Along with many other Americans, I have watched as the Democrats’ devilishly effective strategy to define Donald Trump as an evil, irresponsible dilettante politician has taken hold. And the worst part is that the candidate has helped them! Yet, looking at the forest instead of the trees, there are still extremely important reasons to vote for Donald Trump for President of the United States of America. They can be summarized in three factors: 1) Updating the economic priorities of the USA; 2) The alternative; 3) His fitness to serve.
First is the fact that Mr. Trump’s claim is fully justified when he says that he is just the messenger for the vast segment of the American public which has been ignored and victimized by the Cold War policies of the past. The USA emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation on earth. By 1948, Americans had assumed a moral and financial responsibility for the defense of the world against Communism in what came to be called the Cold War. The eventual triumph of the USA in this generational struggle must be remembered as one of the greatest achievements in human history.
What was not taken into consideration, however — then or now — is the financial cost of the Cold War to the USA. It has always been talked about in terms of military budgets. But the larger costs of the economic largesse which the USA contributed to those who stood beside us in that struggle have led to the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world — from the USA to the so-called “developing world” — which, in the immediate post-war years included both Germany and Japan, now among the richest countries on earth..
The major policy components of this transfer of wealth have been 1) the USA providing a no-cost military defense for much of the world and 2) the so-called “free trade” agreements, first with our allies and eventually with nearly everybody. Both have been inspired by the belief that prosperity is the greatest defense against wars and totalitarian ideologies. Both have, however, become untenably expensive.
So, where does Mr. Trump fit in all this? Mr. Trump — alone among all this year’s candidates — has recognized and articulated both the problem and the solutions. He has indeed become the voice of the dispossessed. His fundamental point is that Americans can no longer afford its Cold War role in the world. Somebody has to look at the total financial picture and figure out how to allow Americans to live within their means.
This involves questioning every expense — even sacred cows like NATO and the nuclear umbrella — and creating new wealth — like renegotiating free trade treaties to become “fair trade” treaties, enticing back to the American economy the $1.45 TRILLION (Forbes, March 19, 2016) being held by American companies overseas, creating a fund for private investors to rebuild America’s road, bridges, highways and airports, and other stimulants to the economy through tax and regulatory relief. Mr. Trump has the absolute invaluable experience of actually knowing how the economy works from personal; experience — an experience not shared by the other candidate, the press, or the political class.
The second reason to vote for Mr. Trump is the alternative. Mrs. Clinton’s record of deceit, ineptitude, and criminal behavior makes her a frightening choice for the chief executive of the United States. In addition, her world-view is strictly out of the 1990’s. Far from promising change to deal with the truly monumental differences between today’s world and that of 1989 (when the Berlin Wall came down), she wants to continue to raise taxes and increase welfare. Another four years of that kind of thinking and the USA will become a giant Greece — banks closed, national debts defaulted, currency worthless, political chaos. The size of the USA economy means that this time the disaster will be worldwide, not confined to one small country. And, frankly, Mrs. Clinton’s “gross negligence” (according to the FBI) in dealing with national secrets alone disqualified her from becoming the Commander-in-Chief.
The Democrats have painted a gruesome picture of Mr. Trump. But think about this:
- Mr. Trump never circumvented the USG email system and risked compromising national security — to avoid having his emails become public; but Hillary did!
- Mr. Trump never promoted or signed a free trade agreement; but Hillary did.
- Mr. Trump’s wife never accepted hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign donors with causes before him when he was in charge of all foreign relations for the USA; but Hillary’s husband did.
- Mr. Trump never lied to the public over and over again about important topics; but Hillary did.
- Mr. Trump never had to testify before a grand jury about White Hose corruption; but Hillary did.
- Mr. Trump never made a nickel selling politically based favors, but the Clintons came out of the White House in 2001 “broke and in debt” (according to Hillary) and have accumulated a net worth in excess of $100,000,000 without either ever holding a private sector job.
- Mr. Trump has never taken a dime from special interests, but Hillary has accepted upwards of $1 billion from Wall Street and other well-heeled donors – who don’t give money out of the goodness of their heart.
The third factor in the case for Mr. Trump is his fitness to serve. The Democrats have been ruthlessly assassinating his character in an effort to distract attention from their owned flawed candidate — with some success. Mr. Trump has been a private citizen all his life. He has approached his public appearances like a staff meeting. Running a staff meeting frequently involves asking a lot of questions, sometimes making outrageous statements to see what a response you get, kidding around with the staff, and discussing the goals which the staff is to implement. You try to keep the atmosphere informal by joking, telling stories, making threats, and throwing out new ideas for comment.
Mr. Trump has not yet adapted his public discourse to the perception of politicians and pundits. They take everything you say literally; they are suspicious, if not hostile, to begin with, so they are looking for sound bites and phrases that, extracted from the live situation and context, make you look bad — or, as the NY Times editorial said, “dangerous”. (In fact the Times discusses the morality of reporters’ remaining neutral, and decides that anti-Trump bias is morally necessary — August 8, 2016.)
There is no question that a public person no longer has the luxury of attacking everyone who attacks him, nor can Mr. Trump the candidate afford to split with his own party. However, when Dr. Ben Carson, whom I consider a trustworthy judge, says Mr. Trump is learning quickly, I believe him.
A final thought: Everyone wants to become a millionaire, even better a billionaire. So, how many billionaires sacrifice their privacy, their family life, their leisure time, and risk their reputation and millions of dollars of their own money in order to run for president of the United States? Only someone who wants to do some good for his country. That is one definition of “patriotism”.
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