Author’s Note: I want to ask a favor of everyone who reads this. Please share it. If you agree, great. If you think I am an idiot, great. But share it. There is a country at stake in this next election and we need to understand how we have found ourselves in this place at this moment in time. PLEASE SHARE!

Several weeks ago, I published a piece asking a straightforward, if perhaps complex, question. (read the piece here)

“Would someone, anyone, in a cool, calm, and cogent manner, explain why it makes sense for the American voter to choose to return Mr. Trump to office?”

While the piece had almost fifteen thousand views, based on the reaction to many of my other pieces where I am certain many of them will be voting for Mr. Trump, not even one rose to the challenge.

So, I have decided to answer the question myself. And it turns out to be less complex than I first thought.

Like Occam’s Razor, the simplest solution is almost always right.

The fact is most Trump supporters, if one is to believe their writing, statements to the media, and chants at his rallies, have lulled themselves into a false nostalgia, embraced willful ignorance, and engaged in self-delusion..

They suffer from selective amnesia about the realities of the first Trump administration. Which began with a lie—albeit a minor one about the size of the inauguration crowd—and then compounded this initial lie with increasingly dangerous falsehoods, vitriol, and policies run amuck.

But we will keep this simple.

Stock Market

Mr. Trump claims he was the “bestest” President at handling the economy. He claimed credit for the rise of the stock market.

On January 24, 2017, days after his inauguration, the market stood at 19,912. By February 13, 2020, it had risen to 29,423 because of, according to Mr. Trump, his efforts as President.

And his supporters believed him.

But then, just over a month later, the market had fallen below what it was when he took office, 18,591. This was, of course, amid the pandemic.

Mr. Trump cannot claim credit for the rise without taking the blame for the fall. His followers ignore this basic fact and the global factors driving the market.

By that measure, Joe Biden is a rousing success. On January 22, 2021, the market was at 30,996. Today, it stands at 38,157, breaking new records.

A wise person once said, “The President gets too much credit and too much blame for the stock market.”

Pandemic

In March 2020, the initial reports of the Covid-19 pandemic came in. By the end of the month, there were 3,170 deaths and 164,620 confirmed cases in the US.

By December 2020, the US had nineteen million confirmed cases and more than 300,000 deaths.

The pandemic raged on, and the White House, under Mr. Trump’s guidance, offered nonsense solutions with no scientific basis and focused more on attaching blame to China than dealing with the immediacy of the issue.

Just for the sake of argument, if someone had launched a missile at us, would it make the most sense to focus on who pushed the button or initiating a cohesive response to save American lives?

During the pandemic, which would eventually kill more than 1.5 million Americans, Mr. Trump led his followers down the road of focusing on how it happened and did little to deal with the problem.

Instead of dealing with, oh, I don’t know saving American lives, we focused on how it happened instead of the more immediate problem of WHAT was happening; dying Americans. Calling it the China Virus didn’t save one life. Focusing on calling it the China Virus contributed to killing several million Americans.

Foreign Policy

If there is anything on this list that best illustrates the delusions under which many of Mr. Trump’s supporters abide, it is in the area of foreign policy.

One of Mr. Trump’s claims of success is his insistence on NATO members paying their fair share. On the surface, this seems a laudable accomplishment. But, like most things, it is infinitely more complex.

NATO acts as a bulwark against Soviet aggression in Europe. It is the line in the sand against the Iron Curtain covering the democratic nations in Europe.

This alliance offered the mutual protection of all members against aggression toward any member.

But the architects of NATO were far wiser than one might realize. NATO started during the early years of a nuclear-armed world. Where two oceans once insulated us from European and Asian conflicts, they knew this would no longer hold.

Intercontinental missiles, some of which would eventually carry Multiple Independently targeted Reentry Vehicles (MiRVs), eliminated the protections of distance.

NATO stood as a tripwire not just for Europe but for the US homeland. We had American military within striking distance of the Soviets, they had to cross oceans to claim the same. Mr. Trump’s antics, threatening to withdraw from NATO, put at risk one of the most successful and long-lasting mutual protection agreements in history.

NATO works. There has not been another European War since. Nor has any missiles, Russian or otherwise, crossed the ocean. Is it costly to the United States to bear the lion’s share of the burden for protecting Europe? Definitely. But it is far less costly than what a third world war would cost. And we would suffer the horrors of war on our own shores, worse than the devastation rained on Europe in the last one.

To withdraw from NATO would make us, and the world, infinitely more insecure.

And then there is his game of chicken with North Korea. First, it was a series of love letters. Then it was a pissing contest about who has the biggest nuclear button.

This bravado might sound good to people whose understanding of foreign policy and diplomacy comes from TV shows and movies, but the reality is different.

North Korea might pose a threat to the US, but they definitely pose a threat to Japan and South Korea; Mr. Trump was playing chicken with the lives of millions of Japanese and South Koreans, two of our most important allies in Asia.

That is not just moronic but borders on insanity.

Immigration

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus.

Another symbol of America is its reputation as a place where all are welcome. While the reality may be a bit more complex and filled with examples that might counter the reputation, we are a nation of immigrants.

