This is a very interesting article, and I respect the polite and measured discourse on this issue. Given the polarization of this election, I figured I would throw my two cents in as well in an effort to propagate the same kind of discussion this article provides. Let’s begin!

**Disclaimer: I have done my best to use up to date sources regarding policies and impacts, but I’m not perfect. If something I say is incorrect, or you just disagree with a point, please comment! The point of this is to facilitate rational, polite discussion**

It is very true that Clinton is disconnected from the people- as the author stated, she is a career politician; and as we all know all too well career politicians often seem to live in their own world. However, it is a mistake to look to Trump as the solution, as the people’s man. In his own way, he is just as disconnected as Clinton from the general populace. He worked hard to get where he was, yes- as did Clinton. He worked in business and built himself up, true- but it is also important to consider that he was starting with a vast network of contacts due to his father, and he was given startup funds most people could only dream of. I’m not discounting his achievements- he has used his resources wisely and profited accordingly- but these resources were far greater than the average person. He doesn’t know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, to fear for your job. He has- and has always had- a safety net backing his every move, giving him the ability to take risks that others couldn’t. Trump is not a working class man- he is, and has always been, an elite. In addition, he is rather careless with many of his business exploits. As mentioned above in the article, his businesses- not him- have gone bankrupt four times, and he has used copyright laws to ensure that he avoided the worst of the fallout. This is NOT a good thing. While this is commendable for him, as POTUS the United States is now the company. We’re not Trump, able to manipulate and utilize laws to protect ourselves. We’re the company that goes bankrupt- and we don’t have a convenient loophole to allow us to skate on by.

Regarding representation, I already noted that Trump is not a working class man. Welfare is something that does need reforming- but it is important to consider that there are those who need that welfare, who can’t get jobs for any number of reasons. The author’s work ethic is admirable- but saying that since they have a job those on food stamps should be able to get one is a flawed mindset at best. This confuses the ideas of “anyone can do it” with “everyone can do it”. While any one person may be able to get a job, that does not mean that the populace as a whole can just get up and go get jobs. Welfare exists for a reason. It is true that Trump has said he wants to help the inner cities- as did Clinton. Due to their status as a key voting block, of course both sides want to help them and secure their support. As for supporting the wealthy? (Read my reasoning before dismissing this, please) It’s a mistake to ease taxes on them. The wealthy (especially the ultra-wealthy) are, and should be, taxed more- not because their success should be punished, but because they have more available resources, and due to the power stemming from this they also have more responsibility. Think of it like something on a high shelf. If you’re too short and you have a tall roommate, generally you ask them to help you get the item- not because you dislike them, but because it’s simply more efficient that way. We’re not asking them to help more because we dislike them, we’re asking them to help more because they can- they have the expendable money that the lower classes don’t. Should they still have more money at the end of the day than someone who makes less raw income? Absolutely! However, they can do that while still being taxed more than those who make less. For the sake of society, the wealthy need to be taxed more.

