Steven E. Belanger: Writing It Down

Monday, October 10, 2016

Even More Reasons Not to Vote for Trump -- The Tape and the Looming

[By the way, is anyone else getting DONALD TRUMP WON THE DEBATE--VOTE HERE ads from his campaign, and then--right beneath it--seeing an article about how his wife is offended by his remarks, or about how women were aghast at his attempt at physically intimidating Hilary, or about how Paul Ryan (the leader of his own party) won't support him or campaign with him? I wish I could do a screen grab of that and just post that here. Anyway...]

Recent blogs about why you shouldn't vote for Trump are here, here and here. If you need more, here you go:

--Women really bother him. He really hates and fears them.

There's the tape with Billy Bush, of course. Won't go there. You've probably read it or heard it already.

But what's really scary about the tape isn't just that he said what's on it--which is bad enough. It's that he--

1. Refuses to apologize for it; and
2. Dismisses it as "locker room talk."

First, he refuses to apologize for it. This is incredible because--even if he doesn't mean it--it's the politically correct and politically appropriate thing to do. You know his daughter, who's very smart, and his wife, who's very embarrassed, told him to do so. You know Paul Ryan told him to. You know every Republican and every woman he knows told him to.

And he still didn't.

Which tells me that, in addition to the myriad of his mental health issues I've already gone over (Narcissism, misogyny, xenophobia, paranoia, denial, tunnel vision, hatred, fear, bullying, closedmindedness, delusional behavior, self-deluding, and sociopathic lying), we can now add Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Yes--he'll not do something, even if it's in his own selfish self-interest, simply because you told him to do it. If he's not the one to tell himself to do something, he ain't doing it. Even his daughter (who he should listen to), his wife and his political advisers have no power.

Secondly, his comments on that tape with Billy Bush are NOT "locker room talk." And it's disturbing that he thinks it is, and that he can so easily dismiss it as such.

Trust me: In high school, in college and while being a former bad ballplayer, I've been in my share of locker rooms, and I've heard lots of stupid guys say all sorts of bad things.

But not like this. Locker room talk involves lots of f-bombs, and maybe an inappropriate remark about someone's body part. (Not necessarily a woman's.) Maybe in a very immature way (especially in college, surprisingly) there would be a sophomoric reference to someone's sister or mother.

And, if Trump is referring to locker room talk in workout gyms...well, those often involve such riveting subject matter as "reliable babysitters," "Does anyone have some Tylenol?" and "You have a great chiropractor? Can I have his number?" But usually there's no talk at all. Guys are quickly changing up to go home or to go to work.

That's not what was in the tape. The tape was him bragging to (an incredibly stupid and social- climbing) Billy Bush about how he has fantasized about groping married women under the pretense of taking them furniture shopping.

Yes. Read that again.

Does that sound like "locker room talk" to you? It isn't. It's sexual assault talk.

By the way, Trump really means the locker rooms of CEOs and other priveleged, above-it-all rich white guys. Guys who've had too much to drink and who're basking in their own glory. Guys who feel trapped by their wives or girlfriends, who they might not even like. Those are the locker rooms Trump means. To be frank.

While we're on the subject of his attitude towards women--which is downright scary and insulting, and I can't understand why a single woman would vote for him--let's look at the way he was stalking and looming over Hilary Clinton during the second debate:

For my job, and just by knowing a lot of women and hearing their stories, I can tell you that this is a sociopath's way of intimidating, scaring and bullying women. Men who abuse women do this. But don't just take my word for it. I'll end this blog entry with words from women themselves, taken from the address below, which you can just click to see a short article:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/social-media-responds-to-trump-looming-behind-clinton/ar-BBxdAEI

#FreeBresha @prisonculture

Friday, October 7, 2016

USA Today Tells Readers Not to Vote for Trump

For the first time in its history, USA Today is taking sides on a presidential debate, and is telling its readers not to vote for somebody. It's not, exactly, suggesting that its readers vote for Clinton, though it does say that it supports that decision in order to keep Trump out of office.

But don't take my word for it. Read it for yourself here.

Photo below: © Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on Oct. 1 in Manheim, Pa.© J

USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump is 'unfit for the presidency'

Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft.

In the 34-year history of USA TODAY, the Editorial Board has never taken sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them. Because every presidential race is different, we revisit our no-endorsement policy every four years. We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach. Until now.

This year, the choice isn’t between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences. This year, one of the candidates — Republican nominee Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.

From the day he declared his candidacy 15 months ago through this week’s first presidential debate, Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.

Whether through indifference or ignorance, Trump has betrayed fundamental commitments made by all presidents since the end of World War II. These commitments include unwavering support for NATO allies, steadfast opposition to Russian aggression, and the absolute certainty that the United States will make good on its debts. He has expressed troubling admiration for authoritarian leaders and scant regard for constitutional protections.

We’ve been highly critical of the GOP nominee in a number of previous editorials. With early voting already underway in several states and polls showing a close race, now is the time to spell out, in one place, the reasons Trump should not be president:

He is erratic. Trump has been on so many sides of so many issues that attempting to assess his policy positions is like shooting at a moving target. A list prepared by NBC details 124 shifts by Trump on 20 major issues since shortly before he entered the race. He simply spouts slogans and outcomes (he’d replace Obamacare with “something terrific”) without any credible explanations of how he’d achieve them.

He is ill-equipped to be commander in chief. Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements typically range from uninformed to incoherent. It’s not just Democrats who say this. Scores of Republican national security leaders have signed an extraordinary open letter calling Trump’s foreign policy vision “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.” In a Wall Street Journal column this month, Robert Gates, the highly respected former Defense secretary who served presidents of both parties over a half-century, described Trump as “beyond repair.”

