Dear Trump Supporters,
I thought of writing this open letter after the elections. But I decided that would be pointless because you really needed to read it before you voted.
Also, if I wrote it after the election, it was going to be an I-told-you-so missive which is never a nice thing to do, although it is very satisfying to the writer.
So, having dismissed the two options above, I thought the best thing to do is write a “Trump Told You So” letter or, as the election is yet to happen, “Trump Is Telling You So” letter.
The thinking behind my letter is that all you have to do is believe the words coming out of the man’s mouth to decide to cast your ballot for Kamala Harris. If you can’t bring yourself to do that, don’t vote at all, write-in your mother-in-law’s name or put an X next to the name of a third party candidate.
This letter will also include the actions of Donald Trump as well as the words because, as we all know, actions speak much, much louder than words.
Let’s start with the hot topic of immigration. Trump has said he wants to deport 20 million immigrants. Think about it. Twenty million people, some of which are certain to be your friend, neighbour, colleague, maybe even a relative.
And where will these 20 million be kept while waiting to be flown to the countries they fled. Rest assured, they won’t be staying at the local Hilton.
Finally, what about the cost? Twenty million people will be taken out of the economy. That it is twenty million people who produce and buy goods and services. If all they earned was $30,000 a year that means $600 billion would be taken out of the economy. But that is nothing compared to the price tag for police and enforcement agents to implement Trump’s plans. It is estimated that will cost the taxpayer $850 billion.
As we are talking about money, how about Trump’s wider economic policies the key points of which are tariffs and taxes. Trump wants a 10-20 percent tariff on all imported goods and tariffs ranging from 60 percent to 500 percent (depending on which rally you attend) on Chinese goods.
Trump claims this will protect American industries from unfair competition. Perhaps. But there is a big downside. First of all, big companies now have complex international supply chains which means that the car you drive is constructed with parts from about 30 different countries. All of whom would pay tariffs. This means the cost of your car would soar. The respected—and apolitical—Peterson Institute for International Economics reckons that Trump’s tariffs could increase inflation to 6-9 percent by 2026 and cost the average American household anywhere between $2,600 and $7,600 a year.
Ah, but Trump has also promised tax cuts. True. He has pledged to eliminate taxes on tips and social security. More importantly he will make permanent his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCA) which lowered corporation tax and taxes for the wealthy. The Congressional Budget Office (also apolitical) calculated that the top one percent of the population received about 25 percent of the benefits from the TCA.
Possibly of greater long-term significance is the impact tax cuts would have on government coffers. The Congressional Budget Office calculates that they would cost the government $1.6 trillion over the next decade and push Social Security and Medicare into bankruptcy. That figure does not include the cost of Trump’s deportation programme or the cost of deporting taxpayers. If you are worried about the deficit then you should worry about Trump.
Then there is Trump’s assertion that he will “go after” his political opponents whom he has branded “the enemy within.” He has even named them: Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney, Adam Schiff, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the Department of Justice, the FBI, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, election officials… According to Iowa Public Radio he has threatened to prosecute his enemies on more than 100 occasions. Trump supporters—and Trump campaign officials—dismiss these unconstitutional threats as “politicking” and point out that Trump did not use his office to prosecute or persecute political enemies during his first time.
Oh, but he did. In some cases he tried and failed. In others he succeeded. Hillary Clinton was not prosecuted because Attorney General Jeff Sessions refused to pursue the case. He also recused himself from the investigation into the alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. For his refusal, Sessions, was fired.
But FBI Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe had the temerity to continue the investigation. Trump fired both of them. McCabe was fired just before retirement and lost his pension. Then both men were subjected to an intensive IRS audit which cost them hundreds of thousands in legal and accountancy fees and many sleepless nights. In the end Comey was told he owed no taxes and McCabe received a $500,000 tax rebate. Using tax inspectors to investigate political opponents is a favourite tactic of dictators.
Of course, using his office to persecute political opponents would be unconstitutional and should make Trump unfit for office. There is a long list of people who have worked with the former president who say just that. At the top of the list is his former vice president Mike Pence. Rex Tillerson, Trump’s first Secretary of State called him “a moron.” His lawyer Mike Cohen said Trump is a “con man, cheat and racist.” James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense, said Trump is “a threat to the constitution.” And more recently, former chief of staff John Kelly pulled no punches when he described the former president as a “fascist.” The above is an abbreviated list.
I realise that foreign policy is not at the top of the agenda for most voters. But you should be worried about Trump’s foreign policy in general and his Ukraine policy in particular. Ukraine is a democratic country fighting a dictatorship that wants to swallow it up. Trump says that he would resolve the conflict “in 24 hours” if elected. The only way he can do that is by cutting off Ukraine’s life line—American military aid. Russia would then win and the West—which includes America—would lose.
Finally, Trump did try to overthrow the government. That is what January 6 and the election lie actually is—an attempted coup.
* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".
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14 Comments
As bad as all that is – can anyone tell me why this election is so close ? …Why are millions of Americans quite willingly prepared to vote for him again …
Because they are not very bright?
Because the serious professional politicians don’t resonate with ordinary people and their class have struggled to deliver for many decades.
