Trump Voters, Your Savior Is Betraying You Nic

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Trump Voters, Your Savior Is Betraying You

Nicholas Kristof FEB. 25, 2017

Dear Trump Voters,

You’ve been had. President Trump sold you a clunker. Now that he’s in the White House, he’s betraying you — and I’m writing in hopes that you’ll recognize that betrayal and hold him accountable.

Trump spoke to your genuine pain, to the fading of the American dream, and he won your votes. But will he deliver? Please watch his speeches carefully. You’ll notice that he promises outcomes, without explaining how they’ll be achieved. He’s a carnival huckster promising that America will thrive with his snake oil.

“We’re going to win, we’re going to win big, folks,” Trump declared Friday at the CPAC meeting, speaking of his foreign policy.

Great! Problem solved. Next? He then outlined his take on drug trafficking and what will surely be his outcome:

“No good. No good. Going to stop.” Wow! Why didn’t anyone else think of that?

Similarly, all looks rosy for tax outcomes: “We’re going to massively lower taxes on the middle class,” Trump said.

But that seems like a classic shell game. The Tax Policy Center estimated that Trump’s tax plan (to the extent that there is one) would hugely increase the federal debt and give middle-income households an average tax cut of $1,010, or 1.8 percent of after-tax income — while the top 1 percent would save $214,690, or 13.5 percent of after-tax income.

Trump made more than 280 campaign promises as a candidate, and a few — such as infrastructure spending to create jobs — would be sensible if done right.

But there still is no infrastructure plan, and The Washington Post Fact Checker is tracking 60 specific campaign promises and found only six cases so far of promises kept.

It’s still early, and Trump has nominated a smart conservative to the Supreme Court and followed his campaign line on issues like barring refugees.

But while you voted for Trump because you put faith in his gauzy pledges, I bet he will do no better with campaign promises than with marriage vows.

Health care will be one of the greatest betrayals. On Friday, he described his plan: “We’re going to make it much better, we’re going to make it less expensive.”

The greatest betrayal of all will come if, as some of his advisers recommend, he “reforms” and tears holes in some of the big safety net programs like Medicaid, Social Security or Medicare. Medicaid is particularly vulnerable.

Trump howls at the news media, not just because it embarrasses him, but because it provides an institutional check on his lies, incompetence and conflicts of interest. But we can take his vitriol: When the time comes, we will write Trump’s obituary, not the other way around.

Let’s not get distracted by his howls or tweets. What’s most important at this moment is not Trump’s theatrics, but the policies he is putting in place in areas like health care and immigration that will devastate the lives of ordinary Americans.

Trump’s career has often been built on scamming people who put their faith in him, as Trump University shows. Now he’s moved the scam to a much bigger stage, and he boasts of targeting Muslims, refugees and unauthorized immigrants.

Please don’t cheer, or acquiesce in these initial targets. The truth is that among the biggest losers from Trump policies will be you Trump voters, especially those of you from the working and middle class.

You were hoping you’d elected a savior, and instead Donald Trump is doing to you what he did to just about everyone who ever trusted him: He’s betraying you.

The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you can fight back and push for policies that will protect your health care and Social Security, defend the integrity of our election system and protect your own interests.

You have a false savior, and you will have to turn on him to save yourselves and our nation.

MEM
is a trusted commenter Los Angeles 3 hours ago

"When the time comes, we will write Trump’s obituary, not the other way around."

What will the obituary writers and then the historians say about the Trump presidency? Many already compare him to James Buchanan as possibly the worst president. I think Warren Harding may be a closer comparison.

Both followed internationalist presidents with an isolationist, America First world view. Both were concerned about lowering taxes on the wealthy and eliminating business regulations. Both had corrupt administrations. Both were unrestrained womanizers. Only Trump would like to Warren G. Harding as a role model!

Fine writing again, Nick, but truth to be told, the Trump supporters I know, some with PhDs believe it or not, are an angry, irrational crowd. They have no ability to piece together an argument either for or against Trump. One woman was interviewed briefly on CNN and her only supporting statement was that she hoped that Trump could do something. Correct, Nick, their savior is betraying them.

But Trump supporters want to be betrayed. They think that his actions somehow address an artificial argument that an "establishment" has failed middle America. To them, anyone who studies anything is suspect.

So for them, the vetted news media doesn't provide information about the world. They fall for Breitbart, Fox News and Trump himself. The more simple-minded that a view of a world of "elitists" who are out to get them is, the better.

You might not want to say this, but I will: Your letter to Trump voters is also a warning. If we run this nation on a set of neurotic lies that scorn its expertise then we're headed for failure in the world; China will surpass us with *their* expertise.

This is because our democracy relies on an intelligent electorate to vote for intelligent candidates. And it depends on ethical candidates who do not game those poorly educated voters who are in the electorate, even those with PhDs.

As Nick writes here, Trump is gaming you Trump voters. When he speaks, your eyes glaze over in an uncritical trance. You can do much better than that.

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