producer on the first two seasons of "The Apprentice" - "By carefully misleading viewers about Trump - his wealth, his stature, his character and his intent - the competition reality show set about an American fraud that would balloon beyond its creators' wildest imaginations."
Jonathan Braun, worked on the first six seasons of "The Apprentice" - "Our job was to make him look legitimate, to make him look like there was something behind it, even though we pretty much all knew that there wasn't - but that was our job."
Dick Cheney, Republican Vice President of the United States, 2001-2009 - "In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost the election, and he lost big."
Ted Cruz, Republican Senator from Texas, 2013-present - "This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth, and in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying."
Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina, 2003-present - "he's a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for."
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of California, 2003-11 - "I do believe that we must be aware of the dire consequences of selfishness and cynicism. President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election, and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies."
John Boehner, Republican Speaker of the House, 2011-15 - "Trump incited that bloody insurrection for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuate by the bullshit he'd been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November. He claimed voter fraud without any evidence, and repeated those claims, taking advantage of the trust placed in him by his supporters and ultimately betraying that trust."
Marco Rubio, Republican Senator from Florida, 2011-present - "He is a con artist .... He runs on this idea that he is fighting for the little guy, but he has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy."
Liz Cheney, Republican Representative from Wyoming, 2017-23 - "The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution."
Will Hurd, Republican Representative from Texas, 2015-21, whose district included 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border, more than any other - "Building a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security."
Mitt Romney, Republican Senator from Utah, Governor of Massachusetts, 2003-07, and Republican nominee for president in 2012 - "Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the members of the American public for suckers."
Paul Ryan, Republican Speaker of the House, 2015-19 - "Character is too important to me. And it's a job that requires the kind of character that he just doesn't have."
J. Michael Luttig, a conservative federal judge, 1991-2006 - "The former president sought to overturn an American election which he had lost fair and square. For four years, these claims by the former president and his Republican allies have corroded and corrupted American democracy and American elections." "Through his words and deeds, Donald Trump has over and again demonstrated his palpable contempt for those cornerstones of America's grand experiment in democratic self-government. He has proved himself to be an anti-democratic, anti-Constitution candidate for the presidency of the United Sates."
George Will, a conservative political analyst and columnist at the Washington Post since 1974 - "Trump is what he is, a floundering, inarticulate jumble of gnawing insecurities and not at all compensating vanities, which is pathetic."
Kim Jong-Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea - "Far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tensions, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors. A frightened dog barks louder."
Kazuyoshi Akaba, a former member of Japan's cabinet - "Where has our role model for democracy gone?"
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank - "If we are to draw lessons from history, meaning the way he ran the first four years of his mandate, it's clearly a threat."
Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Minority Leader, 2021- present, Majority Leader, 2015-2021, Minority Leader, 2007-2015 - "MAGA movement is completely wrong"; Trump is "erratic", a "sleazeball, a narcissist, "stupid as well as being ill-tempered", "not very smart, irascible, nasty, just about every quality you would not want somebody to have". He refers to the January 6 rioters as evidence of Donald Trump's unfitness for office."
Then there's John Kelly, a former Marine general, homeland security secretary under Trump and then his longest serving chief of staff, who recently agreed to on-the-record discussions with the NY Times.
In his view, voters should consider fitness and character when selecting a president even more than a candidate's stance on the issues.
He stated that in his opinion Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of the rule of law. He described fascism as a far right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, and belief in a natural social hierarchy. He said that definition accurately described Trump.
Trump's comments about using the military against what he called the "enemy within" were so dangerous that he felt he had to speak out.
He said that he believed that Trump stood alone in his lack of understanding of history and the Constitution. He lacked a fundamental understanding of basic American values and what being president is about.
He described Trump as "a person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law."
He confirmed that on more than one occasion Trump had spoken positively of Hitler, that Hitler did some good things, too.
On multiple occasions Trump told him that those Americans wounded, captured or killed in action were losers and suckers.
3. Trump Rap Sheet
1) A jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages. The judge in the case clarified that what the jury found was in fact rape; distinction from sexual harassment is a legal distinction without a real world difference.
2) Subsequently Carroll won a separate defamation lawsuit against Trump for lying about the sexual abuse. She was awarded $83 million in damages.
3) Trump and his organization were found to have engaged in financial fraud by presenting vastly disparate property values to potential lenders and tax officials and found liable for $355 million in damages. The judge ordered the termination of the defendants' state business licenses and the dissolution of the pertinent companies.
