September 1, 2020

25 Questions to Ask People Still Considering Trump

posted at 12:54 pm by

  1. When the coronavirus was spreading in January, President Trump said it was “one person coming in from China” and “totally under control” and that everything would be “just fine.” As the virus continued to spread across the US in May, Trump pressed governors to lift restrictions. In June he told a campaign rally that he had asked his administration to slow down testing because it reveals too many cases of COVID-19. It looks like President Trump has tried to downplay the dangers of the virus in hopes of protecting the economy, yet his strategy seems to have failed. The US has about 4 percent of the world’s people but almost 22 percent of the world’s COVID-19 deaths; more than 180,000 Americans are dead. At the same time, we have record unemployment, many failing small businesses, the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and closed schools. Do you think President Trump has done a good job handling the virus and the economy?
  2. Medical experts say social distancing and wearing a mask help prevent the spread of the virus. President Trump has almost never worn a mask, and his events have been marked by a lack of masks and social distancing. Trump has mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask, and when a reporter wore a mask while asking Trump a question in May, Trump said the reporter wanted “to be politically correct.” Is the purpose of a mask to be politically correct?
  3. In April, President Trump proposed injecting bleach into Americans to fight COVID-19, saying, “Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.” Later, after he was ridiculed for this statement, Trump claimed he was being “sarcastic.” Is this the kind of leadership we need to fight the coronavirus?
  4. President Trump promised to make great deals, yet everyone agrees that he hasn’t been involved in negotiations with Congress on important matters like coronavirus relief. His aides have been doing it for him. Don’t we need a president who actually can make deals himself to help the American people?
  5. President Trump has repeatedly tried, through Congress and the courts, to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, including its protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Over four years, he has repeatedly promised to deliver a Republican health plan, but he never does.  Is it OK with you that President Trump, after four years, has no plan to improve American health care?
  6. After Congress passed Trump’s tax bill, he went to his country club in Florida and told his rich friends, “You all just got a lot richer.” The Trump law will eventually deliver 83 percent of its tax benefits to the wealthiest one percent, instead of to working Americans. Was that a fair law, or was it instead another way for the rich to get richer on the backs of working people? 
  7. Joe Biden has expressly condemned violence and looting, whether by the left or the right. By contrast, President Trump has refused to criticize violence and even killings by his supporters. In fact, as a candidate and as president, he has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to engage in physical violence. Trump has been president for four years. Whatever your views on recent police shootings, peaceful protests, violent protests, or militias, President Trump seems to have no accomplishments in improving justice or safety, and has offered no serious ideas. The violence has gotten much worse. Why should anyone now believe President Trump can make things better?
  8. Do you think it’s OK that President Trump called a woman a “dog” and a “lowlife” — a Black woman whom he had hired to work for him on the White House staff?
  9. It’s obvious that President Trump didn’t want to run against Joe Biden, because he tried to use the lever of taxpayer-funded aid to pressure Ukraine into publicly announcing it would investigate Biden. But President Trump got caught, and got impeached, and Biden didn’t get investigated, and Biden got nominated. If President Trump is so smart, how did he blow it so badly?
  10. President Trump admits he hasn’t bothered asking Vladimir Putin about reports from U.S. intelligence that Russia has offered bounties to kill our troops in Afghanistan. Trump also has said he believes Putin’s denials that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and he has downplayed evidence that Russia is again interfering in 2020. Trump also has not publicly questioned Putin over the poisonings, beatings, and killings of Putin critics, or criticized Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Instead, Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Putin. Is Trump’s support of Putin, no matter how badly Putin acts, protecting America’s security, or weakening it?  
  11. President Trump testified that that he could not recall discussing WikiLeaks document dumps with Roger Stone in 2016. A bipartisan report released this month by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that this Trump statement was contradicted by the evidence. Does it concern you that even Republicans now agree Trump gave false statements about his dealings related to Russia?
  12. On June 13, 2018, President Trump tweeted, “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” Since then North Korea has increased its nuclear and missile activity. Isn’t this another broken promise, and another failed effort by President Trump? Isn’t the world more dangerous as a result?
  13. President Trump referred to African nations and Haiti as “shithole countries.” He tweeted about four elected Members of Congress who are women of color, all US citizens, three of them born in the United States: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” And Trump refused to repudiate the false claim that Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India and Jamaica, is ineligible to be vice president. Is that the right way to lead our country?