He traffics in prejudice. From the very beginning, Trump has built his campaign on appeals to bigotry and xenophobia, whipping up resentment against Mexicans, Muslims and migrants. His proposals for mass deportations and religious tests are unworkable and contrary to America’s ideals.

Trump has stirred racist sentiments in ways that can’t be erased by his belated and clumsy outreach to African Americans. His attacks on an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican heritage fit “the textbook definition of a racist comment,” according to House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected official in the Republican Party. And for five years, Trump fanned the absurd “birther” movement that falsely questioned the legitimacy of the nation’s first black president.

His business career is checkered. Trump has built his candidacy on his achievements as a real estate developer and entrepreneur. It’s a shaky scaffold, starting with a 1973 Justice Department suit against Trump and his father for systematically discriminating against blacks in housing rentals. (The Trumps fought the suit but later settled on terms that were viewed as a government victory.) Trump’s companies have had some spectacular financial successes, but this track record is marred by six bankruptcy filings, apparent misuse of the family’s charitable foundation, and allegations by Trump University customers of fraud. A series of investigative articles published by the USA TODAY Network found that Trump has been involved in thousands of lawsuits over the past three decades, including at least 60 that involved small businesses and contract employees who said they were stiffed. So much for being a champion of the little guy.

He isn’t leveling with the American people. Is Trump as rich as he says? No one knows, in part because, alone among major party presidential candidates for the past four decades, he refuses to release his tax returns. Nor do we know whether he has paid his fair share of taxes, or the extent of his foreign financial entanglements.

He speaks recklessly. In the days after the Republican convention, Trump invited Russian hackers to interfere with an American election by releasing Hillary Clinton’s emails, and he raised the prospect of “Second Amendment people” preventing the Democratic nominee from appointing liberal justices. It’s hard to imagine two more irresponsible statements from one presidential candidate.

He has coarsened the national dialogue. Did you ever imagine that a presidential candidate would discuss the size of his genitalia during a nationally televised Republican debate? Neither did we. Did you ever imagine a presidential candidate, one who avoided service in the military, would criticize Gold Star parents who lost a son in Iraq? Neither did we. Did you ever imagine you’d see a presidential candidate mock a disabled reporter? Neither did we. Trump’s inability or unwillingness to ignore criticism raises the specter of a president who, like Richard Nixon, would create enemies’ lists and be consumed with getting even with his critics.

He’s a serial liar. Although polls show that Clinton is considered less honest and trustworthy than Trump, it’s not even a close contest. Trump is in a league of his own when it comes to the quality and quantity of his misstatements. When confronted with a falsehood, such as his assertion that he was always against the Iraq War, Trump’s reaction is to use the Big Lie technique of repeating it so often that people begin to believe it.

We are not unmindful of the issues that Trump’s campaign has exploited: the disappearance of working-class jobs; excessive political correctness; the direction of the Supreme Court; urban unrest and street violence; the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group; gridlock in Washington and the influence of moneyed interests. All are legitimate sources of concern.

Nor does this editorial represent unqualified support for Hillary Clinton, who has her own flaws (though hers are far less likely to threaten national security or lead to a constitutional crisis). The Editorial Board does not have a consensus for a Clinton endorsement.

Some of us look at her command of the issues, resilience and long record of public service — as first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of State — and believe she’d serve the nation ably as its president.

Other board members have serious reservations about Clinton’s sense of entitlement, her lack of candor and her extreme carelessness in handling classified information.

Where does that leave us? Our bottom-line advice for voters is this: Stay true to your convictions. That might mean a vote for Clinton, the most plausible alternative to keep Trump out of the White House. Or it might mean a third-party candidate. Or a write-in. Or a focus on down-ballot candidates who will serve the nation honestly, try to heal its divisions, and work to solve its problems.

Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Reasons Not to Vote for Trump 3 -- Racial Bigotry

Photo: Former KKK leader David Duke. He and his like are successfully riding Trump's coattails. From the article linked below.

This is the third in a series of blogs that list reasons not to vote for Trump on November 8th. You can find the other blogs by clicking here and by clicking here. Here now are more reasons not to vote for him:

--He has re-energized the KKK and other hate groups. Click this link to read about it. In summary, it says that

Trump's surprise rise to become the GOP presidential nominee, built largely on a willingness to openly criticize minority groups and tap into long-simmering racial divisions, has re-energized white supremacist groups and drawn them into mainstream American politics like nothing seen in decades.

It also says that Trump's behavior and rhetoric will have long-term ramifications even if he loses this year. Fixing the U.S.'s race relations wounds will take a really long time [italics mine]:

...Trump's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and nationalist policies have provided greater legitimacy to ideas once viewed as too divisive for the mainstream. Many of Trump's statements have been interpreted as a kind of dog whistle to white nationalist groups.

"We had no idea he would be engaging in this kind of footsie with them," said Heidi Beirich, who tracks hate groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center and now monitors Trump's statements as part of its campaign watch. "These are some of the worst ideas in the history of our society. I don't know how you undo this."

And:

"The idea that (Trump) is taking a wrecking ball to 'political correctness' excites them," said Peter Montgomery, who has tracked far right groups as a senior fellow at People for the American Way, the Norman Lear-founded advocacy group. "They've been marginalized in our discourse, but he's really made space for them. ... He has energized these folks politically in a way that's going to have damaging long-term consequences."

And what if he wins?

What happens to these reignited groups after the election remains a subject of debate. Some expect an emboldened and unapologetic white nationalist movement will fight for a seat at the table in a Trump White House.

There may not be a better reason to not vote for Trump. He's already caused a lot of damage, and for a long time to come.

Steven E. Belanger:
Writing It Down