My question to you - which is something I've asked several people already, in real life and online, and which I've never been able to receive a satisfying answer to - however is: apart from the media- and family induced subjective belief that Trump is the wrong choice, what has he objectively done that makes him such a bad choice? Not the unfounded nothingburgers the media and DNC establishment have him accused of that turned out to be hot air (*cough* Russiagate *cough*), but actual policy decisions that make him untenable to you and others who may think like you?
I know what I'm not the person you asked, but I'll give this a shot. I've loathed the man for decades for things his organization did to my own family but I won't go into that here. Putting that aside, the near constant series of car crashes that he's walked out of and how he's treated dozens of smaller contractors as a business man did not incline me even at the beginning. Given that he rose to political predominance leading the Birthers didn't help either.
But I have some serious problems with how he's done most things.
-The current Abrahamic Accords are an exception, and even then I am mostly hopeful. If Saudia Arabia signs on, I'll be more so. But it is possible this is simply a realignment, with Saudia Arabia and Israel in one corner with US backing, and Syria/Iran with Chinese/Russian backing. We will see.
-The second is China being a problem, but even then, a more consistent tone and clear objectives would have been far more helpful. We should have been building more relationships with the other powers in the region to help hedge out China, and shifting any production into India, Tiawan, and others.
1. Getting out the TPP. It went forward without the intellectual protections we specifically put in left. It also burned a lot of good will with Southeast Asia at a time when their help with China. It also provided a lowering of trade barriers in a dozen areas who are too far to take any industry that hasn't already been moved to China, making it easier to pressure companies to relocate. Beyond that it would have really opened up markets for our farmers helping them weather the tariffs and other things done to them by China.
2. Pulling out of the Iran deal unilaterally. Even if you don't like it, the damage is essentially done. Their frozen accounts have been unfrozen, and they have that money. All you are doing by pulling out of it by ourselves is throwing away what that purchased. It might be of dubious value, but without a smoking gun, its going strain our relationships and we aren't going to get sufficiently effective sanctions.
3. Fighting one Trade War at a time. If you are going after China, go after China. Don't pick a fight with everyone bloody else. Press China, get as many people on board to do the same to really turn the screws. Now wasn't a good time to renegotiate NAFTA, and it certainly wasn't a good idea to hit Europe with effectively retaliatory tariffs at the same time you want them to side with you against China.
4. Not really punishing NK for what they did to that poor college student. The one who was released and came back dead.
5. The Wall is the height of style over substance. You could achieve the same thing by placing border patrol stations at nodal locations, and using randomized drone overflights and cameras to monitor the boarder for a fraction of the cost. And you would be seizing private property with emmentant domain and bulldozing through both wildlife refugee and native american burial grounds. Beyond that, a large percentage of our boarder is a river, so either you are ere
No. This bolded is what frustrates me.
Do you guys think that this is not by design?
The Media and Academia and the Overlords raise hell and make sure you hear about it non-stop. To demoralize you, to get you tired and willing to give them what they want to shut it up.
Trump did not create the left's hatred. He revealed it.
Trump lives for the attention, he always has. Every Politician hits journalists when they think it will advantage them politically, and Republicans have been particularly being about hitting the mainstream who tend to the left. This gets them tons of earned media without spending a dime, and the media's reaction gets them attention from both the side that believes them and the side that doesn't. Democrats do the same for the Conservative Media sphere for much the same reason. It was self reinforcing cycle on both sides, that provided benefits to both while balkanizing our politics even worth. Advantage to individual and party being pursued.
Trump is the king of self promotion, its perhaps his greatest skill. Getting attention and building his brand are things he understands instinctively. He craves the attention and he understands on a nearly instinctive level that demonizing the media and getting them to do the same in turn will only increase his cache with his conservative base. So he smacks the media and they hit back, their industry having low enough margins that they can't avoid the low hanging fruit. So each feeds upon the other with ever increasing viciousness, their ratings climbing even as he gets hundreds of stories. Negative stories, but he is there every day. But essentially they've both been hotshotting, beyond the point of sustainability. And each subsequent story gets less of a ratings boost and each thing Trump does blends into another.
Trump isn't the biggest thing on Twitter because he disdains the media, he feeds on it. And on some level the media feels responsible for them, which adds a sense of guilt to further crank up the viciousness of the attacks. Like the remorseful doctor, looking at the path of destruction their monster created with horror.