  14. President Trump’s companies have made millions renting hotel rooms to Secret Service agents and other government officials who are forced to stay at his properties at high rates, to Republican groups controlled by his allies, and to lobbyists and corporations seeking favors from his administration. Many people consider this behavior corrupt — getting richer off being president — and completely undermining Trump’s pledge to drain the swamp in Washington. Trump has also filled many top jobs in his administration with lobbyists for big corporations. Do you think Trump can effectively fight Washington corruption when his own behavior seems so corrupt?
  15. President Trump promised he hires only “the best people.” But his aides Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen have all been convicted of crimes, and Steve Bannon was recently arrested for defrauding Trump supporters of millions of dollars. Are these, in your opinion, the best people?
  16. After President Trump claimed, despite the evidence, that Hurricane Dorian would strike Alabama, he used a marker to draw a line around Alabama on a hurricane map and then claimed he didn’t know who drew it. Does it embarrass our country when the president so obviously lies about something like that? 
  17. President Trump tweeted that the Democrats, at their national convention, omitted the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. The videos prove the Democrats said “under God” repeatedly during the convention. In August, Trump said Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, has “no religion,” would “hurt the Bible,” and is “against God.” Why does President Trump keep lying about God?
  18. Is it OK with you that President Trump called the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville “very fine people”? Do you think it’s very fine for marchers to chant “Jews will not replace us”?
  19. People across the country have marched for justice in the wake of George Floyd’s death. President Trump called the assertion that “black lives matter” a “symbol of hate.” Do you agree with President Trump that it is hateful to say that the lives of our fellow Americans matter?
  20. The evidence shows that the Trump administration, as a deliberate policy, separated thousands of migrant children from their parents. Some of these children have died in federal custody.  If you were a child, and you were brought to this country through no decision of your own, would you deserve to be separated from your parents for months, years, and potentially forever?
  21. President Trump promised to help U.S. veterans. Did you know President Trump this year used his first domestic veto to cancel bipartisan legislation that would have helped protect our veterans from for-profit college scams? Did you know the national commander of the American Legion called the Trump version of the law  “fundamentally rigged” against veterans and other students? Why is President Trump hurting our veterans and students this way?
  22. In 2016, President Trump paid $25 million to settle a lawsuit by people who said they were defrauded by Trump University. In 2018, a federal court in New York accepted a guilty plea from lawyer Michael Cohen based on evidence that he conspired with President Trump to pay hush money to a porn star, and conceal the payment in violation of federal election laws. In 2019, President Trump agreed to pay $2 million to charity as part of a settlement with law enforcement in which he admitted he misused funds raised by the Donald J. Trump Foundation to support his presidential campaign and pay business and personal expenses. Don’t these kinds of shady acts by a president weaken our country? 
  23. In contrast to every other major presidential candidate in the modern era, President Trump has refused to release his tax returns. New York state prosecutors are investigating whether Trump’s businesses have engaged in financial fraud, and his businesses are refusing to provide information. As president, Trump stonewalled the Russia investigation, has fired whistleblowers who testified to Congress, and dismissed five inspectors general who were looking into administration misconduct. Does it help our country to have a president who is hiding so much about his finances, his business dealings, and his presidency?
  24. President Trump has declined to criticize the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, saying “these are people who love our country.” He called a QAnon supporter running for a Congress “a future Republican Star.” QAnon believers say Democrats drink the blood of children, and the FBI has classified the movement as a domestic terrorism threat. Should President Trump be welcoming QAnon into the Republican mainstream?
  25. When President Trump addressed convention delegates in Charlotte, and they chanted “four more years,” he told them to say instead, “twelve more years.” This wasn’t the first time President Trump has talked about staying president longer than eight years, even though the Constitution prohibits that. President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen says that based on many years of working for Trump, he is concerned that Trump won’t leave office even if voters defeat him. Trump himself has said that the only way he could lose to Biden is if the election is rigged, suggesting he will try to stay president even if Biden wins the voting. Do you have concerns about supporting a man who seems so opposed to democracy and elections? 
  26. UPDATE 09-03-20: President Trump has repeatedly referred to American troops who died fighting for our country, and other military veterans such as John McCain and former President George H.W. Bush, as “suckers” and “losers.” How could Americans want a commander-in-chief who is so hostile to troops who fought and died in service to this nation?