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  • I’ve Got This. Well Not So Much.
    Updated On: Jul 204, 2016

    I’ve Got This. Well Not So Much.

    Trump

    Donald Trump will be coronated tonight as the Republican nominee for President. Americans will then be faced with trying to understand what a Trump presidency means for themselves, their loved ones, their jobs, their communities and their country.

    What will be obvious tonight and in the weeks ahead is that Trump wants voters to believe he has it all figured out. His message: I’ve got this – don’t worry about the details. I’ll fix things when I get to the Oval Office. Trade. Our relations around the world. The economy. Religious freedom. Education. The role of government. Our worn out infrastructure. Jobs. Security and terrorism. I’ve got this.

    I don’t know about you, but for just about every American, “I’ve got this” doesn’t cut it. It’s not how a presidential campaign works and it’s not how the world works, either. Whether you want to drive a bus, work in building maintenance, respond to fires, teach children or yes, be the President of the United States, you have to pursue the job, demonstrate your qualifications and then, hopefully, get hired. Of course that standard appears to apply to anyone but Donald Trump who wants us to believe he can be Commander-in-Chief because he says so.

    But his record and rhetoric tell us he’s not ready for the job.

    Yeah, yeah we know — he’s going to build the wall and Mexico will “pay for it.” We’ve got that. Clearly, Trump thinks the wall is more important than raising workers’ wages, solving our transportation and other infrastructure crisis, modernizing our schools and growing our shrinking middle class.

    We’ve sort of figured out by now that Trump isn’t exactly a champion of religious freedom. On that we are clear.

    Trump wants to cut taxes. But despite his rhetoric about being a champion for working people, the biggest tax cut in his plan rewards millionaires and billionaires like himself.

    While talking a good game about the need to help working people, a centerpiece of Trump’s plan (yes, Mr. Trump I read your platform) is to eviscerate the rights of American workers to form and join unions. Endorsing national Right-to-Work legislation is hardly a great way to introduce yourself to working people.

    Memo to Trump: since we know that the most reliable path to securing middle-class wages is union representation, your plan to “grow” the economy smacks of addition by subtraction. Oh, and Trump’s treatment of his own hotel employees should hardly endear anyone who works for a living to him.

    It is nice that Trump complains about our aging transportation system. But where’s the plan? Secretary Clinton has a plan — a damn good one — that would finally try to reverse this era of neglect that is undermining our competitiveness and idling millions of good jobs. I checked Trump’s website and the word “transportation” doesn’t appear anywhere. And the platform? Not so good – it would destroy mass transit, virtually wipe out Amtrak and kill maritime jobs. Add in the record of Trump’s running mate and sadly, the inconceivable would happen: our severe transportation problems would get even worse. Trump won’t solve our transportation crisis by occasionally complaining about it — a serious plan and billions of dollars are needed to get our transportation infrastructure where it needs to be.

    I’ll bet the words “make,” “America” and “great” will appear a few dozen times in Trump’s speech tonight. Hot rhetoric and an endless stream of ugly attacks on Secretary Clinton will not put a single person to work or solve a transportation infrastructure crisis that is sapping our economy of its strength and resiliency.

    Tonight may be Donald Trump’s night, but what Trump will never understand is that focusing on building walls and alienating or insulting anyone he doesn’t agree with are unbecoming of a major party candidate auditioning for the presidency of the United States.

    The more our members learn in the weeks ahead, the less they’ll like.


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