I’ll admit it — Donald Trump is not a perfect man. He can be crass, and he speaks without considering the consequences. His diplomacy is unorthodox, to put it mildly. But this election is a binary choice, either Trump or Kamala Harris, and I urge everyone reading this letter to vote for Trump despite his imperfections. Here’s why:
As Scott Adams, the famous Dilbert cartoonist points out, America has four existential threats and only one candidate who even has a plan to address them.
National debt: Musk to help cut costs
World War 3: Trump would end Ukraine war
Our food supply is poison: RFK Jr. would fix
Open border: Trump would end
NATIONAL DEBT: A very prominent former Democrat who has recently joined the Trump team is Elon Musk. Musk is arguably one of the smartest people in the world who has (among other things) done more to promote electric vehicles than any other person. Musk makes government agencies look foolish by being competent, for instance by landing used rockets on a bullseye where NASA used to drop them into the ocean, and by providing internet services anywhere on the globe for a fraction of the cost that government can do it via his Starlink company. Rocket science has no room for error, as Boeing painfully discovered, and Musk specializes in managing to excellence. After he bought Twitter, he let approximately 70% of the staff go because their jobs were extraneous and political, but Twitter was so fat with revenue that nobody cared. If you use Twitter (now X) you’ll notice that it runs even better than it did before, and the government censorship has been replaced with community notes to counter misinformation. The federal government has a level of waste that pales in comparison to that of Twitter and Musk has volunteered to work with the Trump administration on government efficiency.
A government efficiency program led by Elon Musk would be fantastic for our country, as federal spending is totally out of control. The U.S. national debt currently stands at $35.33 trillion, about $140,000 per person, surpassing the country’s estimated 2024 GDP of $28.78 trillion. This debt grows as the government continues to spend more than it earns in tax revenue, with a deficit of $1.89 trillion for 2024. I believe that fully half the federal employees could be let go and the average American would not even notice. Musk and Trump will get it done and keep the right employees who contribute. Obviously, most federal employees oppose this. Their life is easy, thanks to the taxpayer. “The swamp” fights back. But if successful, such cuts would propel the USA to levels of success we can only dream about today. Success would enable Trump to eliminate taxes on tips, social security, and overtime … and still take in more money than we need. Trump has even proposed making the interest expense on automobiles tax deductible. These policies would help everyone. Musk would even do it for free. Trump also worked for free his last term, in case your news network forgot to mention that.
Harris’ plan to address the spiraling debt is to tax “the rich” and invest in an “opportunity economy” by providing tax credits to a variety of worthy causes. The problem with this plan is obvious − there are not enough rich people for this rate of spending, the definition of “rich” always adjusts down over time, and there is no shortage of “worthy” causes. There aren’t enough millionaires to bilk $1.8 trillion from — every year! Harris has even proposed a tax on unrealized capital gains, a stunningly destructive idea. Portsmouth residents recently got their new property valuations, and most valuations went up $250,000 or more. Imagine having to write a check out to the federal government for 15% of that. Further, just imagine the effect on our local community if the federal government demanded $30,000 or more from not just every homeowner in our fair city, but also cities and towns all across the nation. “I’m not rich, that wouldn’t apply to me!” you might be thinking. You really want to bank on that? The first federal income tax was just 3% and only affected the top 3% of income earners. How did that work out?
THE BORDER: Trump will get illegal immigration under control. The Biden/Harris administration reversed most of Trump’s immigration policies, such as the one stating that asylum seekers need to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearing. True asylum seekers will wait in a safe country if they are being persecuted in their home country, but most of the folks coming over our border are seeking a better life, not fleeing asylum. Seeking a better life is not a valid reason for expedited entry under our laws, but Biden/Harris is flouting those laws. Under Biden/Harris, one merely needs to claim “I am seeking asylum” to be let into the country and deluged with benefits. That’s not right. Even Bill Clinton admitted this weekend that Laken Riley would be alive if the Biden/Harris administration had properly vetted her killer rather than simply releasing him into the country.
Even assuming that all these people are decent, productive people – a fact not in evidence – America cannot absorb so many needy people at once. We hear about the “housing crisis” a lot. Fifteen million foreigners have hopped the border and now want a nice place to live. What about the rest of us? Expensive rent is not merely a Portsmouth problem, it’s a national one. America cannot build housing fast enough to absorb millions of people a year, and frankly why should we when we have so many other pressing needs? Americans have had enough of this nonsense. Our limited resources should go to Americans first. Trump also favors merit-based immigration priority, which is consistent with putting America first. Who knows the most about the border? The Border Patrol. Their union recently endorsed Donald Trump, and thousands are threatening to quit if Harris is elected.