4) Trump was found guilty by a jury of falsifying business records in connection with a payoff to a porn star who claimed she had a sexual encounter with him.
5) Trump University ceased operations after a federal court approved a $25 million settlement of a lawsuit with students who said they were duped by Trump and the University through false advertising and high pressure sales techniques.
6) Trump personal charity was shut down and paid $2 million in damages under agreement with New York Attorney General after the attorney general's office sued the Trump Foundation alleging that Trump and several of his children used it for their personal and political benefit.
7) Trump Organization, a family-owned business that he controlled, was convicted in criminal court of 17 counts of tax fraud, a scheme to defraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records for doling out off-the-books perks to some of its top executives. The company was given the maximum fine of $1.6 million.
8) Special Counsel Robert Mueller, after two years of investigation, concluded that the Russians did interfere on Trump's behalf in the 2016 election, and uncovered an array of contacts between people in Trump's orbit and Russian figures, but concluded that he did not establish any illegal coordination between Russia and the campaign that was sufficient to charge anyone with criminal conspiracy. However, he outlined more than 10 instances where Trump might have committed obstruction of justice by trying to thwart the investigation. Mueller said he did not decide if charges were warranted because Justice Department policy precluded prosecution of a sitting president. Mr. Mueller explicitly said he was not exonerating Trump.
9) Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives twice. In the history of the United States, only two other presidents have been impeached, and none have been impeached twice.
10) Pending lawsuits
a) Special Counsel has charged, and a grand jury has indicted, Trump with 37 felonies in connection with his removal of documents from the White House when he left office. The charges include willful retention of national security information, obstruction of justice, withholding of documents and false statements. The indictment centers on Trump's refusal to give the documents back to the government despite repeated requests, lying about their retention and trying to hide them when FBI investigators came looking for them pursuant to a subpoena.
b) In Fulton County, Georgia, the District Attorney has brought a racketeering case against Trump and others, alleging a conspiracy that spread across weeks and states with the aim of stealing the 2020 election.
c) Special Counsel has charged, and a grand jury has indicted, Trump with four federal felonies in connection with his attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, including a fake elector scheme, and encouraging rioters to attack Congress.
4. Trump Business Record
A seemingly large number of prospective Trump voters believe a good businessman would make a good president and that Trump qualifies as a good and successful businessman. That a good businessman would make a good president is a dubious proposition to begin with, but, accepting that premise for the sake of argument, Trump's business career is a disaster. At most, he was always seen as a B-list developer with a small portfolio of buildings that he acquired long after they were constructed.
Anyone who would invest in a Trump project is a fool, partly because of his high failure rate and partly because they would be subsumed by his business model of lie, cheat and steal, even from, and particularly from, partners, lenders and investors. Some point to his wealth as evidence of his success. In fact, though, such claimed wealth is questionable, and whatever, in fact, exists is attributable to his father's largess in providing him funds and in bailing him out of some of his bad investments. It has been suggested that Trump would have far more money than he claims to have if he had just taken the $40 million he inherited from his father and invested it in an S&P index fund, that is, insulated it from his investment and management decisions. But lets take a look at the public record.
a) Trump Entertainment Resorts, a casino company, filed for bankruptcy three times, each with different casinos.
b) Trump Mortgage was shuttered after 18 months of operations.
c) Trump Steaks didn't last long and was discontinued because of lackluster sales.
d) Trump Vodka ceased production after about 5 years.
e) Trump acquired the Eastern Airlines Shuttle, rebranding it as Trump Airlines. Unable to cover interest payments, he defaulted and lost ownership to his creditors.
f) Trump University - see item 5 under Trump Rap Sheet above.
g) New Jersey Generals USFL football team; team and league folded after a year.
h) Trump Magazine ceased publication a year and a half after launch.
i) Trump Plaza Hotel filed for bankruptcy and Trump had to give up his stake in the property.
Some businessman! Would you lend money to this guy? Buy a used car from him? How about having him manage the U.S. debt?
5. Trump Administration, 2016-20
It would seem that many voters think things were good during the Trump administration, better than they have been under the Biden administration. According to Paul Krugman, most Americans are better off today than they were four years ago, but for reasons that remain unclear, many seem disinclined to believe it. They must be living under a rock or in a cave.
