Even though Donald Trump won Indiana and thereby the GOP presidential nomination, and even though he said he could become more presidential on his way to the general elections in November, the list of reasons to oppose his narcissistic quest for the Oval Office grows by the day.
Leaders of the GOP have to be quaking about the prospects for losses down the ranks with Trump at the top of the ticket.
The list of reasons to reject Trump as presidential material, compiled from many sources, now totals 72 — major character flaws, huge contradictions in his policy statements or
just plain ignorance on issues that we should know about.
Wisconsin voters did the nation and history a favor by dampening his momentum and saying to him: “You’re Fired!” That included Democrats and independents who crossed to the GOP side of the ballot to vote for his Republican opponents.
Unfortunately, he has rebounded since Wisconsin. But his negatives are still sky high within the general electorate. Even if he is crowned by GOP delegates in July, his prospects for winning the general election in November are slim. Women, minorities, recent immigrants, almost all Democrats, offended Republicans and a majority of independents will vote for either Hillary Clinton in large numbers or not vote at all.
If Trump loses big in November, which many political gurus expect, he could also take down Republican senators, like Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, House candidates, like the one for the open seat in Green Bay, and legislators in state houses.
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance did a recent analysis of “wave” elections that showed the possible effects or Trump’s negative coat tails. In 2012, President Obama carried 43 of the state’s 99 assembly districts with 52.8% of statewide votes. He won seven districts won by Republican assembly candidates, who ran against the grain.
If Obama had picked up four more points, he would have won in 62 assembly districts, including 26 in which Republicans won the assembly seats.
In other words, a Clinton blow-out would mean many more Republican legislators would have to win against the tide at the top of the ticket.
The GOP now controls the governor’s office and both houses of the Wisconsin legislature, but a swing of four seats in the Senate or 14 in the Assembly would mean a change of control and a return to two-party government.
Here is the latest list of reasons to hope Trump stumbles on the way to the finish line (skip to the bottom if you have read some of them before):
1. A major league narcissist, probably a sociopath, Trump believes he can “make us great.” It’s the contributions of individual Americans American people who make this country great. Leaders come and go.
2. Some contributors to this analysis go further, seeing him as a megalomaniac.
3. Some see him as delusional, as in his promise to make the sovereign Mexican government pay for his infamous wall between our two countries. A former president of Mexico told him where to park that one.
4. During the Vietnam War, he got four student deferments, a medical deferment and finally 4F status for heel spurs to avoid the draft. He had gone to a military high school, so he had something to offer the armed services. This not a good track record for someone who aspires to be commander in chief,
5. As the old joke goes, he was born on third base, with a million dollars (in today’s dollars) in his jeans on getting out of college, and he thought he got robbed of a home run.
6. As an heir later to a huge fortune, he is unable to relate to the average American. “He doesn’t represent me,” said one early contributor to this blog. Narcissists don’t relate to other people unless it serves their purposes. For them, it’s all about “me.”
7. He constantly brags about how rich he is, as if that were the major measure of a human being. My heroes are elsewhere, including great humanitarians like Mother Theresa, Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Gandhi and great innovators like Franklin, Edison, Gates and Salk. Some ended up rich; some didn’t. There are rich people who are saints and rich people who are jerks.
8. He has an identity problem: He was a Democrat from 2001-2009 and before 1987; a Reform Party candidate from 1999-2001; an Independent from 2011-2012; and Republican from 2012 to the present, 2009-2011 and 1987 to 1999. That’s six switches.
9. His position on health care reform is so vapid that it amounts to gibberish. He is spectacularly uninformed on one of the largest issues facing the United States. He once favored universal, government-run health care as a replacement for Obamacare.
10. He has been on many sides of big issues, the ultimate flip-flopper. He is the definition of inconsistency.
11. A loose cannon, who throws out outrageous positions, he gives you no idea of what kinds of decisions he will make out of the Oval Office.
12. He’s got lots contractors who won’t do business with him again.
13. He’s got bankers who won’t lend to him again after getting flushed when he went to bankruptcy courts. Would you lend your money to him? His four bankruptcies cost lenders and shareholders more than $5 billion. That means he is a welcher.
