IF THE 2020 ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY...

...I would not vote for Donald Trump.

I was a proud displayer of the “Deplorable” T-shirt and another T-shirt that supported Trump.The president has had a tough time.  I recall Obama once saying it was more difficult to change the Federal government than he had anticipated. I gather Mr. Trump has learned the same lesson.  But, he should have stayed with his base and fallen on his sword if necessary to accomplish the most important piece of his campaign: “BUILD THE WALL.” This is not a cliche for fear-mongering.  We are accepting by default thousands of people, many of whom are criminals and most of whom will be taking from our welfare and medical care system. To the average citizen (me) this truly is a national emergency yet every time push comes to shove, he caves. There are no democrats alive, of whom I know, for whom I would vote but I don’t vote “lesser of evils.”  (and Trump is not evil but the expression fits). I have done so on the local level but have never voted for a presidential or senatorial candidate who I believed would not work for my benefits.

The president has accomplished much.  His opening the “gates” to American energy is genuinely impressive.  His stance on foreign trade has not always been productive but he gets an “A” for effort.  I suspect that his work with North Korea has produced little but again he tried and no other president has.  He calls out evil at least on Twitter. He is clear (as was Reagan) that America has nothing to be ashamed of and that we have a perfect right to exist as a sovereign country.  These are important accomplishments but current politics has served me some horrid offenses and I don’t believe the president has done anything at all about them. The failure to successfully work these issues is just not forgivable, no matter what else he has done.  I articulate them:

1) Gun rights:  I list this first because it is the most important to me.  We have “voter rights,” “abortion rights,” “welfare rights,” none of which are in the constitution. My gun rights are and yet despite his campaign promises he has made no effort at all to bully (and that is what Obama did on his favorite social issues) state and local government over oppressive gun laws.  In my opinion. Police response times though inadequate, don’t matter. I want the unfettered right to protect myself not only in my house but outside as well. In Washington State (not at all sorry, Michael Bloomberg) I had a “shall issue” concealed carry permit. I had a gun in my glove box for 10 years. Yes, I did pull it out one time when I saw four thugs trying to pull an old guy out of his car.  I brandished my pistol and cell phone and they took off. Nice, eh? No one got shot, no school kids, no police officers; no one and a potentially violent crime was stopped. I guess the state was just lucky I could be trusted to not shoot up a school...me and millions of other citizens of course.

I have a “premises” license in Suffolk County, NY.  You would not believe what I went through to get this (the law is the problem; the police were quite courteous).  I, seriously, wonder if I could get in trouble if I took my pistol outside my house to break-up a mugging on my street. Is that my “premises”?  There should NEVER be a question about that. As the Left (with amazing silence from Trump) is busy both disarming the citizens and enabling violence against those with whom they do not agree,  I don’t want to have to rely on the police to protect me. Nice if they can help. I once lived in Spokane Valley, WA. I awoke to pee at 5:00 a.m. and observed an burglary in progress at a neighbor’s house  I called 9-1-1 and it took 35 minutes for the police to arrive. Can you believe that? That reminded me I was glad I had a pistol in my house. They were so slow I imagined they were quietly staking out the house for evidence.  Nope! It just took them 35 minutes to get there.

There are gun rights organizations (The New York Pistol and Rifle Association) that are tackling some onerous restrictions.  If this were Obama, he would be helping the gestapo municipalities (in this case, New York City) defend their laws. So, where is Trump working with the plaintiffs to prepare cases to have these laws overturned as unconstitutional.  I see him nowhere. Again, as the radical left becomes more and more violent with time their bed partners is states and municipalities, with Trump’s passive acceptance, disarming me so I can do nothing to protect myself or my family. I wrote Trump a year ago declaring that he needed to start working on the 2nd amendment and was quite clear that my life is as important to me as his is to him and he is protected while I am not.  No answer; not even an acknowledgement of my e-mail. I understand this is a controversial issue but the ONLY avenue is repeal of the 2nd amendment which will not happen. Until then it is his job to defend it.

This 2nd amendment passivity, alone, would cause me to not vote for Trump but there is more.

2) The Wall: I know of no one who has offered a credible reason why we should not protect our borders. During the 2016 campaign Trump made this his signature issue.  In fact he said he would make Mexico pay for the wall...to the cheering of his supporters. At this point it looks like we will not get the wall, at all, irrespective of who pays for it. He made these reasonable arguments in the face of the Left which wants nothing more than for all states to turn “blue” from illegal immigrants.

