I’m Not Here to Change Your Mind

I’m not here to change your mind, I just want to express my views in a reasonable manner.  

I’m sorry, but I dislike President Trump, not only as a man, but as a president of the United States of America.  I understand why many wealthy Americans and corporations love him, but I can’t get my mind around why anyone who struggles week to week would ever vote for him.  While he was campaigning the first time around, initially I thought he would be an interesting choice, but leading up to the election the lies he told, the comments he made, esp about grabbing p>$$% made me want to hurl.  I can still remember him being on Roseanne Barr’s talk show, even before his show “The Apprentice” and she asked if he’d ever been with a fat woman and he replied no.  As bad as I thought that was when he sexualized his daughter and his reaction to her once again made my skin crawl.  But many people have no issues with his incestual comments.

I disagree with his views on LGBTQ rights.. He is trying to roll back rights that had finally been acknowledged. He is trying make it legal to discriminate against someone for whom they love or for presenting as a different gender than was assigned at birth. Love is love and no one should be forced to live a lie.

When it comes to immigration, I believe in the rule of law.  I believe people should enter the country legally.  I also believe those who act as the gateway should do their job with empathy as well as the letter of the law. America, for over 200 years has been the destination for people looking for a better life, when did we decide that our borders should be locked?  Then when he began separating children from their parents, knowing that this would cause unnecessary severe mental anguish and distress to all the children and parents. Now we find that there are over 500 children whose parents cannot be located.  How did they lose so many people under their control?

His xenophobia led to his desire to build a useless wall, all the while claiming he would get Mexico to pay for it, which they never would or will, cost at least 11 billion dollars and is estimated to cost up to 21 billion dollars.  Those funds could have been used for a multitude of more needed causes, education, FEMA, social services, military.  I don’t need the funds to go to where I prefer, but at least to somewhere that would actually do some good.  That wall is useless and will never be a deterrent to someone determined to entire the country.  As it is the government has found tunnels that run underneath the walls.  That money would have done better for equipment and manpower to safeguard our border.  He wasted money in order to create a useless monument to his ego.

While I dislike his xenophobia, I truly take exception to his overt racism.  He praises fascist, misogynistic and white supremist organizations.  He railed against any organization that didn’t toe his line 100%.  He refused to even discuss the need of America to be inclusive. He refuses to admit that America has systemic racism. He used racist slurs and acted the victim when called on it. He called neo nazis “very fine people”.   He encourages white supremist groups by saying “stand back and stand by”, he even dismissed the group that planned to kidnap the Michigan Democrat Governor by saying it was “maybe a problem, maybe it wasn’t”.  How could an American president ever condone any group that would do such a thing. Then yesterday he actually praised a group that tried to run a Biden campaign bus off the road, by saying his followers were there to “protect” the bus, and yet it was his followers that rammed a car and forced it to travel on a highway 20 miles per hour.  He not only applauds these people but encourages them.  He says out loud that he will only support those people who support him.  Is this the America you wish to live in?  

America’s Constitution was designed to create a secular nation with religious freedom.  Everyone is entitled to follow or not follow a religion as long as it doesn’t interfere with another's right to follow theirs.  Yet, he and many others believe that America is supposed to be a Christian nation.  I am Christian, yet I do not believe I have the right to tell someone else that their religion is wrong, as long as they don’t try to tell me mine is wrong.  

What truly disgusted me about his behavior was his treatment of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017.  Puerto Rico although not a state is an integral part of the USA.  Approximately 3,000 people, 10% of the islands population, died directly or indirectly because President Trump did not send the needed supplies to help Puerto Rico to recover from a category 5 hurricane.  Instead of using his executive powers to help nearly 3,000,000 Americans during a catastrophe he turned his back on them because the mayor of San Juan said he was failing in his responsibilities.  

President Trump has had four years to create a better healthcare plan than Obamacare. He hasn’t and yet he continually tries to dismantle the plan that is in place.  I’m not saying that Obamacare is perfect, but it is better than what was in place previously, at least for millions of people.  Not to mention, if you don’t like it, you are allowed to go to the private sector and purchase the one you prefer.  For so many they seem to dislike it because it gives women more control over their reproductive health, it doesn’t force anyone to use birth control but for those who need it, it makes it affordable.  It also allows people to visit a doctor earlier.  I grew up with emergency room medicine.  Unless you needed to go to the emergency room, you didn’t go to the doctor as it was too expensive.  I could talk to ad nauseum about the American Healthcare deficiencies, yes America has some of the best doctors and medical centers in the world, but for the most part only if you have the right insurance.  For example, I take Janumet, in India I pay, not insurance, not a co-pay, the equivalent of $22 for 60 pills.  I looked up the price in the US and the cheapest I found (without insurance) was $475, (with insurance a co-pay was between $37 -$50. I cannot in any way shape or form understand how anyone would want to take away someone’s insurance in the middle of a pandemic, especially when they have nothing to replace it.  

