To Trump Supporters

I readily admit that I have no idea why 30-35%  of the U.S. population continues to support President Donald Trump.  In my mind, their continued support defies all reason.  I need to be empathetic and compassionate towards my fellow Americans, not angry at them.  It starts with trying hard to understand their point of view.

I’m thinking that perhaps they haven’t had anyone try to reason with them.  Maybe they have been too busy trying to live their lives to pay attention to any news besides Fox.  Maybe they remain in a bubble, surrounded by other Trump supporters.  Maybe they truly hate American government and want to rebuild it into a dictatorship (I hope not).  Or maybe they are just lying to themselves, too stubborn to admit the reality of the situation.  In any case, I’m compelled to lay out reasons why this President no longer deserves the support of any patriotic American.First, he can’t be trusted to tell the truth.  How many times does a person have to lie, throw out false statistics, make empty promises, and make false accusations without any evidence to lose a reasonable person’s trust?  If I had a friend, colleague, or family member who did this on a daily basis, I wouldn’t have any faith in the things they tell me.  This president is constantly lying, making false claims, empty promises, and false accusations.  Each lie and falsehood is documented, but he just continues.  And sadly, he encourages those around him to lie on his behalf. Kelly Ann Conway and her “alternative facts”.  I bet Sean Spicer slept better than he has in six months since resigning this week.  This president and those who speak on his behalf can’t be trusted and some might have to face perjury charges for it.

Second, he has shown himself to be a hypocrite.  He tells Americans to make and buy products made in America, but his own products (and those of his daughter) are made by cheap labor abroad in China, Mexico and other countries.  Just this week, it came out that he has requested about 70 H2B temporary worker visas to bring in foreign workers to staff his resorts.  This is not leading by example.  This is not leadership.  Why can’t he hire American maids, cooks, servers, bar-tenders, grounds keepers, etc?  They exist and would appreciate the work.  He should go to the inner cities and rural areas and recruit!  But no, he wants to hire foreign workers and have his products made outside the U.S., but then fires up his supporters with claims that foreigners are stealing American jobs.  That is the definition of hypocrisy.

Third, his finances are suspect.  He is not a great business man.  He inherited money from his father and has driven many businesses into the ground with at least three bankruptcies.  We know he owes a lot of money and that American banks won’t touch him.  We know he is not generous in his giving, the lies about this are downright embarrassing.  So, who does he owe?  Why hasn’t he shown his tax returns? Every expert has said that he can share them even if they are under audit.  He promised he would, but has now said he won’t.  Just recently, he has threatened Mueller to not look into his family finances in this Russia investigation.  I think its important to follow the money because this is all about money.  How much does he owe wealthy Russian businessmen (oligarchs)?  This might explain his  coziness with Putin as well as his reluctance to admit Russia’s interference in our 2016 election.  The question of his campaign’s collusion with Russia in his election and his own obstruction of justice is still very much in question.  But the omission of meetings with Russians among members of his administration is astounding!  And don’t think for a minute that this is okay.  Russia is not our friend.  Putin is not our friend and we should not embrace him.  Putin kills his opponents.  Putin kills or jails reporters.  Putin invades other countries.  Putin is a corrupt criminal who has no love for the U.S. and our freedoms or our position in the world.  He is an authoritarian leader with an eye towards domination.

Forth, this president is ignorant of history and is unintellectual.  It matters that he understands where we have been as a nation and a people when dealing with world leaders and creating domestic policy.  It matters that he understands basic economics and science.   The scary thing is there is no indication that he has the intellectual curiosity to learn about these things.  Although, this week, he was curious enough to gather information about his own pardoning powers as president.  His self-interest is astounding as he questions whether he  can even pardon himself.  Instead of gathering information to actually help the American people, he simply makes ignorant pronouncements about bringing back coal jobs and factory jobs and instituting a “Muslim ban”.  He makes promises about giving everyone better and cheaper healthcare and tax cuts.  He says climate change is a hoax and removes us from the Paris Climate Accord.  He says getting rid of Isis is as easy as “bombing the hell out of them” and that only he can deal with North Korea and Iran because he makes great deals.  He claims everything is so easy and then discovers that none of these issues is easy and he can offer no real answers.  He has shown his incompetence repeatedly.

And finally, just for this post (because there are more arguments against supporting him) is that he is not a good role model for our children.  None of us wants our children to emulate his character.  This is a man who has a history of demeaning women, defrauding students (Trump University), defaulting on bank loans and payments to contractors, and denying the legitimacy of our previous president and every legitimate media outlet that challenges him.  He insults and calls people names instead of making his argument. He is anti-intellectual, preferring outrageous conspiracy theories to substantiated facts. He blames everyone for his shortcomings and never takes responsibility for his mistakes.  He is boastful and arrogant.  He needs constant affirmation and admiration from the people around him (scary).  He has cheated on at least two of his three wives.  He is an admitted womanizer and draft dodger.  And he is inarticulate (listen to him speak), impulsive (tweets), and destructive (the Constitution and trust in our freedom of the Press and our intelligence community matter).  And finally, he shows a scary admiration for violent authoritarian leaders rather than democratic ones.

If the above reasons are not enough to at least temper support for this president, then I am wary of the Trump supporters because something is desperately wrong with their perception of what is best for America.  But even Nixon maintained 30% support at the time he resigned.  So, there is still hope.