People have asked why I would vote for Donald Trump, because I’ve been quite clear that I’m not a fan of his personality – I don’t like his tweeting and I certainly don’t like his tendency to call people names. I know I’m not alone, so I’d like to mention some reasons why I’m voting for him anyway. As I wrote up my reasons, I realized that the post became so long that I need to break it up a bit. It’s in three sections, each with a different topic, but apologies up front, because it’s a much longer email than I normally write (scary, right?!). You are free to use this information in any way you see fit to encourage others to vote for Donald Trump for President. The forward button is easy…
Regulatory reform – One month after taking office, President Trump wrote an executive order that required agencies to roll back the heavy regulatory burden on companies. The rule was that for every regulation enacted, the agency had to do away with others. The goal was 2:1, but they were able to sometimes remove as many as 8 regulation for every one that was enacted. No President before had cared enough about the burdens placed on everyday people. President Trump did.
I know someone who worked with agencies to do this, and I asked him for some specific examples. Here they are in his own words (Thank you, Apollo!):
1. Getting permits to harvest burned-out forests. I was told (by just about everyone) that it took between 27-40 months to get a permit to harvest burned out trees from a forest fire…with every day lost, the less usable timber in the land. Just getting the USDA to follow its own regulations, getting a modification to SEPA, changing time limit requirements/etc has made a difference. I have been told that these permits now take 12-15 months (still far too long, but headed in the right direction.) The most important part of that process is that the on-the-ground folks who wanted the process better did it-they brought forward ideas. This had not happened with the federal government before. The president’s 2:1 (which is more like 8:1) in regulations where the new regulation has to be offset by a cost modification in existing regulations so that there is no net increase in cost/burdens to the public. Promise made, promise kept.
2. Hand Sanitizer – it was illegal for distilleries to make hand sanitizer and alcohol-based cleaners. They could use the alcohol to clean the distillery but not to clean a restaurant or even a bathroom in a restaurant at the distillery. That has been changed.
3. Pecan Farms – Instead of filing how many pecans leave a farm every 5 days, the farmers have to do it every 10 days (I wish it were monthly…but I’ll take it). No big deal? That saved about 18,000 hours annually.
4. Previously, if an agency increased burdens or costs to the business, it just did it. “We need you to fill out this form that ‘only’ will take 30 minutes (2 hours)”… But because of President Trump’s direction, if they add this “30 minute” form, they need to find another form (or some similar cost savings) and cut it.
5. Hundreds and hundreds of things. Little things like this all over the country that have saved businesses millions of hours and the revenue that goes along with paying the personnel to fulfill the requirements.
6. If you want to learn more, here are the regulations that were identified and waived to get the resources we needed during COVID – https://bit.ly/3lXzcil
Here is the second reason I will vote for Donald Trump, although I really don’t care for his personality. Even if you will be voting for Biden, please read this. It’s something everyone needs to be aware of, regardless of who wins.
I want Donald Trump to win, because the media today has become more and more biased and manipulative, and I want them to understand that we, the people, will not stand for it.
The mainstream media and Big Tech have shown themselves to be so supportive of the Democrat Party that people should think twice about putting someone in power that would give them even more ability to create their own version of a progressive society. Here are some examples of where I see the manipulation of the media:
1.Media and Big Tech information manipulation – Just a few days ago, the New York Post did a story on some emails from Hunter Biden. But Twitter and Facebook both banned the link to the story from their platforms and actually took down accounts that tried to tweet out the link. The House GOP then put the story on their website and provided a link, so people could read it. Twitter banned that, as well. You couldn’t post a link to the website of an organization that is made up of members of Congress. Think about that.
This comes after 3 years of pushing Russian Collusion based on a fake dossier. In fact, the campaign of Hillary Clinton was involved in the creation of that false information, along with a complicit FBI. The questionable source wasn’t banned from media but was spread to the furthest corners of the earth. Too often, information is presented in a way that is beneficial to Democrats and harmful to Republicans.
This is not meant to be a judgement on whether the emails are authentic or what they mean – I don’t know. The point I’m making is that big tech made very different decisions about disseminating information based on the politics of the person.
This is also not about the 1st Amendment. Twitter is a private company and can do what it wants. But you need to be aware that they have become the campaign arm of the Democrat Party – not a source of impartial news.
2. The media and Big Tech have changed definitions of words to specifically advance their agenda. Here are a few examples.
A few days ago, Amy Coney Barrett used the term “sexual preference” in her statements. She was blasted for it – the claim is that it’s a term that is offensive to the LGBTQ community. Webster online actually went in and changed their definition of “preference”. Before, it talked about what “sexual preference” was. Overnight, the term was redefined to say that it was offensive.
Another example is the media’s campaign to change the term “court packing.” It was a term that was coined back when FDR tried to add Justices to the Supreme Court. It didn’t work – court packing was rejected as dangerous to our whole structure of government. But now, media has gone on a campaign to change the meaning of that word. Every pundit out there is saying that filling an empty seat on the court is a type of “court packing.” They are setting the country up to be OK with adding justices, if the Democrats are elected. They will say – “Well, the Republicans packed the court with the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, so we should do it too!”
