Ten Best, Ten Worst: A Farewell to President Obama

Donald Trump became our nation's 45th President at noon ET today.  It will be years until we can fully analyze President Barack Obama's place in the history books, but on the occasion of his departure, I offer both kind words and criticism, with 10 of the best things he did while in office and 10 of the worst things he did while in office.  You can't quite see him too clearly in the photo here, but this is Obama speaking at Wesleyan University's commencement the year after I graduated from there, when he was a Senator on the campaign trail in 2008...

NUMBER 10:
GOOD: Obama inspired the nation when he was elected as the first African-American President in a nation where a lot of black folks were slaves 150 years ago.  He proved that you can become the President no matter the color of your skin.
BAD: It's probably more perceived than it is real, but the media has portrayed racial tensions as somehow worsening, which is odd considering the most powerful man in the world for eight years was black and, for those of us who grew up in the 90s, where even us little white boys idolized Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, and Derek Jeter, racial tension was rarely on our minds.

NUMBER 9:
GOOD: Opening up and normalizing relations with Cuba was a good thing.  This does not mean that we're cool with those in power in Cuba (most of us anyway), but a lot of the sanctions that were lifted seemed entirely unnecessary, and I see no reason why we shouldn't try to at least get along with Cuba where we can and allow travel back-and-forth (and Cuban cigars for those who are into that).
BAD: Refusing to block the anti-Israel UN resolution during the lame duck period was, as I detailed in a recent blog post, disgraceful.  Israel is an important ally that we should stand behind, and the people the U.S. sided with by not blocking this resolution are people who literally want Israel wiped off the map.

NUMBER 8:
GOOD: Obama changed his views on same-sex marriage after being elected, supporting equal rights for them.  I view this as a positive thing because, although I am a Christian and fully agree with the Bible on the topic of gay marriage, I believe the government should stay out of marriage completely, recognizing equally every union as a civil union with the corresponding rights.  But if it does recognize marriage, everyone must be afforded the same rights, regardless of religion or sexual orientation.
BAD: With all of the focus on Russia attempting to help President Trump's candidacy, people may forget how terribly Obama handled Russia.  He allowed Russia and Putin to pretty much do whatever they wanted, at least until after Trump was elected.  Obama told Russia on a hot mic that he would have more flexibility once re-elected, he underestimated Russian threats while debating Mitt Romney, and he basically let Russia do what it wanted with Crimea, while ignoring serious issues in Syria and other places.

NUMBER 7:
GOOD: Obama is an honorable family man who carried himself with class and dignity during his presidency, showing a good sense of humor, strength, and eloquence, and never having any credible scandal regarding infidelity during his eight years in office.  He also seems like an approachable, down-to-earth person, and I would like to sit down and have a beer with the man.
BAD: That being said, he never should have been given the Nobel Peace Prize.  He is the first President who has been at war during his entire eight years in office, we're bombing a lot of places most Americans don't even realize we're bombing, and he teamed up with Hillary Clinton to royally screw up Libya.

NUMBER 6:
GOOD: The rate of Veteran homelessness declined under President Obama, and there are more Veteran college tuition assistance programs available.
BAD: The VA hospitals have been a disaster, with insane wait times and Veterans dying in queue.  While not entirely Obama's fault, more should have been done to prevent and fix these issues.

NUMBER 5:
GOOD: Some of the provisions in Obamacare are great, such as insurance companies having to cover people who have preexisting conditions, as well as allowing folks to stay on their parents' plan until they are 26 if they need to.  When I graduated in May 2007, I was 21 and I was dropped from my health insurance plan the very next day because I was no longer a student.  That should not be a thing that happens.  Also, under Obamacare, even if by brute force, more people are insured.
BAD: Obamacare was only upheld by SCOTUS because it's a tax, which is exactly what Obama said it wasn't.  It's insane that insurance companies aren't allowed to compete across state lines to drive down prices, and this is part of the reason that healthcare costs have skyrocketed, premiums are through the roof, and high-deductible plans are the norm.  My health insurance plan under the Obama presidency has gotten increasingly worse and more expensive, and this is the case for many Americans.  Also, it was a lie that you could keep any doctor that you liked under Obamacare.

NUMBER 4:
GOOD: Obama has protected a lot of land.  In 2009, he designated more than two million acres as wilderness, creating trails, and protecting rivers.  He cares about the environment and the treasured outdoor wilderness that God has blessed our nation with.
BAD: Obama freed five terrorists in exchange for the release and return of captured American traitor Bowe Bergdahl.  This is beyond shameful.

NUMBER 3:
GOOD: Obama reversed policies on torture, agreeing with Senator John McCain agreed on the subject, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone more credible on the topic of torture than a former POW war hero like McCain.
BAD: The Iran deal is not a good deal, as it increases Iran's chances of getting nukes, and we basically paid Iran a ransom to get back hostages.  I understand the money was from an old settlement, but forking it over at the same time we got hostages back sends a very wrong message.

NUMBER 2:
GOOD: Obama presided over and assisted in economic recovery to some extent.  Although many are still underemployed and workforce participation is down, a lot of people have at least found jobs again, bringing the unemployment rate down.  The stock market is also very high, having nearly tripled during his Presidency, after the huge crash in 2008 cut the Dow Jones by more than half.
BAD: The U.S. Government's credit rating went down in 2011 because we are spending so much money.  It's not just the stock markets that are up.  When Obama became President, our National Debt was roughly 11 trillion.  It has increased nearly 9 trillion, to 20 trillion.  That is, by far, the biggest increase in National Debt for any President.  And you thought George W. Bush racked up a debt?  (He did, but this blew that record out of the water.)

NUMBER 1:
GOOD: Obama did the job that Bush left him to complete and, under his leadership, the United States found and killed Osama bin Laden.
BAD: Also under Obama came the underestimation and rise of ISIS/ISIL and radical Islamic terrorism.  Poor decisions included withdrawing from Iraq at the wrong time and not providing extra security in Benghazi.  ISIS has become a huge threat throughout the world, and there have been too many extremist Islamic terrorists killing people in the United States as well, often doing so in the name of Allah after pledging allegiance to ISIS.  ISIS is a huge threat that must be obliterated.

