As President Trump approaches the final presidential debate next week trailing in the polls, he must focus the the voting public on his policy successes as opposed to his combative personality.
All of the abrasive, brash and often over the top elements of President Trump’s personality that were on full display at the first presidential debate made me reflect on why I couldn’t support him in 2016, yet it was former Vice President Joe Biden’s failure to denounce the radicals of the left that helped seal my vote for Trump this year.
Ninety to 95% percent of the voting population had long ago dug-in their heels about whom they will support this November.
The sliver of undecided voters remaining will be swayed by either the personality or policies of the candidates. If it’s about personality, Trump is in trouble.
That’s why he must endeavor to make this a choice of two starkly different visions for America.
On policy, Trump wins.
If you are a policy wonk enamored by the promise of a socialist utopia, you will hold your nose and vote for a Joe Biden whom you might concede is undergoing an appreciable diminishing of his cognitive abilities.
I get it.
The policies trump (pun intended) the possibility that he may fall into a state of less-than-competence at some point in his term.
So why can’t my friends on the Left comprehend that I will hold my nose and vote for a man --- whom I admit has glaring personal flaws — due to the fact that his policies are far better for our nation.
It concerns me that my nine year old grandson sees his president degrading others in fits of narcissism. But I’ll put up with that for four more years rather than have my grandson subjected to a generation of Leftist control of our national government that will force him to grow up in an unrecognizable America.
A government that tells him he is a racist oppressor.
Or, that imposes such confiscatory taxes and regulations that good jobs are scarce and wages are stagnant.
Or, that punishes him if his views do not conform to the vast mob’s.
Or, that creates a climate where he and his family will fear for their lives if taking a stroll in a city park,
Ultimately it’s policy, not personality, that matters.
There are specific policy reasons why I will support Trump over Biden.
It's essential at the next debate that Trump make the undecideds take notice of those differences.
So, Mr. President, the next time you are asked why voters should support you over Mr. Biden, how about reciting the reasons why I flipped over to support you this year.
"Mr. Biden:
"You helped ISIS metastasize by underestimating them. I defeated them. (By taking the handcuffs off our military.)
"You created the Chinese behemoth with your trade deals. I’m the first to take them on and fight their unfair trade advantage and their theft of our technology.
"You emboldened the mullahs of Iran by giving them billions to spread terror. I’ve got them on the run.
"You abandoned Israel, our democratic ally in the Mideast, wrongly claiming that was the path to peace. I recommitted our alliance to Israel and forged a peaceful alliance of Israel and Arab nations against Iran.
"Your tax increases gave us an anemic 1.6% GDP growth in your last year.
"My tax cuts gave us the lowest unemployment in history.
"Your over-regulation gave us stagnant wages. (Six of Obama’s eight years had wage growth under 2%.) My deregulation created the largest wage growth in decades.
"You increased income inequality, while I’ve reduced it.
"Middle class incomes inched up by only $1,043 in your tenure, but soared by over $5,000 in my first three years.
"Your promises of amnesty led to caravans of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens flowing across our border.
"My policies ended the caravans and their depressing of wages for American workers. You promise to provide amnesty for 11-22 million illegal aliens, making them eligible for public assistance and Medicaid, and enrolling them in already overburdened Medicare and Social Security systems. I don’t.
"You support subsidized healthcare for illegal aliens (Biden raised his hand in support of the concept at a primary debate.) I don’t.
You tolerate sanctuary cities and raised your hand in support decriminalizing illegal border crossings, thereby acquiescing to open borders. I would never do so.
"As a captive of the teachers’ unions, you said you oppose for-profit charter schools. I support charter schools as an opportunity for minority youth to access better schools.
"You stopped needed pipelines and claimed you would hamper fracking, threatening our energy independence. I’ve made us the world's number one energy producer and saved Americans billions in lower gas and electric costs.
"You support Obama rules that the EPA acknowledges will increase the cost of ownership of a new car by over $2,300. I don’t.
"You negotiated a Paris Climate Accord that places constraints on America’s economy while allowing the world's biggest polluters, China and India, to continue to pollute unabatedly. I will help clean the environment without placing our nation at a competitive disadvantage.
"You personally championed policies that gutted due process of college students falsely accused of sexual assault (yet wanted due process when you were accused). I reinstated due process.
"You promote critical race theory that segregates white employees and forces them to write letters of apology to women and minorities, while telling all blacks they are victims. I stopped this poisonous anti-American propaganda.
"You refused to even acknowledge that rioters were killing innocents and destroying minority businesses. . . until it started to reflect poorly in the polls. I’ve halted the violence wherever we were asked to deploy the National Guard.
"And finally, you will grant voting rights to millions of illegal aliens, and possibly abolish the Electoral College while adding two additional states and four new Democratic senators, thereby creating on the national level the same one party Democratic monopoly rule that exists in California and New York. My grandkids can withstand four more years of nasty talk, but not a generation of one party leftist control."
Those policy differences were enough to seal the deal for me.
They will be for those on the fence as well, but only if they hear them.
Steve Levy served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of "The Steve Levy Radio Show." He is the author of just released "Solutions to America's Problems." Www.SteveLevy.info tweet to @SteveLevyNY. Read Steve Levy's Reports — More Here.
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