The Ramblings of an Independent Voter: I Don't Get This Trump Thing

I’m struggling. I really am, and I’m not trying to be an instigator. I’m trying to understand. When I ask why someone wants to vote for him, I’ve heard several things. I’ve heard that he “tells it like it is”, and he’s a good businessman who knows how to get our economy moving and will deal with immigration, and he can win because he’s more personable than Cruz.  I’ve heard that he’s an outsider who will fight for the rights of Americans. I get that Americans are looking for that, but what I don’t follow is how anyone thinks that Trump fits that description. Let me hit the reasons why I’m concerned, and I’m open to listening to anyone who wants to explain without being ugly.

He tells it like it is and is a good businessman: To me, that implies that he tells the truth no matter what. To date, these are a few of the lies I know (because I investigated several sources myself rather than just believed pundits, Trump, other candidates, etc.):

• He said he never settles lawsuits. False. Baja condo resort-settled. Trump Soho-settled. GM building-settled. Trump Tower-settled. Central Park South, etc.
• Trump said he met Putin, who loved him, when they were both interviewed by 60 Minutes. False. They were interviewed in entirely different locations. One in NY and the other in Russia.
•  He said his businesses didn’t really go under and displayed the products at a press conference after one of the primaries. The problem -it wasn’t his products. Relabeling something doesn’t make them Trump products. A new label doesn’t make something my product. Trump’s justification is that he sells them in his restaurants on his resorts. Sorry, but that’s not the same thing. He had a magazine called Trump, but the one he showed was a different one that’s more like a brochure on his resorts. The water is only sold in his resorts…and relabeled. His steaks, well he didn’t even bother to take them out of the original packaging. He bought them at a place in West Palm. Don’t believe me? Check out the photo. Blow it up if you need to do so.

• ·         He said that Michelle Fields wasn’t really manhandled by his manager, but evidence has surfaced that she was. Rather than apologize for the occurrence, Trump said it was a lie and brought Corey on stage beside him and congratulated him.
• ·         This is especially telling since he’s taken to calling Cruz a liar and cheat, yet he’s lied about that. He tells the American people that Cruz was for amnesty, but he was not. The situation he uses to “prove” that is when Cruz put for a poison pill amendment to Rubio’s Gang of Eight bill and stopped it. It’s the opposite of being for it. When a Cruz person re-tweeted something that was reported by a news organization, Trump called for him to fire that person and said he was a liar/cheat. Yet Trump himself said that when he retweets lies, they’re “just retweets” and make for interesting dialogue.
• ·         He said the Chicago PD advised him to cancel the rally there, but they have said that wasn’t true.
• ·         He cusses like a sailor, totally unbecoming of President. Then, he says of others that the cussing is inappropriate, implying that he doesn’t do it.

I could keep going, but I won’t.

Trump will get our economy going:

• ·         He says companies should make their products here, yet he has his products made in China, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Lesotho. When asked about it, he says they’re priced better because they devalue their dollar. So? You said they should be made here no matter what, but then again…we’ve established the lying.
• ·         He said Mexico will pay for the wall. Mexico says they will not. Trump said he will put a 45% tariff on goods. He said if China doesn’t give a more fair trade deal, he’ll put tariffs on them too. Experts have faced off on this and found that this will likely cause trade wars. Why is this a problem? It will pass the cost to us as consumers. If other countries pay 45% more in tariffs, the prices will increase for us by the same amount. Then American companies will raise their costs to just below those.
• ·         He says he’ll make companies pay more, yet economists say over and over that this will drive more away. The best way to do it is to “lure” companies back by cutting corporate tax rates like the countries where the corporations are moving. It’s a flat tax…like Cruz (and other candidates/former candidates-remember “9-9-9”?) have suggested.

Trump will handle immigration because he’s been so strong on it.

• ·         He’s been in trouble quite a few times for doing the wrong thing when it comes to immigration. He hired immigrants and had them sleeping outside, paying next to nothing, when working on one of his buildings. He hired immigrants in his Florida resorts rather than citizens. He says it was busy season and that nobody wanted the jobs. It’s been proven that was, again, a lie.
• ·         He’s said that he would make the US a police state and have a force to round out people. However, this would likely turn in to a fiasco and is very inhumane…like his other comments when asked about this. He said it was like FDR’s policy-which was internment camps (a nicer word for concentration camps). In addition, he’s suggested the “good ones” can go out and come right back in. So…we will spend all of that money to send them out and turn around and let them right back in? Yeah, that makes sense.

He’s more personable than Cruz:

• ·         His unfavorable are at 69% in many polls and at the best they are at 54%. Cruz’s highest is at 50%, but for completely different reasons. Trump's are because people genuinely don't like him, and Cruz's are mostly because people aren't sure he can win. 
• ·         Trump likes to cite polls, but only two polls have ever had him as beating Hilary in the general election. It’s the exact opposite with Cruz.
• ·         Women voters typically don’t like or want Trump. Have you seen the ad of the women who speak Trump’s words? Powerful. Check it out. http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/women-anti-trump-ad-220727

He will fight for our rights:

• ·         Freedom of speech, including that of the press, is an actual thing, yet he has banned certain reporters. Coincidentally, it has been the reporters that have said anything against him right after they did.
• ·         Trump has implied, if not outright stated, that he is for expanding surveillance that would put us all in the cross hairs. It’s an overreach, especially since they can get the same info from a warrant and do so legally.
• ·         He said that he would undo Obama’s executive orders because they’re unconstitutional, yet when asked if he would use them in the same way he said yes because they would be for good things. It’s either unconstitutional or it’s not. You can’t like them just because they work out for you this time.

There’s so much more that I could go on. It's genuinely confusing to me. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not at all suggesting that Americans should vote someone in office because they are a Christian or because they haven't messed up. Lord knows we'd never be able to vote for anyone-myself included. However, I do think we should make our decisions based on something other than anger. How many times have you made a decision out of anger and thought it went well? I do think we should vote out the establishment which is why it confuses me that Trump people like him who is a self-admitted establishment guy who supposedly changed his ways less than a year ago, Trump supporters argue that he would make the deals necessary to get things done (an establishment tactic), and Cruz wouldn't do that because nobody in the Senate likes him. That's crazy because the establishment doesn't like him since he has constantly held them accountable and fought for the Constitution his entire life. It's the pattern of the man that has never faltered. I LIKE that he isn't loved in Washington because that means he's stood his ground and IS an outsider. They also respect him, whether or not they agree with him. I think it's important for a President to be worthy of respect and have the ability to be Presidential. I think it's important for a President to think of the Constitution first before making a decision. I think it's important that a President be a man of his word.  I truly do not understand this Trump thing. Seriously. 

I'll end as I began. If you're a Trump person who can genuinely explain it to me without being ugly and without repeating the same, old rhetoric that I've already mentioned, please feel free to do so. I would love for this to make sense in my mind.