The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Ron Sweet has been an educator in Maine for more than 30 years.
The 2024 presidential election is neck and neck. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are essentially tied, with Harris favored to win the popular vote. The race will come down to the all important swing states where the race will be decided by the Electoral College. It is projected Trump will win between 43 percent and 49 percent of the popular vote.
For me, this raises a serious question: What does this tell us about ourselves as a country when a convicted felon (unanimous on 34 counts), a racist who doesn’t try to hide it, and a misogynist (“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”) can be a viable candidate in a presidential election?
Further, Trump is a candidate with few political views. If one remembers correctly, the Republican Party had no platform in 2020 — it was whatever Trump said it was.
The few views that Trump espouses are in my opinion morally bankrupt and unethical. These include attacking immigrants and promising to deport 20,000 Haitians (legal immigrants) from Springfield, Ohio. Why? Because it is always easier to blame a minority group for the woes of the country. Trump and his running mate JD Vance repeatedly say that the immigrants are eating cats and dogs, taking jobs and housing and murdering Americans. These are all lies that the MAGA base rallies behind. For example, statistics show that violent crime among immigrants is much lower than among the general public.
Trump promises to pass another tax cut similar to the one passed in 2017. In other words, another tax cut for the wealthy and rich corporations, which will increase the national debt another $4 trillion.
Trump promises to end the Ukraine war in one day. This will likely be done by forcing Ukraine to sign a treaty that they do not want and at the same time giving Russian President Vladimir Putin everything he wants. Trump loves dictators and the one he seems to love most is Putin.
Trump will continue to attack women’s health care by taking away their right to choose. More women will die.
It seems we have not learned anything from Trump’s previous tenure in office. Remember Trump’s response to COVID. First denying it existed, then blaming the Chinese (Trump always has someone else to blame), then saying perhaps we could eradicate the disease by “getting light inside the body” or by cleansing internal organs with disinfectant. Trump’s Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx told Congress in 2022 that with a better response to COVID, more than 130,000 Americans could have been saved in the initial phase of the pandemic.
Remember Trump’s response to losing the 2020 election after losing over 60 court cases. First came the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. capitol after Vice President Mike Pence decided to certify the election results against Trump’s demands. Remember the rioters chanting, “Hang Mike Pence” and Trump’s response of, “So what?” Trump later claimed that it was a peaceful demonstration yet caused $1.5 million in damages to the capitol building and 140 police officers were assaulted. Over 450 members of the Jan. 6 mob have been sentenced to jail terms. Lastly, remember what J.D. Vance said about Trump in 2016: He called Trump “America’s Hitler.”
It is important to remember that Trump uses his favorite topic, immigration, as a talking point to divide Americans. He has no desire to solve this problem. Immigration is red meat to throw to his base. Earlier this year, Congress was making progress on a bipartisan comprehensive bill on immigration but Trump interfered and told Republicans to shut the bill down. He had no desire to solve the problem. He needed immigration as a campaign issue.
In conclusion, many people support Trump because of his promise of easy solutions. For immigrants it’s deportation. On trade it’s 10 percent tariffs. For Ukraine, it’s bend the knee to Putin. We all love easy, simple, quick solutions. Problem is, these are complex issues requiring complex solutions. Would Trump deal with these complex problems the same way that he dealt with COVID?
So, I go back to my original question: What does 45 percent support for Trump tell us about our country? I can’t answer that but whatever it is, it isn’t good.