As we wind down to the final weeks before the election, a large
percentage of voters remain undecided on whether to vote for Donald Trump
or Hillary Clinton or someone else. Unlike previous elections, many
undecided voters are educated, savvy conservatives who have not committed
to Donald Trump, a Wall Street Journal analysis reported. Like me, many
of these voters are repelled by both candidates.
Donald Trump may not be perfect, the argument goes, he may say silly and
offensive things, but he’s still better than Hillary Clinton. It’s true
that the one thing that Donald Trump has going for him is that he isn’t
Hillary, but that doesn’t mean that he is necessarily better than
Hillary. As we learned from Barack Obama in 2008, “change” doesn’t always
mean “better.” Let’s look closer at Mr. Trump to find out whether he
truly is the lesser evil.
My problems with Trump can be boiled down to three areas: character,
policy and judgment. It isn’t just that Trump says silly and insulting
things. He seems to be a genuinely bad and untrustworthy person. On many
levels, his character flaws are astonishingly similar to those of Hillary
Clinton. His ideas are as flawed and half-formed as his character, often
seemingly thrown out on a whim, only to be retracted or disavowed later.
Likewise, Trump’s judgment is quick, brash and often wrong.
Uncharacteristically bad
The most obvious character flaw of both candidates is their propensity
for lying. Their relationships with the truth are so nebulous that they
both lie about small, stupid, easily disprovable things. They lie even
when they don’t have to. The Daily Wire compiled a list of 101 of Trump’s
lies, hardly all inclusive, and, after analyzing his speeches, found
that, on average, he lied every five minutes. In 2015, after half a year
in politics, Politifact gave Trump the “Lie of the Year” award, not for
one specific fib as it did for President Obama, but for lifetime
achievement. The sheer volume of Trump falsehoods floods the zone of
anyone trying to keep him honest.
Trump’s fundamental untrustworthiness is underscored by corruption that
also rivals that of the Clintons. The most famous instance of Trump’s
corruption is the Trump University case where Trump stands accused of
being a literal con man who bilked novice real estate investors out of
tens of thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money. That is not the
full extent of his corruption, however.
Trump has a long history of using eminent domain, the government seizure
of private property, to take homes from the poor to build or expand his
luxury properties. In one famous case, Trump tried to use eminent domain
to bulldoze the home of Vera Coking, an elderly widow, in order to build
a parking lot for his Trump Plaza hotel and casino in Atlantic City.
Trump lost that case in court.
The Trump Plaza was one of several Trump casinos that went bankrupt in
the early 1990s, leaving investors and creditors on the hook for most of
the losses. Trump’s casinos were funded with debt that left them
unprofitable when most casinos were thriving. Trump also left a trail of
unpaid bills from contractors and employees in his wake, according to an
investigation by USA Today. Among the people he allegedly stiffed were
bartenders, waiters and other hourly employees who sued Trump – and won –
for unpaid wages.
In 1973, Trump and his father were named as defendants in a suit by the
federal government for violations of the Fair Housing Act. The charge was
segregating the company’s rental buildings by refusing to rent to
minorities like Maxine Brown, a 33-year-old black nurse. A New York Times
investigation found a long list of racial complaints against Trump
Management on file at the New York Commission on Human Rights. The Trumps
settled and agreed to desegregate their buildings in 1973.
In spite of having illegal immigration as a signature issue, Trump also
has a long record of violating immigration law at his companies. In the
1980s, Trump used illegal Polish immigrants on construction projects.
Several former models have also accused Trump of exploiting them and
hiring them to work without U.S. work visas. The women say that Trump
Model Management taught them how to circumvent U.S. immigration and labor
laws. As recently as last year, many Hispanic workers on at least one
Trump construction project were reported to be illegal aliens.
Trump also has a corrupt foundation to compete with the corrupt Clinton
Foundation. In a serious scandal that is just emerging, the Donald J.
Trump Foundation made an illegal payment of $25,000 to Florida attorney
general Pam Bondi a few days before she decided not to pursue a case
against Trump University. Shortly after the decision, Trump held another
fundraiser for Bondi at his Mar-a-Lago mansion. The Trump Foundation also
gave $100,000 to a group that sued the New York attorney general who sued
Trump over Trump University.
Numerous reports indicate that Trump has invested little in his charity
foundation yet has profited handsomely from it. The Washington Post found
that Trump used the Trump Foundation’s charitable funds as his own
piggybank. Trump used charity funds to settle a legal dispute with the
city of Palm Beach, Florida. The agreement had stipulated that Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago Club would pay for the settlement. Trump also used charity
funds, which were almost entirely donated by others, to buy portraits of
himself and advertise his hotels.
