Sometimes it helps to make lists of pros and cons when you have a tough decision to make. So if you're an Independent or moderate Republican who is still undecided about whether to vote for Trump or not, here's are two checklists that can help you to sort things out. Sometimes it's good to make a list to get a feel for the big picture.
First the 'pros', the reasons to vote for Trump. Put a check next to the statements that resonate with you.
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He's not the typical, boring GOP or Dem politician. He's bigger than life and he's often quite entertaining and funny.
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I like that he's so outrageously anti-establishment in everything he says and does.
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He's a winner. He always seems to comes out on top. I know that his own people, Bill Barr and Chris Krebs, say he lost the election in ‘20. I also know over sixty challenges to the legitimacy of the election failed in court, but, sorry, that makes no sense to me. It makes more sense that the election was rigged by the Deep State because it hates him.
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Trump is rich, but he understands the ordinary, working person. He speaks my language.
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I think he's a strong, virile man who will keep me safe. Democrats are wimps.
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I don't consider myself a racist, but I feel that ordinary white people like me are not getting a fair shake, and that Trump has my back.
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I love how he breaks all the rules and gets away with it. I like the way he shakes things up.
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I don't want to see him go to jail.
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I like that he makes me feel ok about my having politically incorrect opinions and attitudes.
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I love the way he freaks out smug, annoying, know-it-all Libs.
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All my friends and family are voting for him, and I don't want to disappoint them.
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I always root for my homies on the Red Team no matter how awful they might be this season.
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I'm really, really rich, and he'll keep my taxes low.
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I know that Trump is a morally degenerate crackpot, but I hope that once he’s elected J D Vance will be the shadow president who will implement Project 2025 and support the appointment to the supreme court justices that will enforce it so that we can restore moral order to Godless America. The country needs to be saved from itself, and moral order is more important to me than democratic process.
Now do the same with the 'cons'. Put a check next to the statements below about why not to vote for Trump that may resonate with you:
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It bothers me that he was the first president in history who attempted to subvert the peaceful transfer of power on January 6, 2021. It bothers me that he knowingly lied to his supporters that the election had been stolen from him. It bothers me that he sought to overturn the results of the election in GA by pressuring its secretary of state to "find" 11,780 votes somewhere.
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It bothers me that he tells people to do illegal things but not to worry because he'll pardon them.
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It bothers me that he told his chief of staff, former Marine Corp General, and gold-star parent, John Kelly that those who serve in the military are suckers and losers. He thinks that his giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a billionaire donor from Las Vegas is better than the Medal of Honor given to heroes in the military.
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It bothers me that he is a national security threat because he feels that he doesn't have to follow norms, procedures, or well established precedent. He's the president–so why should such things constrain him? He shared secret docs about Israel with the Russians. He shared secret docs about Iran with random visitors at Bedminster. He left boxes of secret documents in easily accessible places all around Mara Lago. And that's just what we know about. He makes it impossible for our allies to trust him with their secret information.
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It bothers me that he trusts Vladimir Putin more than he does his own intelligence people, and it bothers me that Trump doesn't really care about NATO, or that his running mate doesn't care about who wins in Ukraine.
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It bothers me that he has been condemned as unfit by many people who served in his administration.
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I bothers me that Uber-Republican Dick Cheney thinks Trump is unfit, and that he should never be trusted with power again.
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It bothers me that he's so easy to manipulate. Foreign leaders and his aides know that if you flatter him, he'll do anything you want.
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It bothers me that he is pathological liar whose word is worth nothing, that he will say anything that he thinks his audience wants him to hear. One day he's against abortion, the next day he's not.
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It bothers me that he's not someone you can negotiate with in good faith because he will change his mind on a whim and blow up deals you thought were settled.
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It bothers me that he surrounds himself with sycophants and yes men who only tell him what he wants to hear. It bothers me that he fires the people who tell him the truth.
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It bothers me that he doesn't really care about policy or solving problems. He made it clear he doesn't really care about the border except as is is useful as a political club to hit his opponents. It bothers me that he put the keebosh on a strong, bipartisan conservtive-friendly border deal because he didn't want Biden to get credit for it.
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It bothers me that he admires autocrats more than he admires elected heads of state, and there's good reason to believe that should he be elected again he will never leave regardless of the results of future elections.
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It bothers me that Trump promised to drain the swamp, but he's just made it swampier:
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He has used his office for personal enrichment of himself and his family. (See also.)
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His company has been found guilty of years of fraud in his taxes and real estate business, and he must pay nearly a half billion in penalties.
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Many people associated with Trump or his administration are convicted felons, Steve Bannon (twice), Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Peter Navarro, Allen Weisselberg, and Michael Cohen. Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI but got pardoned by Trump. Many more are under indictment, Several have taken plea deals, and there will be many more to come if Trump loses the election.
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It bothers me that he will have at least four or more years to appoint supreme court justices who seem committed to an autocratic vision of the president as a unitary executive.
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It bothers me that white nationalists and extremist fascist militias see Trump as their ally.
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It bothers me that he will use the Justice Department and IRS to retaliate against his political enemies. He's already done it with James Comey and Andy McCabe, with Pete Strzok and Lisa Page, and Michael Cohen.
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It bothers me that the Supreme Court's immunity decision has removed any guardrails that will impede him from retaliatory acts once he is again in position to use the official powers of presidency.
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It bothers me that he uses social media and his personal appearances to spread any unproven crackpot story that he thinks helps him politically.
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While I think of myself as a principled conservative, it bothers me that the Republican Party has become an unprincipled personality cult full of spineless sycophants like Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, and Ted Cruz; with performance artists like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Kari Lake; with religious zealots like the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, Mark Robinson in NC, Doug Mastriano in PA, with crackpots like Paul Gosar, and ignoramuses like Tommy Tuberville. I've got serious problems with the Democrats, but the GOP has become a national embarrassment.
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It bothers me that when I listen to Trump speak, his answers are an incoherent word salad that make no sense.
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I want the GOP to be normal and Reagan-ish again, and the fastest way to make that happen is to push Trump off the political stage once and for all. McConnell and other relatively sane Republicans in the Senate had their chance in the second impeachment, and they blew it. So now it’s up to voters like me.
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I used to think Trump was entertaining, and I thought he would shake things up for the better, but now his act is tired, repetitive, and boring, and we need to turn the page.
Hope you found this exercise helpful! Share with your undecided friends and relatives, and remember to get out there and vote! …Or don't…. I don't know…. I can't decide.
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