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| Why I’m Not Voting for Trump
| | Please see: [[Why I'm Not Voting For Trump]] |
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| By Charles Musing
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| __FORCETOC__
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| ==Introduction==
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| Theater – I view media content, especially that from social media and obviously biased media companies like Fox and MSNBC as likely misrepresentations of facts or pure fiction, existing only to inflame extreme emotions, bring repeat viewers, sell advertisements, and promote the agendas of influential individuals. The only value or “news” I get from most sources is the list of topics I compile that I will later personally research to desensationalize, depoliticize, and understand. This work is based on several decades of education and professional experience in data and analytics, as well as hundreds of hours of independent research. Nothing below is a regurgitation of partisan talking points or opinion from any social or news media. These are the fruits of my own labor, which would be unnecessary if we had honest politicians and media whose objectives were to educate and elevate the electorate -- instead, we have theater.
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| For decades, I was a Republican, and I typically voted for and occasionally made significant donations to conservative candidates and causes. After Trump won the election in 2016, I registered as an Independent. It is beyond my comprehension how an individual with an inconsistent political past -- Democrat, Independent, then Republican -- could become the Chief RINO (Republican in Name Only), while ironically bestowing that name upon others as he systematically ostracized dissenters and threats until what little remaining intellectual intraparty debate and ideation was replaced with snarky quips and adolescent defamations. The talking points of the party degraded to become an insult to human intelligence, a threat to basic morals and decency, and an assault on the foundations of our democracy. I would not be one of the sheep who followed.
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| I realize my words may be an exercise in futility as they are lost on a geography whose electorate has incessantly absorbed Trump propaganda that has yet to find a boundary to its absurdity. Yet the disinformation continues to be unquestioned and perceived as reality, and worse -- it incites anger, fear, and hostility among the believers. However, I nonetheless feel compelled to share reasons why I will not be voting for Donald J. Trump, which I have loosely grouped in the following categories: 1. His dishonesty, 2. His threat to our Constitution, and 3. His absence of a single admirable leadership trait required to unite and elevate people to achieve their greatness. My reasons for supporting Kamala Harris are many, but they will not be the focus on this work, but perhaps another.
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| ==Part I: Dishonesty==
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| Dishonesty -- Trump’s endless and easily disprovable claims make him the most dishonest and intellectually insulting candidate I have witnessed in my lifetime. The praise he constantly bestows upon himself and blame he heaps on others are why I will occasionally present comparisons of accomplishments between his terms and those of other presidents. To be clear, however, my general understanding is that presidents receive far too much criticism, as well as praise, for factors outside of their control. Many issues are far more complicated than the barrage of simplified, opinionated, and partisan messages broadcast at us from leaders who know we are an emotional and unthoughtful electorate.
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| ===Economic Growth and Business Formation===
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| Let me begin with some pure facts that starkly conflict with Trump's claims of him giving us “the best economy ever” and Biden and the democrats giving us “perhaps the worst inflation in our nation's history,” “unlike anyone has ever seen.” 49th – this is the rank of Trump’s ‘’best’’ year of economic growth compared to the past 95 years, which puts it in the bottom half, and his worst year ranks 89th. Laughable to consider this the “best” of anything -- it was mediocre by historical standards. If we exclude the year of covid (89th Trump) and the following year (18th Biden), the economic growth in the remaining six years of the Trump and Biden administrations rank between 49th and 65th, with no distinguishable difference between the presidents. “Best” and “worst” are words Trump overuses, and evidence often debunks.
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| Another economic fact that contradicts Trump’s claims is that while annual small business applications were healthy and increased significantly during his term, ranging between 3.2 and 4.4 million per year, they have since increased by a more robust and staggering 45% during Biden’s term, ranging between 5.1 and 5.5 million. Being a capitalist society, economists from all spectrums concur that small business growth is the lifeblood of our economy. The number of applications is a direct indicator of entrepreneurial optimism, which decisively has been significantly higher during the Biden administration.
