Trust Donald Trump?
Donald Trump asks us to trust him all the time. Despite what he asks us to do-trust him, we shouldn’t be so naïve. He cannot be trusted in either word or deed.
His word is not his bond. Whether verbal and a hand shake, or a formal written agreement that he has signed, Trump does not feel bound by these spoken or written words. Ask the many contractors that built his New Jersey casino. They trusted him and, as a result, they suffered significant losses or endured bankruptcy as Trump reneged on their contracts.
In his statements to campaign rallies or to the press during an interview, he is not consistent about his statements, nor careful, nor precise. Everyday, his original words are retracted (I was joking), or the original statement is clarified (I didn’t mean that, what I meant was…), and often re-clarified at another time or worse, the first statement is repeated. How do we trust anything coming out of his mouth?
Trump tells us to trust him to support those of us in the middle class or the poor and make things better. Yet in his tax proposal, 99.9% of all the tax savings go to the 1% of the top earners, .1% goes to the middle class, and none goes to the poor. Worse, he provides himself with a huge tax saving with his rate going down from 39.6% to 15%. Talk about feathering his own nest! We can only trust that he will take care of himself.
Trump tells us to trust him but will not be transparent with us about his tax returns. All the other candidates and the Presidents of the United States since 1972 have provided copies of their tax returns to the public. Why is he so special? He says it is because his tax return is under appeal at the IRS. Baloney! Any tax advisor knows he can share his tax returns with us without jeopardizing his appeal at the IRS. He could also share the other 4 years of tax returns not under appeal. He just doesn’t want to. Lots of speculation is out there. Some indicate he doesn’t make that much money (embarrassing) or he makes a boat load of money (in the top .1%-not something he wants to share widely), or he has loans from foreign banks in Germany or Russia (perhaps this is why he plays up to Putin) or … We won’t know for sure what he is hiding until he releases the last 5 years of his tax returns. The sooner the better.
Trump tells us to trust him that he really wants to be President of the United States. Yet when Kasich was approached about being Vice President, Kasich was told his duties would be similar to the Presidents. Trump would be the cheer leader in chief, the entertainer in chief, the spokesman in chief…He wants to be a stand up comic not a standup guy who is the Commander in Chief
Trump tells us to trust him that he will be the best President ever. Yet he does not listen, he goes by his gut and ignores the facts, he does not read and study the issues before coming to a decision, he feels he knows more than anyone else, he is not humble, he is thin skinned and cannot take criticism and becomes obsessed with his critics (take Megan Kelly for instance-how long will he keep calling her out when all she did was ask him and everyone else some very tough questions a long time ago), he makes statements that alarm allies and excite our enemies (NATO and the Baltic States or pulling out of South Korea). He is going to be our best President? Really?
In essence, we cannot trust Donald Trump in anything except in that he will take care of himself and his fortune period.
Sam Allen
