What have you got to lose

“What have you got to lose? Vote Trump.” That is the question asked of African Americans by Donald Trump speaking before an all white audience.

Trump implied that all African Americans are impoverished inner-city dwellers who can be shot just walking down the street. It seems Trump believes that voting Democratic is cause for the condition in which African Americans find themselves. Actually many minorities do not live under the conditions described by Trump and African Americans vote Democratic for the same reasons all the rest of us vote Democratic.

We vote for Democrats because they have supported civil rights legislation for the past 50-60 years, while all that time the Republicans have fought against the causes championed by Martin Luther King. So, what have we got to lose. How about voting rights for many Americans, for one thing? A roll back of some of what we’ve gained in civil rights can be expected if Trump is elected.

For more than 60 years the United States, including every president since Dwight Eisenhower, and our allies have opposed nuclear proliferation. Hillary Clinton will continue this policy. Donald Trump

would have many other countries, including Saudi Arabia obtain the “bomb.” The possibility of a nuclear holocaust would be a real possibility. What have we got to lose? How about the planet we live on.

What have women got to lose if Trump is elected? They would lose the right to a safe abortion. They might even land in jail if they have an abortion. Equal pay for equal work would remain a goal. More women than men are paid the minimum wage. Donald Trump says Americans are overpaid. The Democrats want a $15 an hour minimum wage. That won’t happen if Trump is elected. Donald Trump says women are physically unfit to be president. Women can forget equality if Trump is elected. That’s what they have to lose.

Specifically black Americans will lose any hope of ending the discriminatory practices they encounter every day at the hands of some police officers. Black Americans will continue to be murdered by a few radical, racists’ police officers. Their lives won’t matter.

Trump says he can end the violence in the inner-cities by getting tough. “Getting tough” can mean a lot of things. Trump advocates the violation of international law by supporting torture of prisoners, and other war crimes, like pillaging. What has he in mind for the inner-cities? Trump thinks upholding the rights of black citizens is just political correctness. What will some inner-city residents lose if Trump is elected? Most likely their rights as citizens.

What have you got to lose if Trump is elected? Honesty by the president is what you’ll lose. Trump says one thing one day and another the next. Faced with a video of him demanding that the United States go into Libya, kill Muammar Gaddafi, and turn the government over to the Libyan people, he unbelievably denied he ever said that. Now he condemns President Obama and Hillary Clinton for doing exactly what he demanded they do. He told Howard Stern on the radio that he supported the war in Iraq, only later opposing it. Now he says he always opposed it. The man is a pathological liar.

Trump said on TV on Sept. 7, that during his briefing by the CIA they led him to believe that president Obama failed to do as they told him. This is patently false. Trump lied. How do we know? Because the CIA never tells the president what to do. Never. They don’t deal in policy. They provide all the facts, gained through intelligence, and present that to the president. What he /she might do with the information is strictly up to them.

Michele Bachmann says because Trump got the nomination it is what God wanted. Bachmann is strange. I guess, according to her doctrine, God must also be responsible for Obama and Clinton. She thinks if we don’t vote for Trump, we will be going against God’s will. Isn’t that a pickle?

Is it God’s will for you to vote for a man who calls our current generals “rubble.” Is it the will of God that you should vote for a man who asked frequently why haven’t we used the “bomb” before (Hiroshima must not count), and why shouldn’t we use it now?

I’ll have to disagree with Bachmann; praise the Lord. I think it’s most likely God’s will that we not vote for a man who regularly incites political violence, is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and thinks the ruthless barbarian, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a great fellow.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glen@phonewave.net.