Inconsistency is a Payne

Full disclosure: I do not like Carrier because I have a bone to pick with them.  Recently, my nine-year-old Payne Furnace stopped working because of a cracked heat exchanger (basically the main part of the furnace--if it's cracked, you should just get a new furnace).  The heat exchanger is under warranty for 20 years, but only for the original owner.  I purchased my house less than three years ago.  So I called Payne and the person I talked to said I was not covered because I was not the original owner.  I asked to speak to a manager, and they transferred me to a manager at Carrier (Payne is owned by Carrier, which is owned by United Technologies).  The manager told me that Carrier would stand by its product and cover the cost of a new furnace.  Then when the company that was set to install it called Carrier to arrange payment, Carrier decided not to pay.  The manager called me back and said she made a mistake.  They would have covered it if I had the 90% efficiency unit, because the failure rate on that heat exchanger was higher than expected, but I had the 80% efficiency unit.  The conversation from there went something like this...
"Well, mine had a 100% failure rate, and it's not even ten years old yet, so aren't you going to stand behind your product?" I asked.
"Sorry sir, the warranty is only good if you are the original owner.  It's non-transferable."
"I'm aware of that, but you had said you would stand behind it anyway.  Now you won't?  Why would I ever buy a Carrier furnace again in my life?  What difference does it make if I'm the first owner or not?  It should have lasted 20 or 30 years!"
"Sorry for the mistake sir, but there's nothing we can do."
"Well, I can tell you that I'm very dissatisfied with your company, and I certainly will be purchasing a new furnace from someone else.  Regardless of whether or not I'm the original owner, there's no reason that the unit should fail after nine years."
I at least got them to agree to pay my diagnostic fee when I had someone come out to check why my furnace wasn't working, but several months later, I'm still waiting on that check...
What does that have to do with anything?  Well other than me just venting (no furnace pun intended), I wanted to make the point that because of this, I ended up buying a furnace from another company (Lennox).  In fact, I had a Lennox Central Air Conditioning unit installed at the same time.  Carrier lost my business because their product sucked and they did nothing to stand behind it.  This is what happens in a free market: choice.

Donald Trump "saved 1,000 jobs" at Carrier from leaving the United States for Mexico.  On the surface, it sounds like he did a great thing, right?  But if you take a look at how he did it, I think you'll see that it was NOT a great thing.  Quite the opposite.  The jobs basically stayed here because Trump threatened Carrier, and Carrier was promised special tax incentives to stay.  I've been listening to Ben Shapiro a lot lately, and he is completely correct in his analysis on this, calling it "economic fascism" (which is different than full out fascism by the way, but it's not cool for the government to play favorites).  Sure, 1,000 jobs were saved at Carrier, but maybe 1,000 jobs were lost at other places that could have stepped in and done a better job than Carrier (based on my experience, that doesn't seem very hard to do).  Why should more money from us, the taxpayers, flow to Carrier as basically a bribe to keep jobs here?  If Carrier is given tax breaks, why not give others the same tax breaks, and create a climate with less regulations where businesses want to stay and grow?

Shapiro points out that Obama basically did this same things eight years ago with Caterpillar.  Republicans (rightly) complained about it then.  Why is it alright with a lot of Republicans now because Trump is the one doing it with Carrier?  Either it's right in both cases, or it's wrong in both cases.  Consistency is key.  Let's be honest here.  Let's be consistent.  If Trump does something good, let's point out that he did something good.  If he does something bad, like this Carrier deal in my estimation, let's point out that he's done something bad.

The idea of consistency extends to other things as well.  Leftists LOVED it when Obama bashed and criticized Fox News throughout his Presidency.  After all, Fox is quite overtly biased to the right, so it makes sense that Obama doesn't like them.  They're basically the only mainstream media news station that's biased to the right, but they are biased to the right nonetheless.  I don't have a problem with Obama criticizing Fox News.  And I don't have a problem with Trump bashing and criticizing CNN either.  CNN is clearly biased to the left.  Throughout the campaign, CNN clearly favored Clinton over Trump, Donna Brazile provided Hillary with debate questions ahead of time during the primaries, Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper are absurd, and while CNN at least didn't publish the unverified dossiers like Buzzfeed did, clearly Trump was not going to be thrilled about the article they did publish.  But instead of Leftists admitting that Trump's distaste for CNN parallels Obama's distaste for Fox News, suddenly they're crying that Trump is trying to stop freedom of the press because of what he said about CNN.  What?  Overreaction much?  Again, either both cases are OK, or neither one is.

What about cheering when people decide not to design clothes for Melania Trump or perform at Trump's inauguration?  I have no problem with that.  But I also have no problem with bakers not wanting to bake cakes for gay weddings if they don't want to.  No one should have the right to demand that someone should bake a cake for their wedding, dress them, or perform for them.

How about free speech?  Who's cool with banning Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on a campus (or in some cases, Ben Shapiro, like at DePaul)?  Who's alright with violently protesting when he is scheduled to speak, so the event gets shut down, and spitting in the face of one of his cameramen?  Why do we see it so often with speakers on the right of the political spectrum?  Why are people always just cursing, name-calling, and never coming up with a better reason for violently protesting than "because you support Trump"?  Yes, Milo has some pretty controversial views, and he's definitely in the minority on many of his views (and because he's gay and conservative), but since when do college students want to shut up the minority voices instead of listening to what they have to say, engaging them, and presenting counter-arguments if you believe they are wrong?  I don't understand any real problems with Ben Shapiro though, actually.  He's very principled and consistent, and I don't find him terribly controversial.  Ben is conservative, but he presents facts.  I've watched videos of him talking in places where he was shouted down and called a Nazi.  Clearly, those sorts of protests can only come from complete ignorance: he's a devout Jew.  But we're living in America in 2017, where the President-elect is being called the same thing, and he's actually standing up and defending Israel, so there's that.


I can point out plenty of examples of places where people are often not consistent, from criminal laws to what are taxes are used for, and you can take whichever side you want on the issue, but you ought to be consistent.  And if you like Obama, something isn't good just because he does it.  If you dislike Obama, something isn't bad just because he does it.  The same holds true for Donald Trump.  And Ben Shapiro.  And yes, even Milo Yiannopoulos.  OMG, he got a book deal, PROTEST AND BOYCOTT Simon and Schuster!  Anyone want to join me at a book burning later?  I have Huck Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird on my bookshelf.  They're great books, so they probably burn well, especially on pages where the n-word is used.  I'll meet you at the bonfire, but any idea where I can pick up a Quran on the way?

[That list bit was sarcasm, by the way, for those of you who did not recognize it as such--I am fine with Milo publishing a book and not really down with burning any books.]

Lame-Duck Craps on Israel

Barack Obama is a lame-duck President who has decided to take one last giant, vindictive shit on Israel on his way out. Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, have decided not to veto a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine. This is a disgusting stab in the back to the most important ally of the United States, and there are many who argue that it is rooted in anti-Semitism.  The United States MUST stand with Israel.  Israel is a Democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by enemies who literally HATE Jews and deny their right to even exist.  For all of the issues I have with Donald Trump, it's things like this that make me glad that his inauguration is three weeks away.  Trump, rightfully, has made it clear that he strongly disagrees with Obama and Kerry on Israel.