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| ===Covid Disruptions: Unemployment, Supply Chain, Recession===
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| Lastly, regarding the economy, while I concur that the economy was healthy, despite historically slow growth, and acknowledging unemployment achieved near historic lows during Trump’s term, when he left office, he didn’t leave Biden a cherry – he left a disaster. I’m not assigning blame to him, but the facts refute his claims of leaving behind “the best” economy. Biden came into office during the middle of a once in a century world economic calamity. With a 6.7% unemployment rate and 10.7 million unemployed, 43% more people were without work when Biden came into office than when Trump inherited a 4.7% unemployment rate in 2017. While down from the 2020 high of 14.8%, a number only bested during the Great Depression in 1933 (to help give context to the damage and disruption done to our economy), worldwide there were still significant rolling outages in the supply chain, threatening continued unemployment and inflation – not the “best economy ever.”
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| ===Inflation===
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| Twenty-seven -- that's how many years our country has experienced inflation ''higher'' than the 8% inflation recorded in 2022, with the highest on record being nearly four times as high, at 29.8%. Including twenty-four years of dangerous ''deflation'' that promoted significant recessions, there have been no less than fifty-one years with worse price stability than we experienced in 2022 -- that's about 20% of our nation's history. Looking at four-year terms, since both Trump and Biden, as well as other presidents, have only served four years, the results are even more compelling. About half of all Americans have not only experienced inflation “this bad,” but they experienced it this bad or worse ''four'' times. Here are some notable four-year terms, noted by their end year and their total inflation: Biden 2024 20.9%, Bush 2008 14.0%, Bush 1992 18.6%, Reagan 1984 26.1%, Carter 1980 44.7%, Ford 1976 36.1%, Nixon 20.3%, Truman 1948 36.8%, and Roosevelt 1944 25.4%. There are citizens alive in our country who have seen inflation about this high or much worse at least ''eight'' times in their lives. Bonus facts: inflation under Obama was lower during both of his four-year terms (2012 6.6% and 2016 4.5%) than under Trump (2020 7.8%) – yet Trump boasts about how there was “no inflation” (which would actually be a very dire situation) while he was president. The above data decidedly refutes Trump’s consistent claims that recent inflation was “perhaps the worst inflation in our nation's history,” and “unlike anyone has ever seen.”
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| ===Inflation Causes and Recovery===
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| Allow me to address the blame Trump places on Biden for inflation. No policies, especially “extreme dangerous socialist policies” created any inflation. After the world shut down significant portions of the global supply chain in 2020, in 2021, we experienced robust economic reacceleration and growth not seen since 1984. That kind of growth, compounded by continued resource outages, and $814 billion of stimulus checks sent during both Trump and Biden's administrations were a recipe for above average inflation. I estimate at least 70% of recipients didn't need the stimulus, so that money became savings, speculative investments, and reckless inflationary spending. Supply chain disruptions, however, were the primary catalyst. I can attest, with first-hand knowledge, some of the world's largest and most important companies didn't balance their supply chains until 2023 and even this year, 2024. Significant wage increases and record low unemployment followed, continuing to fuel inflation that was higher than we've experienced in a couple decades. Blaming inflation on Biden is like blaming Covid on Trump -- there is no causality. I suggest reading about “pull” and “push” inflation.
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| Bottom line, we should be celebrating our recent inflation accomplishments! First, ‘’2024 inflation is likely to come in at about 2.7%, which would put it under our forty-year average of 2.8%.’’ Second, most periods like this have been followed by recessions, which to the shock of most economists, they are now predicting we will likely avoid a downturn. That's not news that sells though, and that's not information that motivates people to hate the current president and vote for someone else. It's all 100% verifiable and true, but it's not the angry and fearful reality that most of our electorate will take to the polls, because we haven't received this complete information in a nonpartisan message, and if we had, it was drowned out by the exciting fictional memes, soundbites, and talking heads.
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| ===Socialism===
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| I recently dropped the word “socialist,” and must address that now as one of many Trump lies -- Republicans exhaustively misuse the word “socialist” and “socialism,” which either means they are ignorant, or they think their electorate is ignorant. There is no mainstream plan within the Democratic party to take private property away from business owners and redistribute it to the workers, which is the foundation of socialism. Democrats do, however, care about social welfare and all of our welfare programs, upon which our community significantly relies: Medicare, Social Security, VA Benefits, childcare, disability, nutrition assistance, etc. Harris’s policies are very capitalist, especially her support of small business creation. Recently, I heard a Republican strategist call her a “moderate Republican.” Biden has never been popular as a president because Republicans think he’s a socialist and Democrats ‘’know’’ he’s not. Liberals were disappointed that someone like A.O.C. wasn't the nominee instead of Biden in 2020, and as “radical” as she is, even ‘’she’’ isn't a socialist.
