Coming out of the Democratic Convention this week, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inspiring us with a different vision of America than what Trump has given us in the last four years, a different version of the American story.
They have also given their firm commitment to serving the best interests of all Americans, not just their base of support.
They are what our nation needs. We have endured all of Trump and Trumpism we can stand. But I want to go a step further and say something without hesitation or reservation that I believe with every fiber of my being.
Every vote for Donald Trump is a vote against America.
I am not saying this to Trumpers. I am saying it to all of us who are anti-Trumpers. We need as much motivation as we can muster for this election because we hold our fate in our own hands and it is up to us to save the nation.
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote against America. I know that may sound radical, judgmental, hyperbolic, hopelessly partisan, but I also know facts prove that it is none of these.
There is nothing radical or judgmental about saying Trump puts his own interests and needs before the country.
When asked about the well-documented extreme fringe group QAnon, he said this at a press briefing August 17: “I don’t know much about the movement. I understand they like me very much which I appreciate.”
Conservative Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse commented after what Trump said, “QAnon is nuts — and real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted about a statement QAnon put out: “Let’s be clear, complete BS. Whoever wrote this does not love our country, they seek to mislead and destroy it.”
No, there is nothing radical or judgmental about saying a vote for Trump is a vote against America.
Nor is it hyperbolic or partisan to say it.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” (Trump tweet, July 30, 2020)
A President saying the election will be fraudulent without a shred of evidence and then suggesting it be postponed is an assault on the democracy that belongs to all of us.
But it’s part of his larger, pernicious refusal ever to tell the truth.
In 2017 after Trump had been in office three months the Washington Post started the Fact-Checking Project because so many claims Donald Trump was making were proving not to be true. On July 9, 2020, the number of claims Trump had made that proved to be false reached 20,000.
One of his most persistent lies is about the economy he says was the greatest ever before the pandemic. It wasn’t.
Job growth under Trump has been less each year than during the last two years of Obama’s presidency. While unemployment continued to go down slowly before the virus, it was a trend that actually began in 2011 under Obama’s leadership. Trump had nothing to do with it. In short, the economy would have been where it was before the virus wrecked it, with or without Trump.(https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/politics/trump-v-obama-economy-fact-check/index.html).
Speaking of the coronavirus, Trump’s false claims have now become a matter of life and death, what with more than 170,000 lives already lost and Trump claiming he has done a great job. Only a conman can say something like that with a straight face.
When a president’s falsehoods reach the level Trump’s has, they have nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat. They are all about being honest and dishonest, and on that score, once again the facts show that a vote for Trump is a vote against America.
Exacerbating the situation we face is the fact that Trump is making money off of us.
He promised to donate his $400,000 salary as President which he has done, but before you say thank you to him, consider these figures.
Thus far Trump has made about $40 million from his golf club annual membership fees – between $200,000 and $300,000 depending on the club – from some 50 government contractors and 21 lobbyists who have joined since he was elected, and from his Washington Hotel that was on the verge of foreclosure but is now making millions off of foreign dignitaries and their governments that use it exclusively. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/11/fact-check-donald-trump-donates-salary-but-he-still-makes-money/5410134002/)
In addition, Trump is likely to make some $340 million from his golf outings and Republican Party meetings where he charges the highest rates to all his staff, secret service, and Republican leaders. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/07/10/trumps-golf-trips-could-cost-taxpayers-over-340-million/#6050caae28aa)
What these facts tell us is that Trump is the first president in history who openly exploits making money off being president.
So let me say it again. A vote for Trump is a vote against America.
But here’s the clincher – Trump’s authoritarian dream of wielding power without consequences.
He admires dictators. He wants to belong to the strong men’s club around the world. That is why he hates our democracy. Its balance of power between the three branches prevents him from running his administration the way he runs his company – all by himself.
Trump fancies himself a great man, great enough to have his face on Mount Rushmore, laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.
He believes he is smart, which proves he isn’t, but he doesn’t get that.