By abstaining on the vote in the United Nations instead of using its veto power, the United States has not objected to a resolution saying that Israelis can't live, pray, or even be in certain places that qualify as part of this disputed territory.  This resolution is terrible, but not surprising.  There have been more resolutions passed by the United Nations that have condemned Israel than any other nation.  The list of all nations in the world includes North Korea and Saudi Arabia.  Anti-Semitism is to blame for the frequent chastisement of peace-seeking Israel.  By the way, two countries that voted in favor of this resolution are China and Russia.  No surprise there either.  The abstention of the United States was essentially the same thing as a vote in favor of the resolution.  If Benjamin Netanyahu is to be believed, and I believe him, the Obama administration actually helped to craft the resolution in such a way that it would be acceptable for the United States to abstain when it came up to be voted on.

For all the talk of Russia allegedly attempting to help Trump with the Presidency in the United States, a lot of folks forget that Obama actively tried to interfere so Netanyahu would not be re-elected as the Israeli Prime Minister.  Obama failed, but this vote feels a lot like it was a final "fuck you" to Netanyahu and, even worse, Israel.  It's not often that I agree with both Alan Dershowtiz and Chuck Schumer on an issue, but they are dead-on in this case.  Dershowitz said that Obama "stabbed them [Israel] in the back" and "this will make peace much more difficult to achieve."  Schumer said that, "While Secretary Kerry mentioned Gaza in his speech, he seems to have forgotten the history of the settlements in Gaza, where the Israeli government forced settlers to withdraw from all settlements and the Palestinians responded by sending rockets into Israel."

Netanyahu explained his frustration after the vote, saying, "My vision is that Israelis and Palestinians both have a future of mutual recognition of dignity, mutual respect, co-existence," adding, "How can you make peace with someone who rejects your very existence?" and, "This conflict has always been about Israel's very right to exist."  Netanyahu has reached out in an attempt for peace over and over again, but the olive branch was never accepted.  How could it have been?  The Palestinian Government literally pays anyone who murders Israelis a monthly salary.  And John Kerry had the nerve to blame ISRAEL for the lack of peace in the region?  As an American, this angers and frustrates me.  I am ashamed at the failure of the United States to veto this resolution.  I stand with Israel.  I do not agree with the Obama administration on this issue, but I have hope that the incoming Trump administration will keep its promise of standing with Israel as our greatest ally.

Senator Marco Rubio summed it up better than I could, so I will leave you with his comments:

"Secretary Kerry today once again decided to cater to the demands of freedom’s enemies and devote an entire speech to disparaging a country that is one of our closest allies. This administration’s shameful undermining of our moral standing in the world should be a warning to administrations for decades to come about the consequences of America abandoning our values. When we fail to take a stand against those that seek to deny Israel's right to exist or try to question the Jewish history of Jerusalem, we hurt not just Israel but our own credibility.  The greatest immediate threat to the future of Israel is not a stalled peace process, or settlements, but the abandonment of the Jewish state by the current U.S. administration at a time when it needs America’s support more than ever.  I look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his incoming team to restore our relationship with Israel to its proper place. I intend to continue to work with my colleagues to fight alarming efforts by those in the United States and internationally to promote modern day anti-Semitism through the boycott and divestment movement. I will also work to ensure that if the United Nations wants to continue to promote anti-Semitism and anti-Israel views, it will do so without U.S. taxpayer funding.  This shameful episode in American foreign policy cannot end soon enough."

A Challenge to Wesleyan ...And You're Already Failing

I submitted the post below to be published in the school newspaper that I was editor-in-chief of a decade ago.  They published my letter, which I was encouraged by at first, but then I noticed that they took out three parts of it, further proving my point of what needs to change and already failing at my challenge.  This is very disappointing and very telling.  I have highlighted the parts (bold, italic, and underlined) that were removed when it was published (http://wesleyanargus.com/2016/12/05/a-challenge-to-wesleyan/).  There will be a follow-up letter.
LATE EDIT: Apparently The Argus restored the missing paragraphs in the online version.




Donald Trump said many indefensible things during his campaign, and some of these careless and stupid comments excited the KKK and other bigots, but the vast majority of the over 60 million people who voted for him are not bigots and cannot be ignored.  The Steve Bannon appointment does not help change what I believe is a flawed leftist idea that Trump is a racist, xenophobic, sexist, white supremacist, fascist monster.  However, he has apologized for many of his painfully ridiculous comments, clarified that not all Mexicans are rapists, said that most Muslims in the United States are peaceful, decided that same-sex marriage is a done deal, and disavowed his racist supporters.  I truly hope that Trump surprises me and many others and somehow becomes a great President, but I must issue a challenge to Wesleyan after reading the "How The Argus Intends to Cover a Trump Presidency" Editorial.



The Argus editors rightly point out that Trump's call to "make America great again" is problematic, but it is ludicrous to state that this slogan is "a yearning for a bygone era and a thinly veiled tribute to an age before the Civil Rights Act, before the esteem of white identity was bruised by the small strides toward the empowerment of marginalized people secured therein. This call, and the rest of the rhetoric surrounding it, is an unequivocal appeal to white nationalism."  There is nothing unequivocally racist about a dumb, vague campaign slogan, which may be directed at adding more jobs to America, reducing the role of government, maintaining America's sovereignty in an age of globalism, or any number of other things.  I applaud that The Argus does not want to become "a platform for white nationalist apologism, let alone white nationalism" and I take no issue with the quote from Bernie Sanders that was referenced, but what in the world do you mean when you say that The Argus "will start by prioritizing and amplifying historically marginalized voices"?  I fear that it means solely voices of minorities who agree with you, and this fear grows when you state, "We reject any false equivalency between the underrepresentation of conservative voices in this paper and those of historically marginalized people."  What about historically marginalized people who ARE conservative voices?  I challenge The Argus, Michael Roth, or anyone on the Wesleyan campus who is able to invite a conservative speaker from a historically marginalized people to speak on campus.  Hopefully he or she will not be rudely interrupted and the Q&A session will be a platform for engaging dialogue.