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| ===Immigration===
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| Let's address the disinformation Trump shares on immigration: Less than 2.7% since 2021, and in 2023 0.7% of apprehended immigrants had a previous criminal record -- a far cry from “most of them” being “violent criminals.” Continue to believe there are prisons opening their doors in Guatemala and handing ex-cons roadmaps to the United States, if that fits your Netflix fantasy and nationalist ideology. Our homegrown electorate is more dangerous than the collective immigrant community. Logically, this makes sense, especially for those who enter the country illegally -- wouldn't you be on your best behavior if the consequences of your actions were deportation? Studies have supported this as well. The overwhelming majority of immigrants are seeking opportunities in America for the same reasons each of our ancestors did – we should welcome them. I would also suggest our homegrown electorate is softer and less appreciative of our greatness, because we lack perspective. Isn't it ironic that we strong, resilient, independent Americans are so dependent upon a single person to become “great again?” If you need a president to make America great, if you think any of our recent presidents have held us back, then you don't understand America and capitalism at all. If you can’t be great on your own, perhaps you should look into socialism. I don’t mean to be combative, but as someone who ignores opinion and consumes data to formulate his own conclusions, I don’t understand the disconnect between how great things actually are and how angry half the country is. Maybe we should all spend some time listening to the perspective of an expecting mother who traveled a thousand dangerous miles on foot to escape a community run by warlords where inflation causes prices to double every month and climate change has caused lakes to dry up and jobs to disappear. She did all this only to swim through barbed wire on our border and be received as an unwelcome criminal. Honestly, I would much rather socialize with more immigrants who are eager to work hard and appreciate the opportunities and freedoms that America offers, than listen to idol disgruntled natives vent about how awful things are after they consume disinformation from their Facebook echo chambers.
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| ===Crime===
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| The crime lies -- Trump tells us how “dangerous” our country has become since Biden took office. His ramblings on this topic are straight out of Opposite Land. Violent crime, as reported by the fine men and women serving in law enforcement, is occurring at less than half the rate it was in the early 1990s, a recent historical peak. Major cities, especially ones Trump cites as being the most violent, are experiencing the contrary. New York City homicides remain at one-sixth the rate of 1990, and all violent crime is at historical lows. Detroit, the city Trump recently said all cities would become if we don't do something about violent immigrants, had the fewest homicides in fifty-seven years! Detroit is experiencing an amazing period of safety regarding all violent crimes. Maybe we shouldn't do anything about immigration if that means all of our cities will be the safest they've ever been in modern memory. These are all facts we should be celebrating together, but instead we're focused on and hyper-exposed to outlier instances and arguing over the counterfactual narratives Trump has told us. An electorate is being robbed of happiness and sense of accomplishment, by narcissistic individuals, like him. No one turns happiness into hate better than he does. I don't even know what to say about Haitians “eating cats” -- I thought we were intelligent enough to abandon Trump after that gem, but we're clearly not.
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| ===Tariffs===
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| What else does Trump grossly misrepresent? No countries pay Tariffs -- period. Companies do. For example, any American company that imports goods from China to resell in America, will pay tariffs, if levied upon their imported goods, and they'll either eat the taxes in reduced profitability (bad for capitalism) or pass them along to consumers as price increases (bad for inflation). Tariffs are currently an insignificant 2% of our tax income, despite how many “billions” Trump boasts to have collected. Tariffs existed before him and after him. In the long run, Tariffs can be used as protectionist mechanisms to prolong the economic viability of certain industries within a nation, but if applied to goods we already purchase, and if the $800 de minimis limit is eliminated, everything you buy that says “Made in China” will quickly increase in price by the amount of the imposed tariff -- that's a lot of items we purchase at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Temu. If you continue to listen to Trump, you will learn everything that Tariffs are not.
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| Trump and his platform are full of fiction, and every point that has been drilled into our emotions by Fox News is a distortion of truth. Whether or not you chose to make it your perceived reality is up to you.
