Why I Cannot Support Donald Trump at Present

I previously wrote why I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton for President.  When I did so, I mentioned two key attributes that are important to me.  They are character and competence.  Those two attributes trump (please forgive the use of the word “trump” in this sentence) the next important motivation for voting for a candidate.  That motivation deals with alignment of a candidate’s platform with what I would like to see a president do while in office.

Let me begin with character.  I’ll end there, too.

When speaking of Hillary Clinton I described her demeanor behind the scenes and how different it is when she is in front of a camera or a crowd.  I do not have the benefit of first-hand, personal observation of Mr. Trump.  What I’ve seen on public display, however, provides me with enough information to draw some conclusions.

First of all, his public use of profanity is not even close to that of Clinton’s private language.  That does not excuse his language.  His public use of profanity tells me that he is insensitive to others.  It is not the kind of language I would expect from a national leader let alone someone who is going to be on the world stage and a leader of the free world.  While I want a president who is a straight shooter, I believe it is important that presidential language should reflect the values of the represented society.  Though it seems profanity is the norm these days, I don’t think our republic wants a president who depends upon shock value to get what s/he wants.  In fact, I think the leaders of most other countries will find it offensive.  Well, maybe the president of the Philippines might not find it offensive.

I believe he is a narcissistic personality.  While he says that he wants to make America great again, that is exactly the problem.  HE wants to make America great again.  Whether or not you believe that America is no longer great is not the issue (personally I believe we’ve lost our greatness but I don’t see anybody else stepping up to the plate).  It is all about him and what he will do as President.  Don’t get me wrong, every presidential candidate stumps on what he or she will do as President, but his campaign is too much about him.

His marital infidelity speaks volumes.  First there was the affair with Marla Maples while married to his first wife.  Then, to quote Mr. Trump in his book The Art of the Comeback: “If I told the real stories of my experiences with women, often seemingly very happily married and important women, this book would be a guaranteed best-seller” (http://www.nationalreview.com/ corner/430381/donald-trump-ben-sasse-twitter-question-marital-infidelity).

On the plus side, Trump appears to be very social and ambitious, attributes that should make for a good president.  He also appears to be purpose driven.  However, I believe he is a bit roguish – no, a lot roguish.  He downplays past mistakes with a shrug of the shoulders.  His past business dealings may have been completely legal, e.g., bankruptcy (at least four), but I wonder about his multiple use of bankruptcy laws.  Just because something is legal doesn’t make it right.  Perhaps a single bankruptcy can be excused, but multiple claims wave a red flag in the face of character in  my humble opinion.

Along with being roguish, I think he is a thrill-seeker.  There is nothing wrong with being a thrill-seeker.  There is social science research that points to this particular common attribute among police officers and criminals.  I note that one of those two groups keeps its thrill-seeking within the bounds of the law in the vast majority of occasions.  In Mr. Trump’s case, I believe his thrill-seeking is reckless and with little regard for the consequences to others.

One characteristic I would like to see in a President is the ability to make quick decisions based on available data.  His public behavior suggests to me that he really doesn’t think things through before he shoots off at the mouth.  He doesn’t seem too concerned about details.  As much as he doesn’t seem too concerned about details I question his concern for others.  I think this falls in line with his narcissistic personality.  As President he will be the boss and will give the orders, but good bosses listen to their subordinates and rely on their expertise.  I think that Trump is so self-centered that he will not take the advice of subordinates.  I see that as a major character flaw.

I have no problem with people who want to make their living in real estate; however, when that real estate involves casinos I have a problem.  Just because gambling seems to be America’s favorite pastime doesn’t mean that it is right to make money off the backs of others.  If you choose to gamble, that’s your business, but I’ve seen too many losers at the tables that translated into losers with the mortgage, bills, and feeding and clothing families.  And any addiction to gambling is too many addictions.  To build and front a casino where this happens is simply morally wrong in my humble opinion.  You are entitled to your own opinion on gambling.  If you have an opposing view on this issue you are welcome to share it on your own blog or Facebook timeline.

I find him to be duplicitous.  He appears to say what he wants to say at the time he says it in order to gain the favor of the people he is speaking to, which on its face appears to be contrary to what he has told others.  I use the word appears above with caution.  Not having seen his complete stance on issues I may not understand how things he has said in one setting dovetails with something different he has said elsewhere.

I want to add a favorable comment here about a couple of specific issues that I believe many people have wrong about Trump.  Contrary to popular opinion, I do not believe Trump to be racist.  I also believe that in his professional business dealings that he treats women as fairly as he does men.  I’m fairly certain that what he says about women does not accurately reflect his behavior in a business or professional setting.  If elected as President of the United States I fully expect him to have multiple women serving in cabinet and deputy cabinet level positions and that he will relate to them the way he will relate to men at those and lower levels of government.

The title of my remarks here is Why I Cannot Support Donald Trump at Present.  I want to emphasize the last two words in that title: at Present.  The jury is still out on Mr. Trump for me.  Right now I cannot support him simply based upon his character.  He’s loud and boisterous and very self-centered.  He appears to be erratic.  He shows little concern for others, but unlike his primary opponent, at least he is publicly showing it. 

At the risk of sounding like Donald Rumsfeld, there are things we know about both Trump and Clinton and we know that there are things that we don’t know about the two of them.  But with Clinton, we don’t know what we don’t know.  As Rumsfeld said, there are unknown unknowns.  I think his remarks about knowns and unknowns are referred to as the Johari Window or something like that.  I find that to be a dangerous political minefield.