Who Matters - and - How Much?

 Black Lives Matter - "Riots" - Covid19 - what really matters?   Who are we talking about?

Let's look at 2016's presidential vote totals.

Among the much larger group of white voters who had not completed college (44% of all voters), Trump won by more than two-to-one (64% to 28%).

Women were 13 percentage points more likely than men to have voted for Clinton (54% among women, 41% among men). 

About half (52%) of validated voters were married; among them, Trump had a 55% to 39% majority. Among unmarried voters, Clinton led by a similar margin (58% to 34%).

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/

White non-Hispanic voters preferred Trump over Clinton by 21 percentage points (58% to 37%), according to the exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool. 

Clinton held an 80-point advantage among blacks (88% to 8%) compared with Obama’s 87-point edge four years ago (93% to 6%).

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/

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Clearly white men, most extremely white men who have not graduated from college, are the core voters, who voted and are likely to vote for Donald Trump.  What is it that appeals to those who support Trump?   Some ideas from a Google search follow. (italicized words are my comments)

Here is just a short list of reasons why I like President Donald Trump:

1. He is good father. You can’t fake good kids, and Trump’s children are all winners!!

I am simply amazed at this statement.   Nepotism is rampant around him.   None of his children or extended family seem to have achieved anything significant on their own.   They seem to be able to do little besides expound upon how great he is.

2. He is the husband of a brilliant and beautiful woman who is fluent in numerous languages.

It has been reported that his wife will leave him shortly after he leaves office and that there have been issues of attempts to renegotiate their prenuptial agreement.  I can't vouch for the accuracy of these statements, but they seem credible to me.

3. He is an astute and adroit world-class negotiator.

He cozies up to North Korea's dictatorial leader.    He speaks positive of Vladimir Putin, Russia's leader.   He has alternately praised and demonized China's leadership.   He has defended Saudi Arabia's leadership, which is very problematic.  He seems to have next to zero knowledge of foreign countries.   He seems more like the laughingstock of the world's leadership.

4. He is an avid golfer who has done much to promote this great game around the globe.

I question the importance of golf - related to this country and its leadership.   There have been a number of occasions where major (negative mostly) events have happened during President Trump's presidency, where he has prioritized playing golf to attending to what I would deem Much more important things affecting many American people.  His "promotion" of golf has included many potential conflicts of interest with his ownership of properties with golf courses and his being the President of the United States.

5. He is a very hard worker who has worked tirelessly for America during these dark days.

Most of his "hard work" that I have read about has either been watching Fox News, telling his staff what to do, and criticizing anyone who disagrees with him.   He seems to not read much or well and to ignore the advice of scientists and other professionals who are knowledgeable in fields he speaks about and to put his foot in his mouth a lot, contradicting his own statements and denying that he has said things that are of public record through his prior statements to the media or in front of media representatives.

6. He is forthright in his speech — and he’s a tough New Yorker who won’t succumb to the national media’s relentless efforts to bully him.

He certainly agrees to disagree a lot.

7. Like an accomplished chess grandmaster, he is five moves ahead of his adversaries.

This is an amazing statement.   He spoke of how Covid19 would have zero cases shortly months ago and has similarly predicted things grossly inaccurately over and over and over agin.

8. He has championed the causes of many groups that have needed his help — including prisoners, minorities, farmers, law enforcement, the military and the elderly.

He has certainly championed the cause of law enforcement.   I'm totally unclear how he has championed the other causes noted above.   Many retired generals and admirals have come out against him in the 2020 election.   In Florida and some others states his support among the elderly is purportedly substantially lower (minority vote now, major vote previously) than it was in 2016.   He has certainly supported huge farming corporate entities, just as he supports big business interests in general.   He has belittled significant numbers of non-white citizens publicly.   I'm clueless as to how he has helped prisoners?   His mishandling of Covid19 has resulted in the needless death of many Americans, particularly among the elderly.

9. He is a patriot who really loves America and is committed to the safety and well-being of Americans.

I'm unclear how he is committed to the safety and well-being of Americans.   Supporting violence against law-abiding demonstrators and ridiculing many people seems to me to be to be supporting Only those who agree with his political beliefs.   He has totally mishandled the Corona Virus as was noted in eight above.

10. He has overcome much opposition to securing our borders, and it is worth noting that both the left and the media have acknowledged that a wall should be built (especially in light of the virus from China).

He has moved money that would help Americans to build parts of a wall that will be ineffective.   Currently more countries forbid Americans from coming to their country, than do so with China, because the epidemic has devastated the U.S. much more than it has China.

11. He does not allow other nations to walk all over us — which is what they used to do with trade deals that caused America to lose billions.

His trade policies move in various directions and lack consistency.   His inconsistencies baffle others and do not protection us.

12. He is committed to promoting the wealth of America by increasing our energy independence and reducing our unemployment numbers.

His mishandling of the Corona Virus has resulted in drastically higher unemployment than was necessary and entire industries like airlines, restaurants and hotels all face dismal futures.   He does protect the wealth of the super-rich.

13. He is committed to appointing justices who honor the Constitution.

He panders to the core beliefs of his core supporters such as trying to make abortion no longer a right nationally.

14. He receives no salary.

Incredible amounts of money have been used to support many of his trips to play golf and similar in amounts vastly larger than his supposed salary.

15. He wants to restore our roads, airports, cities and hospitals by strengthening our nation’s infrastructure.

He has done next to nothing to strengthen our infrastructure.  His priorities related to funding for Covid19 related costs are devastating many hospital and many other industries.

16. He has one of America’s best-ever vice presidents in Mike Pence, who has been extremely loyal to the president.

The loyalty of Pence is not in doubt.   Where he has been effective besides in talking positively about Trump is unclear to me.