Mr. Trump has taken the low road in dealing with the crisis at the border. Pandering to those who cannot see beyond their tunnel-vision interests and plying them with warnings of hordes of “rapists and drug dealers” swarming over the borders does nothing to resolve the problem.

And, more importantly, it is far from the truth.

His wall failed; Mexico has not paid a penny. The problem continues. And once again, it is the complexity of the problem where Mr. Trump, at best, ignores or, at worst, does not understand himself, chooses to go down the path of demonizing a humanitarian crisis with echoes of Nazi rhetoric about “poisoning the blood.”

We need to control our borders. We need to stop drugs from the cartels from coming in. But even a 1000-foot-high wall over every inch of the southern border with machine gun emplacements every 100-hundred feet wouldn’t solve the problem.

Keep this in mind, we are a country that has thrived on where there is a demand there is a market. The Cartels are making millions of dollars, and there are Americans right there along with them making just as much.

Closing the border would only open a different path. We are a creative and inventive people.

In Mr. Trump’s case, from the moment he was declared the loser, he has been screaming lie after lie after lie about a stolen election. He and his supporters have lost case after case after case in the courts for one simple reason: there is no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.

I would hazard a guess that many of the loudest supporters of Mr. Trump’s handling of immigration have never been to the Mexican border.

Every day, over 1.2 million dollars in commerce crosses the border each minute. Over $779.3 billion each year. You cannot seal the border without decimating the local economy and affecting the national economy.

Mexico is the second largest US trade partner. (https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/eua/index.php/en/economic-affairs-2022/1909-mexico-u-s-trade-relation).

The war on drugs has been ongoing for decades. Yet the availability continues to rise. What we have done so far is not accomplishing the goal. Enforcement is only one element of the solution and it has failed as the main policy effort.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different result. We continue to pour resources into preventing drugs from entering the US, yet they continue to enter the US.

Mr. Trump’s rhetoric is music to the ears of his supporters, but it is a siren’s song.

And then there is the humanitarian aspect. Think about this for a minute. We insist our young children wear helmets when they ride bikes, strap them into car seats or seat belts in cars, and do everything we can to protect them from the world’s risks.

Imagine being a parent who is so desperate to give their children a chance to survive they are willing to walk from Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, or El Salvador to the US border just on the chance they might get amnesty.

Imagine.

Ever see a drive up line at Dunkin’ Donuts? Most Americans won’t get out of their cars and walk in to buy a coffee, let alone walk several thousand miles.

If ever there was an immigrant we should welcome with amnesty in this country it is someone who would go to that extent to protect their children. Then again, we did turn back a boatload of Jews in 1939 (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ss-st-louis-jewish-refugees-turned-away-holocaust)—so we do have a history.

But the past does not dictate the future.

The majority of people now massing at the border are precisely the kind of people that built this country. Courageous, determined, and committed.

And then there is the myth of religion. If we are that “Christian” nation, another favorite ploy of Mr. Trump, where is our Christian empathy?

Mr. Trump would have us ignore them so they do not poison our blood. The reality is the population in the US is no longer growing at a sustainable rate. We need immigration to fill millions of jobs and support the economy. It was immigration that built this country and it will be immigration that sustains it.

Desperation to get here by violating the law in crossing the border should be a factor taken into consideration, not an automatic disqualification.

The complex reality is that we benefit from immigration far more than we suffer. But Mr. Trump panders to those who embrace their ignorance. My greatest fear is he shares that very same ignorance.

If you want to see a more nuanced and viable solution to the border, read this article, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/the-economic-impact-of-a-more-efficient-us-mexico-border/

Elections

Nothing differentiates the United States from many other nations more than our long history of a peaceful transition of power. Since the days of George Washington—whom many Americans wanted to crown King—the outgoing administration has peacefully handed over the reins of power to the incoming administration.

Elections are hard-fought; they are designed to be so. But, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the results are to be accepted. It is the court’s place to sort out any evidence of fraud and render a decision. And it is our place to respect that decision.

In Mr. Trump’s case, from the moment he was declared the loser, he has been screaming lie after lie after lie about a stolen election. He and his supporters have lost case after case after case in the courts for one simple reason: there is no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.

The truth prevailed. Mr. Biden won the election. Any actual fraud, sadly present in any actions involving human activity, did not change the results.

...there is no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.

Yet the lie has taken on the mantle of religious certainty. A belief absent any proof. And Mr. Trump continues to shout the lie.

The lie that Mr. Trump won the election because the opposite goes against his supporters’ belief is the ultimate form of confirmation bias. They implicitly believe they could not have voted for a loser, so the election must have been stolen.

*****

So, there you have it. My take on why Mr. Trump still enjoys significant support among many American voters. Part false nostalgia, part willful ignorance, and part self-delusion.

Disagree? My offer still stands. Write a piece defending and explaining why Mr. Trump was good for America and why we should place him back in the Oval Office.

But at least be honest and address the lie of election fraud, the never-ending exit of senior staff, and the adamant insistence by many of the most senior members of that staff, who were in the best position to form an opinion, that he is unfit for office.

Inquiring minds need to now. Our country and future is at stack.