Concerns About a Trump Presidency

Oct 23, 2016

CONCERNS ABOUT A TRUMP PRESIDENCY

            These are just some of my concerns about a Trump Presidency:

I.  SERIOUS CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND COMPROMISED NATIONAL SECURITY

            A.  Allowing his children to run his business without putting his businesses into a blind trust.

            B.  Requesting top secret government clearance for those same children who will be running his businesses.

            C.  Allowing his children to meet with foreign leaders without proper security clearance.

            D.  Holding political meetings with foreign leaders with whom he also has business relationships.

E.  Allowing his children, who will be running his businesses, to be present during political meetings with foreign leaders with whom they also have business relationships.

            F.  Encouraging and pressuring foreign diplomats to stay at hotels in which he owns a personal financial interest.

            G.  Refusing to disclose his tax returns, thereby preventing the American public from knowing the full extent of his foreign investments and other financial conflicts of interest.

            H.  “Trump’s business conflicts with America’s national security interests cannot be resolved so long as he or any member of his family maintains a financial interest in the Trump Organization during a Trump administration, or even If they leave open the possibility of returning to the company later.”

            I.  Trump already has deep financial ties and entanglements with at least 18 countries, including South Korea, India, Turkey, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Asia, and Europe.  Trump now claims that voters should have known about those conflicts of interest before they voted on November 8th, but Trump worked very hard to conceal his business and financial affairs from the American public prior to the election.  Electoral voters now have this information, and it should be considered highly relevant.  Trump has come just short of admitting that he intends to use his power as POTUS to personally profit himself and his family with absolute impunity.

            H.  Financial dealings and other possible relationships with Russia and Putin, the full extent of which are unknown due to Trump’s refusal to disclose.  During this election, we experienced unprecedented interference from a foreign government.  Russia and Wikileaks perpetrated extensive crimes, hacking into private emails with the intent to derail our election process.  Trump openly applauded and encouraged these crimes on national television.

            I.  Confirmed financial dealings with Cuba in violation of the US embargo.

            J.  An alarming obsession with China, the personal nature of which is unknown due to Trump’s refusal to disclose.

            K.  Trump now has political influence over his own tax audit and ongoing investigations of wrongdoing by the Department of Justice and various Attorney Generals.

            L.  James Comey violated the Hatch Act and created a false scandal that directly influenced the trajectory of the election.

II.  ASSAULT ON OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF PRESS

            A.  Ongoing threats to sue and/or shut down all reporters, newspapers, and other media that present him in a negative light.

            B.  Close relationships with Stephen Bannon, David Pecker, and Rupert Murdoch, all of whom distribute propaganda and other fake news with the intent to influence political and economic outcomes.  His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also owns a newpaper.

            C.  Stephen Bannon, who still has a controlling influence over Breitbart, has been appointed as Trump’s chief strategist.  Breitbart has expressed its goal of becoming “a global news network.” (add this to Trump’s conflicts of interest)

            D.  Trump has demonstrated the ability to control and exert extreme influence over independent press organizations.

            E.  Trump just publicly called out reporters for not reporting him in a favorable light.  He held a meeting just so he could berate them.  This has serious overtones of North Korea, Russia, Nazi Germany, and other oppressive governments.

III.  ASSAULT ON OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST

            A.  Trump has continually launched attacks against anyone who protests him, and has repeatedly threatened to harm and/or incarcerate people who publicly appear or gather to voice their disapproval of him.

IV.  ESTABLISHED HISTORY OF FRAUD AND DECEIT

            A.  Diverting charitable contributions for personal and business uses.

            B.  Diverting campaign contributions for personal and business uses.

            C.  Falsifying his campaign disclosure statements and property tax returns.  The US Justice Department has been asked to investigate a number of Trump’s false statements, including several golf courses that were each valued at over $50 million in his campaign disclosure forms but less than $2 million on his property tax forms.  Trump has since modified his tax returns to reflect values closer to $10 million.

