Ten Trump-Record Deficiencies For GOP Primary Voters To Consider

"Let them debate so I can see who I MIGHT consider for Vice President." - Donald Trump's post on social media on July 31 implying that he would watch the FNC debate on August 23 but would not participate since he is so far ahead in the polls.

Trump is "running in 2024 on the things that he promised to do in 2016 & didn't do." - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appearing @ a New Hampshire TV station earlier this month.

"The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen.  For three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward - under oath - & prove anything in a court of law. . . The future of our country is @ stake in 2024 & that should be our focus."  - Georgia Governor Brian Kemp tweeting after Trump's fourth criminal indictment, of Republicans blowing the 2024 election by concentrating on Trump's unproven claims & narcissistic grievances, both of which intentionally manipulate & distort the truth regarding Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election while distracting from Biden's purposeful agenda of furthering the decline of the country from apathy to dependence.

"It amazes me that any citizen who watched the events that unfolded on January 6, 2021, can believe that he is qualified to serve this nation in any capacity, much less president."  - Jack Wilson of Sandy Springs, Georgia writing about Trump in the WSJ

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The election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency in 1892 is the only time in our history that an incumbent president (Harrison) ran against an ex-president with both men running as the nominees from the two major parties.  TR ran in 1912 on the Progressive Party ticket & came in second, beating incumbent Taft badly but losing to Democrat Wilson.  Seventy percent of the current prospective electorate does not want a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024, or even either one of them to run - in 40 years of Gallup polling Biden has the lowest job approval rating @ this stage of his presidency of any president (37%) though it is higher than Trump's job approval rating when he left office (34%).  But a rematch is what we are headed for unless one of Trump's primary opponents can break through or Biden is replaced @ the last minute due to further deteriorating cognition, scandal, or recognition that his policies have produced a failed presidency that precludes winning in 2024.

With Trump's legal matters taking center stage 24/7 for the last several months Trump's primary opponents have had a difficult time getting their message on issues out or having reporters ask them anything other than about the Trump indictments.  The debate on FNC on Wednesday night gives them an opportunity to change this.

Long time readers will remember that before the first Trump-Biden debate in September, 2020 I presented a post that listed fourteen questions that really were meant for the American citizenry, but I had hoped would be asked to Trump & Biden.  With the same intention, I present below ten topics for the GOP primary voters to consider with an open mind, that the GOP primary candidates could bring up during the debate & thereafter on the campaign trail, regarding deficiencies in Trump's term in office thereby giving them an opening to make their case that the press is otherwise not providing.

1.  The Georgia Senate Runoff Elections

On January 4, 2021 Trump went to Dalton, Georgia supposedly to campaign for the two Georgia Senate candidates who had each received more votes than their opponents in the November election, but not a majority, which therefore necessitated a runoff election on January 5.  The Democrats needed to win both of these seats in order to control the Senate with Harris being the tie breaker.  The Democrats already had control of the House & now the presidency with Biden's win so the stakes were precisely known - namely, the progressive Biden agenda would proceed unchecked without the Republicans winning @ least one of these two Georgia Senate seats.  And yet Trump could not bring himself to stop whining about his election loss telling people @ the Georgia rally that their votes for Loeffler & Perdue would not be counted properly & other statements about expected fraud that gave no incentive for people to vote.

Trump's primary opponents could rightly lay blame on Trump for all the misery the Biden assault on America has brought by Trump's failure to not focus on getting the two Georgia Senate candidates elected so that McConnell, as Senate majority leader, could have tied the Senate up in knots like only he can, thereby stopping the Biden agenda.

2.  What Trump Asked Pence To Do

The Constitution calls for the electors in each state to sign & certify ballot lists that show the results of their state's election for president & vice president.  The ballot lists are to be transmitted sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate - which by definition is the sitting vice president - in the latest case Mike Pence.  

Students of the Constitution know that Mike Pence did not have the authority to return certified ballot lists from electors from any state - Pence's only function on January 6, 2021 was to open certified state election results & have them counted in the presence of Congress, with the two people with the greatest number of votes winning the presidency & vice presidency respectively.

Trump wanted Pence to not accept the certified ballot lists from electors from some states but rather to return the ballot lists of these states so they could recertify their ballot lists to indicate Trump won.  No state Secretary of State had asked for their state ballots to be returned & Pence declared Biden the winner. 