For instance, four years ago, more than 20 million Americans were unemployed. Trump left office with the worst job record of any president since Herbert Hoover. The country was in the grip of a violent crime wave, with murders soaring. Today we've just experienced the longest stretch of unemployment below 4 percent since the 1960s. Real incomes per capita are higher than they were before the pandemic. Most workers wages have significantly outpaced inflation.
Things to remember:
Four years ago thousands of Americans were dying each day of Covid-19. Of course, Trump didn't start Covid, but he didn't do much to deal with it either. He repeatedly downplayed the severity of the pandemic and often contradicted public health experts and members of his own administration in their more grave warnings about the virus.
He acknowledged to journalist Bob Woodward that he knowingly downplayed the coronavirus, even though he knew it was more deadly than the seasonal flu. I wanted to play it down, he said, and I still like playing it down. The day that the CDC confirmed what it then thought was the first case of the coronavirus in the US, Trump told a reporter that the country had it completely under control and that he was not concerned about a pandemic.
The next month as US health officials warned that the pandemic might stay for some time, Trump said that a "miracle' might make the pandemic "disappear". A month later, Trump said that for he vast majority of Americans the risk is very, very low. That same day Dr. Fauci warned that "bottom line, it's going to get worse."
Not long after that, he stated that it will go away.
A month after that, when the CDC recommended that people wear a mask, Trump said it was going to be really a voluntary thing and emphasized that he would not do it.
A month after that he said that when we have a high number of cases I don't look at that as a bad thing. I look at that as a good thing, because it means that our testing is better. Days later the U.S. recorded 100,000 known deaths from Covid.
At some point, " I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost like a cleaning.
During an interview a couple of months later he stated that many of those sick are going to get better very quickly. At that time 3.7 million Covid cases had been confirmed , and more than 140,000 Americans had died. (As of mid -2023, 1.2 million Americans had died of Covid.)
Two months later, Trump claimed that the coronavirus affected nobody, downplaying the risk of the extent of the pandemic and the danger that it posed to individuals. He suggested that the virus was dangerous only to older people with heart problems and preexisting conditions, sentiments that go against the guidance of most public health experts.
All in all, as of the end of October 2020, Trump declared at least 38 times that Covid was either going to disappear or is currently disappearing. His proclamations were wildly inaccurate.
As with much else that Trump says or does he has no idea what he is talking about but that doesn't deter him. He just doesn't care. He only cares that he looks or sounds like he knows what he is talking about or doing, and if it turns out that he is wrong, he'll just fake it and make up some new story. That may work fine in Trump Tower or Mar-a Lago, but not in the White House.
Attempted but failed to repeal Obamacare.
Failed to get Mexico to pay for additions to the border wall (little of which was newly constructed).
Passed a tax bill which cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, did little for the middle class and substantially increased the national debt and the budget deficit which he had promised to eliminate.
Repealed numerous environmental regulations.
Shut down the government.
Proudly appointed Supreme Court Justices to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Encouraged rioters to invade the Capitol to overturn the election of Joseph Biden as President although advised by his staff that the election was legitimate and having no evidence to the contrary. For over three hours refused to make any effort to stop the rioting and threats to Vice President Pence, Senators and Representatives while watching the riot on television as a number of Capitol police were killed or injured. He has promised to pardon those convicted of crimes during the riot and called it a "day of love".
According to Sean McGarvey, the president of North America's Building Trades Unions, Trump "never did anything he said he was going to do. He never did infrastructure. His National Labor Relations board was laden with anti-labor ideologues. He never did pensions. Pretty much you name it."
6. Trump Foreign Policy
Past
Withdrew from Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Reversed the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
Withdrew from the Paris Agreement to combat climate change-left the U.S. as one of the world's only countries outside the Paris Agreement and made the U.S. the sole country to withdraw from the agreement after entering into it
Officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel reversing decades of U.S. policy and jeopardizing peace efforts in the Middle East.
Withdrew for the Iran Nuclear Deal although Iran was in compliance. As a result Iran is perhaps only a month away from having the capability of developing a nuclear weapon whereas under the treaty they would at least12 months away.
Met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un thus providing Kim with international status and a platform to promote his propaganda. Trump made several concessions and got nothing in return. In referring to their "love fest" he made a fool of himself and in visualizing diplomacy as just another real estate deal (which he wasn't very good at either) demonstrated his incompetence in international affairs.
Met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and accomplished nothing. Putin, like Kim before him, and Xi thereafter, ate Trump's lunch
Withdrew U.S. troops from Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, thus deserting our Kurdish allies, stating that U.S. troops were in Syria "only for oil", another untruth.
