I believe that we should secure our borders. Not because I think that people who want to come here are bad people, but I think that there should be a process for admittance to the United States. On the flip side I think that the process as it stands is burdensome, and people fleeing gang violence or poverty often have no recourse other than entering illegally. I think that once someone has been here for a number of years and has demonstrated that they are a productive, hard-working member of the community, we should allow them at least the opportunity to convince a judge that should be allowed to stay. Right now men and women who have been here for decades, even those who have served in our military, are deported without a second thought. Trump's border security positions are not based on a sincere desire to keep our country safe, as he says, but are based on a hatred and bigotry toward "the other". How do I know this? I followed his campaign. He characterized Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers and Muslims as terrorists. His cries for a "big, beautiful wall" were nothing more than an applause line in his rallies, without an actual policy or plan to implement. His demands for money to build the wall are at odds with another applause line, the assertion that Mexico would pay for it. His budget cuts funding for proven border security measures such as upgraded radar and other detection technology, surveillance aircraft that track drug shipments, canine units, and personnel at ports where smuggling takes place. ICE has been rounding up of people who have been here for decades and have faithfully checked in with ICE and arresting and deporting them, despite his pledge that he would focus on criminal aliens. Instead ICE has focussed on low-hanging fruit such as people dropping their kids off at school, or showing up in court or at work. So, while Trump claims to prioritize border security and the safety of our citizens, what he is really doing is inflaming ignorance and bigotry and appealing to the least common denominator of the electorate. Why would I believe anything he says about the border, immigration, or public safety?
I believe that out tax code was in dire need of reform before last year's tax changes were instituted. It was complicated and despite tax rates increasing as ones income rose, the multiplicity of deductions, credits and incentives caused it to favor the wealthy. Trump and his Republican allies bragged that they would pass a "massive" tax cut, benefitting ordinary Americans, and that "historic" rate cuts to corporations would inject even more life into an already booming economy. What we got did include huge tax rate cuts to corporations without the accompanying loophole closures that we were promised. A handful of companies made sure that we knew about thousand dollar bonuses that their employees received, but less attention was lavished upon the plant closures or the companies that used their tax windfall to buy back stock, raising price per share and guaranteeing that the C-suite boys and girls (mostly boys) would receive princely bonuses, surely well in excess of a paltry grand. Meanwhile, many working class Americans received a tiny increase in take-home pay, while others saw an increase in their taxes. Simple math and five minutes studying the rate charts and brackets will reveal that anyone with more than two children earning around the national median income will see a higher tax bill. Despite this, Trump continues to brag that this was a "massive, historic, tax cut". He has rewarded himself and his billionaire buddies while throwing crumbs to working Americans. Why should I believe anything that he says when he claims that he cares about the middle class and working Americans?
Another reason to be consistently against whatever Trump comes up with, even if it might sound a little reasonable at first is twofold. Trump is famously uninterested in expert opinion. Or even informed opinion at any level that does not buttress his own ignorance. In his first year he has consistently undermined and fired anyone who might disagree with him and didn't slavishly fawn over his every word. An illustrative example was his National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster. After ditching the lunatic loyalist Michael Flynn, Trump brought in McMaster, an active duty Army Lieutenant General who has a PhD in American history and is, by all accounts, brilliant. But his security briefings bored Trump and had to be dumbed down to hold his attention. Nuance, subtlety, shades of grey; these were all things that eluded Trump. But, despite his and his followers' wish otherwise, the world is nothing but shades of grey. The other half of this is Trump's predilection toward lying. Lying is his default position. He lies regularly and outrageously. He doesn't always lie just to cover up and obfuscate, he lies to brag, he lies because it will make him look good or his opponents look bad. He lies about lying. He acts as if there is no such thing as a tape recorder or a video camera or that everyone has cell phone cameras and recorders. Is he stupid? Deluded? Or does he just think we are? His lies are so far ranging that I can't trust anything that he says. So when he unveils a new policy, it's safe to assume that he either has no idea what he's talking about or that he's lying about it.
Finally, there's his crazed obsession with undoing everything that President Obama accomplished. Sometimes this aligns with mainstream Republican priorities, but often it's just mindless destruction. And it's personal. Let's not forget that Trump jump-started his political career by claiming, again and again, that President Obama was an illegitimate President who wasn't born in the United States. How else can you explain his antipathy to the Iran Nuclear "Deal" when he is planning on giving North Korea virtually the same "deal"? Or how he is undermining our nation's standing by pulling out of agreements negotiated in good faith?
To the Trumpists I say that if Trump is credited with curing cancer I'd have every reason to disbelieve it, or question whether he was getting kickbacks. And even if it were true, he still be an cheating, misogynistic, bigoted, xenophobic, bully.
Fuck him.
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