If you would like ideas on who this speaker should be, I'd put Ben Shapiro on the top of that list.  Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew, and I can't think of a people more historically marginalized than Jews.  Shapiro is also extremely critical of Donald Trump and did not vote for him.  If you'd like to invite someone from a group even more marginalized than that, although he is not a practicing Jew, Milo Yiannopoulos fits that bill, being a homosexual person of Jewish descent, though I personally disagree with a number of his alt-right views.  Other options include African Americans like David Clarke, Allen West, or Ben Carson, or an immigrant from India who was incarcerated (essentially as a political prisoner) for a non-violent crime and stripped of his voting rights, Dinesh D'Souza.  I hope that The Argus truly supports "the creation of an avenue for serious and earnest criticism from conservative voices" that it claims to, and I hope that Michael Roth and the rest of the Wesleyan community support it as well.  The Argus is in a position of power in that it can choose to maintain its integrity, consistency, and long-held views on censorship (not publishing hate speech, defamation, or personal attacks), or change by refusing to publish things based on the political views therein, such as anything that "normalizes Donald Trump himself." A standard to "contest ideas, not people" does not make sense if it is not also applied to the President-elect.



When I was at Wesleyan, I learned about views that were different than mine, and I engaged in conversations and debates.  Sometimes my views were changed, and sometimes I helped to change the views of others, but I learned how to listen to the other side, how to find common ground, how to stand up for what I believe in, and how to debate against what I oppose.  I listened, without interrupting, to prominent liberal speakers brought to campus, such as Peter Singer, who is cool with murdering babies and old people in certain situations.  Being largely Libertarian, I've had plenty of spirited but respectful debates with friends, many of them Wesleyan alumni, over the last few months.  Many made great points, but others ended discussions by falsely accusing me of racism, telling me to fuck off several times, telling me that I shouldn’t have a say on abortion since I’m a man, or telling me that I don't have the authority to speak about Black issues in America because I am white (at which point an African American friend of mine entered the discussion and agreed with me, but the other white person I was debating still disagreed).  For the good of your education, to improve your ability to understand and debate the other side, and for the sake of hearing viewpoints from outside of the Wesleyan bubble, I challenge Wesleyan to bring in a prominent conservative voice to speak on campus, especially one from a historically marginalized group.  Leading up to this year's Presidential election, I doubt any prominent speakers were brought to campus this semester who spoke about how the Clinton Foundation takes money from countries that murder homosexuals and have no women's rights whatsoever, how Hillary is a war-hawk beholden to many entities, or how she counted a former KKK leader (Robert Byrd) among her mentors.  I believe that leftists who refuse to engage opposing views helped contribute to Donald Trump’s victory.

Dear Donald

Dear Donald,

I don't think it's quite sunk in yet for most of America that you are actually the President-elect.  I predicted that they would win the World Series for the first time since 1908 this year, but I did not predict your Presidency.  I did not think you had any chance of securing the Republican nomination through most of the primaries, but you became the nominee.  Even then, I thought the chance of you winning the Presidency was pretty slim, despite Hillary being such a terrible candidate.  After the indefensible comments you made on a bus 11 years ago surfaced, I resigned myself to the very uncomfortable likelihood that Hillary Clinton would be our next Commander-in-Chief.  But you kept saying things about how you would win because you're such a winner, and how you were bringing people to the polls to vote for you who had voted Democrat four years ago or not even voted at all recently.  Millions of people laughed at you, but you somehow did what you said you would do.  Now, how about you start working on some of the other things you said you were going to do, like making life better for ALL Americans and uniting this nation again?

I went to a very Liberal University, Mr. President-elect.  Some of the things I saw on Facebook following your win were disturbing, others were uninformed, and others were just plain hilarious.  But regardless of my feelings on the topic, I will tell you that a lot of people in this nation are very scared.  Maybe it's in part because of the biased mainstream media, maybe it's in part because of the biased Universities that helped to shape their thought process, and maybe it's in part because of the things you have said, the rhetoric you have used, and the small factions of loud, terrible, hateful people who have been stirred up by you, whether it was your intent or not.  Appointing Steve Bannon to any position even near the White House is not going to help unite this nation.  There are worse people you could have nominated, no doubt, but there are plenty of better ones too.  And maybe Trey Gowdy wasn't eyeing the Attorney General job, but I wonder if Jason Chaffetz would have been interested.  Jeff Sessions may be a better choice than Rudy Giuliani, who is an American hero but seems to be losing it a bit, but maybe instead of rewarding those who were most loyal to you, you can focus on doing one of the things you've done well throughout your life, from running your business to hiring Kellyanne Conway: Hire the best person for each job.  If they don't do well, fire them.

You've surrounded yourself with some great people, Mr. Trump.  Ivanka and all of your other children seem wonderful, which was the one thing Hillary complimented on you during those vicious debates.  Your wife is great.  Listen to her.  Ben Carson is a brilliant and principled man, despite what the left says and possible narcolepsy.  Listen to him between his catnaps.  And Mike Pence was a solid choice for VP, even though I don't agree with him on every issue (nor do you, which is fine, because it's better you hire the best person for the job, even if you don't agree with that person on everything).  Keep Kellyanne Conway close too, because she's a huge reason why you got where you are.  And apparently Newt Gingrich is still kicking, and he is a political insider who can help you in that regard at least.  You can't do this alone.  You now have the most important job in the world, and you need a spectacular team to work with you in moving this nation forward.

I'm glad you told the people doing hateful things in your name to stop it, and I'm glad you condemned the white nationalists and the like.  It won't be enough for everyone, but feel free to keep calling them out from time to time as long as their bullshit continues.  In fact, if I were you, I would issue a few minute statement addressing a whole range of people who feel threatened by your Presidency, whether that threat is real or perceived.  Tell the Hispanics and Latinos that you love them and have nothing against them.  Sure, there are some illegal immigrants who come here and commit heinous crimes, but that does not represent the majority of Mexicans.  Tell African Americans that you're working for them, and that you won't tolerate discrimination against them.  Tell women that you've made poor decisions in the past and said and did some offensive and immoral things, but you don't have a problem with women, especially strong, intelligent, successful women, such as your daughters and your wife.  Explain that being pro-life IS being pro-woman, although most of the left will still fight you on that issue.  I don't care what you said about Rosie O'Donnell, by the way.  Most people don't.  I'd be happy to see her move to Canada.

Tell the LGBTQ community that you are there for them, you love them, and you want to protect them from hate of all kinds, whether violent Islamic extremists or so-called Christians calling them names or telling them that "fags go to hell."  I take a Libertarian view on Gay Marriage personally, but I too am fine with the Supreme Court's ruling on Gay Marriage, and I'm glad you stated that you see it as a done deal.  I'm fine with you waving the gay pride flag on stage like you did, though there's no need to light the White House in rainbow colors.  But on the other hand, you must assure those of us whose religions do not accept homosexuality that while the government will recognize gay unions and grant equal rights to homosexuals, churches will never be obligated to perform gay marriages, nor will individuals or business owners be forced to participate in gay marriages in any way if they believe it is against their religion.