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| ==Part II: Fascism's Constitutional Threats==
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| A Narcissist’s threat to our Constitution – Trump berates the greatness of our country, disregards our sacred democratic procedures, and gravitates towards fascism. This is insulting and in direct conflict to the causes every American veteran has fought for to establish the modern world's model of democracy and capitalism. Trump demonstrates constant self-obsession and threats to our Constitution.
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| ===January 6, 2021 Capital Insurgency===
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| What happened on January 6, 2021 was one of the darkest days in our nation's history. It is unconscionable to spread such a heinous lie, as Trump has for years. It has been decisively disproven. If there was any truth to it, wouldn’t at least one opportunistic politician have come forward with evidence and emerge a Republican party hero? Perhaps a national hero? This work of fiction has even cost Fox News $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit, because in their own admissions, they could not validate any part of the claim; but they recklessly aired the fiction anyway. As additional evidence, I recommend reading the transcript and listening to the call between Trump and the Republican Secretary of State in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger. I cannot do it justice here. Trump is erratic with numbers and conspiracy claims, all of which are completely dismissed by the Secretary. This was an opportunity for Raffensperger to emerge as the hero in this story, but he couldn't because there was no truth in what Trump and his lawyers were saying, and he had the moral fortitude to refuse to become the next one of a history of numerous (do your own research -- I've counted at least seventeen) Trump lackeys who have found themselves in prison for participating in one of his fraudulent schemes. Trump says, “I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. ...there were 18,000 ballots but they used them three times. ...they were all Biden.” Germany (attorney for Secretary) responds, “That's not accurate, Mr. President.” Raffensperger follows with, “We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.”
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| ===Stolen Election Lies===
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| These “stolen election” lies angered many Americans. He spoke to a mob of protestors who were so incensed, they were willing to arm themselves, mask their identities, and commit violent acts -- even murder. Trump said to them “We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.” After buying into two months of incendiary speech and battle cries, spreading unconstitutional claims, do you think the angry protestors, who arrived prepared for physical confrontation, needed to hear anything else? After pressuring Mike Pence to abandon over 240 years of peaceful transfers of power “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Protestors heard exactly what Trump wanted them to hear -- create chaos, like the chaos he had been building for two months, unlike any I am aware of in our nation's history. He could have stopped them at any time, and he choose not to. To break into the capital building, to kill five people, including one police officer, and to injure 140 other members of our law enforcement, in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, is the highest treason committed against our country in my lifetime, perhaps ever. To not concede is the most narcissistic and anti-democratic act one could commit against the United States. It is a disgrace to every soldier who fought and died for our right to vote and peacefully pass leadership from one administration to the next. To those who died and were injured, remember, Trump, as recently as this month, said the events of January 6, 2021 constitute to him “a day of love.” His message to all law enforcement officers as I see it is, that you are important to Trump, only if you don’t get in his way; otherwise, you are expendable.
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| ===Justice System===
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| As fascist leaders do, Trump believes in the flexible application of law and order, undermining the foundation of our civil rights and corrupting the judicial system. He said he would consider pardoning every rioter. The guy who falsely claims so much violence is occurring by immigrants, would pardon violent criminals -- that's ironic. As a fun activity, you can research the seven prisoners pardoned by Trump who have committed new crimes, including violent assaults against women. My favorite is Philip Esformes, who committed one of the largest frauds against our Medicare system -- stealing $1.3 billion from us, the people, and who was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Trump let him free after serving just four years. He says we need him to fix our federal budget, but Trump is apparently ok with forgiving a billion dollars of theft. Maybe, he admires Philip, as there is an abundance of hard evidence supporting Trump and his colleagues’ propensity to commit white collar crimes.
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| ===Unchecked Presidential Power===
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| This week, Trump has boasted that as president he would have “extreme powers,” a term so wild to my ears, I’m certain has never been used by previous presidents and suggests defiance against the clearly defined balance of powers in our Constitution. In fact, if you read the Constitution, which is foundational in establishing the balance of power across three branches, as to intentionally curb the powers of any one branch or individual, you will find the first Article is actually dedicated to the Legislative branch, and the Executive branch is the second, and does not mention any “extreme” powers. Trump has praised Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Adolf Hitler, totalitarian leaders whom no other president has praised (to my knowledge) and whom he seems to envy for their “extreme power.” His recent obsession with Tariffs, suggesting we abandon a century of progress toward global free trade, is anti-capitalist, isolationist, and nationalist, all characteristic of fascist regimes.
