MakingOne

What I see when my friends tell me Trump has done good things for our country

I have friends who won't praise Trump as a person, but say he has done good things for our country, and that he—and the Republican legislators who support and enable him—is better for our country than the alternative (read Democratic candidates and legislators). I honestly wonder what they see? This is what I see:

Corruption:

Mapping Corruption
Here are 1 sentence summaries of long, detailed lists:

• Self-serving, self-dealing agribusiness insiders head Agriculture department.
  Man who has stolen $120 million during his career appointed to head Commerce Department, and that was just the background.
• Man opposed to protecting consumers, and who protects predatory loan practices, appointed to head CFPB.
• Rich donor opposed to public education appointed to head Education Department. She then appointed donors and executives from deceptive, for-profit colleges to other powerful positions.
• Fossil fuel industry beneficiaries and insiders appointed to run Energy Department.
• Republican donor and coal industry lobbyist appointed to head Environmental Protection Agency.
• Predatory pricing head of big pharma appointed as head of Health and Human Services.
• Department of Homeland Security used to funnel money to private prisons, which are and were huge election campaign donors.
• Man with no experience, and ties to real estate industry, appointed to head Housing and Unban Development. Then gave numerous gifts and benefits to friends, Trump supporters, and billionaires.
• Interior department headed by mining interest representative. Handouts to mining interests and curtailing of environmental rules and research spending followed.
• Appointed highly partisan loyalist to Justice Department who has ignored ethical norms of the office in support of Trump.
• Removed fiduciary rule and undermined overtime pay requirements from the Labor Department, making it easier for financial advisers and big employers to abuse small investors and workers. Appointed an anti-worker rights lawyer to head department.
• 18 very big money donors appointed as ambassadors, regardless of qualifications, and gutting of career civil service around the world.
• Transportation Department head has made decisions that have directly enriched her family business or increased her husband's political power.
• Wall Street profiteer appointed to head Treasury Department.

5,500 Child separations and counting:

• Child separations continue into 2020
• Earlier explanation of continuation
• Child separations are torture according to Geneva Convention standards

Sexism:

Nearly weekly summaries of anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ+ actions by the Republican administration. I won't go into it because there is too much, and those who don't believe it's happening aren't going to admit many of these things are even problems.

Failed Pandemic Response:

Summary of Trump's response to the coronavirus outbreak, and how he not only ignored warnings and expertise, but actively dismantled safety efforts and worked against the best advice available to him. Much of the world has done better. Trump has made a poor response evidence of political loyalty. Now millions are suffering and tens of thousands are dead—avoidably.

Racism:

Trump and Racism: What do the data say
Racist acts, bullying, and hate crimes all spiked and remained anomalously high from late 2016 through 2017. I don't have data for the last two years ready to hand, but do I need them? Are there data to the contrary? I can look.

Economy:

Forbes economic scorecard
Not exactly a liberal source, and they give far from a glowing review:

• Budget deficit ballooned before pandemic.
• Trade war made trade deficit worse.
• Goods exported to China dropped.
• Tax cuts haven't payed for themselves.
• Stock market increases mostly from Federal Reserve Bank policy, at expense of government deficit.

Religious Freedom:

Religious privilege, not freedom
Defense of Christianity is not defense of religious freedom.

Voting Rights:

An explanation of the partisan divide in voting rights

Judges

Appointed Conservative Judges.

What am I missing? Once again:

• Extensive corruption.
• Separation of young children from their parents (torture).
• Increased sexism.
• Tens of thousands of avoidable deaths from COVID-19.
• Increased racism.
• Questionable benefits to the economy.
• Questionable defense of religious freedom.
• Lies to support partisan views of voting rights.
• Appointed conservative judges.
• Trump is simply an immoral, self-serving person.

I can only see how one of those is an unqualified good for my Republican friends—conservative judges. I can only see how four others might be argued as good by those same friends, with caveats that some parts aren't ideal. That still leaves one as largely irresolvable and four—Trump's personal character, torture of children, tens of thousands of avoidable COVID deaths, and extensive corruption and abuse of power by Trump appointees—as major wrongs.

I would honestly like to see, in one place, from someone willing to take the evidence I see seriously, an explanation of the good they see and how it is really greater than the evils summarized in my list and the evils they claim Democrats and (God forbid) Progressives will enact on our country.

But that's probably me lying to myself. What I really want is for them to see the evil, cry with me, and then work to fix things. I want them to fix what I see as real, present, systemic evil and stop worrying about what I see as feared evil, or focusing on individual level solutions to system level problems. I find reasons to believe I really am pretty good at compromise with people working sincerely toward the same ends as me—things like peace, justice, proportionality, freedom to, good education, sound science, and many other good things. I tell myself I'm willing to compromise when we are working toward the same goal.

Or maybe what I really feel is that supporting Trump, McConnell, and the other Republicans (and Democrats) who enable the Trump administration's many evils, means we aren't even working toward the same virtues. I won't compromise with them, or trust them to do their best. What I really feel is that what they think is their best, right now, is an existential threat to humanity. To quote the Indigo Girls, “I won't stop short at common ground that vilifies the trodden down.” They can't be trusted. They have to be fixed.

I say they are afraid of the wrong things: feminists, experts, BIPOC, environmentalists, fringe socialists, and more. But I'm afraid, too. I'm just afraid of the right things. Ha.

Maybe I have some unresolved issues.