Better Trump Than Dreary Establishment Clinton

The choice for president of the United States is easy for a Man of the Left: Bernie Sanders.
Sanders won most of the Democratic primaries but his opponent, Hillary Clinton, reaped the majority of delegates to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia this month.

Clinton had a lock on the superdelegates, those numerous Establishment figures who cling to the past rather than look to the future.

Sanders, a socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, made a valiant effort but could not wrest the nomination from Clinton, former secretary of state. This is sad because Sanders is a progressive and Clinton a promises the same-old dreary presidency.

Sanders demanded universal health care, a single-payer plan for everyone. He urged free college education. As Michelle Obama chants: “to rise in society go to college.”

Sanders made a powerful case to be the next president.

Clinton brings nothing new to the stagnant presidency. Donald Trump will. He is a successful businessman, a real estate tycoon who made a billion dollars. Remember, too, Congress can rein in Trump as it does every president.

The country absolutely needs a woman president–but not Clinton.

My voting for Trump will astonish those who know my leftist politics. I have never voted for a Republican since I began voting as long ago as 1956. But Americans are weary of choosing “the lesser of two evils.”

Trump, who will be nominated at the GOP convention in Cleveland this month, promises real change. He’ll bring excitement to the White House. Clinton promises the politics of yesteryear.

ENDLESS TALES OF TRUMP
Several positions of Trump are indefensible: proposed restrictions on Muslims entering America, not allowing illegal immigrants from Latin America to stay in this country and elimination of Affordable Care.

Muslims are not the problem, but some Muslims are. Namely, the Taliban. Its followers kill, terrorize civilians and destroy historic sites. Immigrants take jobs Americans won’t: low-paying with long and irregular hours. Obamacare insures many citizens who wouldn’t be covered otherwise.

Trump University is a fraud, hiring unqualified instructors and exploiting students paying $35,000 to enroll in a real estate class.

Ah, the endless tales of Trump. But some of his proposals are superb.

Violating GOP orthodoxy, Trump would raise taxes on billionaires like himself. He cites the fact that corporations get away with tax murder. He deplores outsourcing. He would make Ford “pay a price” for shifting its production abroad.

No presidential candidate has ever hauled so much baggage as Trump. Yet Clinton, too, carries a great deal of baggage.

Clinton is beholden to corporate power, serving on the corporate board of Walmart.

Women at Walmart are paid less than men. They advance to management positions at lower rates than men even though their performance reviews are higher. Clinton did not combat this sexism on the board. She never objected to Walmart’s anti-unionism while women make up the majority of workers. This is inequality demanding an outraged cry.

Clinton rakes in $200,00 for some speaking engagements. She earned $11 million in 2014 for speeches to banks and industries. She took in $675,000 for speeches for Goldman-Sachs.

CLINTON’S HAWKISH RECORD
She is an unabashed hawk. She supported the invasion of Iraq, the long occupation and counter-insurgency in that country.

As secretary of state Clinton backed escalation of the Afghanistan War, pressed President Obama to arm Syrian rebels and endorsed airstrikes against the ruling Syrian regime. She supported intervention in Libya with drone strikes.

As Democratic U.S senator from New York her record was doubly hawkish. She was the only Democratic senator who made false claims that Saddam Hussein gave sanctuary to Al-Qaeda.

Clinton opposes single-payer health care that Canada and most European nations are blessed with. While serving as secretary of state she used her family’s private email server for official emails rather than use proper State Department channels.

She destroyed 32,000 of those emails she deemed private, a clear violation of State Department rules and federal law. She destroyed them with the incredible declaration that the emails were personal and not work-related.

The State Department’s independent watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General, issued a devastating report on Clinton’s email management: “practically everything Clinton has said about her use of a private server is false.”

Still another Clinton gambit while secretary of state that should bar her from being president: she made weapons transfers to the Saudis a top priority while the Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the weapons manufacturer Boeing.

Clinton will use political influence, money and connections to become the first woman president. Her record makes plain she does not deserve it.

Jake Highton is an emeritus journalism professor from the University of Nevada, Reno. (jake@unr.edu)