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| ===Military Control and Civilian Oppression===
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| Trump doesn’t care who supports him or how he attains his power. While Trump has been quoted condemning some hate groups, he has done so in obscure audiences and has never sent a strong clear message of condemnation consistently or during high profile addresses to the nation, such as those following hate crimes or civil unrest. In those situations, he usually reverts to his “there are good people on both sides” stance, which sends a clear message of him being either weak on crime and violence or supportive of hate crimes, or both. Hate groups were invigorated during Trumps first presidency. Numerous ex-administration members have documented Trump's desire for power, including complete control over the military. “I need the kind of generals Hitler had.” John Bolton’s book is incredible, and even Mitch McConnell’s new book has disturbing information, just to reference a couple. Trump once called most of these critics “great” people, and later denounced them as “awful” or “horrible.” It's amazing how much of our electorate still believe the Trump version of facts -- things that are never verifiable and are usually just opinions -- the same unimaginative adolescent character assaults. It's a collusion and conspiracy against him – and everyone’s involved: Republicans (RINOs) and the “Deep State” and every judge who takes on a case with piles of hard evidence against him and every juror and of course, the “radical left”, which really doesn't exist in our country. It's a story so fantastic that Hollywood writers wouldn't touch it, because it just too unbelievable -- it's laughable . . . yet nearly 70 million Americans accept it at face value. I suggest a disproportionate number of self-proclaimed Patriots should trade their homemade colonial uniforms for formal redcoats, because their beliefs are grossly misaligned with what George Washington's men fought for. He’s undoing the victory for which several hundred thousand young US men died during World War II – the elimination of rightwing fascism. Please allow me to clarify something -- World War II was not a battle against socialism or “liberal” anything, as many of you have been disinformed -- I've seen the memes and Facebook posts. World War II was a war fought against leaders that Trump aspires to become.
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| ===Leader Inculpability===
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| He throws so much shade on the Constitution; it is apparent that he not only disrespects it but wants to rewrite it. In his first term, it was clear he didn’t even understand it. No citizen of our nation should be above the Constitution -- that was fundamental in our waging war with the King of England. Not even a president should be above the law. If you disagree, then you support a type of government called authoritarianism, which is what England had in 1774 and Russia under Putin, or maybe you prefer fascism which is what Italy had under Mussolini and Germany under Hitler. You want the United States to join ''that'' list?
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| ===Speach Oppression and State Controlled Media===
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| As much as Trump claims to be a victim of censorship and a champion of the first amendment, his actions have been overwhelmingly repressive and hostile toward any views challenging him. He is closed to debate – evidenced by his cleansing of the Republican party. Based simply on his opinion, suggests he would revoke media licenses, “a license is based on honesty. I think they have to take their license away. I do,” and threatens to throw Biden and Harris in prison, along with late night talk show hosts. He asked Fox news recently to refuse to air any ads that put him in a negative light, which is illegal. I wonder if he intends to use Trump Media as a national media platform – disseminating certain information only on his platform, forcing us all to pay for it and consume. I’ve never been able to comprehend how a modern society could find themselves in the situation that became World War II. Germans were educated western people, like Americans. How could they possibly elect someone who became the monster Hitler was? This is exactly how it started -- this is the fascists’ playbook: extreme nationalism -- putting ourselves well above our neighbor countries, economic protectionism, controlling the dialog by silencing all debate and dissent through ostracization and unjust detainment, commanding ultimate loyalty of the military, vilifying a class or race of people (southern border immigrants), assuming greater power than other branches of government. You only have to be awake and listen to see all of this evidence -- none of it is hidden or encrypted or complex. It's one matter to say Trump belongs in prison and drop a box of paperwork supporting the claim. It's entirely reckless, anti-American, and unconstitutional for a leader to threaten to imprison someone without providing a single piece of tangible evidence.
