Trump Voters Terrifying

46% of Americans are ready to re-elect Donald Trump according to recent polling. That’s a truly stunning number especially since only 46% are committed to electing a Democrat to replace him. That nearly half of Americans are on board with a man whom even Republican congressman Justin Amash says clearly obstructed justice and should be impeached shows that they don’t care what he does wrong he’s their guy and they’re sticking with him.

If you’ve read the Mueller report like I have you too understand what Amash is talking about as it lays out the case for obstruction of justice quite clearly. Worse still he has instructed members and former members of his administration to defy congressional subpoenas preventing their investigations from gathering evidence.

The trade war he set off with China and other countries is causing farmers to lose billions of dollars in sales so his administration is providing $15-20 billion in federal assistance to soy bean farmers among others who have been harmed by the backlash. Family farmers are the ones most harmed and the least helped causing unusually high levels of farm bankruptcies.

Harley Davidson moved some manufacturing out of the country in order to avoid tariffs on sales in Europe and elsewhere. Many of those Carrier air conditioner jobs in Indiana that Trump made so much about saving during the 2016 election have now moved to Mexico anyway. There are many other examples of the trade war and Trump’s economic policies hurting more than helping.

Just this week Trump announced "I don’t want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran, you can’t let them have nuclear weapons — you just can’t let that happen.”  Republic Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas claims it would take just two strikes to wipe out Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to convince House members of any real threat from Iran in their meeting earlier this week. This is the same kind of sabre rattling and falsehood pedaling that the Bush administration engaged in during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.

About two miles of new border wall/fence has been built on the southern border and Mexico hasn’t paid a dime toward it. Five immigrant children have died in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while separated from their parents who were legally seeking asylum in the United States. Rather than sending more immigration judges to process asylum applicants Trump has contracted with private prison operators to house immigrants.

Trump’s cabinet selections have repeatedly been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, often for lavish travel expenses on the tax payer dime. Some have resigned in disgrace but others like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin hang on. Those not engaged in outright theft are often incompetent such as Secretary of Education Betsy DuVos who doesn’t understand basic educational terms and principles or Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson who showed no understanding of the terms describing real estate finance at a recent congressional hearing.

None of this phases nearly half of the American public, I find that terrifying.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - May 24, 2019