14. He likes to sue people. Would he use the Department of Justice to go after opponents? Would he send the IRS after them? Per his book, “The Art of the Deal,” he practices deal making by intimidation.
15. At his rallies, he excuses violence toward protesters as displays of patriotism. He instigates those outbursts. He doesn’t walk away from dumb fights; he picks them.
16. His business of hotels and casinos adds little value to the American economy. His products are not essential. Casinos are just transfer payments, from losers, often people of meager means, to casino owners.
17. The Economist points out that he, though rich, did not create a great company, raised no permanent capital on the public markets, did not go global to any significant degree and did not successfully diversify his holdings. His wealth creation trailed market averages.
18. Trump was fined for hiring illegal immigrants for the Trump Tower. Do you get the contradictory irony from someone who wants to deport them all? More contradiction: he once favored a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
19. He has cratered more businesses than he has led to success: His losers include an airline; two magazines; a travel booking website; Trump University, which was rated as low as D minus before going out of business; a mortgage company launched with exquisite timing in 2006; a liquor brand; a line of “the world’s greatest steaks”; a condo project in Mexico; and Trump Plaza, a casino and hotel combination in Atlantic City. Further, putting up buildings is a narrow business skill set.
20. Specializing in personal attacks, he insults and demeans. No religion condones that kind of conduct.
21. He is a divider, not the unifier he says he is.
22. Though he obviously communicates well with many people, he has a language deficit and a limited vocabulary. Some experts put his language at 6th grade level. Good speech is a function of clean thinking, and vice versa. He specializes in incomplete sentences.
23. He obfuscates as he puts out reasons for not making his income tax filings public. If his 2015 return is still being processed by staff, OK. But he could release the 2013 and 2014 returns.
In May, he said he would not release his 2015 return before the November election. He will be the first presidential candidate in a long time who has stonewalled on release of his or her return. He obviously has lots to hide.
24. He quotes Mussolini and makes no apologies for doing so. He likes despots. Would he like to become one?
25. He is backed by David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.
26. He said praise from Vladimir Putin is a “great honor.” In another quote, he said, “I have always felt fine about Putin. He’s a strong leader. He’s a powerful leader.”
27. His combination of tax cuts and spending proposals would sharply increase the federal debt. Like a lot of today’s pols, he has trouble with ways and means, with solving fiscal equations.
28. Trump wrote 10 checks for campaigns for Hillary Clinton. He wrote checks other Democrats, as well. How does he explain his opposition to Clinton now?
29. His hip-shooting style could trigger dangerous interactions with dictators in countries like North Korea and Iran, which have some nuclear capacities. It’s doubtful he could be diplomatic in foreign policy.
30. He belittled a physically disabled person.
31. His focus is always on doing whatever it takes to win, not on doing the right thing. He lacks the ethics that most Americans ascribe to in their own lives.
32. In a private meeting with high-level executives, he repeatedly used the F-bomb and voiced a high level of vindictiveness as he described his deals. My source described his presentation as vulgar. Further, over-use of the F-bomb points to a language deficiency.
33. One blogger cited court records to show that he has had connections to mob figures.
34. Though experienced in deal making, he has no experience in holding elective office or in governing. He would be a rookie president.
35. In a country that has made huge strides in gender equality, he has disrespected multiple women in a coarse manner. His latest was a threat against Heidi Cruz and a twitter showing her in an unflattering photo.
36. He has not listened to the business community that says it cannot function without immigrant labor.
37. One parent wrote in to say she had to pull her kids away from the TV during the presidential debate because of the coarse nature of his language and behavior.
38. He made inflammatory, prejudicial pretrial statements about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Whatever his opinion of the soldier, such comments from a man who could be president subvert the due process of our legal system. It is for the courts to decide. Remember also, Trump chose not to serve.
39. Though New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed him, Trump trashed him publicly for spending too much time in New Hampshire before the primary there. So much for loyalty and gratitude.
40. To his enemies list, he has added “disgusting reporters.” Those same news people have made his campaign, giving him far more ink and air time, both positive and negative, than all the other candidates. To his list of enemies, he added journalists — “disgusting reporters.”
