Why I Voted For Trump

The California primary election is June 6.  I've already submitted my ballot and registered my vote.  Usually, the California primary doesn't really matter because it's so late in the process and because it's winner take all, I don't feel like my vote counts for much, but at least I cast my vote.  It's one thing in the primary that my vote doesn't count, but in the general election, my vote won't count either, which is maddening.  It's so frustrating that for Electoral College purposes it is winner take all.  California has become a reliably Democrat state so for the other side (me) it's just an exercise in casting a ballot and at least registering my choice.  But it's maddening.  As an aside, it's important that people start looking at the Electoral College map.  The popular vote is one thing, but the Electoral College vote is the thing that determines the election.  So keep your eye on reports about that.

To my surprise, I voted for Trump.  I had to hold my nose a bit, but I did it.  If you've been reading at all you know that early on I was for Kasich, then Rubio, and then back to Kasich.  It's been quite a roller-coaster ride starting with 17 candidates.  I don't think there was any doubt that it would get down to a few choices and several of the candidates seemed to be good people with good records and good ideas, but that's just too many candidates to last to the end. And it was great that there were a lot of debates, a lot of back and forth, and a lot of analysis.  Of course, as primaries usually go, there was also a lot of dirt and a lot of things said to gain an advantage.  At the end of the day, it came down to Cruz and Trump.  Kasich stayed in longer than he should have and he was really never a viable candidate after Ohio.  I'm glad that Trump wound up as the presumptive nominee because I could have never voted for Cruz.  Never.  He's a snake-oil salesman and my number one hope is that he fades from the national scene.  Probably won't happen, but one can hope.

So why did I vote for Trump?  I continue to think he has been too shallow in his policy statements and worry that he will act in a rash manner.  But, at the end of the day...he's not Hillary.  I worry about some of his statements that seem rash or ill-conceived.  I worry that he will go off half-cocked and get us into trouble on the international stage.  But at the same time, he didn't get to be a billionaire by being stupid.  He has a reputation for surrounding himself with smart people.  And I fundamentally agree with his stance on many things including immigration and trade.  It will be interesting to see how it unfolds over the next several months.  I think he has to be aggressive because the Clinton/Obama machine is going to come after him with both barrels.  We've already seen it start.

As for Hillary, here are a few things (and there are many others) that, in my mind, disqualify her for the Presidency:

• Hillary is a criminal.  The whole email dustup is bad but it's getting swept under the rug.  But anyone who has handled classified material will know that she committed serious crimes by having SAP material on an unclassified server.  Having the private server was bad enough, but the classified material thing is, quite simply, a felony.  If I or anyone I know who was in a position of responsibility in the military, we would be facing court martial and potentially jail time.  No doubt about it.  So I think this crime disqualifies her for the Presidency.
• Hillary is a liar.  You can go all the way back to the time she burst onto the national scene with Bubba and find incident after incident of her lying to the American people.  And along with the lying, comes the fact that she is an opportunist.  She will say and do anything if it's to her advantage.  Which brings me to the third reason.
• Hillary is disingenuous.  And I think this fact will really put her at a disadvantage with the Democrat base, which seems to have shifted way to the left.  That she would be the candidate to take more from Wall Street than any other, and then trot out to campaign events and excoriate Wall Street is disgusting.  When she starts running a national campaign, we will see her shift back to the middle.  And the left should be pissed about that.
• Hillary is incompetent.  If you look at her record of accomplishment as a Senator from New York, there is not much there.  Oh, many said she was affable, but she was an empty suit.  She was definitely one of the worst Secretary's of State in history.  Remember the reset with Putin?  She had no idea what she was doing.  I've commented many times on the lack of a National Security Strategy.  Hillary had a hand in that vacuum.  And she did nothing.  And then there is a Libya.  That was a disaster from the beginning.  And she was the architect.  We've all heard everything we need to know about Benghazi.  She was responsible for the deaths of Americans, did nothing to help them, and then lied about it.  
• Hillary is limited in her thinking.  She's against the Keystone pipeline.  She's against fracking.  She's anti-coal.  She's against the Pacific Free Trade Agreement.  Now, I don't think all those things are a panacea, but rather than being against everything, we need people who will look at activities or efforts to help the country and figure out how to make them work, not just say no.   We need people who recognize that through innovation, we can solve all kinds of problems and create all kinds of opportunities.  We need someone who will surround themselves with smart people who recognize that one of our greatest strengths is our ability to use technology and innovation to achieve success.  I suspect that Hillary largely responds to interest groups and she responds with her finger in the wind.  
• Hillary was an enabler.  We all know about Bubba and his shenanigans.  She was his chief enabler.  She also went after the women he dallied with.  Not the great feminist she purports to be.
• Hillary will be more of Obama.  She will continue policies, both domestically and internationally, that have been disastrous.  She will continue programs that will increase the debt and make us less secure.  Simple as that.
• Hillary's Supreme Court appointments will be scary.  And this is probably the most important reason to not allow her in the Oval Office.  Even with the temporary insanity of those supporting the Socialist Sanders, I like to think that most of the country are pretty moderate.  I would worry that her appointments would be very liberal and make decisions that could impact our society for generations.  We can't let that happen.

And here's the final thing that led me to cast my primary vote for Trump...the media.  I'm a big 1st Amendment guy.  I strongly believe in freedom of the press.  It is a fundamental right.  And my recent trip to China reinforced the need for that right.  But it seems like our press has really veered off the independent path.  It is really, really difficult to find non-partisan reporting these days.  Whether it's right or left...it's all the same.  Biased.  Maybe because of my natural leanings, I believe the left-leaning mainstream media has skewed the story dramatically.  And their level of political correctness is nauseating.  So every time I see some sensational story in the headlines I look at it with skepticism.  And given her history, I usually don't think it's too much of a stretch to believe what they say.  And it's usually proven to be right.  But with Trump, I don't really care.  Everyone knows he hasn't led the life of a monk.  So what.  He's never denied it.

And the thing is I think most folks are like me.  I think most folks just want someone who will just try and get things done.  Someone who will bring us together and do what's best for all of us.  Someone who maybe hasn't led a perfect life, but has a plan to "make America great again".  Don't know if he can do it, but I think he's got a better chance than Hillary.  Because here's really the final thing.  When Obama won in 2008, I didn't know much about him but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I decided that he wasn't my guy, but he was my President, and I'd back him.  But he quickly left me and others like me behind.  He quickly moved to divide the country.  And with Hillary, I know all about her.  She's not my candidate and won't be my President and if she wins will not have my support.