He believes only he can save America without realizing the only saving we need is from him.
Trump loves power because it makes him feel significant, noticed, and adored. He is counting on his “base” supporters and compliant, principled-less Republicans in Congress to make it possible for him to grow his power more and more.
What he doesn’t know, or refuses to know, is that we the people are not going to let that happen. We are not going to let Trump voters hand him our nation’s head on a silver platter.
Instead, we are going to hand them Trump’s head with a look of utter disbelief on it.
linnposts.com 
Jan, I thought the convention was good and that the big name speakers really delivered. Joe and Kamala both made powerful speeches, presenting an
upbeat, hopeful message. Meanwhile Trump is peaking in his demented, childish way at just the right time. He’s a danger to this country. Despite the obstacles by republicans, people have got to vote. I think they will.
I think they will, too. And now that Trump is saying God is talking to him, watch out.
VERY HOPEFUL after the masterful, creative, colorful convention. I could watch all 8 hrs again and again. YET, still so deeply disturbed by relatives/ Trumpers ( only 3) who I can not penetrate with dialogue. Good folks who simply are devoted to Trumpism. I have basically threaten that a vote for DT is the end our relationship. It feels just that serious and deeply sad.
Dixcy, sad as it is, it is that serious. I often wonder what Christians in German thought of their relatives who were part of the German Christian movement that supported Hitler. Trump is as bad for our country in his own way as Hitler was for Germany. Bear in mind that you cannot take out of a person’s mind with reason what reason didn’t put into in the first place.
It’s so interesting to read that Trump wants his likeness to be carved out of Mount Rushmore. It seems that with all people who value power as an end in itself, they have to have themselves depicted as larger-than-life figures, it seems, to compensate for their own personal inadequacies. So, for example, it was with Stalin’s granite memorial in Prague, which, when it was put up in 1955 was the largest of its kind in the Eastern bloc. It stood there, brooding over the city, for 7 years until it was blown up in 1962.
Even so, the Czechs must have a nicely pragmatic attitude to their fallen idols, for it’s said that Stalin’s left ear was hauled away by somebody who used it for a bird bath in his garden.
(Wouldn’t Trump’s nose in your garden be a ground breaking work of modern art?)
Nigel, you are giving us some great ideas, but my guess is there will be no statues of Trump when he is out of the WH, only pictures of him in an orange jumpsuit.
Jan, There is so much here to agree with, lament, and personally identify with.
Like Wil, I see Trump “peaking” in his danger to our nation! It will only get worse as the possibility of losing becomes more and more real to him!
Like Dixcy, I have family who will vote for Trump out of sheer ignorance of how evil he is. I cannot “reach them” on this, and they get angry if I try!
And like Nigel, I see the Mt. Rushmore fetish as perhaps the ultimate delusion of a mad man!
Thanks, Jan, for giving us a platform and a forum to express our concern over the very future of our democracy!!
Bill Blackwell
Bill, I only initiate and then the creative comments flow in, so thanks for a great summary that adds to what others said.
I thought the Democratic virtual convention was spectacular, good tempo, great speakers and positive plans to move the country forward. As for the idiot trump, he is a traitor, and I believe he and his sorry family should all be caged on the National Mall so those of us who choose to do so can walk by and spit on them, before they go off to jail
Not sure you’ll get your wish about the Mall, but I’m hoping you do about jail.
That the Republican Party would ALLOW Trump to run a 2nd time for the President of these United States is frightening! That Trump was their Presidential candidate ONCE is unforgivable. Are there no Republicans in power who are willing and able to try and save their party from this nightmare? Apparently not. I can’t stand the thought of there being a Presidential Museum for that disgraceful man but he’ll probably build one for himself. Election Day can’t come soon enough! …and I didn’t even mention Mitch McCon-man. 🙂
Thanks for all you do, Jan
Hi Laura. I couldn’t agree with you more. Not sure who is worse, Trump, McCon-man (I like that!), or Trump Republicans. All of them have betrayed this country. We are going to stop them in November!