You see Trump's arrogance; I see Trump's confidence. Arrogance is presenting yourself as superior to others, usually in an obnoxious way. Donald Trump is a truly arrogant man. He talks down to everyone, particularly women (even more so to women of color). He is a relentless self-promoter, with world leaders, with the Boy Scouts, and everyone in between. He is a self-proclaimed genius. He knows more than everyone about everything. He alone can fix what's wrong. He is a pompous, overbearing, pretentious, rude, whining man. Honestly, I think the case could be made that he's an arrogant jerk because he lacks confidence, but I'll let the psychological experts make that call.
You see Trump's nationalism; I see Trump's patriotism. This is the first of two references to patriotism in the letter; I'll address them together in a minute.
You hear Trump's unsophisticated words; I hear Trump's honesty. No; you hear yourself being manipulated. He very carefully chooses his 'unsophisticated' words; he carefully curates his 4th-grade language level, and you can see how well it works by the way many people - certainly not all (I'm not looking to get into a 'deplorables' argument here) - are so faithful to his message, even when they ought to know better.
There is NO correlation between Trump's language and the truthfulness of what he says. Donald Trump very often is untruthful. In fact, he lies about everything. He lies about some things so often, a Bottomless Pinocchio category was created specifically to document those lies. That he lies with such proficiency, even about totally meaningless things, shows his innate dishonesty.
You see Trump's racism; I see Trump's words being misconstrued and twisted by the media daily to fit their narrative. If the president's words require a multi-level, photon-torpedo-firing decoder ring to understand, and require an entire network of people to clarify them, he's not getting his message across. Oh wait - silly me. His message is perfectly clear, and his dog whistles hit the mark repeatedly. It's not the media twisting his words, it's his designated deflectors working at his favorite network, and in the House and Senate, working so hard to twist the media into the bad-guy mold.
If you think Donald Trump is not racist, explain his incessant attacks on an America judge. And let me know how you like me being just as racist in that post as Trump. Or what you'd think if your kids, or your coworkers, or your pastor said what he says.
You see Trump as a Republican; I see Trump as a Patriot. Donald Trump is not a Republican. He's not a conservative. He goes against much of that the Rs stand for. He says he loves our country, and he hugs and slobbers on the flag, and he waves his arms around during the national anthem, while demanding others stand at attention. He tells us how much he gave up to become president, and he says - regularly - that people who think like he is are 'patriots.' Everyone else? Not so much. If you think the only way to love our country and be a patriot is to think like you, and be like you, you're missing the entire point of our country.
You see Trump as a dictator; I see Trump as a leader. Trump is not a dictator, but he often talks as if he wants to be one, he admires people who are, and acts as if he is one. He uses the government as if it's at his beck and call, there to do his bidding. That's a gross misunderstanding of both what our government is, and the people for whom it works. It's also not an admired leadership trait.
You see Trump as an authoritarian; I see Trump as the only one willing to fight for our freedoms. Do tell, what freedoms are Trump fighting for? No one I've ever asked can name even one. We do know, that Trump's SCOTUS picks might jeopardize people's rights; we do know that Trump has implemented gun control measures; we do know that Trump regularly threatens the First Amendment... So, again, what are the freedoms he's fighting for on our behalf?
You see Trump as childish; I see Trump as a fighter, unwilling to cave in to the Democrat lies. He is childish; he stomps out of interviews; he shuts people down; he's a bully domestically and internationally. What "Democrat lies" is he not caving in to when he calls people names? Says they're ugly? Talks about their physical features? Lies about them? Supports conspiracy theorists? Encourages others to be bullies? He does all of those things, unprompted.
You see Trump as an unpolished politician; I see Trump as a breath of fresh air. Donald Trump pretends to be unpolished, and not a politician. He is not a breath of fresh air, he and his lies and his bullying and his threatening comprise a toxic cloud that hangs over our country, and over our allies. And he is a classic, arm-twisting strongman pol, who threatens members of his own party who might disagree with him. Don't go along with me? No endorsement. A barrage of negative tweets. Attacks against you in your district. Support for your opponent. And you think he's not a politician? That's laughable.
You see Trump as homophobic; I see Trump as the first president who has ever entered office supporting gay marriage. If you cared about LGBTQ rights, including gay marriage, you'd be less than excited about his SCOTUS picks. And, you'd be concerned about his administration fighting for LGBTQ discrimination in the courts; wanting to allow federal contractors to be able to fire LGBTQ employees; our Justice Department defending medical professionals who refuse to treat LGBTQ patients; visas not being issued to same-sex partners of diplomats; that children of gay and lesbian Americans are not allowed citizenship unless they were born of American sperm or an American egg, and so much more.
You think Trump hates immigrants; I know Trump is married to an immigrant. And serial killers had friends, right? Marrying an immigrant does not mean you are pro-immigrant. Donald Trump wanted to ban an entire faith from entering our country. He tells Americans to "go back where they came from." He attempted to end DACA, punishing children who were brought here when they were babies. His own companies hired illegal immigrants. He wants to ban the kind of immigration that allowed his in-laws to become citizens. But yeah, he married an immigrant.
You see Trump putting an end to immigration in America; I see Trump welcoming immigrants to America legally. Trump has undermined the legal asylum process, reduced opportunities for refugees to come here; suspended the rights of some refugees already here, made the green card process more difficult, rejected many more skilled worker visas, making it harder for American companies to be successful, and more. He's done all of his immigration stuff by Executive Order, a tool he said he would not use.
You see Trump's cages at the border; I see Obama's cages at the border. Look past the cages and look at who was in them - children separated from their parents. That's not the same as detaining families together. And there was no 'zero tolerance policy under the Obama administration. And of course, there are those kids whose parents can't be located. Not a handful of them, over 500 of them. That's on Trump.
You see Trump with a struggling economy; I see Trump with an amazing economy until the China Virus and Democrats shut it down. The markets were doing well. Unemployment rates were continuing their established downward trend. Those things are true. But America is more than the markets, and people seem to forget that it was the Trump Administration that shut down the country. At least, it was Donald Trump who said the biggest decision he would have to make was when to open it back up. So, you can blame China for the virus, if you want, but you should blame Trump for shutting down the country. He said he did it. I believe him.
You see the violence in the streets and call it 'Trump's America;' I see the violence in the streets of Democratic run cities who are refusing Trump's help and call it 'Liberal America.' Woof woof. That's you, responding to the president's unsophisticated dog whistle.
Congratulations.
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