From a constitutional standpoint what Trump asked Pence to do is outrageous & unforgiveable to students of the Constitution, which should be all of us, - it violated his oath of office to "preserve, protect, & defend the Constitution of the United States" which is the bedrock foundation that all officers of each branch of government are equally bound to support.  What Trump asked Pence to do, above all other reasons, disqualifies Trump from being president again.

Stop & think, if the VP was authorized to reject or return votes to any state there would be a tremendous conflict of interest if the VP had just run as an incumbent & lost - like what happened in 2020.  After the 2000, 2008, & 2016 elections Gore, Cheney, & Biden respectively could easily have done what Trump wanted Pence to do & the chaos that would have resulted is unimaginable.

But project ahead to January 6, 2025 - would Trump want the person counting the votes to throw some out before announcing the winner.  That person will be the current President of the Senate - Vice President Kamala Harris.

3.  The Wall  

At one time Trump had no bigger supporter than Ann Coulter.  After he lost the 2020 presidential election Ann called Trump "abjectly stupid" for failing to build the southwest border wall.  Ann reasoned that you would expect an election loss from someone who failed to deliver on the principal promise of their campaign - building the wall.

Pouring salt into an open wound, Trump ended a 35-day partial government shutdown that ran from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 by agreeing to a temporary budget which did not include the $5.7 billion he had sought for the wall, which was the cause of the shutdown to begin with.  In negotiating terms Trump got nothing from the shutdown.  This prompted many conservatives to say Trump had been outmaneuvered by Pelosi & Schumer.  On February 15, 2019 Trump declared a national emergency that he used as his reason to take funds appropriated for other matters to work on the wall.

In any event, the wall was not finished by Trump, Mexico didn't pay for the part that was built, & the gaps are a source of the millions of people who have invaded America since Biden became president.  See photo below.  

4.  The Trade Deficit, Tariffs, & 401(k) Accounts

The U.S. trade deficit (negative balance of trade) for goods & services in current dollars under Trump increased from -$536.75 billion in 2017 to -$627.50 billion in 2020 - source World Bank - despite Trump campaigning to bring manufacturing home by imposing tariffs on foreign trade imports.  These tariffs were paid by Americans who unwittingly cheered them on.  After repeatedly saying Americans need him to be reelected to preserve the value of 401(k) accounts, the DJIA is up over 14% since the day Trump left office.  These points deserve a thorough airing out during the debate.

5.  Deficit Reduction & Economic Growth

Trump's plans upon taking office included the following deficit reduction points: 1) $250 billion for repealing & replacing ObamaCare, 2) $616 billion for reforming Medicaid & CHIP, 3) $272 billion for reforming welfare, 4) $143 billion for reforming Federal student loans, & 5) $72 billion for reforming disability programs.

ObamaCare is still in place & Trump presided over the largest deficit spending of $7.77 trillion in any four year presidency.  Why did Trump go along with Congress raising or suspending the debt ceiling three times under his administration with no demand for spending cuts?

On March 23, 2018, swearing he would never sign such a bill again, Trump signed a 2,232 page, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that kept the government open until September 30, 2018 - only to sign an even larger omnibus of $1.4 trillion in December, 2020.  In between, for the fiscal 2019 cycle Trump signed three separate spending packages centered around the previously mentioned 35-day partial government shutdown.

Regarding the March 2018 omnibus Trump had said "I say to Congress: I will never sign another bill like this again. I'm not going to do it again. Nobody read it. It's only hours old. Some people don't even know what is in — $1.3 trillion — it's the second-largest ever."  This turned out to be only so much bluster as Trump signed them all.

With regard to the 63% of federal spending that is considered mandatory, Social Security & Medicare comprise the two largest programs & both are headed for funding trouble in just a few years.  Trump has insisted that no changes to these programs are necessary & has ridiculed people like Ron DeSantis who advocates for changes.  A KFF Health Tracking poll in March, 2023 found that 80% of adults who were polled worry that Medicare won't be able to continue to provide @ least the same level of service of benefits in the future & that 73% say changes need to be made to the Medicare program to keep it sustainable for the future.  Do you agree with Trump?

Neither Trump nor BO had one year of 3% real economic growth during their years in office.

