Yesterday I posted the reasons for voting for Donald Trump that a family member had provided me with. I told her I could repudiate every single talking point but what WAS the point? However, in hopes of persuading at least ONE undecided voter NOT to cast a ballot for him, I am going to do just that. Here are her talking points and my response.
The buffoon in the White House is the first president that has not engaged us in a foreign war since Eisenhower. We still have troops in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and numerous other countries around the globe. His unilateral withdrawal from Syria ceded Middle eastern influence to Russia and after twenty years he is about to hand Afghanistan over to the Taliban (who also, BTW, endorsed his candidacy!). He has seriously undermined our strategic presence in S Korea by undermining that government and threatening to withdraw our troops from the Peninsula andcancelling annual military maneuvers to appease hyis BFF Kim Jung Un. The buffoon in the White House promised to destroy ISIS, and kept his promise. Something Obama promised to do, but couldn’t. Not true. ISIS is alive and well and we essentially ceded influence in the region to Russia. I always have wondered why Trumpers have such a deep seeded hatred for Barrack Obama-could it be racial prejudice driving this continuous venom regarding our former President? "The buffoon in the White House just brokered two Middle East Peace Accords, something that 71 years of political intervention and endless war failed to produce. He has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by 3 separate world leaders. Utterly absurd. Tell that to the Palestinians or Iranians. Or Iraqi's. The Nobel peace prize to the man who assassinated an Iranian general without provocation? The buffoon in the White House has had the greatest impact on the economy, bringing jobs, and lowering unemployment to the Black and Latino population of ANY other president. Ever! Total myth. Trump inherited a booming economy from Obama, and has destroyed it with his failure to deal with the pandemic. Result-Thirty Million unemployed, economy in shambles unless you are a hedge fund manager or member of the Billionaires Boys Club. The buffoon in the White House has exposed the deep, widespread, and long-standing corruption in the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the Democratic party. Trump rooting out corruption?!? The most corrupt president in American history? The FBI, CIA and NSA corrupt? Democratic Party corrupt? Utter nonsense. The buffoon in the White House turned NATO around and had them start paying their dues. Trump has alienated allies across the globe while schmoozing up to murderous thugs like Putin, MBS and Kim Jung Un. Dismantling NATO has long been Putin's objective and his BFF Trump is accomodating him nicely. The buffoon in the White House neutralized the North Koreans, stopped them from developing a further nuclear capability, sending missiles toward Japan, and threatening the West Coast of the US. REALLY?!? Trump's BFF has continued to develop and increase his nuclear capabilities while Trump and he exchange love letters. So this statement is just plain FALSE. The buffoon in the White House repositioned our embassy to Jerusalem, something every president before him promised to do, but NEVER had the guts to do. He has calculated every single move with Israel for political gain. The Israeli P.M. is as corrupt as Trump. But for the Wuhan caused pandemic, the Buffoon in the White House has stood up to China, brought hundreds of businesses back to the US, and revived the US economy well beyond anything his predecessor thought possible…..without a “magic wand.” His trade war has been catastrophic and cost American taxpayers and consumers BILLIONS in bail outs and price increases. The buffoon in the White House has accomplished the appointing of two Supreme Court Justices, nominated an incredibly well qualified candidate for the current SCOTUS vacancy, and will soon have placed close to 300 Federal Judges on the federal bench. It's called stacking the Court. The buffoon in the White House lowered your taxes and caused your stock market to move to record levels over 100 times, positively impacting the retirements of tens of millions of citizens. He lowered my taxes by a VERY SMALL % while giving corporate Amerika the biggest tax cut in American history, thereby creating the largest budget deficit in our history. The buffoon in the White House fast-tracked the development of a COVID Vaccine - it will be available within months - we still don't have a vaccine for SARS, Bird Flu, Ebola, or a host of diseases that arose during previous administrations. Jared Kushner, the Boy Blunder, has doled out literally BILLIONS of $$$$'s with no accountability to these big pharmaceutical companies. His failure to respond to this pandemic has resulted in 226,000 American deaths and they want to talk about a vaccine now??? The buffoon in the White House rebuilt our military which the Obama administration had crippled and had fired 214 key generals and admirals in his first year of office.And for the record called them suckers and losers. To say that Obama had crip[pled the military is completely without merit. The buffoon in the White House uncovered and curtailed rampant illegal immigration and widespread sex and drug trafficking in the United States and beyond. He separated families, locked innocent women and children in cages and referred to Hispanics as "breeders". He was close friends with Jeffrey Epstein, the most notorious sex trafficker in recent history. The buffoon in the White House works for free and has lost well over 2 billion dollars of his own money in serving - and done all of this and much more in the face of relentless undermining and opposition from people who are threatened because they know they are going to be exposed as the criminals that they are if he is re-elected. He has used his position as POTUS to bankroll the Trump brand, cheated on his taxes for decades, enriched all of his Billionaire buds and his corporate donors while abusing the Emoluments Clause since the day he took the oath of office.
