Here's my question to all of Donald Trump's supporters. Look, I get it: you can't stand Hillary Clinton; she's the antichrist as far as you're concerned. And there's no way you could ever see yourself voting for her. Believe it or not, I actually understand where you're coming from. I couldn't bring myself to vote for a candidate that I felt didn't represent my core beliefs or that had some serious trust issues. Fine, don't vote for her.
But here's what I don't understand. How is it that you can consider voting for someone whose claim to fame is that he can fix what's wrong with the economy who has himself filed for bankruptcy four separate times and driven a casino into the ground? A CASINO FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! That's what I don't get.
I mean, seriously, the man has left a path of financial devastation everywhere he's been. He claims he will bring back manufacturing jobs to America and he will force Apple to make its iPhones here in this country. Yet his entire line of clothing is manufactured overseas. He says he's going to renegotiate all the rotten trade deals that the United States has entered into, but the undeniable truth is he has benefited greatly from those very same trade deals.
He says he's one of you and you blindly believe him. Think about this: he gave an interview to 60 Minutes while sitting in a golden chair. Know a lot of middle class or working class people who own a golden chair? I mean one that isn't painted gold, but is actually made of gold.
The truth is he's a con artist and has been most of his life. He's also a bully. He negotiates deals then stiffs his suppliers by telling him he's not going to honor his bills. That's the prime reason why he has been sued so much. Turns out people don't like being cheated. And when he's not being sued, he threatens to sue others. Anyone that says anything bad about him he goes after. And when he doesn't get the outcome he thinks he's entitled to, he whines about it and cries foul. When Judge Gonzalo Curiel released some documents from a case he was presiding over that involved Trump, he attacked his ethnicity. That's what bullies do when they don't get what they want: they attack their adversaries.
Trump has also demonstrated a complete lack of understanding concerning foreign affairs that has deeply troubled not only our allies, but many military experts here in this country as well. His call to allow countries like Japan and South Korea to possess nuclear weapons and to reconsider whether we would honor our commitments to our NATO allies in the event of an attack or invasion isn't just disconcerting; it's downright frightening. And the way he has cozied up to Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un reveals a dystopian mindset that should set off alarm bells in any rational human being.
His contempt for freedom of the press is further evidence of this dystopian affinity. On more than one occasion his campaign has seen fit to ban reporters - or as was the case for the Washington Post, an entire publication - that he feels have been unfair to him. Unfair is now apparently code for asking tough questions and demanding answers. Politifact has constantly rated his claims as mostly or almost all false, yet he continues to spin his lies as gospel truth.
I have spent the last twenty-plus years in sales and I have seen my fair share of con artists. None of them could hold a candle to this guy. He's good, I mean real good. He's managed to convince almost half the country that a self-absorbed billionaire who made his fortune by cheating his investors and partners and by producing his products with cheap labor abroad is somehow the Messiah they've been looking for that will deliver them to the Promised Land.
Don't fall for it, America. He's not your deliverer. He's a snake-oil salesman who doesn't even have the decency to bring his own snake oil. What he's doing is manipulating you by exploiting your deepest, darkest fears and by appealing to that part of you that longs for a simpler time when everything made sense and the world seemed less chaotic and, yes, less scary.
He won't make America any greater than it already is; what he'll do is line his pockets with the crushed hopes and dreams of every single voter who was naive enough to fall for his bullshit.
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