If that were not enough, Trump is accused of having ties to the mafia
resulting from his use of mob-owned firms in construction projects and
his days as an Atlantic City casino operator. Trump also took $150,000
from a September 11 fund earmarked to help small businesses recover from
the attack. Trump said that the payment was for helping victims of the
attack, but the New York Daily News found that the funds were issued for
“rent loss,” “cleanup” and “repair.”
Trump and Hillary both share a lack of character that is disturbing to
see in a possible president. Further, the scale of corruption is not an
indication of who is more corrupt. As Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted
with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest
with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10). One bit
of corruption makes a person completely corrupt.
Left of center
Even if Trump’s character is just as bad as Hillary’s, who has no
shortage of corruption and incompetence charges herself, it might still
be tempting to vote for Trump if he could be trusted, under close
supervision, to enact a broad agenda of conservative reform. What does
Trump stand for?
Several issues stand out where most reluctant Trump supporters say he is
preferable to Hillary Clinton. Unlike Hillary, they say, Trump won’t
threaten the Second Amendment or raise taxes. He’s better on religious
liberty and abortion, they argue. Is he?
On many issues Trump is incoherent and the Second Amendment is no
exception. CNN chronicles his “evolution” on gun control. Prior to
running for president, Trump supported assault weapons bans and waiting
periods. Even today, Trump takes the Democrat position that people on TSA
watch lists should be banned from buying guns. In contrast, Hillary
supports expanding background checks and reinstating the same assault
weapons ban that Trump supported before he ran for president.
On taxes, the Trump campaign has advanced a plan that would cut income
taxes, but at the same time he has left open the possibility of another
tax increase, saying last May,” “I am willing to pay more, and you know
what, the wealthy are willing to pay more.” Trump has refused to reveal
exactly how much he does pay in taxes. In August, he revised his tax plan
with higher rates than he had proposed in the primary. Clinton has
proposed a bevy of tax hikes that would fall primarily on wealthy
Americans and businesses.
Often not discussed as taxes are Trump’s tariffs, huge tax increases on
trade. Trump bragged that his views on trade were “very similar” to those
of Bernie Sanders. Trump’s massive tariffs on trade with Mexico, China
and Japan and the possible destruction of NAFTA, one of the most
successful trade agreements in history, would be devastating. Trump’s
trade policy would make items more expensive for American consumers and
businesses. One study found that Trump’s tariffs would cost Americans
more than $11,000 per year. This is much more than they would save from
income tax rate cuts. The Wall Street Journal, the most conservative
paper in the country, found that Trump’s trade policy would likely start
a trade war and fuel a recession that could cost 5 million jobs.
On religious liberty, Trump was the sole Republican of the final four not
to pledge to sign the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) to protect gay
marriage dissidents from federal action. Trump was critical of Kentucky
county clerk, Kim Davis, for her faith-based refusal to issue same-sex
marriage licenses. When asked about protections for Christian businesses
in a meeting with evangelical leaders, Donald Wildman said, “Either he
doesn’t understand it or he doesn’t agree with us and he doesn’t want to
tell us that.” Trump’s main focus in the battle for religious liberty
seems to be allowing churches to endorse candidates without losing their
tax-exempt status.
On the subject of abortion, Trump is particularly incoherent. As late as
March, Trump was praising abortion provider Planned Parenthood and was
the sole Republican to resist cutting funding for the group. Trump may
have set a personal best for flip-flops when he took five different
positions on abortion in three days. Most recently, two months before
Election Day Trump reinvented himself as a staunch abortion opponent.
The flip-flops and liberal positions don’t stop there. Trump said that he
wants to repeal Obamacare. The hitch is that he has said he wants to
replace it with government-funded, universal healthcare.
On spending and the debt, Trump said just last month that “this is a time
to borrow.” Trump would use those borrowed funds on an infrastructure
stimulus spending package that is twice as big as the one that Hillary
proposes. Entitlements are the largest driver of deficit spending, yet
Trump refuses to consider entitlement reform.
For those who would like to see pro-business regulatory reform, Trump
does not look promising. He has advocated more banking regulation by
reviving the New Deal-era Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited banks from
diversifying into insurance. He also unveiled a plan to require
businesses to offer paid maternity leave, a tax-and-spend plan to be paid
for through state unemployment taxes.