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I was watching "Morning Joe" this a.m. as he was discussing how he just could not understand how his Republican friends could possibly cast a ballot for Donald Trump, something I have wondered about for a very long time myself. I decided to put out feelers to friends and family members who I knew were going to vote for him.I received the following reply from a family member, which was prefaced by the disclaimer 'forget his personal life". Please read this carefully as it will give us all a better understanding of just what is shaping the narrative for the so called trump base. I have not editorialized in any way, and I let you draw your own conclusions. I drew mine a couple of weeks ago when i cast my absentee ballet for Biden/Harris. here is the reply I received. BTW, I have called Trump a buffoon on many occasions.
"The buffoon in the White House just brokered two Middle East Peace Accords, something that 71 years of political intervention and endless war failed to produce. He has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by 3 separate world leaders. The buffoon in the White House is the first president that has not engaged us in a foreign war since Eisenhower. The buffoon in the White House promised to destroy ISIS, and kept his promise. Something Obama promised to do, but couldn’t. The buffoon in the White House has had the greatest impact on the economy, bringing jobs, and lowering unemployment to the Black and Latino population of ANY other president. Ever! The buffoon in the White House has exposed the deep, widespread, and long-standing corruption in the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the Democratic party. The buffoon in the White House turned NATO around and had them start paying their dues. The buffoon in the White House neutralized the North Koreans, stopped them from developing a further nuclear capability, sending missiles toward Japan, and threatening the West Coast of the US. The buffoon in the White House repositioned our embassy to Jerusalem, something every president before him promised to do, but NEVER had the guts to do. But for the Wuhan caused pandemic, the Buffoon in the White House has stood up to China, brought hundreds of businesses back to the US, and revived the US economy well beyond anything his predecessor thought possible…..without a “magic wand.” The buffoon in the White House has accomplished the appointing of two Supreme Court Justices, nominated an incredibly well qualified candidate for the current SCOTUS vacancy, and will soon have placed close to 300 Federal Judges on the federal bench. The buffoon in the White House lowered your taxes and caused your stock market to move to record levels over 100 times, positively impacting the retirements of tens of millions of citizens. The buffoon in the White House fast-tracked the development of a COVID Vaccine - it will be available within months - we still don't have a vaccine for SARS, Bird Flu, Ebola, or a host of diseases that arose during previous administrations. The buffoon in the White House rebuilt our military which the Obama administration had crippled and had fired 214 key generals and admirals in his first year of office. The buffoon in the White House uncovered and curtailed rampant illegal immigration and widespread sex and drug trafficking in the United States and beyond. The buffoon in the White House works for free and has lost well over 2 billion dollars of his own money in serving - and done all of this and much more in the face of relentless undermining and opposition from people who are threatened because they know they are going to be exposed as the criminals that they are if he is re-elected. I got it, you don't like him. How special of you. He is serving you and ALL the American people. What are you doing besides calling him names?" There you have the view from the other side. Now you can understand how important it is to vote. My ninety-six year old mother passed away in her sleep (thankfully) early this morning after a very brief bout with Covid-19. She is now another one of the nearly 215,000 fellow Americans who have perished from this pandemic to date and at the rate we are headed this number will get much higher.