Spoke with China's paramount leader Xi Jinping aimed at ending the 18 month trade war. The U.S. ended up increasing tariffs on more than $360 billion of products from China frustrating many businesses that depended on imports. China agreed to make various structural changes concerning intellectual property and technology issues and promised to buy specific numbers of American goods. Data has shown that China had effectively purchased none of the $200 billion it had promised to buy. Ultimately the agreement failed to address any of the structural conflicts between the two countries. The overall U.S. trade deficit worsened, with supply trade diverted from China to higher cost foreign producers rather than being supplied domestically. Tariffs imposed by the U.S. increased costs of Chinese imports for U.S. consumers and businesses. Overall, after Trump's trade deals with China and the United States- Canada-Mexico Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, entered into force in 2020, the trade deficit grew, and U.S. manufacturing employment has not risen significantly. Studies have found that Trump's tariffs on China failed to increase employment in the protected industries, as American consumers cut off from Chinese factories turned to buying products from countries like Vietnam and Mexico instead.
Announced that the U.S. would cease funding of the World Heath Organization and pulled out of the agency.
Signed the Doha Agreement, a peace deal with the Taliban that facilitated the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and the official conclusion of the war there. Then failed to enforce its provisions leading ultimately to the fall of the Afghan government, takeover by the Taliban and the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Imposed a 10% national security tariff on aluminum from Canada, the United States' closest ally.
Threatened to withdraw from NATO thus jeopardizing relationships with our historic European allies and encouraging Vladimir Putin to "do whatever he likes" in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe.
Cancelled a visit to Denmark after the Danish Prime Minister stated that his offer to buy Greenland was an absurd idea; Trump stated that it was just "essentially ... a large real estate deal".
If elected in 2024
Economists say that Trump's new tariff proposals, which include hitting all imports with tariffs of 10-20%, plus tariffs of 60% or more on China, could significantly increase costs for U.S. households and cause a recession. It could also start a trade war. According to JPMorgan Chase, a tariff hike half the size of the one Trump is advocating would knock a third to half a percentage point off GDP growth in its first year and increase inflation by 1.5-2 percentage points.
Says he would end the war in Ukraine and bring peace to the Middle East with no plans as to how he would do it. Would he simply abandon Ukraine or force them into a settlement that rewards Putin for his aggressive war on Ukraine? An abrupt and haphazard American abandonment would embolden Putin and increase the risk he poses to his neighbors.
He has given open-ended encouragement of Israel's offensives which could lead to a regional war creeping towards Iran which could suck in the United States. The potential for further conflict is exacerbated by his failure to support a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.
Possibilities that cannot be ruled out given Trump's threats: a forced capitulation of Ukraine, the collapse of NATO with the threat of U.S. withdrawal, an expanding war in the Middle East, the lack of any meaningful international initiatives on climate change.
Would he abandon Taiwan?
7. Trump Domestic Policy If Elected
He has pledged to deport irregular immigrants by the millions (roughly 12 million), many with jobs and American children creating a potential recession due to the labor shock of a lack of workers.
He has made attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve and lavish tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, both terrible ideas ideas, according to The Economist. There is no amount of deportations, tariff increases or Fed bashing that is good for the economy; the only question is how much damage Trump would inflict. If he sticks to his guns, inflation, higher interest rates and recession beckon.
Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the House, has threatened to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), stating that repeal was a Republican priority, which he would never threaten to do without clearing it with Trump. Trump ran in 2016 on a full repeal of Obamacare (yet now claims he saved it), and when the Republican house voted to repeal the law Trump held a celebration and then excoriated Senator John McCain when his vote in the Senate allowed the law to survive. He has vowed in the past to come up with something better but never did anything and on the contrary issued an executive order weakening the law. In his debate with Vice President Harris the best he could come up with was that he had the "concepts of a plan" seven years after he tried to scuttle the law.
Trump characterized the CHIPS and Science Act (described below) that authorized about $280 billion to encourage domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S. and has brought significant private investment into the construction of new manufacturing plants and has created manufacturing jobs (115,000 new high-paying jobs in the U.S.) as "so bad". When House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked, given Trump's opposition and with Republicans having voted against it, whether the Republicans will try to repeal the law if they get majorities in Congress, he responded, "I expect we probably will ....". Pennsylvania Republican senatorial candidate Dave McCormick said he wants to reform the ACA and that he opposes the provision in the ACA that allows children to stay on their parent's health insurance until they're 26.