Tell Muslims that you have no problem with the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful, and that you're not going to round up Muslims and deport them.  Explain that any immigration bans or heavy restrictions would be country-specific, not based on religion.  Tell them that is is Islamic Extremism, the same thing that concerns many of them, that also concerns you.  Tell them there is no place for that sort of thing in our country.  America will never be a place where Sharia law is acceptable, where it is acceptable to kill homosexuals and treat women as objects or second class citizens.  And yes, you must defeat ISIS for good, but I hope we can avoid further wars.

Tell God that you seek forgiveness for your sins, if you truly do.  You said during your campaign that you don't ask for forgiveness, but you just try to do better next time.  That is in no way a Christian thought.  Ask Ben Carson or Mike Pence for guidance on this one.  I hope you have truly accepted Jesus Christ as your savior.  No, it's not a requirement for you to do that in order to be President, and no, you shouldn't pretend that you've done that if you haven't, but I pray that if you haven't, that you do.  I pray that Christ will guide you ask you lead this nation.  Separation of Church and State is imperative, but a President rooted in Judaeo-Christian principles will do well.  If you have truly sought forgiveness from God, tell the American people that, and ask them to forgive you for anything wrong that you've done against any of them as well.  Yes, Donald, a great leader must be strong, but a great leader must also be humble and admit when he is wrong.

You know how a lot of the people who voted for Hillary are always talking about how they need their safe space and trying to limit free speech by attempting to absurdly broaden the definition of hate speech, at times to even include showing support of your candidacy?  Well, you sounded a lot like them when you started Tweeting about how the theater should be a safe place and the actors owe Mike Pence an apology for lecturing him.  Whether or not you agree with what they did, they had the right to do it, and you don't need to call them out about it on Twitter.  Dude, you're going to be our President soon.  You can tone it down a bit on Twitter and act Presidential.  I mean, you're entitled to say what you want, but just some friendly advice here...  And yes, the media blew this whole Hamilton thing out of proportion, and the media is not in a good place right now, but don't forget that freedom of the press is one of the five pillars of the first amendment, along with freedom of religion, freedom of speech, right to peacefully assemble, and right to petition the government.  Don't be a threat to the First Amendment in any way, and don't tolerate anyone who is.  The same holds true for the Second Amendment, the other amendments, due process, and the other necessities that the founders of our nation put into place.

I don't know what to expect from you as President, Mr. Trump.  I am cautiously optimistic, but vigilant.  I hope you follow many of the examples set forth by Ronald Reagan.  I hope you bring this nation together, help those in need, help facilitate more job creation, make life better for the poor and middle class, lead the United States as a force for good and humanitarian aid throughout the world, defeat ISIS, and overcome hate with love.  I wish success for you and for this great nation, which already is great, but can continually strive to be even better.  You surprised a lot of people by getting nominated, you surprised more people by winning the election, and now you must surprise a great many more people and become a great President for all the citizens of this nation.  That will be a far greater challenge than anything you have ever taken on before.

Sincerely,
Matt

Trumped: What Just Happened and What Happens Now?

Most of my friends are very liberal.  Naturally, this is what happens when you have graduated from one of the most liberal colleges in country, when you feel comfortable around people who are different than you, and when you want to be surrounded by folks from all different cultures.  I may have a somewhat unique perspective on this election.  I grew up largely Italian-American town, and unlike many decades ago, these days that demographic falls into the category of White.  Most of my friends growing up were middle-class, a good number came from Republican homes, but it was a pretty even split.  Growing up in the 1990s though, the country seemed less divided.  I was too young to vote in the 2000 election, but I think that may have been around the time the division was starting to deepen.  Bill Clinton's last few years in office were contentious, and Bush vs. Gore came down to Florida, with the fate of the election hanging in the balance for about a month before Bush was declared the winner.  Post 9/11, the division seemed to go away.  We were very much a united America.  People proudly flew the American flag.  I remember Al Gore speaking and saying something like, "George Bush is my commander-in-chief" to much applause.  But much changed in the world after 9/11, and division once again set in.

When I went off to college a few years later, I chose Wesleyan University.  During my first semester there, I thought I had made a big mistake, and considered transferring.  This place was beyond liberal.  I witnessed people watching gay porn with their doors wide open, there were condoms and oral dams (not sure who uses the latter ever really, but whatever) well-stocked in every bathroom, pro-choice posters everywhere, parties with sexual themes, naked parties, gender neutral bathrooms, gender neutral pronouns, alcohol and drugs widely available...  But I found my place there.  I found the extremely diverse Wesleyan Christian Fellowship (InterVarsity), the school newspaper where I would become editor-and-chief a few years later, and so many great friends who are my best friends to this day.  I loved my four years at Wesleyan.  It was the right decision, and I would not change that experience.  But the one think Wesleyan lacked was Conservative voices.  I think there was a very small group of Republicans on campus, but I never sought them out or considered myself a Republican, being a registered Independent, though at the time very much right-wing.

The first election I was old enough to vote in was in 2004.  I was 18 years old, and I voted for George W. Bush.  A lot of people at Wesleyan were very angry with me.  They were saying the same things about him then as they're saying about Donald Trump now.  Racist, sexist, anti-gay, bad for women, unfit for office, unintelligent, makes up words (well, that one is accurate).  This was the liberal war cry, and it still is.  To be fair, Bush's second term was disastrous in a lot of ways, paving the way for Barack Obama's presidency, but during that term, I learned all about the views that were opposite of mine.  I talked with the people around me, I debated with them, I gained better understanding about where they were coming from, and a lot of my views were changed as a result.  Ultimately, I went from being against gay marriage to agreeing with the recent SCOTUS decision, even though I hold the Christian view of marriage personally.  I went from being against marijuana legalization to being very much for it, even though I don't smoke.  I moved further to the left on the environment, on war, and on the death penalty.  I don't care if people are naked, and I don't care which bathroom they use.  But I held firm on abortion, even when someone angrily ripped the pro-life sign off of my door and cried (literally) to my RA about it.  I held firm on the first amendment, the second amendment, and conservative fiscal policy.  I learned how to state my views, hear other views, and evaluate the differences.

Fast forward to 2016, and Liberals are doing the exact opposite thing of what I was doing in college.  Many of them are surrounding themselves with like-minded people, shielding themselves from differing views.  If, instead of having a civil back-and-forth, you try to shut down the other side by calling what they're saying "hate speech" or calling them sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, whatever -ist or -phobic, you are part of the problem.  If you are demanding that the University take action when someone writes "Trump 2016" or wears a "Make America Great Again" hat because it's hate speech, you are part of the problem.  If you are ripping down someone's pro-life sign because you think that a man shouldn't have an opinion on whether a baby in the womb is a life or part of a woman's body, you are part of the problem.  If you are demanding that someone bakes a cake that says something on it that goes against that person's religious beliefs, and if they don't do it, they're whatever -ist or -phobic, you are part of the problem. If you are demanding a safe space and trigger warnings for every fucking thing that might offend someone, you need to realize that the real world is not a safe space!  The awfulness of HRC and the DNC, the lack of Democratic voter turnout, the lack of anything funny from Trevor Noah, and the ridiculously transparent partisan mainstream media aside, THIS IS WHY TRUMP WON.