And that brings us to policies. For sake of brevity, I’m going to address five major points: healthcare, immigration, abortion, economy, LGBT rights. Beginning with Obamacare- it is indeed true that Clinton would have just tweaked healthcare, so we can assume status quo for healthcare would stand under her. Now let’s look at Trump, who promises to either amend or “repeal and replace” Obamacare. As amendments imply smaller changes, it is relatively safe to assume near status quo if that is the path he takes. On the other hand, if he chooses to repeal and replace it, his plan would cost nearly $550 billion over the next ten years, and to top it off almost 21 million people would lose insurance- or 6.6% of the population. Given our current fiscal state, combined with the fact that in the vast majority of cases any insurance is better than no insurance, that is significantly worse than status quo. Thus, regardless of your thoughts on our current situation, Clinton is the better pick for healthcare. Moving on to immigration- Trump’s plan to halt acceptance of refugee immigrants from Islamic countries would be devastating to our diplomatic status in the world. What sort of an example do we as a country set when we turn our backs on this suffering, on these people- and for what? For fear of terrorists? Our borders are not secure anyways- closing out refugees does not create some magic barrier that will stop terror. For that matter, what terror? As of yet, we have had no terror attacks from refugees, despite admitting thousands. What this does do, however, is show weakness. By shutting our doors to those in need, we send the message to ISIL and every other terrorist group in the world that we fear them. We send the message that their tactics work. This even increases recruitment for them- if potential refugees have nowhere left to turn, they will often turn to terror, joining ISIL or other groups as a means of survival. The worst part? By forcing them to these extremes, we instill in them a deeper hatred for the U.S. than ISIL recruiters ever could. Closing our borders to them will only exacerbate the situation in the Middle East, with minimal returns at best. As for the southern border? The wall would be extraordinarily expensive- and more importantly, relatively useless. The vast majority of illegal immigrants (who, by the way, are beneficial to our economy overall) are simply people who came legally on visas and overstayed. So what, exactly, does this wall accomplish? It *might* stop a tiny portion of the illegal immigrants from the south, but it will be a disaster diplomatically with Mexico, and it will be extraordinarily expensive to build and maintain- a complete waste. Immigration needs reform, yes- but Trump’s policies are not the way to do it. Saying that immigrants can just come back in legally is flawed- between the deportation and reentry, money and massive amounts of time (over a decade, in some cases) are expended in them “just coming back legally”- luxuries that are not available for the many that come over in desperation. Moving on to abortion- Trump’s policy on this is complicated, but I think the best way I can sum it up is that he wants to end federal funding for abortion, and ban late-stage abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk. That is a respectable opinion- however, ending federal funding for abortion inherently conflicts with the exceptions on the ban in late-stage abortion. By ending federal funding, it stops those who cannot afford an abortion from getting one- even in the cases the government made exceptions to, those times when it deemed an even more extreme abortion acceptable. The ending of the federal funding of abortion directly contradicts the ideas the exceptions are meant to protect- and in order to best protect those exceptions, federal funding must continue. Moving on to economy, Clinton’s plan is basically status quo once again. Trump ideally had a good plan- but it is rather impractical in some areas. He plans to cut taxes, but increase spending- that money has to come from somewhere, so where is it coming from? A keystone of his plan appears to rely on pulling money from nowhere, making his current plan impractical at best. Up next, LGBT rights. For all the hate speech against Trump, as far as I can tell he and Clinton are both relatively accepting of this (Mike Pence is another matter, but the VP has about as much hard power as a wet paper towel), accepting that the law is settled and that is the direction laws are trending.

Regarding Trump’s disrespectful comments towards women, no, he is not alone in saying things like his “locker room talk”. However, this is not the only example of his disrespect towards women- examples such as his treatment of Rosie O’Donnell, or when he said regarding his wife, “I would never buy Ivana any decent jewels or pictures. Why give her negotiable assets?”. Another example is from an interview from New York Magazine, where he stated “You have to treat [women] like s—-“. As another example, he directly stated, “I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing”. These comments are disturbing on their own- but put together, they paint a picture of a systemic misogynist- not the kind of person to represent the United States or our views. Regarding his lack of political correctness and the need for bigger priorities, I already analyzed economy and healthcare- but even so, that’s a straw man fallacy. The reason his lack of political correctness is an issue is not because of either of those- it’s due to his position as the representative of the United States. Imagine, if you will, Trump calling Angela Merkel a “nasty woman”, or any of the other phrases he has slung around. Not only is his behavior an embarrassment to our country, but his behavior will impact global policies- and based on his track record, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to hold his tongue. He will hopefully surround himself with smart people- that is a good choice, but ultimately he is the decision maker- which somewhat negates the impacts of his choices.

Ultimately, we have to live with the choice America made, which means yes- we are forced to give him a chance. However, there is no obligation to do that willingly- based on everything he has done so far, there is no reason to assume that he will be a good president. I too believe in the working class- and because I do, I cannot support Trump, who does not truly represent the interests of the people of the United States.

Want to discuss further? Please email me at [email protected]