Has embraced Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic, and all-around nut case. Trump has stated that he is going to let Kennedy "go wild on health, ... on the food, ...", on medicines." A s one health expert said, Trump will fully politicize the CDC. Project 2025 inveighs against vaccine and mask mandates. Trump has said, "I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate." Health experts foresee reduced authority for public health agencies should Trump return to the White House. According to a former deputy director of the CDC, ending vaccine mandates would put children at risk of diseases like measles and polio, which have largely been held at bay by the requirements. Trump would likely withdraw from W.H.O., which is run by China, according to Trump (further evidence of his dementia).
Less than two weeks before the 2020 election, Trump signed an executive order that moved as many as 50,000 civil servants, many in high-level positions, into a new category with little protection from termination. President Biden rescinded it, but Trump would almost certainly restore it upon taking office, and could use it to purge anyone opposed to his agenda.
It hardly needs saying what would happen to abortion rights, contraception, birth control and IVF rights with Trump in the White House. Although he seems to be trying to weasel his way out of the conundrum he has created for himself, remember he is the person pledged to put Justices on the Supreme Court who would overrule Roe v Wade and did so with the connivance of the Republican Senate majority leader. No doubt about it - the Republican Party not only wants to rule Washington but also American bedrooms. Trump and his allies think they can avoid being hung with the label of being foes of abortion rights and the Roe v Wade formula by saying it should be left to the States. This is just another con game, particularly if you live in red state, of which there are many, where so-called pro-life reactionary legislators and Governors will pass anti-abortion legislation and defeat any attempt to pass legislation which would ensure protection for a woman's right to decide.
Protection of the environment and dealing with global warming will be a lost cause with a Trump administration which is delusional about the latter and pro- oil company on the former. Trump brazenly tried to extort campaign contributions from the oil companies in return for giving them whatever they wanted.
Another lost cause will be any chance of even modest gun control regulation.
Trump talks about the tariff program he proposes replacing the progressive income tax, taking us back to the late 19th century. Tariffs of the nature he is proposing are paid by American consumers, not foreign suppliers. Sounds great, but doesn't work. The tariffs effectively become a federal sales tax which falls mostly on middle and lower income families. Part of Trump's effort to create a Putin-like oligarchy.
Trump talks about a terrible economy which only he can fix. First of all, that's a misstatement that's totally unrelated from reality. It's hard to determine which is worse - that he believes it or that he doesn't - which is a common conundrum whenever Trump speaks. As a New York City official once said, "I wouldn't believe Donald Trump if his tongue was notarized." Or, to paraphrase Mary McCarthy, "everything he says is a lie, including "and" and "the".
In any event, according to the IMF, the U.S. economy is projected to grow 2.5% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the fastest among the Group of Seven major advanced economies. This is attributed to higher nonresidential investment and stronger consumer spending, which is being boosted by real, or inflation adjusted, wages. The U.S. is increasingly ahead of other wealthy nations in terms of economic growth, due to a surge in investment in recent years. The U.S. is increasingly ahead of the world's advanced economies, with a surge of investment paying off in higher productivity and wages.
Real GDP increased 3.0% in the second quarter and at the rate of 2.8% in the third quarter. The Consumer Price Index increased by 0.2% in September. The annual inflation rate was 2.4% in September, close to the Fed ideal target of 2%. As indicated above, we've just experienced the longest stretch of unemployment below 4% since the 1960s. According to BLS statistics, per- capita after-tax income has risen by 9% since the end of 2019. In short, the U.S. economy is doing just fine without any help from Trump. In fact, he is a danger.
But even if the economy was terrible, Trump has no policy to improve it, unless one calls the doctrinaire Republican answer of lowering taxes on the rich as a policy, a policy which is unsupported by the data. They also throw in deregulation which gave us the great recession of 2008. He has no plan to combat inflation, which in fact has subsided close to the level targeted by the Fed, and is currently under control.
Basically, there is no problem so Trump has to manufacture one in order to have an argument for his election. The problem would arise again only if he were elected, given some of his other proposed policies.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's various plans could add as much as $15 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade, nearly twice as much as plans being proposed by Vice President Harris. Trump's tax and tariff plans would on average amount to a tax increase for every income group except the top 5% of highest earning Americans.
