The Washington Post recently published two columns about black voters. one column “Harris seeks to reverse plummeting Black voter turnout in Wisconsin,” and the second column The message read, “President Obama reprimands black man for hesitating to support Harris.” In his column about Obama, the former president talks about how some black men feel uncomfortable voting for women and come up with excuses. Both of these columns could actually be about other groups and many men that Trump has despised over the years.
The first line of the column about Wisconsin was, “Like many voters here, Comer Carter has been inundated with political ads and campaign literature from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. But Herb Carter, 49, a supplement store owner, can’t shake the feeling that his vote doesn’t really matter, though he’s voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past, in 2016 and 2020. They did not vote in the election, part of a steep decline in black voter turnout in the state since 2012, when President Barack Obama was running for re-election.
So my question is, why did African American men vote Republican and then stop voting in 2016? Does he not know how Trump treats and talks about minorities, the poor, and even the middle class? I don’t think Carter is rich. They didn’t get the tax breaks that President Trump gave to his wealthy friends and big corporations. When President Trump secretly sent a precious test to his friend Vladimir Putin in Russia, he was likely suffering from the coronavirus and trying to find a test. Doesn’t he know that Trump opposes the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and is trying to prevent African Americans from voting? Doesn’t he know that President Trump was criticized in New York for refusing to rent apartments to African Americans? Trump is now a convicted felon and has been found responsible for sexual assault. What more does Mr. Kamal need to know about him to understand that he will be an unmitigated disaster for the country and for him?
My argument is not just about Kamal and the African American community. The same goes for anyone who is a member of a minority, a woman, or a member of the LGBTQ community. Since the day Trump descended the golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president in 2015, the only person he hasn’t campaigned for is himself. He saw running as a way to enhance his brand and make money. On his third try, he seeks even more revenge. He said he would be a dictator from day one. Please believe in him! He has no interest in helping people. Everything he has ever done and will do if elected again is to help his wealthy white friends. Therefore, if you are not one of them, you lose. And if you have a rich white friend who happens to be gay, you lose, too.
If you’re not happy with your current life, things will only get worse with Trump and his MAGA cult in power. What’s insane is that most of his cult also loses. He didn’t care about them except to trick them into buying a Bible he had never read that was printed in China. Or hats and other things he hawks. He encouraged them to invest in his social media platform, but they have now lost almost all the money they invested. He collects funds from them to pay his personal legal costs. He now says he will impose tariffs on all goods imported into the country, as if to help consumers. That won’t happen. This would increase the country’s per capita costs by about $4,000 per year. We end up paying higher prices for everything. Small business owners will be paying more for store inventory. Instead, think about what Harris wants to do. She plans to ask Congress to vote on a $6,000 child credit to support parents in the first year of their child’s life. She wants to give small businesses $50,000 in tax credits to help them get off the ground. President Trump wants to give more tax cuts to his friends, the wealthy and big corporations.
Women already know what President Trump did to them. he brags about it. He took away from them the right to control their own bodies and medical care. The LGBTQ community knows that Trump opposes the Equality Act. He’s fine with 37 states where you can get married on Sunday and be fired and kicked out of your house on Monday. And we don’t know what his far-right judges will do about marriage equality. The LGBTQ community may be the next place the Supreme Court fails.
And if you are a Palestinian or a supporter of freedom and security for the Palestinian people (as I am), you know that President Trump does not want an independent Palestinian state. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and his company is currently negotiating the construction of Trump hotels in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They may not like everything the Biden administration has done, but they support a free and independent Palestinian state. President Trump will make things even worse for the Palestinian people. If you’re a Latino, you’ve probably heard President Trump embroiled in slurs about immigrants. And President Trump is now going after a Haitian man from Ohio who is a legal immigrant. You could be next, or targeted in his promised mass deportation. He opposes giving any rights to “Dreamers.” If you’re a union member, remember you told Elon Musk that it would be great to fire everyone who strikes for better wages and working conditions. He has never done anything for the union or its members. And there are Jews who support Trump. Have you forgotten that he said about the neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville that “there are good people on both sides”? My grandparents were killed at Auschwitz by the Nazis, and my parents fled the Nazis. How can President Trump think there is anything good?
So why do some people continue to support this charlatan? The man who lost the election and tried to stage a coup. A man claims no one was injured in the coup attempt that left 140 police officers protecting the Capitol injured and some killed. When told that the vice president had threatened to hang him, one man responded, “So what?” This is the pig that some people will vote for. How sad for our country and for them.
I can only hope that when Kamala Harris wins, those who voted for Trump will take a moment to reconsider their priorities. To look at the storms and floods in Florida and North Carolina and understand that as a climate change denier, Trump will do nothing about them and will only watch the situation get worse. Because of him, the situation we see today will be even worse for our children and grandchildren.
We all owe ourselves and future generations far more than we owe Donald Trump.
Peter Rosenstein She is a longtime Democratic Party and LGBTQ rights activist.
This post first appeared in the Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