6.  Donor Money To Trump Opponents

Facing enormous legal bills Trump has attacked Republican donors who have given to his GOP primary opponents as RINOs, wolves in sheep's clothing, & traitors while using $21 million from political contributions from his Save America leadership PAC to pay his personal legal bills - source Reuters.  Trump's GOP primary opponents could ask, like the WSJ did, "why a man who has made a billion dollars since he left office can't pay his own lawyers, especially since the indictments have nothing to do with his campaign or legal responsibilities as president." 

7.  No Proof Of Stolen Election

State & federal judges, some appointed by Trump, dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought on Trump's behalf challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election - but instead of alleging "widespread fraud or election-changing conspiracy" Trump's legal teams focused on smaller complaints, which were largely dismissed by judges due to lack of evidence.  A typical remark was "The Republicans did not provide evidence to back up their assertions - just speculation, rumors, or hearsay."  Trump's two top lawyers Rudy Giuliani & Sidney Powell remain in serious legal trouble personally for their participation & Trump senior legal advisor Jenna Ellis, after being censured by a Colorado judge, signed a legal acknowledgement that “she made a number of public statements about the November 2020 presidential election that were false” & did so with a “reckless state of mind” & with “a selfish motive.”  Ellis admitted in state disciplinary proceedings that she made at least 10 false statements about the 2020 election as part of an effort to mislead the public, according to court documents. 

Trump's primary opponents could point out that there have never been specific examples of widespread fraud presented by Trump - just statements like "I won by a lot."  Give one concrete example of widespread fraud that would have changed the election result.  Why Did Trump lose all of these cases & why are his lawyers in such legal trouble themselves?  Why did Fox pay Dominion $787.5 million if their machines were rigged?

8.  Covid-19 & The Vaccine

In May, 2020 Trump ordered the drug companies to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in rapid fire order under Operation Warp Speed (OWS) - the goal was to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective, vaccine for Covid-19 by January, 2021.  A typical vaccine takes 5 to 10 years to develop.  The FDA approved the Covid-19 vaccines under emergency use authorization.  My doctor told me it was an experimental approval.

For Trump, who has no medical training, to tell the drug companies how fast to make a vaccine is like a CEO of a company, who has no engineering-construction experience, telling the contractor some arbitrary date regarding how fast to build a plant & put a manufacturing process into operation. 

Developing a vaccine or building a plant this way are both prone for costly mistakes.

Trump should be questioned on this.  Many very pro Trump supporters were adamantly against the vaccine & acted as if Trump had nothing to do with it.  How many vaccine shots did Trump receive himself?  Why did Trump never fire Fauci?

9.   Antifa & BLM Run Wild In Summer Of Love With No Response From Trump

Starting around June 11, 2020 Seattle was plagued by violent crimes like arson, assault, & a fatal shooting after the violent groups took over a portion of the city referred to as CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) or CHOP (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) - often combined as CHAZ-CHOP.  This zone included a police precinct that was abandoned - it was not recovered by the police until early July.  In the meantime many businesses in the zone were destroyed.  Violence spread across the country including damage to the 37 story Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan by BLM, & the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon by Antifa.  Paid insurance claims are estimated @ $1 billion to $2 billion.

During the 2020 Summer Of Love Trump acted like he had nothing to do with putting down the violence.  See Tweet below. 

But Trump didn't end the Seattle violence that went on for several more weeks.  I remember Trump saying that after the 2020 election he would clamp down on these violent groups & I wondered why he didn't do it then since he was already in a position as president to restrain violations of life, liberty, & property of American citizens under the Take Care clause of the Constitution that required Trump to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" - including immigration deportation laws against harboring illegal aliens in sanctuary cities & damaging federal buildings.

Trump saw the police were overmanned when they abandoned their precinct in Seattle & the mayors of Seattle, Portland, & NYC & others were over their heads.  Trump should not have farcically chosen to wait until after the 2020 election to bring in federal troops to quell the riots but rather should have acted decisively to focus on the true & most important task he had as president - which is to protect the rights of life, liberty, & property of American citizens by effective criminal law & prosecution of criminals who were destroying homes & businesses.

10.  Trump Promises To End Birthright Citizenship For Anchor Babies

On May 30, 2023 Trump released a video announcing that if he is elected president he will sign an executive order on "day one" that will end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.

Nothing better than Trump's above anchor baby claim exemplifies the statement @ the top of this post by Ron DeSantis about Trump "running in 2024 on the things that he promised to do in 2016 & didn't do."

It was Trump's anchor baby claim in 2016 that originally attracted me to his campaign.  During his four years in office he barely mentioned it again.