17. He is committed to having a strong military and the best cybersecurity in the world.

He has supported many high budget military projects, but his priorities have been inconsistent.  Cybersecurity seems vulnerable to many foreign countries.

18. He diligently speaks directly to the public via social media, which allows Americans to learn what’s true in an unfiltered way that’s not tarnished by the media, which is often to the extreme left.

He certainly Tweets and speaks freely.   His words frequently contradict previous words he has spoken.   The media is a mishmash of voices from the "centrist" voices to limited voices of the left and some very loud voices from supporters of Trump such as Fox, though at times they've not be "loyal" to his lies.

19. He has abstained from drinking alcohol, and has learned a great life lesson from a brother who struggled with alcoholism.

20. He has revitalized our space program by launching the Space Force initiative, which is now pursuing a Mars landing by the end of the decade.

With record budget deficits, this seems an obvious, logical place to cut spending.

21. He has defeated ISIS and called out radical Islam by its name.

To the degree that ISIS has been defeated, it has been in spite of him, not because of him.   His ridicule of people who are Muslim has tarnished the reputations of many law-abiding people who have no radical ideology or other support of radical Islam.

22. He has sent much of the violent gang MS-13 back home to Central America.

23. He has stood up to the threat of China, which has skillfully taken over much of America by buying its way into our economy and using espionage to steal our secrets — and is now trying to duck responsibility for its role in the spread of COVID-19.

He supported China when it was the major force helping spread Covid-19, and has falsely blamed China for his own failings.   

24. He has dodged bullets left and right from the Russian collusion hoax, the wasteful Mueller investigation, the impeachment fiasco and a media intent on taking him down.

His support of the Russians seems to imply that Putin probably has incriminating evidence to black mail him with.   The media has relied upon the words of many patriotic Americans, many of whom have worked under his leadership.

25. He has appointed two constitutionalist judges to the U.S. Supreme Court.

His judicial appointments have resulted in many unqualified judges being appointed and two conservative supreme court nominees and he likelihood of a third one shortly.

26. He has called out the NATO nations that have long benefited from being protected by our military yet have been delinquent in paying their fair share of the cost.

27. He challenged Amazon to stop overusing the United States Postal Service, which already had a big debt problem.

His scapegoating of Amazon has related to his purported claim that they don't pay enough for their deliveries, not anything about "overuse".

28. He has been calling on American corporations to bring jobs back to our land — and they have been responding!

His lecturing of American corporations has been highly ineffective.

29. He has been cleaning out the federal worker swamp and working to expose the leakers.

He has politicized the federal work force and has done little to reduce inefficiency in the federal government.   He has fought repeated successful efforts at prosecuting his appointees for various issues related to their attempting to support him.

30. He has been attacked by corrupt former FBI leaders like James Comey and Andrew McCabe.

James Comey's most effective effort actually greatly helped Trump get elected in 2016 when he reported on Clinton's alleged misdeeds during the 2016 campaign.

I could go on, but remember — this is just a short list!

A resident of Myrtle Beach, David Allport is a submarine veteran, a lifelong educator and someone who just happens to love the United States of America.

https://www.thestate.com/opinion/article243715727.html

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I'm a little confused!!!!!

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What follows are some concerns of mine:

1.  Individuals can count on not being injured or killed by the police or by individuals taking the law in their own hands.

2. The physical and mental health of all should be a significant priority.   Medical treatment should be affordable for all.   The government should proactively work to keep us all healthy.

3.  Safe, affordable housing should be available for all.

4.  Sufficient healthy food should be available for all.

5. Cooperation and mutual support should be a priority.

6. Respectful civil discourse should be encouraged.

7. Equality of opportunity should be valued.

8. Our people are part of a larger world where mutual respect is important.

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White men such as David Allport, similar to me, face life in the U.S. where we easily can become "dinosaurs".    Women no longer defer to us as "the man" who presumably knows more than they do.    

Black People are no longer willing to defer to our authority.    We have a systemic problem with racism in our country.   Black People are no longer willing to accept that they are inferior to us in many ways like to have tried to tell them they are for over 400 years.    

Covid19 has exposed the vulnerability of many non-white people in ways that are very new to them.    Wearing a mask acknowledges that individually we are no longer "in control" of something that is very important to many of us.

Black People haven't lost as much as we have in this.   They always knew that they weren't in control.

We flail away blaming others.   The "problem" is with (take your pick):

Black People

Immigrants

Gay/Lesbian/Trans People

The News Media

Hollywood

Radical Leftists

Other

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A high percentage of the "terrorism" in the U.S. in recent years has come from "radical" white men.   These men are right-wing defenders of "white power", who don't recognize the power, that we white men still have in this country.

The mass killers in our high schools are nearly always young, white, middle class boys.   Isn't it peculiar that poor Black boys aren't the killers!    They are the ones who one would think would be very angry.

We, white men do have a lot to work on.   We need to take better care of our health.   We die far too young often.    We need to learn ways to be better students in school.   Female students outnumber us increasingly in college education.   We need to support efforts to help white boys deal with their learning issues, along with supporting the education of others, besides our male children and grandchildren.

I could go on and on, but this is enough for now.    Racism will begin its path as a part of history when white people recognize that it is a "white problem", not a problem of Black and Brown people.

Despite the words of men such as Mr. Allport, we white men, have it far easier than others who are not white men.    We need to escape from our caves and recognize that things are not going to "go back to the good (sic) old days"  - when our power was rarely questioned.   We also need to recognize that wealthy white men play off less wealthy white men against others as an effective way to avoid scrutiny and positive change.

Thanks!