After Trump signed the omnibus bill that funded everything (October?) he said he made a mistake and would not sign such a bill again.  Now, he funds parts of the government that were not funded in the omnibus bill...but no wall. Are you kidding me? Certainly he has a hostile 9th circuit but the courts cannot force him to sign either bill.  Yet he did. I live on Long Island where MS13 is famous. I have not been hurt or threatened. No matter; no one else should be either. ICE has done a good job rounding up these evil animals but the gang members should not have been here in the first place.  Renovations to the immigration policy and system come AFTER the border is secure. Trump has not been willing to adopt that as his non-negotiable requirements.

I could vote for Trump if the remaining items were my only complaint but I do feel he has let his base down because of his lack of success:

3) Drain the swamp:  Daily news continues to expose fraud, self-dealing and bloated agencies.  Trump appears to be paring staff at some agencies. However, scandals continue.  Has Trump told his agency heads “when fraud and waste are exposed, I want you to tell me first and include a plan to punish and/or halt it.”  Apparently not. We continue to hear of fraud and ethics abuses that have been endured for years. Rarely do we hear Trump weigh in. I know why.  The buck stops at the top and he has not told his agency heads fraud and abuse are not acceptable.

I will believe Trump has begun to drain the swamp when DC real estate prices drop. There is a correlation.  Not all Federal government exists in DC but too much does and when Trump reduces the agencies to the point where employees who have lost their jobs must move, real estate prices will decline...buyers’ market.  Because that is not happening it is clear to me that Federal government DC employment is as robust as ever. The real estate market is an excellent measure of housing demand.

After the recent shutdown, the Parks “Service” said the cost was millions of dollars. What if we stripped from that the salaries that WERE paid to park employees to not work? Trump signed legislation to pay them anyway..  If a local Taco Bell had a fire and it took two weeks to re-open, how much do you think the employees would be paid? A majority of Federal employees are democrat. Let them gripe to their DEMOCRAT representatives; Trump has little to lose anyway. Federal employees did not support him. His action to avoid paying Federal employees who did not work would be an important step to draining the swamp. In the “old days” government employees were underpaid compared to the private sector but for that they enjoyed secure employment.  Today they are overpaid compared to private sector counterparts yet the secure employment continues. Donald, you missed an opportunity to force a responsive, accountable government.

4) Reverse Discrimination:  I had hoped that the president would stop all reverse discrimination in the Federal government and, by extension, all state and local governments that accept Federal Funds.  I am a white male; retired now but I want white males to no longer be at a disadvantage in the jobs and business markets. Civil rights legislation does not permit reverse discrimination. It permits NO DISCRIMINATION at all.  It is the last 50 years that have allowed reverse discrimination to evolve, irrespective of which party had control. Trump could easily bring actions against governmental agencies that practice “quotas” or reverse discrimination.  Yet, he does not.

5) Action Against gestapo universities:  I had expected Trump’s justice department to move against (stopping grants) universities that discriminate in any form on campus with respect to political and religious beliefs or different treatment based on gender..  Obama would have done it; Trump is too cowardly.,That Obamas’ lover, Napolitano, the “chancellor” of the CA university system can prevent a conservative speaker is unthinkable. Yet, while the Young Americans for Freedom fights the gestapo, Trump does nothing.

6) Government Funded Abortion

Roe v. Wade created no right to abortion at the expense of the taxpayers. At all. The ruling was very simple: states may not (basically) interfere with the "right" of a woman to terminate pregnancy. In no way was there implied that taxpayers must pay for the termination. I have a very complicated view of abortion and my views are outside of the mainstream but what I am certain about is that people who believe that abortion is murder should not be required to pay for it. There has been some chipping at government funding but it has not been sufficient to create a certainty that the government is in no way subsidizing abortions. This is yet another promise Trump has not yet delivered on.

Summary:  I have many other reasons for being a “deplorable” but these are the most important to me.  If he accomplishes #s 1 and 2 in the next two years I may return home; the others can wait until his second term.  If he does not accomplish the first two I will have no candidate for whom to vote. I am very disappointed. When I voted for Trump I supposed this was this country’s last opportunity to not slip down the rat hole.  He did not come through.

A note of consolation to any reader who thinks my position is doomsday:  because of the electoral college and how deeply “blue” New York State is, my vote won’t count whether cast or not but as “they” say, “it is the principle of the thing.”