I could get over President Trump’s narcissism and constant need for attention, if he didn’t keep trying to play the victim and refuse to take responsibility for any action that does not show him in a positive light.  COVID 19 is not his fault, his response to it is.  He refused to use the Defense Production Act to help American companies manufacture much needed PPE.  It has been eight months since COVID 19 has been declared a pandemic and America still relies on PPE from China. That doesn’t even include the three previous months when we knew it was brewing.  He could have had the federal government stock all needed items and distribute as necessary.  Instead he set states in a bidding war against each other.  Even today many hospitals in the US do not have enough PPE to use in the manner it was designed.  Many hospitals cannot get enough N-95 masks.  Yet here I sit in India and I can call any chemist and have a stock delivered to my home.   

We also have his response to COVID in the early days.  Even after admitting that it was way worse than was being reported at the time, he did not warn the American people that it was airborne, he did not take the steps necessary to try and contain it.  Worse he pretended that it was no worse than the flu which in itself kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.  The first American COVID 19 death occured in February 2020.  Just 8 months later and we have lost over 230,000 Americans.  That is 5 times more than the flu and we still have 4 months to go in the year.  He was informed and knew how bad this disease was and yet he still downplayed it.  Doctors and nurses have been overwhelmed with patients, without enough safety equipment. Many of them have lost their lives trying to make others well.  Many of them are unable to spend time with their families in fear of transmitting the disease to them.  These are the people he demeans by saying they are diagnosing people with COVID in order to get more money.  Doctors and nurses do not get paid by diagnosis. He insults the only defense Americans have against this disease.

Then he insulted our armed services.  He has called them “losers” and “suckers”.  This from a man who avoided service because he had “bone spurs”, an ailment that can be treated with physical therapy and surgery.  

Beyond President Trump’s denial that the pandemic is here and running amok, he also has become fast friends with de facto dictators,  He continues to praise Putin despite the fact that his intelligence bureaus have told him that Russia has put bounties on US servicemen.  They even have financial trails leading to payments given to the Taliban.  Yet he continues to say that Putin is America’s friend.  As for Kim Jong-un he has several times threatened America with nuclear weapons yet President Trump continues to praise him, even saying “they fell in love”.  

Granted most of the above topics, excluding the COVID, discuss the man more than the office.  Unfortunately, even his actions in office are something that I cannot agree with.  The fact that he got the third justice to the Supreme Court, I don’t like and thought was cheating, but I can live with it, that is just politics.  What I can’t accept is that he puts people in charge specifically Devos as the Secretary of Education.  She has no degree in education and is a strong proponent of school vouchers.  The fact that she wants to take money from public education and give it to private schools in my opinion is an abomination.  Public money should be used to make the public schools better, not to create for profit niche schools for wealthy families.  It is easy to look up Trump’s cabinet and its many conflicts of interest.  He has tried to attack and dismantle many of the laws regarding US National Park System.  He wants to use our national treasure for fracking, mining, and to destroy the landscape with highways.  President Trump in my opinion destroys everything he touches without anything created to replace. 

Finally, President Trump’s finances.  He has consistently refused to release his tax records.  He did not divest himself of his companies and place them in trust when he entered the office.  He uses his properties and charges the American government for his many vacations.  That is he earns money every time he plays golf. Six of President Trump’s businesses have declared bankruptcy.  His university has had to settle several lawsuits and declared a fraudulent university.  

President Trump is a good talker, he can get the crowds up and cheering.  I can see the attraction.  But behind his facade is a conman.  He has not fulfilled his presidential responsibilities.  He has not put America first, he has not done everything in his power to protect the American people.  He hasn’t even tried and that is the biggest sin of all.  He has a Republican Senate, he could have created a better healthcare program, he could have arranged for much needed supplies, he could have helped Puerto Rico and New York, he could have, but he didn’t care and he ignored America’ need for a strong leader.  He rails at those who don’t agree with him and denies them help that they need. He is like the bully on the field that takes home the bat and ball when he gets out. He was voted in to the highest office in the land to make things better instead he has made things worse.

He has encouraged white supremists, he asked foreign governments to help him get reelected, he has not only supported but praised dictators, he has failed to come up with any plan to improve healthcare, disaster management (in fact he dismantled those in place), he lied to the American people about the severity of COVID 19.  He insulted our essential worker, first responders, and military.  For these and so many more reasons I pray that America finds its soul and sends him away.  I fear the path President Trump will take America should he win this election.  I pray that America votes to get its soul back.  I pray that all the divisiveness can be healed.  I pray that America remembers that we may fail some days but we always strive to do better tomorrow than yesterday.  I pray that we remember the days we put out our hand and helped our neighbor.  I pray.

4Nbahu