By Jim Bloch
Like many people across the Blue Water Area, the state of Michigan and the country as a whole, you might have a Donald Trump sign planted on your lawn, as if you were planning to vote for a normal Republican, such as Mitt Romney, John McCain or George Bush – all of whom accepted their defeats with a measure of grace.
There is nothing normal about Trump. He is the man who tried to subvert the 2020 election, deemed one of the most free and fair in U.S. history by bipartisan election specialists. In the Michigan Senate, an investigation by Republicans found no widespread fraud in Michigan in the 2020 election.
Insurrection, Jan. 6, 2021
Trump and his team of cockeyed henchmen with tattoos of Richard Nixon covering their backs – hello, Roger Stone — harangued election officials, Justice Department personnel and Trump’s own vice president to overturn the results. Trump publicly demeaned local clerks and election workers, including those in Atlanta, GA and Antrim County here in
Michigan. Trump and his team of downbeat lawyers with hair dye streaming down their faces – hello, Rudy Giuliani — filed more than 60 lawsuits challenging state voting results, nearly all of which were thrown out of court for lacking merit.
Trump’s term in office ended in a spasm of violence. On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters, incited by the president himself, stormed the US Capitol, breaking into the building as Congress prepared to certify the electoral votes. As many as nine people died during or as a result insurrection; at least 140 officers were injured. The insurrectionists held a demolition derby inside the hallowed political space as they hunted Nancy Pelosi
and Mike Pence. By early 2024, 749 people had been sentenced for their roles in melee, including 467 sentenced to incarceration.
If you’re voting for Trump, you’re voting for a person who tried to gut the voting process
itself.
The unpopular vote
Maybe you can see why. Trump has never won a popular election. Perhaps violence is the only route to victory now available to him. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump by nearly three million votes, 65,853,514 to 62,984,828; Trump won in the Electoral College, the system devised in 1787 to elect presidents, keep the power of the people in check and simultaneously protect Southern slaveholders. Biden beat Trump by seven million votes, 81,268,867-74,216,747.
“Anti-democratic” is one way to describe Trump’s view of elections and his attempts to steal the 2020 election.
His longest serving chief of staff, former Marine general John Kelly, took a stronger stand recently and said Trump was a fascist.
“Fascist, for sure”
“Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” Kelly told New York Times reporter Mike Schmidt for an Oct. 22 story. “So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America … Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
Kelly said that Trump “prefers the dictator approach to government.”
Trump “never accepted the fact that he wasn’t the most powerful man in the world — and by power, I mean an ability to do anything he wanted, anytime he wanted,” the former general said.
Kelly’s comments were sparked by Trump’s threats to use the U.S. military against U.S. citizens opposed to him, who Trump called “the enemy within.”
“And I think this issue of using the military on — to go after — American citizens is one of those things I think is a very, very bad thing — even to say it for political purposes to get elected — I think it’s a very, very bad thing, let alone actually doing it,” Kelly said. In response, Trump called Kelly a “total degenerate,” a “LOWLIFE,” and a “bad general.”
Three days later, 13 former Trump aides wrote a letter supporting Kelly and his characterization of Trump, claiming that he is seeking “absolute, unchecked power.”
Fascist promises
If elected on Nov. 5, Trump has promised to weaponize the Justice Department against his enemies, just as he did with former FBI director James Comey and Hillary Clinton. He has threatened not to renew the broadcast licenses for media outlets that annoy him, including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox. He has claimed that he will round up millions of
illegal immigrants, hold them in detention camps and deport them.
If that sounds like something Adolf Hitler would have done to Jews, Kelly confirmed that Trump often praised Hitler.
“He’s certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government — he’s certainly the only president that I know of, certainly in my lifetime, that was like that,” Kelly said.
Is this who you want in charge of the country’s nuclear codes?
A liar, felon, molester and tax cheat
Trump has shown no ability to restrain himself in his personal or public life. The law appears to be irrelevant to him. So does the truth. He lies at will. According to the Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his four years as president, an average of 21 per day. He became the first president ever charged with a
felony or found guilty of a felony – in fact, 34 felonies related to falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal when he paid off Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep quiet about their affair.
He’ll grab women by their p—–s.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it,” Trump said on the Access Hollywood tape. More than two dozen women have accused him of sexual misconduct, including E. Jean Carroll, whose accusations were generally upheld when a jury found Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, fining him $5 million. A second jury found him guilty of ongoing defamation, fining him $83.3 million.
Is this who you want looking out for women’s rights?
Last Wednesday in Wisconsin, Trump said he would protect women “whether the women like it or not.”
Trump was found guilty of inflating the value of his properties in exchange for good loan terms and deflating the value of his holdings to minimize his taxes in a case brought by the New York Attorney General. His penalties could top $45 million. He is appealing all of the verdicts. But he avoids taxes nearly as often as he avoids the truth. The proud billionaire paid $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017. In a story by Peter Baker, the New York Times found that Trump paid no taxes in 11 of the 18 years the paper examined. That means he would rather have you foot the bills for America than have rich people, such as himself, pay their fair shares.
So, yes, Trump would call in the military on your fellow citizens. He will do whatever he wants, including refusing to admit he lost an election that he subsequently sought violently to overturn. The paroxysm of violence Trump incited Jan. 6, 2020 may not have been his last, but your vote for him may be the final one you’re able to cast.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com