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| When I initially aspired to publish my research, I never imagined I would declare Trump a fascist. I have refuted that declaration of his politics for several years, but recent events have absolutely aligned him with the definition. I’m not saying he’s going to kill Jews – that would be a stupid distraction from the facts. I am saying that he is likely to weaken our liberties through legislation or normalization of that which has historically been unacceptable presidential behavior, or he could destroy what has been our Constitution.
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| ==Part III: Morally Desolate Man==
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| No moral compass and no True North – In my final section, I will contrast the leadership traits that I can attribute to the most respected historical figures, as well as individuals I have known personally. To establish a starting point, I thought most Americans believed in the idiom, “United we stand, divided we fall” – I believe in it. America is great, but we are very divided, the most divided in my lifetime, and with new technology, the abundance of fiction and speed at which it is being disseminated is deepening those divisions. I believe we are not infallible -- we can fall from greatness, and it won’t be liberalism or conservatism that does it – it will be division – self-destruction. I cannot see how anyone, even a Trump supporter could honestly call him a unifying leader. He has berated large portions of the electorate like no president has ever done. His middle school bully style name-calling is entirely unpresidential, and he wishes to lead with a heavy hand. Go look at historical electoral maps. Reagan’s is a great example of what a popular president’s support looks like. It is laughable Trump refers to himself as the “greatest president” and “America’s favorite” president. He couldn’t hold a candle to the thoughtfulness of Lincoln, the insight and humbleness of Washington, or the unifying leadership of FDR or his cousin Teddy. What our nation needs more than ever, is honestly, accountability (the ability to admit to mistakes), non-partisan positivity, universal inspiration, humility, poise, thoughtfulness, decorum, forward vision, integrity, and empathy. If we had a centrist leader with these traits, we would all unite, stand, and progress our greatness. Donald Trump does not demonstrate a single one of these leadership traits. We need a leader who gives credit and never takes it. Who raises others, even at their own expense. I have known leaders like this, and they create a better future and a future class of leaders.
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| ===Disconnected Billionaire===
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| He’s a spoiled old billionaire who’s spent his entire life in luxury and privilege, and at age 78, he's twice as old and completely disconnected from the average American. In 2005, at about 60 years old, a grown man and father, he said, “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women] - I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p###y. You can do anything.” Is this the life you relate to? Is this the character of the man, who out of over 100 million other potential leaders, we believe is most qualified and deserving to represent the free world and be a role model to our children? The Republicans crucified Clinton for immoral sexual acts out of wedlock, while all evidence supports the thesis and claims that Trump is far beyond an objective womanizer but has likely actually raped women. The party of morality is ok with this, however, because they believe it’s all “fake news” and are terrified that if Harris is elected, it'll be “the last election.” As a simple rule of thumb, my philosophy is, the more a person ''wants'' to be president, the ''less'' qualified that person is to lead the free world. Remember, we asked George Washington to be president, and he reluctantly accepted twice; but when we asked him to lead a third term, he refused, in the greater interest of our model of democracy. The greatest leaders know they are less than the country they serve, and Trump believes he is the greatest president in our nation’s rich history and our country, and the position serves his ego.
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| ===Narcissism: Damaging Consequences on Immigration===
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| I have never heard a human praise himself as much as Trump does, and most of it is complete fantasy. Vanity and narcissism are dangerous qualities for a leader, because they put themselves before the party, people, and the rule of law -- always. We, the people suffer from it. Immigration is a bi-partisan issue that we tried to address in 2024. Illegal immigration about doubled during Biden’s term. Did you know, it also previously doubled during Trump’s term? If Trump cared about the border crisis as much as he falsely rants about it, he would not have killed the ''Border Act of 2024.'' He accomplished this by threatening the very weakened backbone of Republican leadership, of whom some co-authored the bill and vocally supported it, only to vote against it after threats from Trump to be the next ostracized from the party. Right now, $4 billion could be doing a lot for our U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations, along with another $440 million for immigration review and $210 million for the U.S. Marshals Service. He killed a bill that would at least begin to address the issues he claims will “destroy our country,” and the only logical reason is because he wanted to be president when the bill passed -- he wanted his name on it, and he wanted to boast to us how he saved our country from imminent destruction. If he loved his country above all-else, he would have continued to support the bill, as he initially did, and then praised it as a step in the right direction. Instead, Trump sabotaged our attempt at progress, which serves only to exacerbate the issue to make it a more impactful campaign issue for him. Who suffers? We do. Immigrants do.
