Yes, But What About

Disqualified

It’s almost impossible for me to think about another Trump Presidency.  The Insurrection of January 6^th, 2021 is absolutely disqualifying.  I find it a failure of the Biden Administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland  for not holding  Trump accountable for that, at least, not yet.  Beyond that, a President who openly admires dictators:  Putin, Xi, Kim, Orban, and Erdogan, should tell us exactly what we need to know about his “style” of government.  That’s another automatic disqualification from holding powerful office in the world’s greatest democracy.  

An American leader who routinely, chronically, and habitually lies should not be President. And finally, a man who is clearly an abuser of women, should not be in our highest office.

So for me, it’s tough to get to an “issues” conversation.  Trump is damned far beyond any “favorable” stand on the issues allows.  But I have friends, people who I think of as “good folk”, who will acknowledge all of the above, then say, “Yes, but what about?”  And they then follow with a litany of “issues” where they see Democrats as failing, and Trump as “the answer”.  So let me try to deal with a few of those issues for them.

The Economy

By most measures:  the stock markets, current inflation, current employment, even wages; the Biden administration has done a remarkable job.  It’s easy to have a memory gap of the Covid pandemic, but it did wreak havoc on the world’s economy.  Trade came to a near-standstill, unemployment was high, and there were supply shortages from toilet paper to construction lumber.  First Trump, then Biden realized that the government would need to “carry” the economy for a while.  There were all of the PPP business loans, school and government monies, and, of course, the personal government checks for thousands of dollars (first accompanied by a letter with a “huge” Trump signature.)

And that process worked, better than any other country in the world.  But with all of that “government money” pushed out there was an inevitable and foreseeable consequence:  inflation.  The Biden administration first goal was to get Americans back to work.  The Infrastructure Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act which worked on climate issues, the American Rescue Plan which cut child poverty in half, the Chips Act committing America to building modern electronic necessities; all put people to work and made our lives better.

The second Biden goal:  to get control of inflation without the “feast and famine” of a recession.  Many economists said it wasn’t possible, but here we are today.  Yes, prices are higher than in 2019, but so are wages.  Yes, we went through a time when price increases were stunning; but the current inflation rate is under three percent.  Biden “landed” the “boom economy” without a recession.  And all of that happened in the past four years – Covid economic fall, recovery, boom, inflation, control.  There’s been a steady hand on the “tiller”, and Harris will continue that process.

Human Rights

 I firmly believe Americans should have the right to make their own moral choices.  Some of my friends believe in the “right to life”, and I respect their right to do so.  What I don’t respect is the claimed right to tell others how they should believe in that moral issue.  Donald Trump directly led to the stripping away of that intimately personal choice.  And it’s not only with abortion; he represents a Nation where LGBTQ Americans will have to “hide in the closet”.  Our modern science reveals that gender is a complex mix of genetics and biology.  The horrific Republican ads showing young teens sitting on hospital gurneys waiting for a “sex change”, are so opposite reality, it’s amazing that they have any impact at all.  But they do.  

Trump espouses a radical theory that says there is “no distinction/no advantage” in American gender, race, or ethnic identity.  All Americans know that isn’t true.  The Trump administration not only tried to stop programs that advanced equality regardless of differences, they affirmatively defend the right of “white males” to maintain a political and economic advantage.  Those who agree with him, are clinging to a past where America was a “white majority” nation.  The near-future is different, no matter who wins the Presidency.  

We are a nation of many cultures, genders, races, religions and ethnicities; and will become more diverse not less.  It is the duty of the President to pursue “E Pluribus Unum”; out of many, one.  Donald Trump represents division not unity, discrimination, not inclusion, the past, not the future.

Immigration

Could Biden have acted sooner to control the Southern Border?  Yes, but if he did, it would have destroyed any possibility of a legislative agreement for a long-term solution.  And Biden/Harris actually achieved a “global” deal, even with the wide divide between the political parties.  The US Senate voted for a “tough” border deal, and the US House of Representatives was poised to do so as well.

That is, until Donald Trump intervened, demanding that his acolytes in the House “tank” the deal, in order to preserve the issue for his campaign.  And the obedient House members did exactly that.

Afterwards, the Biden/Harris Administration took what executive actions they could, and the situation at the border improved.  But the opportunity to make a long-term solution to the Southern border was destroyed by the political needs of one man:  Donald Trump.  He put his own needs ahead of the Nation, another act that should be disqualifying.

The World

The Biden administration has strengthened American alliances throughout the world.  NATO is stronger than ever before, and helping Ukraine hold a expansionist Russia at bay without committing American forces.  We are checking Chinese expansion, and expanding American influence.  

What about Afghanistan?  Biden followed Trump’s plan, that released thousands of Taliban fighters back into the field.  He made a choice; get out of a decade’s long losing struggle in the country, or redouble our troop forces and efforts.  The US withdrawal was ugly, but the price to be paid for decades of failed US strategy.  Biden “bit the bullet” for the Nation.

What about the Middle East?  The United States is sending mixed messages.  The Administration is defending Israel’s right to respond to the October 7^th attack, and balancing Iranian responses against Israel.  But there is a strong force in our Nation who are telling Netanyahu to do whatever he wants to the Palestinians, without the “check” of American restriction.  That force is Donald Trump and his allies, who told Netanyahu to ignore Biden and wait for Trump’s election.  They have intentionally undermined US strategy.

The Closer

Has the Biden/Harris Administration been perfect?  Of course not.  Do they represent a full embrace of a changing America?  Absolutely.  But the most important fact is that Kamala Harris is committed to the American Democracy, to the US Constitution, and to the freedoms we profess to believe in.  Donald Trump represents an authoritarian threat greater than any the United States has ever faced.  

And that threat “trumps” all of the other issues.  We can come back to argue about economic changes, foreign policy, and how America will handle our future; later.  Right now, we have to defend democracy – and the only way to do that is to send Donald Trump home, and elect Kamala Harris.