On of Trump's three major arguments for his election is that crime is rampant in the U.S. Like so much else of Trump's assertions, this is fundamentally untrue. In fact, crime is going down. FBI data shows that violent crime of all sorts dropped in cities, suburbs and rural areas alike in the final quarter of 2023. The wave of violence that started almost everywhere across America in the summer of 2020 (when Trump was still president) had crested in most places in the summer of 2022. Murder is now headed back to pre-pandemic levels. In 2023 it declined nationwide on average by roughly 10%. In New York, by about 20%; Chicago-10%; San Francisco-30%; Baltimore-40%; Philadelphia-40%; Boston-80%. The homicide rate in Detroit was lower in 2021 and 2022 than it was in 2020, and it dropped sharply in 2023.
In 2023, in New York, there were 83% fewer robberies than in 1990.
In fact, the spike in violent crime took place on Trump's watch, then went away.
Trump talks of fixing the economy (which is the envy of the world), inflation (which is back to normal levels), crime (which is back to normal levels) and the border (where illegal crossings have substantially declined and the Republicans have voted down a bipartisan negotiated package to help rectify the problem), but he has not provided any ideas of how he is going to do it. "I will fix it" is hardly reassuring. It only confirms that he doesn't have a clue.
8. Biden Administration Accomplishments
Pumped billions of dollars into new American factories to make semi-conductors and solar panels.
Investment in American factory construction doubled between late 2021 and mid- 2023
The Biden administration has been far more aggressive than previous ones in taking antitrust actions against big companies
During the next five years, nearly a billion dollars in grants will be awarded to dozens of school districts nationwide through the EPA's Clean Scholl Bus Program
The American Rescue Plan, a $1.8 trillion bill - $90 billion went toward increasing the child tax credit,80 billion went to shoring up union pension funds, $88 billion went to infrastructure projects and $350 billion went to state and local governments
The Biden administration passed three more colossal bills in 2021 and 2022: the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($1.2 trillion), the CHIPS and Science Act ($280 billion), and the Inflation Reduction Act ($380 billion, now thought to have an actual cost of $800 billion). The first is intended to fund bridges, roads, harbors and other building projects; the second brings semi-conductor production back to the U.S.; and the third finances the transition to non-carbon-producing energy sources. They share the same goal: to rebuild and redirect the industrial capacity of the U.S.
The CHIPS Act allowed the government to mandate company-paid child care for the workers in the new factories it's financing, and for the construction workers building them too. Forty percent of federally backed climate investments are required to be made in disadvantaged communities
In August 2022 Congress passed the $4 trillion Inflation Reduction Act which has at its core generous tax credits to businesses, mostly but not entirely in clean energy, and has created 300,000 new jobs
In July, 2021, the White House issued an executive order on competition which stands as the strongest Presidential statement on monopoly and antitrust in American history
About 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created by Biden administration policies
9. Harris Proposed Policies
A ban on price gouging in supermarkets
Child tax credit
Paid family medical leave
Tax cuts for middle class and working class families
Make rent more affordable and home ownership more attainable
Help small businesses and entrepreneurs innovate and grow
Crack down on anti-competitive practices that let big corporations jack up prices and undermine the competition that allows all businesses to survive while keeping prices low for consumers
Make affordable health care a right, and make permanent the Biden-Harris tax credit enhancements that are lowering health care premiums; build on the Biden- Harris Administration's successes in bringing down the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries by extending the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending for seniors to all Americans
Strengthen Social Security and Medicare by making millionaire and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes
Fight to lower care costs for American families, including by expanding high- quality home care services for seniors and people with disabilities and ensuring hardworking families can afford high-quality child care, all while ensuring that care workers are paid a living wage and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve
Fight to ensure that Americans have the opportunity to participate in our democracy by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights and the Freedom to Vote Acts
Will ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. She will also continue to invest in funding law enforcement, including the hiring and training of officers and people to support them
She will bring back the bipartisan border security bill, which among other things, will fund detection technology to intercept illicit drugs, and sign it into law. She knows that our immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform that includes strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship
She and President Biden are working to end the war in Gaza, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination
Ultimately what people vote upon for President is the character of the President. They may call it policy, charisma, ideology, party membership, interest or emotion, but, whether they recognize it or not, it comes down to the character of the candidate; after all that is the only thing that will be unchanging over the four year term. When it comes to character, Trump is "missing in action". Or as Maureen Dowd has perceptively and accurately described, "Trump simply has no character." In combination with his oft-proven incompetence, and lack of mental stability, deciding who to vote for on November 5 should be a no-brainer.