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| ===Unfiltered Disrespect===
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| To all the POWs and MIAs, or veterans who served with them, remember, Trump says “I like people who weren’t captured.” How could that comment ever be excused? How can such a disproportionate cohort of the military and veterans blindly support this man? I see those POW, MIA flags at the Trump rallies while he berates people. He was talking about Arnold Palmer’s penis earlier this week. At what point, are these unhinged streams of conscious unacceptable? Does our nation completely lack decorum? He has turned the presidency into a reality show – there’s evidence that even the Fox news anchors mock him when they are pumping the fiction and paying fines for doing so.
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| ===Public Display of Corruption and Personal Gains===
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| Trump claims his opponents are corrupt, but never produces evidence. Meanwhile, he is the candidate selling sneakers, bibles, watches, silver coins, Christmas ornaments, books, NFTs, crypto-currency, and stock in a company that loses money and has virtually no revenue or business model, yet because the electorate supports the shares, makes him worth billions on paper. He's using his political position for personal financial gain, unlike any president has in my lifetime, and perhaps ever -- an incredible violation of American political ethics. I mentioned earlier – it’s frightening to think of what he might do with his media company. If you bought any of this stuff, you are supporting a rich man and his family -- none of this is for liberty or his campaign. He has the audacity to accuse his opponent, Kamala Harris, of paying people to attend her rallies. It's obnoxious and unsupported Trump fiction, yet he, along with Elon Musk, are actually paying people money to register to vote -- $48, and recently Musk announced a daily $1 million giveaway to sign a petition linked to his Trump-supporting PAC. He also said that since Elon “helped him so much” he'd “consider giving him a role in government.” The two hated each other just a few years ago; Musk bought his way into government influence, and together they are buying votes, and they aren't even trying to hide it -- it's happening in the headlines -- in broad daylight. Do we want to normalize billionaires buying their way into power? And Trump says Harris is the one who is corrupt?
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| ===Underachieving Businessman===
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| He's actually not even a good businessman – how about that?! Many Trump supporters I speak with like him because he's a “money man.” However, he's actually a below average money man. His last publicly traded company, Trump Casinos, went bankrupt. It was a great time to be in the gambling business capitalizing on people’s sins, as all of his competitors were flourishing. In true narcissistic fashion, the ticker symbol was his initials “DJT,” just as they are again now for his new company, Trump Media Group. (I imagine he'll cash out of some of those shares before this Trump Media venture goes bankrupt like his casinos, university, airlines, and many other ventures, unless he nationalizes it with presidential power). Sure, he's a billionaire, but depending on your source, Trump inherited between $200 and $400 million dollars from the labors of his father. While that sum is now worth about $3 billion, it's worth a lot less than it would have been if he simply invested it in the largest 500 US companies -- the S&P 500 index. Apparently, I'm not the only one whose done this calculation (given articles I had found in my research), but my estimate (using just $200 million to start) would make the current value of this inheritance worth about $1 billion or 30-40% more than it is. Trump would be much richer had he invested in other people’s great American businesses rather than “working” for a living and managing his own companies. He has a jet, and I don't, but don't tell me he's a great businessman; a monkey could have inherited $200 million and accumulated much greater wealth than Trump did while not working a single day. Furthermore, keep in mind that Trump did not invent anything useful – made no altruistic contribution to the world. In fact, most of his latest business ideas came from others, some of whom he has publicly sued to grab even greater disproportionate ownership. The creators of the Truth Media Group, the company with enormous negative cash flow and no evidence of viability yet, received just 8.6% of the company while Trump, who provided nothing but a name, owns 57% -- worth about $4 billion. If I told you I had a business that had $4 thousand in sales and $58 thousand in losses for the most recent year, would you give me $7 million for it? That's what every shareholder is doing today -- good luck to you all. Trump has not changed our productivity, technology, health or made any positive impact on the world. His path to billionairehood, even in his own words (remembering him bragging about taking advantage of the system and “screwing the banks”), was simply by putting himself first always, often ruining others.