On the economy, Trump did a full flip-flop with a half twist when he
suddenly decided to back another progressive position and call for an
increase to the minimum wage. Trump advocates an increase in the federal
minimum wage to $10 per hour. In the past, he has advocated a minimum
wage as high as $15 per hour while also arguing that “wages are too
high.”
Trump dislikes other treaties in addition to NAFTA. He has threatened to
reconsider American defense alliances with both NATO countries and South
Korea. In spite of Trump’s criticism of Obama’s not-a-treaty with Iran,
he has no plans to scrap the nuclear deal. When it comes to fighting
ISIS, Trump’s call for attacks with aircraft and drones and the
establishment of a coalition are essentially the same strategy that
President Obama has employed.
What makes Trump especially dangerous…
Trump is a liar and a man of poor character. He also does not exhibit
core principles and tends to default to leftist positions. So does
Hillary. But wait, as they might say in a Trump University infomercial,
there’s more! Donald Trump displays several difficulties that are so
uniquely bad that they should disqualify him from the presidency, even if
the only other alternative is Hillary Clinton. Many of these problems
stem from Trump’s poor judgment.
When most people think of Trump’s lack of judgment, they think of things
like how he mocked a disabled reporter or set about with the character
assassination of the parents of a fallen American soldier. In reality,
his errors in judgment go far beyond such trivialities to attacks on
civil liberties and statements that would be matters of war and peace if
he were president.
In statements reminiscent of Barack Obama, Trump threatened Washington
Post and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos with an antitrust investigation after
the Post assigned 20 reporters to investigate The Donald. Trump also has
said that he wants to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue the
press.
Those who dislike President Obama’s abuse of his executive authority to
bypass Congress, should expect more of the same from Donald Trump. Trump
has said that Obama “led the way” on Executive Orders and that he is
“going to do a lot of things” with executive actions.
Trump’s embrace of conspiracy theories also sets him apart from other
politicians. Trump has advocated theories ranging from birtherism to 9/11
trutherism to the bizarre claim that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in
the Kennedy assassination. Trump is either very gullible or cynically
exploits believers in conspiracy theories for publicity. Perhaps both.
It may be Trump’s poor judgment that garnered his endorsement from ISIS.
Yes, the terrorist group ISIS has expressed support for Trump according
to multiple sources cited in “Time.” One ISIS supporter said, “The
‘facilitation’ of Trump’s arrival in the White House must be a priority
for jihadists at any cost!!!” [emphasis his]. “I ask Allah to deliver
America to Trump,” wrote another.
From the Middle East to Mexico, where Trump refused to rule out the
possibility of going to war over payment for his wall, Trump’s errors of
judgment are the product of willful ignorance and a bully mentality.
Interestingly, the bully backed down when he actually met Mexican
President Nieto face-to-face, only to launch a salvo of bombast when he
was safely back across the border in Arizona.
The final two problems between Trump ‘s judgment are egregious. Either
one should disqualify a candidate even without the consideration of any
other issue.
First, Trump’s affinity for Vladimir Putin is naïve and dangerous.
Trump’s admiration for Putin is seen in his campaign staffing and may
have impacted his proposed foreign policy on Ukraine. Trump has
surrounded himself with pro-Putin advisors such as Paul Manafort, Carter
Page and Michael Flynn. There is strong evidence that the Russians are
trying to influence the election on behalf of Trump. Donald Trump has an
obvious blind spot when dealing with Vladimir Putin and Russia that could
be dangerous. In fact, Trump’s affinity for Putin is already making the
precarious situation in the Ukraine worse.
Finally, there is the fact that Trump has openly advocated political
violence on numerous occasions. In my near-half century, I cannot
remember a single candidate who has encouraged his supporters to “rough
up” political opponents as Trump did. Trump also made a veiled threat
that there would be “riots” if Republicans contested his nomination at
the convention. Violence has been mostly absent from American politics
since the 1968 riots at the Democratic convention in Chicago. Until
Trump. For that reason alone, he cannot be trusted with power.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both poor choices. They are both
progressive. They are both liars. They are both corrupt. The both have
poor judgment. They would both be destructive for America.
Source:
http://bit.ly/2dpjw9g
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"You want to talk about deplorable, then how about the lower half of
white America that has been paying for the liberal agenda for the last
half century not in taxes, but in diminished lives, so that liberals
could pat themselves on the back for their compassion and their
passionate activism." Democrat-owned media has tried desperately to hide;
that the Democratic Party is not a political party but a crime cartel
peddling lies, trading influence for dollars, and crushing the
aspirations of anyone stupid enough to actually believe in it."
(Christopher Chantrill)