My mom was a veteran of the United States Marine Corp.; she was the mother of five children, nine grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren. She was a devout Catholic and I hope she is presently being shown around by St Peter to get acclimated to her new surroundings and reunited with all those she held dear who have also left this earth. To those of us left behind we will always remember her love of poker, her faith and her razor sharp wit fondly. She was born and grew up in Cleveland and had four sisters-she outlived them all. She always spoke fondly of the city and even recently told my sister she hoped to move back there when she “got out”. My older brother and I are also native sons of the Buckeye state but each of my sisters was born in Kentucky, her adopted home after my father was transferred here back in the early ‘50’s. But she was always a West side girl at heart. Because of the spike in the pandemic, there can be no service for her. No one will EVER see her again and her family was not at her side in the final hours-she was in isolation. I personally had not seen her since a day I will always remember- Friday, March 13 (of course!), 2020, the day the country went into lockdown. I have only seen pictures of her over these months and it was very obvious her health was deteriorating; she has suffered with COPD for years, so when word came earlier this week that she had tested positive for the virus me and my brother and sisters knew it was only a matter of time. Thankfully, it was over quickly for her, unlike with many other victims who have struggled for months in trying to recuperate. My mom will be cremated and at some point down the road we will hopefully be able to give her the appropriate memorial service so this huge family she left behind can rejoice in her life. In the meanwhile, you better believe that later this afternoon when Happy Hour comes at the Cole Pub that there will be a shot of Kentucky bourbon hoisted in her honor. I have written many posts regarding our government’s response to this horrible disease. This is not the time for that. I dare say had this entire matter NOT been politicized from the beginning we would not be where we are right now. Now is the time to mourn those we have lost and to make America aware that NOBODY is immune from this pandemic. I know there will be a vaccine soon to help arrest the insane spread of this virus since it seems we have a hard time as a nation complying with even the simplest guidelines, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, but in the meanwhile please take care of yourselves and empathize with every American who has been touched by Covid-19. Now it’s personal for me. We are now less than three weeks away from Election Day U.S.A.; this election, as Donald Trump himself claims, will be ‘the most important election of our lifetime”. He’s right about that, even though he has been right about few other things since the day he took office. This election is about the future of our democracy and the future of our nation. It is about your future, my future and the futures of our children and grandchildren. It is about the future of our political system, our environment, our health & welfare. If these things aren’t important to you by all means stay home on November 3rd.
Forget about Republican or Democrat-I’ve been both and frankly both parties are completely immersed in all out war which is of no benefit to we the people. Case in point is the stalled pandemic relief bill. Literally MILLIONS of your fellow citizens are out of work and yet our Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell instead focuses on rushing through the Senate the confirmation of yet another conservative Supreme Court Justice despite promising the American people his party would absolutely not do so prior to the upcoming election. When pressed during his one and only debate against his opponent Amy McGrath about the administrations handling of the Covid-19 pandemic he literally laughed about it. 215,000 DEAD Americans and this man makes light of it during a televised debate. The incredible arrogance of politicians like McConnell and Lindsey Graham during their way too long tenures in Washington is one of the reasons there needs to be serious discussions about term limits in the very near future. In the meanwhile, the bread lines keep growing and businesses keep failing, but the corporations who contributed to the campaigns of these politicians certainly got their monies worth with the largest corporate tax cut in our history which has resulted in the largest budget deficit in our history, thereby allowing them to not only line their own board room pockets but keep the campaign contributions flowing. And to pay for it McConnell wants to cut Medicare and Social Security. Fiscal conservatives??? Every government agency has been decimated under Trump. Our State Department under he incredibly incompetent sycophant Mike Pompeo is all but gutted and our foreign policy is a complete shambles, from the ill advised trade war with China, the nuclear proliferation of both N Korea AND Iran, the ill advised troop withdrawals from Syria and now Afghanistan and the deterioration of our global relationships with key allies. Our environment is being ravaged in the name of “deregulation”, which is nothing more than a free pass to oil & gas, big chemical and pharma and the utility industry in exchange for unlimited campaign contributions. Our public education system is crumbling under the ongoing campaign by Betsy DeVos to dismantle it in favor of for pay institutions and charter schools. The income disparity between the one per centers and the rest of us has actually increased dramatically since the pandemic struck; while millions are unemployed and seeking financial assistance, the hedge fund managers and Wall Street keep pumping up the stock market in order to buy back their own shares rather than share the wealth with employees. Sports team owners buy $250,000,000 yachts and insist on playing their respective games regardless of a raging pandemic thereby putting the players AND fans at risk-all for the almighty $$$. As far as ethics are concerned, Trump and many in his administration are without question the most corrupt in our history, mindful of pigs feeding at the trough. Drain the swamp?!? The swamp has become an ocean, everything from blatant Emoluments Clause violations to having his family business brand and financial dealings directly intertwined with our governments business despite promising otherwise. The nepotism is beyond disturbing, from Ivanka to Jared to Don, Jr.