Dear Trump-Supporters-Who-Just-Want-A-Change-From-Business-As-Usual,
I’m with you on this one. I want to see substantial change in Washington, and I don’t think either of the two major parties are going to be the agents for shaking things up. Donald Trump, for all intents and purposes, is a third-party candidate who managed to win the Republican nomination in spite of the wishes of the Republican party. That goes in the plus column.
Another thing he did that was right was reach out to people who felt (with some good reason) that neither party would give them the time of day. This is a good and laudable thing and I wish the Democratic party would stop taking so many of their traditional voters for granted. So, good for Trump on this count.
I have friends, people I respect, who have made noises about voting for Trump for these reasons. But, when you look at his actual policies, he’s not a guy who’s going to usher in meaningful change, and he’s not going to be the champion of the people he’s reaching out to.
I’ve heard that argument that, as an outsider, he won’t be able to do much of anything as neither party will support him. That strikes me as not only an incredibly weak reason to vote for someone, but also wishful thinking. Will Republicans confirm his nominations to the Supreme Court? Will they pass his tax cuts, his military spending increases, or his rollback of Obamacare? Of course they will.
So, folks who want change? I get it, but you chose the wrong champion.
I can’t give him credit for recognizing real problems when his solutions are as bad or worse than the problems. Donald Trump’s proposals will do nothing but entrench existing power structures and ensure that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Even if he were a good person, his policies and general lack of competence would be enough to disqualify him.
The kicker, of course, is that he’s not a good person, either. Donald Trump is a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobic buffoon, and a shameless liar, who also just happens to have terrible policies. I want to vote for an outsider candidate, but that can’t be literally the only positive marker on the candidate’s resume. Please don’t want for him because you want “someone different” regardless of who that someone is. We can do better than Donald Trump.
-RK