It makes me cringe a bit to have Trump as the President-elect, because I don't like him either, to put it mildly.  I cannot defend him saying that he grabs women by the pussy whether it's true or not.  I cannot defend the things that come out of his mouth that offend people and should not come out of his mouth.  But not everything he says is an insult to a minority.  Political correctness has run amuck, and America realized that.  But insulating yourself from differing views has run amuck as well.  In the week leading up to the election, I had a number of encounters with folks with differing views that ended with me making a good point and the person I was talking with either storming away from me while cursing at me or directing the word fuck at me eight times in the matter of a few sentences and then unfriending me on Facebook.  To her credit, one girl who unfriended me messaged me before unfriending me and apologized that she was about to unfriend me, saying that I had been very reasonable unlike a lot others she had dealt with, but for the sake of her mental health, she could not deal with hearing any viewpoints from any Christians anymore.  And to their credit, a lot of my more liberal friends had spirited, thoughtful, well-articulated, and civil debates with me on the issues.  For many of them, I am their only vocal friend with a more conservative or Libertarian leaning, and they were genuinely curious about my views.  That is how Liberals can take the White House back in 2020, not by ignoring, demeaning, and writing off those whose views differ, but by engaging with and understanding them.  Certainly not by what I've seen happening today for the most part.

My Facebook feed has been full of very sad and angry people, crying, cursing, saying that half of America is sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, ignorant, or all of the above.  Yes, the KKK endorsed Donald Trump, and there are some people who fit that bill who voted for Donald Trump, but we DO NOT live in a nation where half of the people here are any of those things.  And we certainly do not live in a nation where the KKK is acceptable.  Yes, they're trying to make a comeback.  We can stop that by ignoring them, or we can stoke the fire by acknowledging them and saying that half the nation is with them.  Fucking insane.  Not single person I know who voted for Trump supports the KKK.  I haven't heard a single person say, "Hey, you know what, I hate minorities, women, Muslims, and (or) homosexuals, so I'm voting for Trump!"  And about Trump inciting violence, yes, he's said some things he definitely shouldn't have said, but it was Hillary's campaign who was caught red-handed planning to incite violence at Trump rallies!

I watched the election results roll in with an Hispanic friend of mine.  He voted for Trump.  I exchanged messages a few times throughout the night with a Black Libertarian friend of mine.  He didn't vote for Trump (but he didn't vote for Hillary either).  The first person I talked to this morning was a Brown friend at work.  He voted for Trump.  The first person who called me the morning after the election was a woman who immigrated here from Italy in 1948, legally, through Ellis Island.  She, my grandmother, voted for Trump.  Trump is not against immigrants, and I really don't think a wall would solve much, but he does want to clamp down on illegal immigration.  If he likes immigrants so much, then why doesn't he just marry one?  Oh, yeah, his wife is going to be the first First Lady since Louisa Adams not born in the United States.  Trump is not against Black people.  I don't know where that notion came from.  He wants to make life better for them and for all Americans.  I'm not black, so I'll just defer to Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Allen West, and Omarosa on this one.  Trump is not against women.  Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, just became the first successful female campaign manager in our nation's history.  His daughters are successful women.  He is surrounded by wonderful, intelligent, strong, and independent women.  That doesn't excuse his prior behavior.  He said a lot of demeaning things about women during his years as an entertainer, and there is no defending his "grab them by the pussy" comments.  Sexual assault isn't funny.  He apologized.  That doesn't make it go away, but we can forgive him for it.

Popular on Facebook today are some variations of saying that if you voted for Trump, to make sure to explain to your LGBTQ, female, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Muslim friends why they don't matter to you.  So I'll attempt to do that, but first start out by saying that they do matter to me.  To my LGBTQ friends, this election was a choice between someone who, like Barack Obama in 2008, is not in favor of gay marriage and someone who recently decided that she is in favor of gay marriage (now that it is politically expedient).  Hopefully Trump changes his views on it like Obama did, but even if he doesn't, he's probably going to be the best Republican President for gay rights who has ever been in office.  Hillary accepts donations to her foundation from countries who are fine with executing LGBTQ people.  To my female friends, a number of you voted for Trump and looked past his disturbing comments from 11 years ago and alleged sexual assaults.  Hillary discredited her husband's sexual assault accusers and allegedly acted in a threatening way to Juanita Broaddrick, who maintains her claim that Bill Clinton raped her.  Bill Clinton has sexual assault and rape accusers on a Bill Cosby level.  Hillary accepts donations to her foundation from countries who are against basic women's rights.  Neither Hillary nor Trump is a great defender of women.  And if you want to go to the abortion thing, that's really a matter of whether you think a fetus counts as life or as part of a woman's body.  To my Black friends, Donald Trump has some of the most intelligent Black people in the country advising him.  A higher percentage of Black people voted for him than for Mitt Romney in 2012.  Under Barack Obama, the gap between the rich and poor widened by unprecedented and epic proportions.  This disproportionately impacted Blacks.  Let's give Donald Trump's policies a chance.  To my Hispanic and Latino friends, I don't know why you're included in this ridiculous graphic, seeing as like a third of Hispanics and Latinos who voted cast their vote for Trump, so yeah, no real cause for alarm here, Trump isn't planning to deport people like you, even if he did make a dumb comment about a Mexican judge...  And my Muslim friends?  Donald's not kicking you out, even if he fell into the DNC's trap and couldn't stop himself from saying things about a Muslim gold star family.  He also said some dumb things about not letting anymore Muslims in but has since revised that.  It's not going to happen.  Hillary, on the other hand, accepts donations to her foundation from countries who fund ISIS.  Trump has no problem with you for being Muslim unless you're an extremist or in favor of Sharia law, which is very anti-gay and anti-women by the way. 