Trump, despite his wealth and power, plays the unconventional rebel card.
What is needed is a more exciting way of framing the centre ground and common sense politics.
Interestingly, Jeremy Corbyn’s unorthodox left-wing offering didn’t excite the voters in the UK and his idealism was to easy to attack.
Radically presented pragmatism would be a wonderful thing if someone could find the right presentational formula.
The Brits are in no position to lecture anyone.
We knew perfectly well that Good Old Boris He’s A Larf Innee was a dishonest, incompetent buffoon, but millions of us voted to make him PM. It’s as plain as day that multi-millionaire ex-commodity trader Nigel Farage, Man of the People, is all mouth and no substance, but far more people backed his fan club earlier this year than voted Lib Dem.
In the next few weeks, some evidence for the existence of a benevolent deity would be very welcome…
@Martin Gray – at a talk I attended recently, someone explained that American culture celebrates ‘the outsider who breaks the rules, but gets things done’. You will have seen this in umpteen Hollywood movies, and maybe even rooted for the anti-hero yourself. That is how many Americans view Trump.
There is no simple answer to Martin’s question. There are often as many different reasons for supporting a politician as there are supporters. That is true of any country. Some are, as Graham, said are “dumb” and simple solutions appeal to simple minds. Others are racist who see their dominance of the system under threat. Others are closet racists who see their dominance under threat. There are also misogynists who believe Kamala’s place is in the kitchen. Others, like members of my family, are evangelicals who are attracted to Christian nationalism and Trump’s position on abortion. My brother is a one issue voter– he is violently opposed to abortion.
(comment continued) I regularly correspond with a Republican supporter who believes that all Democrats are socialists. Others are concerned about the inflation that they suffered under Biden. Yes, it was caused by covid and Ukraine, two events over which Biden had no control. But he was in office when inflation topped nine percent, so he — not Putin or the Wuhan laboratory– get the blame. Yes, inflation is coming down, but not all American wages have had a chance to catch up. There are also other social and historical factors. Americans are inordinately attached to their guns (there are more guns than people in the US of A) and have always been suspicious of big government infringing on their private liberties (Trump’s deep state). There are some people who are sinking beneath the American free market do or die waves. They see the great disrupter (Trump) as the only way to prevent themselves drowning. Logic dictates that they should all vote for Harris, but when has logic determined how people vote. Look at Brexit. The only hope is the belief that I hold, that eventually logic– and the right thing– will win.
Martin’s question is an important one and as Tom Arns comments “there is no simple answer”.
It is often said that politics is a dirty business. In the US digging for dirt on your political opponent keeps an army of investigators gainfully employed Politics Is a Dirty Business. I Ought to Know. With Trump you don’t have to look too hard for dirt, but he has been able to deflect criticism of his conduct by the technique of constant denials in the face of overwhelming evidence, inventing his own facts, continual repition of lies, scapegoating others and projecting his own faults onto anyone but himself as a means of blame-shifting. I think ultimately, that Michelle Obama called it right when she said “When they go low, we go high” while discussing how to “handle bullies” in support of Hillary Clinton. In a political contest where winning by any means possible, holding to the moral high ground is not easy to do, but Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign for the US democratic presidential nomination proved what might be possible in the right circumstances, even in the USA. Boris Johnson was ultimately brought down by his own dishonesty, so we still have hope here in the UK that truth and honesty will prevail in the political arena.
My simple answer…Listen to Trump; if you believe that he is irrational, why would you elect him to the most powerful position in the world?
BTW..If you believe his utterances are rational, seek help..
The most bizarre nonsensical attitude in the USA elections came last week from people sympathetic to Palestinians. They said because Biden has supported Israel, they will vote for Trump.
The Democrats’ problem is that Biden pulled out too late in the day to allow Kamala Harris to campaign in the primaries. Gordon Brown was weakened as PM by not having to campaign within Labour to win the party leadership, so we never got to see what he was like as an individual, just how he was in “partnership” with Tony Blair. Harris is similarly suffering. It allows the right-wing to claim that “no one knows what she stands for” and for her unable to draw a distinction between her role as VP to Biden and her potential future role as President. She hasn’t been able to hone her campaign message over months in the primaries and caucuses, so she’s doing it on the fly now.
Thanks Guy; you are right because those Palestinian supporters still see Biden as representing the Democrats, not Kamala Harris.
TDS on steroids.
Salena Zito, writing in The Atlantic, nailed this over eight years ago: “When [Trump] makes claims, like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.”
Martin Gray 26th Oct ’24 – 10:34am:
…can anyone tell me why this election is so close ? …Why are millions of Americans quite willingly prepared to vote for him again …
Break out of your echo chamber and learn from people you disagree with (it’s why I come here). El Gato explains the Trump phenomenon with his “typical Gato mix of razor sharp insight leavened with humor and common sense” and the BTL comments provide further illumination…
‘genghis trump’ [26th. October]:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/genghis-trump
Jeff, It seems that the ‘Brumby’ in your attachment has already bought into Trump’s lies..The ONLY person saying that ‘Little Jimmy will go to school and come home as little ‘Jenny’, is Trump..