41. At 69, he looks over-weight and out of shape. Could he stand the rigors of the presidency?
42. Three Politico reporters fact-checked 4.6 hours of Trump speeches and press conferences and found more than five dozen untrue statements — one every five minutes. In their Truth-O-Meter scorecard. PolitiFact rated the five remaining candidates for the percentage of time they made statements that were true, mostly, true, half true, mostly false, false and Pants on Fire false. Clinton and Sanders rate 51% on true or mostly true, Kasich 50%, Cruz 22% and Trump 9%. Trump rated 42% false and 19% Pants on Fire false for a total of 61%. Like many narcissists, he says whatever he needs to say to make his point and get what he wants, true or untrue.
43. The ultimate outsider, Trump will have a hard time getting anything done in Congress if elected president. He may snag a few Democrats for some of his initiatives, but will not be able to bring along the many Republicans he trashed on the way to the Oval Office. They will not forget.
44. With disapproval ratings of nearly 70% of the overall electorate, he will a hard time being elected president, which should give pause to GOP primary voters.
45. He blurted in a debate that he would condone torture of terrorist suspects and the killing of their family members, both violations of international law. He backed off, but his final position is unclear.
46. For a builder with a Wharton degreee, Trump has trouble with math. His first estimate for building 1000 miles of “beautiful wall” between the U.S. and Mexico was $4 billion. He later estimated $6-7 billion. The then he took it up to $8 billion. Then he estimated $10 billion. His latest estimate is $12 billion. John Oliver, the TV pundit, found expert construction sources that put the real total at about $25 billion, not counting operating costs to maintain the wall. Usually, it’s Democrats who can’t do math. Trump can’t either, which may explain his bankruptcies.
47. Ann Coulter, an archconservative writer who backed Trump early and aggressively, now has reservations. She likened his attack on Heidi Cruz as that of a repeatedly errant 16-year-old.
48. An open GOP convention in July in Cleveland, with Trump short of a majority, would give Republicans the opportunity to draft Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House and a levelheaded conservative.
49. Trump called the North Atlanta Treaty Organization (NATO) “obsolete” and too expensive for Americans. With his usual lack of depth on policy matters, he offered no alternatives.
50. A special education aide, a Democrat who is crossing over to vote for Cruz to stop Trump, pointed out that Trump uses mockery as a standard form of insult, often against fellow Republicans like Jeb Bush and Gov. Walker after they lost to him in the primaries. That makes him an ungracious winner.
51. His disagreement with Rep. Paul Ryan on Social Security and Medicare again shows his lack of depth on the major issues facing the nation. Economists of all stripes agree that both entitlement programs need to be reworked so they stay solvent for the long term. Ryan has been one of the few politicians to face up to that looming challenge. Trump proposes to leave the two entitlement programs alone without any plan for their long-term viability. He is ducking the fiscal realities of both programs. Real leaders deal with tough issues.
52. He once supported a statement by Nancy Pelosi calling for impeachment of George W. Bush.
53. He once bought a full page ad that criticized the foreign policy of President Reagan as having no backbone. Reagan arguably won the cold war.
54. When he makes a big goof, he doesn’t correct it, as when he repeatedly said Wisconsin is losing lots of jobs (it has been gaining jobs, though at a below average pace and has an unemployment rate of 20% (it’s 4.6% or 8.3% depending on how you count). He simply doesn’t care about getting his facts right.
55. Some of his statements are so absurd that you have to wonder where in that unwonderful brain of his they came from. How do you even conjure up an idea that a woman who had an abortion should be punished. He recanted quickly. But where in that muddled gray mass did the idea even germinate? Scary. What else is in there?
56. He made a muddled statement on the use of tactical nuclear weapons. He told newspaper people that he would not rule them out. His rationale appears to be that he wants to be unpredictable if commander in chief. As a former Marine artillery officer with a top secret clearance in tactical nuclear weapons, I know the colossal damage they can cause. I believe the United States should be very clear about when we are going to use or not use nukes. We need to send clear signals, not muddled thoughts. If they are used against us or there is an imminent threat of them being used against us, nuclear weapons have to be an option for the president. But you don’t bandy about their use like a drunk stumbling out of a bar.