Look, I didn't expect Trump to win.  I didn't expect him to get the nomination.  I didn't expect him to become President.  I never even watched one episode of The Apprentice.  None of this makes sense.  But people voted for Trump for all different reasons.  Yes, there's a small faction of bigots who voted for him.  But there are those who voted for him because (gasp!) his policies.  And there was a huge percentage of working class people in unions who voted for him.  That's a huge reason that he won, and isn't that a demographic that the Democrats say their policies are best for?  Now the Left is demonizing those very same people and calling them bigots.  And finally, and probably most commonly, there are those who voted for him, begrudgingly, because they saw him as the lesser of two evils, because Hillary Clinton was seen as a worse option.  And not because she's a woman either.  Goodness, if it was Carly Fiorina against Bernie Sanders, I would have voted Fiorina.  I would have voted for Judge Judy over most men.  It has nothing to do with the existence of Hillary's vagina.  If it was Sarah Palin against Hillary, I would have moved out of the country though...  Speaking of which, I hope all those celebrities who threatened to move to Canada if Trump won are on their way out!  But for those of us who are staying here in America, let's try to get this nation back together again.  This division is insane.  Trump actually nailed it in his victory speech.  It really is time to come together as a nation.  It's long past time for that.  Let's stop demonizing the other side.  I'm not saying to become complacent.  If something is wrong, go ahead and protest it.  We have that right.  Are you against the Dakota Access Pipeline?  Protest it.  Are you angry that Donald Trump won?  Voice that opinion if you want, but stay peaceful and don't be an asshole.  This is exactly what you were telling the other side not to do when they lost.  But they won in a shocker.  That's more awkward than Trump's ride to the inauguration in Obama's limo will be.

I voted for John McCain in 2008, even though McCain was pretending to be more conservative than he really was and chose an awful running mate in Palin (I thought he should have chosen Joe Lieberman personally, or Colin Powell, although Powell ultimately endorsed Obama).  I wish he was the 2000 version of John McCain, but he wasn't, and he lost.  This morning, I went back to look at my Facebook post from that day.  I said I was ready for change.  And I said, "Congratulations to Barack Obama! Here's to hope. And hoping that he truly selects a bipartisan cabinet."  I'll say that same thing now.  I am ready for change.  I hope that Trump selects a bipartisan cabinet and chooses the best people for the job, as his advisors, and for the Supreme Court.  I hope he can control what comes out of his mouth.  I hope he truly tries to follow God's guidance.  But this isn't the end of the world, and this isn't a sad day that shows how bigoted half of America is, even if you're upset about the results of the election.  Remember that great quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Be the love.  Be the light.

Donald Trump is Not Qualified to be President: Here's Why I've Decided to Vote for Him

I'd really like to be writing about the Cubs right now instead.  Until this past week, the last time they won the World Series, the great Teddy Roosevelt was President and America was about to elect its fattest President, William Howard Taft.  Now, although several third party candidates are better than the two nominated by the main parties, we basically have two awful candidates to choose from.  I endorsed Libertarian Gary Johnson a while back.  Although he's shown himself to be a not-so-great candidate, I still think he's better than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.  The Libertarian Party, whether with Johnson as the nominee or with someone else, could have done much better.  Most sane people in this country don't like either of the top two choices.  This was an opportunity missed.  And it didn't help that Gary Johnson was not allowed to debate because he wasn't polling 15%.  Now his goal is to get 5% nationally so the Libertarian Party will receive additional funding.  I hope he gets it, but if the Libertarian Party missed so great an opportunity here in 2016, I'm not sure that money would make much of a difference in 2020.  And after the past few weeks, I've decided personally that I will not be part of the Johnson percentage.  I am no longer feeling the Johnson.  Here's why...

Donald Trump is entirely unqualified to be President of the United States.  He has no experience in politics, he doesn't know what it takes to be President, he says things that make me cringe, he stands for things that I do not, and he surrounds himself with good people.  Hillary Clinton is entirely qualified to be President of the United States.  She has plenty of experience in politics, she knows what it takes to be President, she gives calculated answers to questions, she stands for things that are politically expedient for her, and she surrounds herself with terrible people.  The last few weeks have really made me realize that my third party vote, while it may be an easy way out for me to say that I didn't vote for either the Turd Sandwich or the Giant Douche, is barely better than not voting at all.  If folks want to not vote, or vote third party, or vote for Hillary, or vote for Trump, I do not take issue with that.  I say vote your conscience.  Ted Cruz was right when he said that.  Don't expect me to repeat that last sentence very often...  But because of who Hillary Clinton is, what she has done, and who she surrounds herself with, I cannot in good conscience vote for Hillary Clinton, and I must cast my vote directly against her to Donald Trump.  I hope they have designated vomiting places at the polls this year, because I might need to make use of them.

Yeah, I've seen the snarky Liberal websites listing the many terrible things that Donald has said and done (mostly said) juxtaposed with the one thing Hillary ever did wrong, mishandling her e-mails.  Bullshit.  She has done so many things way more concerning than that.  Let's start with who she surrounds herself with.  Bill Clinton, Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner, Sidney Blumenthal, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Donna Brazile...  So we have a former President, Bill Clinton, accused of rape and sexual assault by many women who isn't in as much hot water as Bill Cosby because he's a former President.  We have a woman, Huma Abedin, with awful judgement who has been Hillary's right-hand woman for decades and may or may not have ties to terrorists but is definitely married to a disgraced former congressman, Anthony Weiner, who she is now finally divorcing because he's been found sexting other women, again, this time including one who is allegedly underage.  Wow.  Oh, yeah, and in searching the computer this lovely couple shared for anything sexual in relation to children, the FBI found a bunch of e-mails on the computer related to Hillary Clinton and had to re-open that whole investigation.  This almost makes the other three I listed seem almost benign.  The former DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had to resign in disgrace after being caught doing everything she could to help Hillary beat Bernie and then was immediately hired by Hillary.  Sidney Blumenthal worked for the corrupt Clinton Foundation and was in part responsible for Hillary blaming the Benghazi attacks on an online video.  Donna Brazile worked at CNN but became the interim DNC chair and was just fired from CNN after leaked e-mails showed that she gave debate questions to Hillary's campaign ahead of her debates with Bernie on multiple occasions.  I left out other close confidants of hers for the sake of time.  How is John Podesta not among the six worst?  Good Lord. And Tim Kaine.  Wow.  I didn't even mention Tim Kaine.  Just watch his debate against Mike Pence if you haven't.  He got destroyed in that debate as badly as Trump got destroyed by Hillary in their first debate.  He is awful, kind of creepy, and in no way prepared to be President.  He may be the best of this bunch though.

In contrast, Trump has surrounded himself with much better people.  Though I disagree with some of Mike Pence's political views, I agree with him more than I don't, and he's a decent human being who would do well as President.  And Ben Carson, I just love.  I might have a man-crush on Dr. Carson.  He is a principled and brilliant man who would make a wonderful Surgeon General.  And even Hillary complimented how well Donald's children turned out, and they certainly have his ear.  Melania would make a solid First Lady, and she gives Michelle Obama's speeches just as well as Michelle gives them.  She's a strong and independent woman who immigrated to our country legally.  Kellyanne Conway is a strong and brilliant woman as well, far superior to John Podesta.  And maybe Trump would choose Trey Gowdy as Attorney General!  And I like his list of potential Supreme Court nominees.  Donald Trump is probably the worst of this bunch, which means that as far as the people he surrounds himself with, at least he has better judgement than Hillary.  By a lot.