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| If we all acted like Trump, the world would be like the island in Lord of the Flies. He consistently exhibits all of the behaviors I refuse to allow my children to display, starting with name-calling – his greatest talent. He subscribes to the win-lose deal, which is how bitterness and distrust is sewn into our souls. Great leaders execute win-win situations. The majority of our politicians, knowing our ignorance and susceptibility to irrational perceptions and reactions to fear present us with win-lose, competitive scenarios. How can a people flourish and progress when half of them always lose and harbor spite for that loss, waiting for the next pied piper to sing them a tune of redemption and revenge, and around we go. The eye-for-an-eye mentality that holds us back, perpetuates ignorance and hostility, and makes people around the world blind enough to start wars.
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| It's easy for me to ignore the media because I'm a data guy. I know the difference between marketing and facts, and politics is overwhelmingly the former. You probably perceive my reality as insane, and that’s because I have an entirely different set of facts than you. But I also have far more about which to be happy than angry. If you are angry, you should turn off your national news, disconnect from social media, and stop listening to Trump. You'd be amazed at how much your reality will change. There are many facts that paint the picture that we are a great country, and among the greatest in the world for nearly any measurable category: innovation, health, safety, and finances. The facts are everywhere – as I write this, I just confirmed that under Biden, energy production has continued to expand, and we are a much more significant exporter of natural gas now than we were four years ago. Fox probably won’t be covering that story. We should be uniting and celebrating accomplishments like this; and when we’re presented with crisis, instead of being torn by politics, we should unite to formulate the best solutions – we have yet to demonstrate the pinnacle of human intelligence because we are disabled by division.
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| ==Summary and Conclusion==
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| Think this is just more “fake news” from the “Deep State” in a “socialist” newspaper? Then go vote for Trump. That is your right – because we defeated authoritarianism and fascism. Vote for four years of a middle school bully running the freest country in the world. Vote for degrading, divisive speech directed towards half of Americans. Vote for divisions among the electorate -- divisions that foster spite and hate, divisions that weaken us and prevent us from reaching our full potential. Vote for another four years of subpar economic growth with no viable plan to address our national debt or welfare and entitlements. From where I stand, I’m convinced that the most important decisions we make, the ones from which our children will bear the greatest consequences, are based on the most fictitious information and pondered with the intellect of inebriated college football fans. I’m not watching the Theatre -- I’m sobor, and I’m excited to be voting for Kamala Harris.
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| ===Public Debt: A Real Threat Demanding Collaboration and Unity===
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| In the next four years, we're going to have to figure out how to pay our debts, and there isn't a single politician that can win a presidency with a viable plan to do this -- because it won’t be entertaining or beneficial to any cohort – it will require sacrifice from us all. It'll only benefit our children. The past four generations accepted an approach to steal from future generations, but the piper will need to be paid soon -- probably within the next decade. We are going to require intelligent people, with nonpartisan inductive reasoning skills, and solid backgrounds in math and economics to figure this out. We are going to require unity and calming from our leadership, because we will have to make tough decisions. If we allow our politicians to continue to divide us and feed us fiction as fact, we'll compound our problems and potentially fall from greatness -- something we haven't done . . . ever . . . yet.
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| ===Washington's Prediction on the Causes of the End of Liberty===
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| In closing, I’m going to leave you with my favorite quote. It’s from the most inciteful and unfortunately foreshadowing piece of literature I have ever read. This particular excerpt is referring to Donald Trump and our current state of politics. In his farewell address, George Washington warned us that the greatest danger to democracy and our country would be rooted in the bitterness, frustration, and hatred among voters, fostered by a system with only two political parties. Eventually, the electorate would become so disillusioned by the disfunction of binary American politics, that they would turn toward a leader whose purposes are entirely selfish and whose interests lie not within democracy and liberty themselves, but a single ideology. In 2016, Americans cast a populist, protest vote, from a candidate who took control of a party who previously had no interest in populism. The greatest RINO (Republican in Name Only) in history, with a background of inconsistent political beliefs, managed to seize control of the Republican party and achieve great personal gain. How the story ends, is up to us. Here’s the exact quote:
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| '''“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”'''
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| [[User:CharlesMusing|CharlesMusing]] ([[User talk:CharlesMusing|talk]]) 09:51, 26 October 2024 (EDT)
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