            D.  Establishing a fake university for the express purpose of defrauding thousands of vulnerable Americans, particularly the elderly and the uneducated.

            E.  Failing to pay individuals and small business owners who cannot afford lengthy and oppressive legal battles to recover their money, essentially forcing those individuals and small businesses to accept their losses or settle for pennies on the dollar.

            F.  Trump failed to declare hundreds of millions of dollars of cancelled debts as income while simultaneously declaring losses on his tax returns.

            G.  Forcing the American people to pay for his bankruptcies and the multitude of his questionable lawsuits since he does not personally pay any income taxes, and tax dollars are what finance our judicial system in this country.

IV.  DISCRIMINATION AND DIVISIVENESS

A.  Trump has a very long record of racial discrimination against African Americans in this country, including the following:

            1.  Trump launched a relentless and aggressive campaign to prosecute, incarcerate and execute 5 black teenagers who were wrongfully accused of raping a white woman in New York.

            2.  Trump was sued by the Justice Department for his established business practice of discriminating against black families who were trying to rent apartments.

            3.  Trump’s documented history of discrimination against black workers at his Atlantic City casinos.

B.  Inciting racial violence at his campaign rallies, and openly encouraged voter intimidation.

C.  Failing to condemn acts of racism and violence and failing to condemn the white supremacy groups who campaigned for him.

D.  Legitimizing and empowering the alt-right, KKK, white supremacists, skinheads, American Nazi Party, and other violent and oppressive racist groups.

            E.  Normalizing racism in this country.

            F.  Referring to Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists.

            G.  Referring to Muslims as terrorists.

            H.  Instigating the myth that President Obama was not born in the United States, and perpetuating that myth long after Obama released his birth certificate.

I.  Assuming that Judge Curiel was not capable of doing his job because of his race.  Trump claimed that Curiel could not function as an impartial judge because of his Mexican heritage – even though Curiel is an American citizen, born in Indiana, who successfully prosecuted Mexican drug cartels on behalf of the United States Government.

J.  In places like North Carolina, citizens experienced voter suppression reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.

K.  Since the election, Trump has appointed Stephen Bannon, an unapologetic racist and misogynist, as his Chief Strategist.  Indeed, Trump is building a team of notorious racists, including Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Michael Flynn.  This country desperately needs to come together right now, but Trump is the most divisive and destructive person I have witnessed in my lifetime.

  V.  UNFIT TEMPERAMENT

            A.  Examples include: mocking a disabled reporter; ridiculing Muslim Americans, including those who have served in our military, and even gold star families; attacking women on the basis of their gender and physical appearance (eg, Heidi Cruz, Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, and many more); and insulting, name-calling, and bullying everyone who openly disagrees with him.

            B.  Admissions and allegations of sexual assault, as well as a slew of misogynist remarks.

            C.  Evidence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a mental illness that renders Trump unfit for public office.

            D.  Fragile ego that results in continual acts of petty retribution for the smallest of things.

            E.  An inability to appreciate the consequences of his behavior, accept responsibility, or apologize when warranted.

            F.  Constant use of insults and bullying against others.

            G.  Very poor impulse control and inability to contain his emotions.

            H.  Trump is a pathological liar, as proven by a review of his own speeches, statements, and interviews, as well as multiple fact-checking sites showing that only 15% of his campaign statements were true.

            I.  Trump sees litigation as the way to solve problems, and he is currently embroiled in a record number of lawsuits.

VI.  LACK OF GENUINE INTEREST IN GOVERNING

            A.  During his campaign, Trump expressed pride in failing to educate himself about important matters of foreign and domestic governance. 

            B.  Trump wants to live in New York and commute to DC – to, in effect, operate as a part-time President.  (And, in true narcissist form, he is completely oblivious of the havoc that would wreak on the thousands of people who live and work in NYC.)

            C.  Trump has expressed a preference for rallies and live events than actually tackling the responsibilities of the office of POTUS.