So why won't I vote for Hillary?  It's not because she set up a private server with classified information on it in the e-mail scandal, although that alone should have stripped her of her security clearance and disqualified her from running for President.  It's not because of our people who died in Benghazi during her tenure while she was Secretary of State, although if she takes credit for killing Osama bin Laden, she should also take responsibility for what happened in Benghazi since it was on her watch.  In addition to her inner circle of deplorables, it's because of what the Project Veritas videos show, what the Wikileaks e-mails show, and what the re-opened FBI investigation is telling us.  And it's not merely because of the existence of these things either, but because of their content. Anyone who thinks that Hillary is a good candidate after examining all of the evidence is a special kind of deranged.

If you haven't watched the Project Veritas videos, please educate yourself.  They show a culture of corruption and win-at-all-costs (disregarding legality and morality) within the Clinton campaign and other groups working to get Clinton elected.  Several people have been forced to leave their jobs after these videos were released, perhaps most notably Bob Creamer and Scott Foval.  They're all claiming that what was talked about in the videos was hypothetical and never actually happened.  These "hypothetical" things include Foval bragging about inciting violence at Trump rallies, paying mentally-ill people to "do shit" and paying homeless people to "do some crazy stuff" (but it's cool because he gave them a hotel room and shower too).  The videos also showed illegal collaboration with the Clinton campaign, racist remarks, acceptance of illegal foreign donations, and many other cringe-worthy things that can make you lose faith in the Democratic Party.

As far as Wikileaks, that's been a treasure trove of terrible things as well, exposing the aforementioned Donna Brazile debate question leaks, among other things, but perhaps none more important than the statement that Qatar and Saudi Arabia "are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region."  The significance of this is that it means that both the Clinton Foundation and ISIS are being partly funded by the Governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and this is something Clinton would obviously know.  Do we really want Hillary Clinton to be the President of the United States, knowing this information?  Donald Trump's comically ridiculous assertion that "no one respects women more than me" that he made several times pales in comparison to Hillary Clinton's acceptance of money from countries that really, really, really don't respect women.  Or gays for that matter.  It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Donald Trump is further to the left on gay rights than Hillary is.  I don't think he actually cares whether or not gays get married in reality.  I could be wrong on that, of course.  But remember, Barack Obama was against Gay Marriage when he first ran for office.  Hillary Clinton was against Gay Marriage until the tides turned recently.  Heck, I was as well.  But Dick Cheney changed his mind on Gay Marriage before Hillary did, for goodness sake, and Hillary is cool with accepting money from countries where gay rights are non-existent.  Like, it's literally fine if you want to throw gay people off a cliff.  I'm not good with that.  I'd be remiss if I didn't address Mike Pence here, so I'll say that if it's acceptable for someone to change their sex, then it's acceptable for someone to enter conversion therapy to go from gay to straight, as long as that person makes that choice for him or herself and is not forced into it.

So, Project Veritas is something done by United States citizens, Wikileaks comes from several places (and according to Julian Assange, not from the Russian Government, but wherever it's coming from, it's exposing disturbing truths), and on top of this we have the FBI re-opening the investigation into e-mails related to Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin.  Hopefully they will find more evidence of the Clinton Foundation pay-to-play that we know is occurring, although it seems unlikely that Comey-comey-comey-comey-comey-chameleon will actually charge Hillary on anything related to her handling of classified information.  Whatever happens, I just hope the truth comes out.

I get that Trump is awful.  He's insulted Mexicans, Muslims, women, most demographics really.  He's said dumb things about nukes, punishing women who get abortions, and other things that he's walked back.  He talked about sexually assaulting women, whether it was a joke or not.  He told Howard Stern that he was probably for the war in Iraq before it began, but then later came out against it, still before it began, while Hillary was a Senator and voted for it.  There's no proof that he has ties to Putin and Russia, but he said it would be nice if we could get along with them.  War with Russia is more likely with Clinton, a true war-hawk.  How many tens of thousands of innocent deaths is the United States Government responsible for because of what was done under her watch in Libya, toppling Gaddafi?  What of her policies in the Middle East?  What of her deal with Morocco?  What of the Clinton Foundation screwing over Haiti, with billions of dollars unaccounted for?  Yes, Trump is terrible.  He says racist things.  He says sexist things.  He apparently mocked a disabled reporter.  But voting for him over her does not make a person racist of sexist.  It doesn't make you more of less of a Christian (or whatever your faith or lack thereof may be), or a better or worse person.  There are reasons to vote against each of these two candidates, and not too many reasons to vote for either of them.  I've decided to vote for Trump.  Don't call me sexist unless you would support Carly Fiorina.  Don't call me racist unless you would support Ben Carson.  I am neither racist nor sexist.  I am casting a vote for Trump because of who Hillary Clinton is, what she stands for, what she has done, and most of all, the people she surrounds herself with.

Hillary's "30 years in public service" worked out well for her and her husband, as they gained many millions of dollars in personal wealth, in part through expensive paid speeches to Wall Street, to which she is beholden and has given speeches talking about how she often has public and private views on issues that are completely different from each other.  She is also beholden to Foreign Governments who have given money to the Clinton Foundation, and donors who have given money to her campaign, mostly notably George Soros.  Hillary Clinton makes Richard Nixon look like a saint.  Power corrupts, especially when you've been in the establishment for so many years.  Not only should we create a constitutional amendment limiting the number of Congressional terms, but I propose one limiting Political Dynasty families.  We don't need another Clinton in the White House.  We don't need another Bush in the White House.  Why don't we disallow parents, children, spouses, and siblings of a President from ever becoming President?  This isn't a Monarchy.

In any case, come Tuesday, a terrible candidate is going to be elected to be the next President of the United States.  Hillary represents the status quo.  If we're cool with killing all those people overseas, destroying America from within, large Government, corruption, and all the entities she's beholden to, vote for Clinton.  Trump isn't much better though.  His hateful and dangerous rhetoric, enormous ego, convenient claim to Christianity, and awful and empty slogan to "Make America Great Again" are worrisome.  He has the potential to be a terrible President, but he is also the candidate who represents change.  I trust the people he surrounds himself with more than I trust him.  That same thing can't be said for Hillary.  I don't have a horse in this race really.  I endorsed Gary Johnson.  But I've decided to vote for Trump.  May God have mercy on my soul.