Harris proposes $25,000 in down payment assistance to first time home buyers. All this would do is raise the price of houses accordingly, the same way the federal student loan initiative raised the cost of tuition. A better way to reduce housing costs is to deport the millions of people who should not be here competing with us for the same limited housing. Fifteen million such people have entered the country just since Harris took office. Of course housing prices went up. How could they not?
OUR FOOD SUPPY: Trump will work with Democrats to solve important issues, something he learned to do as a New York real estate developer, a city dominated by Democrats. He has teamed up with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the issue of chronic childhood illnesses to “make America healthy again.” This is a critical issue facing America. We all know overweight children with allergies to things we never experienced as kids ourselves. Our food is hyper processed and laden with chemicals and high-fructose corn syrup. The effects are obvious. Health is Kennedy’s passion, and Trump will leverage that passion to make America healthy again. I should point out that RFK ran a presidential campaign this cycle as a Democrat but got squeezed out by the DNC which prevented a Democratic primary, and he joined forces with Trump once it was clear that the DNC was no longer the party it once was. There are very few people with as much inside knowledge as Mr. Kennedy, and he has seen enough to switch parties, even though being a Democrat was an important part of his identity. Kennedy also promises to take a critical look at the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA/CDC. Did you know a baby born today can expect 35-40 vaccine doses, not including flu shots, by age 20? Might the interaction of all these vaccines be having some impact? It’s certainly worth looking at.
WORLD WAR 3: The U.S. was not involved in ANY new wars while Trump was in office, and he even negotiated a significant peace deal in the middle east with the Abraham Accords. World leaders, like “little rocket man” feared to cross him because they know he is tough and brave and he puts America first. America saw his bravery when he walked into North Korea alone while president, and then again in its most raw form when a bullet grazed his ear while campaigning and he jumped right up and yelled “Fight, fight!” I want a leader like THAT in my corner. In contrast, Biden/Harris pulled out of Afghanistan leaving billions in military equipment behind for the Taliban, and the world has been embroiled in chaos ever since. Trump has vowed to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end, and I believe he can do it through the “Art of the Deal” style negotiation. Putin’s patience for American meddling will not last forever, and he has nuclear weapons. Even if Putin’s logic is irrational, which I will concede, it is no less a potential threat for America. In fact, that makes it worse. The issue needs to be resolved, and Harris’ plan seems only to fund it forever. We’ve ponied up about $175 billion so far, and the conflict is a stalemate.
OTHER REASONS TO VOTE TRUMP: Donald Trump is unapologetically “America First.” Is that so wrong? He wants to stop China from owning U.S. farmland and protect American workers from unfair foreign competition. He wants America to manufacture the things we depend on, such as basic medicines, rather than depending on our “frenemies” to make them for us. He supports free speech, and trusts Americans to sort out what is true and what is “misinformation” on our own, rather than empowering the government to make such decisions for us. During COVID we saw just how bad government censorship can be. Dissenting opinions on vaccines, the origin of the virus, mitigation and treatment protocols were not allowed. This is a dangerous precedent, as democracy is dependent on the free exchange of ideas, even the bad ones.
Donald Trump wants to make America energy independent again, something he achieved briefly towards the end of his tenure. Biden/Harris issued hundreds of executive orders making energy production difficult, and the U.S. reverted to energy dependence again. All their energy policies accomplished was to make other energy-producing countries richer at our expense and raise the prices of everything. The world needs energy: is it really better that the world buy it from countries hostile to the U.S.? No, it’s not. Energy sales gave Russia the funds to invade Ukraine, and Iran the cash to fund Hezbollah and Hamas. Remember the price of gas under Trump? The rise in energy costs was a major contributor to inflation, and getting energy prices down will be a top priority which will help everyone.
CONCLUSION: Election Day is not about picking a valentine, nor picking the “nicest” person, nor about making a statement. Election Day is about picking the best person for the job, and that person is clearly Donald Trump, flaws and all. Kamala Harris is simply not up for the job. We have seen with our own eyes what it is like to live under each administration, and Harris recently stated that she wouldn’t have changed a single thing Biden did.
I’m voting for cheap gas, cheap eggs, low mortgage rates, world peace, and healthier kids, even at the cost of an occasional mean tweet. I’m asking you to do the same. Vote for Donald Trump and make America great (and healthy) again.
Alan Forbes is chairman of the Portsmouth Republicans.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Forbes: Vote for Trump despite his imperfections. Here’s why