57. He is self-destructive. As Peggy Noonan suggests, only Mr. Trump is capable of bringing down Mr. Trump, and, with his string of goofs, gaffes and gutter talk, he is doing just that.
58. He brought up his genitals in a presidential debate, a new low for presidential debates.
59. On trade, he is two-faced. He takes a hard line on imports into the United States. He criticizes companies that out-source. But his Trump-branded products, such as neckties, suits and shirts, are almost all produced abroad in countries like Bangladesh and China. His daughter Ivanka’s line of clothing and accessories are virtually all made elsewhere, mostly in China. His wife Melania’s line of jewelry is produced in China. So, he is saying: “Do as say, not as I do.” He has floated a 45% tariff on all incoming goods from China. I wonder if he has thought what that would do to his out-sourced businesses. To be fair, he stopped eating Oreo cookies because Nabisco moved some production to Mexico. He is doing his part for balanced trade.
60. In his swings through Wisconsin, he has criticized Gov. Walker on job creation. If he had done his homework, he would know that Wisconsin is one of the few states with a positive trade balance. We export (mostly agricultural and manufactured products) more than we import. Ergo, trade creates more jobs in Wisconsin than we lose because of trade.
61. He claimed that Medicare could save $300 billion if it negotiated for lower drug prices. His facts are so off as to be absurd. Medicare spends only $78 billion per year on drugs and the whole bill in the country for drugs is about $300 billion. He doesn’t do a stitch of homework before shooting from the lip. And this is a guy who has a staff.
62. In his tantrum after losing in Wisconsin, and probably his shot at a majority of GOP delegates, Trump is attacking the convention process. He says he can buy the delegates. That constitutes an outright insult to chosen delegates and potential delegates. Maybe a few could be bribed by a few nights in one of his fancy resorts, but most will go to the convention to try to do the right thing by the party and the country. They should be furious with his cheap shot at their integrity.
63. He confuses reality and image, vowing: “At some point, I will become so presidential that you people will be so bored.” He thinks you can put lipstick on a pig and fool the world. But we all know that you are who you are. No amount of lipstick can change the core of who he would be as president.
64. He has flip-flopped on the issue of H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, but mostly has flat out opposed them. How does he explain that his Trump Model business has used H-1Bs to bring in foreign models, including his Slovenian wife? He can’t and doesn’t.
65. When things aren’t going his way, as with some of the rules for the GOP convention on at-large delegates, he plays the victim. The establishment, he says, is out to get him. How does a high-flier like him get away with victimhood? It is unbecoming at a minimum.
66. Trump relishes the endorsements of a rogues gallery of sports nut cases, like Bobby Knight, Mike Tyson, John Daly and Dennis Rodman. Would he put these geniuses in his cabinet because they are “tough, really tough”?
67. According to boxing luminary Oscar Da La Hoya, Trump cheats at golf, big time.
68. Though promising some presidential gravitas, he played fast and loose last week within the stability of global financial markets when he floated the idea of defaulting on U.S. Treasury bills in a crisis. Those notes are the backbone of the international financial markets. He cited his experience with his bankruptcy debts as his credential. Brilliant.
69. So much for personally financing his campaign so he wouldn’t be beholden to billionaires. He has hired a former Goldman Sacks banker to raise funds for his general election campaign. He had previously excoriated Gold Sachs.
70. His flip-flps on issues keeps growing in number. He once flat-out opposed raising the minimum wage; now he is open to raising it. Who knows where he will come down on that one.
71. Whether he fully intends it or not, his campaign brings out the dark side of the American electorate, including anti-semitism, insults of Mexicans and Muslims and prejudice of all sorts. His campaign is getting ever uglier.
72. Terrorists groups are using his anti-Muslim statements for recruiting.
We have more to learn about this accomplished TV performer. Please keep sending me your reasons to send him back to Trump Tower, not the Oval Office. Send them to this blog as a response or to me at jbt01@serigraph.com.
