Does Donald Trump want to be remembered as the man who handed the
White House to Hillary Clinton on a silver platter, with all the
disastrous results that are sure to follow? Or would he rather be
remembered as the man who put his country above himself?
The greatest moments in the movies are when a character who has seemed to be selfish comes through in the clutch, putting the cause above himself. Think of Rick in Casablanca or Han Solo in the first Star Wars movie. Can this happen in real life? Mr. Trump has not been known for selflessness to date, to put it mildly. That does not mean he is not capable of it.
Donald Trump has accomplished more than would have seemed possible at the beginning. With no political experience, he captured the Republican nomination for President. More important than that, though, he did it by giving voice to forgotten people. The ivory tower elites of both parties have assumed that whatever is "good for the economy" is good for everybody. Not so, if "good for the economy" is measured by per capita GDP, as it usually is.
Immigration may be good for the economy overall, but an influx of workers hurts people who make their living with their hands. As with anything else, increased supply means decreased price, good for the buyers and bad for the sellers. An influx of workers is good for the businesses that employ them and bad for workers already here - whether native-born or immigrant - who find their work worth less on the market. Honest, hard-working people who find themselves unemployed or working for far less than they made before are met with the "good for the economy" line from the elites who are unaffected or helped by immigration, and they are justifiably angry at the failure to enforce the laws that were supposed to protect them from the influx.
The same is true of trade. The United States funds many social programs through taxes on employment specifically, including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance, and others through taxes on income generally. Many other countries fund their programs through taxes on consumption, such as the value-added tax. This difference weights the scales when manufacturers in other countries compete with ours. While others gush about the wonderful benefits of free trade, Donald Trump is the first presidential candidate I have ever heard even mention the unfairness of this bias, and he seems to be the only one who cares about the manufacturing workers injured by it.
Yet now, the election is not about these issues but about Donald Trump personally. The reasons for it and the placement of the blame are beside the point now. This is the reality. Donald Trump as candidate cannot stop Hillary Clinton. If he continues on, he will "limp across the finish line," to use his own words, to certain defeat. The United States will have a third term of more of the same even though the people know we are headed in the wrong direction and thirst for a change. A landslide for Hillary Clinton means the forgotten people are forgotten again. The country will likely be saddled with an anti-law-enforcement Supreme Court for another generation.
The ballots cannot be changed at this point, but the race can be changed. Donald Trump could announce that if he is elected he will resign the office immediately upon taking it, and Mike Pence will be our next President. Mr. Pence has none of the personal baggage, and the election will immediately become a contest on the issues facing the country, as it should be.
This is the choice facing Donald Trump: limp across the finish line a distant, defeated second, or hand the baton to your teammate who still has the wind to make that final sprint. How would you rather go down in history?
Donald Trump has accomplished more than would have seemed possible at the beginning. With no political experience, he captured the Republican nomination for President. More important than that, though, he did it by giving voice to forgotten people. The ivory tower elites of both parties have assumed that whatever is "good for the economy" is good for everybody. Not so, if "good for the economy" is measured by per capita GDP, as it usually is.
Immigration may be good for the economy overall, but an influx of workers hurts people who make their living with their hands. As with anything else, increased supply means decreased price, good for the buyers and bad for the sellers. An influx of workers is good for the businesses that employ them and bad for workers already here - whether native-born or immigrant - who find their work worth less on the market. Honest, hard-working people who find themselves unemployed or working for far less than they made before are met with the "good for the economy" line from the elites who are unaffected or helped by immigration, and they are justifiably angry at the failure to enforce the laws that were supposed to protect them from the influx.
The same is true of trade. The United States funds many social programs through taxes on employment specifically, including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance, and others through taxes on income generally. Many other countries fund their programs through taxes on consumption, such as the value-added tax. This difference weights the scales when manufacturers in other countries compete with ours. While others gush about the wonderful benefits of free trade, Donald Trump is the first presidential candidate I have ever heard even mention the unfairness of this bias, and he seems to be the only one who cares about the manufacturing workers injured by it.
Yet now, the election is not about these issues but about Donald Trump personally. The reasons for it and the placement of the blame are beside the point now. This is the reality. Donald Trump as candidate cannot stop Hillary Clinton. If he continues on, he will "limp across the finish line," to use his own words, to certain defeat. The United States will have a third term of more of the same even though the people know we are headed in the wrong direction and thirst for a change. A landslide for Hillary Clinton means the forgotten people are forgotten again. The country will likely be saddled with an anti-law-enforcement Supreme Court for another generation.
The ballots cannot be changed at this point, but the race can be changed. Donald Trump could announce that if he is elected he will resign the office immediately upon taking it, and Mike Pence will be our next President. Mr. Pence has none of the personal baggage, and the election will immediately become a contest on the issues facing the country, as it should be.
This is the choice facing Donald Trump: limp across the finish line a distant, defeated second, or hand the baton to your teammate who still has the wind to make that final sprint. How would you rather go down in history?