-each of these individuals performing governmental roles for which they have absolutely zero qualifications, like most of the other people who have served Trump in his revolving door West Wing. His Cabinet members almost without exception have either been indicted for or implicated in wrongdoing of a financial nature. Lobbyists control Washington now, not Mitch McConnell. We have seen scandal after scandal with Trump, from the ill advised acceptance of Russian interference in the election to the subsequent Mueller investigation to the Ukrainian extortion plot for which he was ultimately impeached. Regarding the racial and social unrest in our country, Trump is directly responsible. By fanning the flames of hatred and racism among his base since Charlottesville he has opened the door for domestic terror groups to flourish, including murdering protesters in Kenosha and a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. He holds rallies in places like Sanford, FL where an unarmed black man was gunned down by a vigilante. He refuses to condemn these and other groups. He completely refuses to back ANY type of gun regulation while thousands are gunned down in our streets while accepting huge amounts of cash from the equally corrupt Wayne LaPierre and the NRA, just like nearly every single Republican Senator. The handling of the pandemic has been so catastrophic we have lost over two hundred thousand of our fellow citizens with no end in sight and no plan. All we have is a President who prefers to believe his own alternative narrative while dismissing medical and scientific advice in favor of his own intuition. He has lied to the American people from the very beginning in January up until this very moment, deliberately underplaying the potential consequences of the virus and now continuing to dispense absurd medical advise to us like telling us he is now immune from Covid-19, which we are beginning to find out simply isn’t true with numerous reinfections and even deaths being reported. He criticizes Dr, Anthony Fauci for leveling with the American people while directing the FDA and CDC to politicize their recommendations to his narrative in order to bolster his standing in the polls. By any measure, Trump and his government have failed abysmally in dealing with the pandemic, and now that we are beginning to experience the so called second wave that has been predicted (and ignored by Trump) the death toll will undoubtedly be near 250,000 by Election Day. In a bad year the flu kills < 50,000. This is NOT the flu. Finally, the lies. In just under four years, it has been documented that Donald J. Trump has told over 21,000 lies. Think about that when you fill out that ballot. And think about a man who has essentially threatened to overturn the results of our election by claiming mail in ballots are “rife with fraud” (he and his family voted by absentee ballot in FL), instructing Red state governors to impede the ability of citizens to vote like in TX where Governor Abbott decreed ONE ballot box per county for mail in votes. Houston is in a county with a population of nearly FIVE MILLION people. While a lower court blocked this incredible attempt at voter suppression, the Court of Appeals (all three judges appointed by Trump) upheld the Governor’s mandate. In every single republican controlled state, there are massive efforts underway to negate the projected voter turnout. Why? Because they realize that a tsunami is coming and the only way to win these races is by theft and deceit. The President appointed a political hack to dismantle the USPS so they couldn’t handle the volume of ballots being submitted. County after county around the country is being gerrymandered by Republicans to benefit them for decades to come. Trump and his henchmen are literally trying to steal another election, plain and simple. I ask one simple question: are you better off today than you were four years ago??? America was conned once before by this charlatan with a huge boost from Roger Ailes and Fox News and they are attempting to run the same con this time around. I read an article the other day discussing how 40% of Americans can possibly support this incredibly failed man and his administration DESPITE all these facts. I wonder the same thing. A huge number of these supporters will spout off information they heard on Fox or from Rush as gospel truth without bothering to fact check these media outlets and to decide for themselves what is true and what is fake news. Unfortunately, I have also come to the conclusion that a great many of these individuals represent exactly what is wrong in our country, that their own personal situations outweigh the good of the country and the rest of us. They are more concerned with their 401K then they are with our democracy. They refuse to wear masks. They refuse to social distance. They refuse to believe the truth, choosing instead to subscribe to the countless conspiracy theories that Trump has promoted since the Obama birther issue. They wear their MAGA hats despite the fact the country is going down the toilet like a fresh turd. They ride around their gated havens in golf carts shouting “White Power” and blindly support law enforcement despite the evidence of brutality we see over and over around the country. Thankfully, it is 40% or less. I hope and pray that the rest of us decent American citizens recognize that this experiment of the electorate to bring in an outsider will be judged by history as one of the greatest mistakes we ever made. It’s time to put an end to the insanity America. Whatever you do, VOTE. It truly is the most important election of our lifetime. The outcome will be decided by we the people, not Donald Trump, not Mike Pence, not Bill Barr or Mitch McConnell. I have already submitted my absentee ballot and I urge everyone to do likewise. This is our ONLY chance to stand up and be counted in the face of this unprecedented attack on our republic from within. |
About Mike ColeBorn in Hamilton, OH but a proud Kentuckian since age two. One brother and three sisters. Suburban, Catholic middle-class upbringing. Attended Jefferson Community College and Pasadena Community College. Proud father of four and grandfather to seven, and most of all, a concerned American citizen! Are you??? Categories |