Letter: I like Trump, but I wish…

Have you noticed that as we get deeper into this election year that I think of as “2020 Hindsight: Cure Stupid,” that more and more Trump supporters are professing their worship for their cult leader tinged with various versions of, “But I wish that he wouldn’t say or do some things?” And, in so doing, they stop there. They don’t give examples of what he says or does that they disagree with. So I invite some dialogue here.

Do you disagree with him suggesting, contrary to health care professionals, that the coronavirus is no worse than the common cold, and that it will fade away when the weather warms up in April? Or do you disagree with him previously saying that the Centers For Disease Control needed a smaller budget and the Obama-created White House office relating to pandemic management was not needed?

Do you disagree with Trump saying that he doesn’t trust the American intelligence community, but that he takes the Russian leader at his word when the Russian denies trying to influence American elections?

Perhaps you disagree with our president when he says that all Mexicans coming across the border are rapists and murderers. Do you? Do you agree with the man when he says that he has done more for “the blacks” than any president in history? Do you agree with a president, who like the presidents before him, ignores the plight of the first Americans?

Trump has said that he knows more than our admirals and generals. Are you okay with that? He tweeted an end to our 10-year partnership with our allies, the Kurds, while we were on the battlefield with them. Combat battalion leaders didn’t know whether a presidential tweet was the same as an order from the commander-in-chief. Did you feel proud to support a president who ordered American combat soldiers to stand and watch as Turkish troops poured into Syria and kill and chase away men and women who had been comrades in blood just hours before?

Do you disagree with Trump when he says that he “loves” the North Korean dictator, who then plays our president for a fool by renewing their nuclear development and missile programs?

Do you disagree with him when he promotes socialism for the rich with tax cuts that they don’t need, and gives farmers billions in aid because of his failed tariff war, or do you disagree with him when he criticizes a Democratic presidential candidate for promoting socialism for the working poor through healthcare, education and childcare?

The election this year will be a battle between socialism for the rich or socialism for the working poor. Whose side are you on? Whose side is your wallet on?

Do you disagree with Trump’s mocking of disabled people, his tirades against the free press, or his condemnations of Americans, who, as he does, choose to exercise their rights to freedom of speech?

Perhaps you wish that when he pretends to be “a good Christian man” that he could correctly pronounce a book of the Bible, any book of the Bible, with more than two syllables? Do you wish that when he talks about the American Revolutionary War that he wouldn’t mention how the American Continental Army took over airports from the British? Do you wish that when Trump balked at stopping at Pearl Harbor on his way back from Japan, that Gen. John Kelly. Ret., did not have to explain to our president that 2,403 American sailors were killed at Pearl Harbor as a result of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941?

Do you wish that his sexist comments about women were not part of his lifestyle? Do you wish that he wouldn’t justify requiring his assigned secret service agents to pay $650 a night for rooms at the Trump Towers during his frequent trips? Do you disagree with the president when he puts loyalty to him above loyalty to our country?

Do you wish that when he keeps saying that he wants to bring American manufacturing jobs back to America that he would start with products that carry the Trump brand?

Do you wish that when he says that he is securing our southern border, and that he needs to keep taking billions of dollars from the Defense Department budget to do that, that he was, in fact, building new sections of the wall? Do you wish that unspent money that was allocated during both the Bush and Obama administrations for a wall were actually being used to build new sections of the wall? Do you wish that Trump’s wall did not blow over in the wind, get tunneled under at a distance of 70 feet below ground, and was not left open, purposely, in Arizona to allow for water flows (and human and drug smuggling)?

Recently, Trump was in Bakersfield to announce more water to the westside farmers. Within 48 hours, the feds announced that those farmers would only get 15 percent of their water allocation. It had something to do with a lack of rain and snowfall. Do you wish the president actually knew what he was talking about?

How about his recent trip to India when he praised the prime minister’s effort regarding religious freedom when, in fact, India was purging Muslims from the majority Hindu country and thousands of Indians were rioting in the streets, some of whom were killed. Do you wish the president that you support had at least one foot grounded in reality instead of in his mouth?

Do you tire of him saying things that suggest that he has a size fetish, such as talking about the size of his penis, the size of his inauguration crowd vs. that of Obama, and the size of his popular vote victory over Hillary, if you eliminate millions of unproven illegal votes?

When you say that you don’t like some of the things that he says, what does he say that you do like?

Do you like what he says about the economy? Do you look behind the wizard’s curtain to try to understand what is truly happening regarding the economy?

Do you understand that before the coronavirus fears took stock markets for a plunge that we have not seen since 2008 and George Bush, that when Trump took credit for 10 years of economic stability, that he has only been president for three years? Do you understand that Trump’s policies have added a trillion dollars of debt, increasing daily, that we cannot afford? Do you understand that Trump and Republican senators are talking about reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits in a second Trump term in order to lessen the harm caused by Trump tax cuts and tariffs? Are you okay with this?

So, what is it that Trump says and/or does that you do or don’t like?

And what facts, if any, support your views?

— Charles Wieland,

Madera