A term related to the court that they are also trying to redefine is the word “originalist.” When I first saw the remarks based on the new definition, I just assumed the person was ignorant of what it means. But after seeing it repeated over and over, I realized that it was a talking point, and the media is happy to pass on the new definition.
The definition of “riot” has also changed. Did you know that the AP (news outlet) changed the definition of the word “riot” so they could avoid using that word when discussing what was happening in Seattle and Portland? They now use the term “unrest” when the “political cause” is something that requires sensitivity.
Beyond whether you vote for Donald Trump or not, please be aware that when you read headlines, you are being manipulated. Most media outlets choose to only print particular stories and ignore others. All media outlets do it, but some are far worse than others. For instance, the Seattle Times regularly has headlines about Donald Trump “flubbing” some piece of data or a concept – there was an article just yesterday morning. But they do not discuss the multiple “flubs” of Joe Biden. It’s not that they print something untruthful in that case – they are just filling your head with the negative about Trump while ignoring the same of Biden. Please read from many sources. Listen to entire speeches and read entire articles instead of relying on soundbites and headlines. You are being manipulated and you often don’t even know it.
This is the third reason I will be voting for Donald Trump, even as I have issues with his personality and style. First, let me say that I keep hearing that Biden is a more moral choice than Trump. If you have been reading the news at all over the past 3 years, you know that isn’t true. And while it makes me sad to see someone losing their mental abilities as they age, it is painfully obvious that Biden has become mentally unable to handle the job. It’s sad, but it should really give pause to anyone who thinks he might be a better choice. However, with that being said, I would rather focus on the positive’s about Trump and why I’m voting for him. I’m going to talk next about National Security and Defense.
1. The Middle East: As a people, we have very short memories about some thing, but if you look at the news 6 years ago, you will see headline after headline about something called the ISIS Caliphate. You will also read about the Iran Nuclear Deal where the Obama/Biden Administration sent pallets of cash to Iran – cash that would be used for terrorist activities.
Now, you will see there is no ISIS Caliphate left. Iran is still a terrorist country, but they have been severely marginalized. Over the past few years, the Trump Administration has also brokered a series of peace deals that would have been shouted from the mountain tops, if we had the more honest media of my earlier years. These deals are really ground-breaking. Israel has a new relationship with the UAE and Bahrain. The Trump Administration also brokered a peace agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. These three peace deals were historic. The last time something like this happened, the newspapers talked about it incessantly for weeks. The peace accords were praised to the heavens. But these three were a headline for maybe one day and then buried. The press didn’t want you to know about them.
One thing I will point out about all three of the peace accords is how different they were from those in the past. Previously, the US and governments around the world tried to bring countries together by discussing borders and who would have what power – they were alliances based on politics. The Trump Administration did something different in all three of these. He tied these countries economically instead of politically. They have economic ties now that are honestly more powerful than political ones. You aren’t going to bomb the other guy when you have your bank and your manufacturing companies there. I don’t like President Trump’s personality, but it is probably just that “developer” type personality that allowed him to think outside the box and think about the deals in that way. So maybe I do like his personality, after all! Regardless, he has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for these peace agreements, and he deserves every one of those nominations.
2. China: When President Trump came to office, people often took him to task for his friendly approach to President Xi of China. But again, I think that’s a huge part of his deal-making personality. Try to make a deal with friendship, but use a hammer when necessary, because use a hammer, he did. We’ve gotten a lot of manufacturing jobs back in the state, and while I’m not a fan of tariffs at all, they seem to have worked to some degree. But when China cracked down on freedom in Hong Kong and allowed COVID-19 (the Wuhan Virus) to be wide-spread, the gloves came off.
Most of the world can now see many of the goals that China has are not goals that are good for the rest of the world. They are focusing all of their energy on expanding their control. They’ve built false islands in the sea and then claimed that area to be theirs instead of international waters. They are building war ships by the dozens, enhancing their military prowess, and they are making plans to expand their power into space. As we found out during this recent COVID crisis, they control much of our emergency resources (which, by the way, the Trump Administration brought back to the US in a big way), and they definitely control the production of many of the resources required for the technology we so love. Do you like your phone and your electric car? China controls the mining and manufacturing around rare earth minerals that are needed for those items.
3. The military – President Trump is obviously the right choice for the military. He is bringing home our troops while re-investing in our military readiness and has taken the approach that we will not be spread out to defend the world, but we will be absolutely ready, if need be.
This change comes after the military was seriously gutted during the Obama/Biden Administration. Our troops didn’t even have the necessary equipment to do their jobs. That has changed. The VA was a mess. I think it still has far to go, but many of the changes made have improved the lives of our Veterans, as well.
I could write much more, but I will stop here. I would just encourage everyone to read past headlines and look past the hyperbole and personality. We have accomplished some incredible things over the past 4 years. I know the press would like you to not know about them, but they are real. If people were honest and looked at where we were in the last year of the Obama Administration compared to where we are today, we are in a much better place in most ways.
Yes we have problems – including riots in the streets and fallout from COVID, but many of those problems lay at the feet of local governments, not the federal government. Riots, race relations, and COVID will not go away, no matter who is elected. There will still be serious issues we need to face, but I am going to be casting my vote for Donald Trump for President, and I hope you will too. Whatever happens, we need to become better educated about all these issues and face them together.
