For the last year, commentators, TV personalities and seemingly every person in America (including me) has written about the danger that Donald Trump presents. Whether it’s the things he says, the hatred he taps into, or the way he treats his peers, he’s been criticized in so many different ways. Personally, these things are disqualifying enough for me to vote against him. But for some, that isn’t enough. And that’s understandable — his whole life has been a publicity stunt so maybe, just maybe, the persona he puts across is all a show. Even if so, his policies are just as dangerous for our country and are just as disqualifying for him as a presidential candidate.
To be clear, Trump’s policies are disqualifying on their face and are also just inferior to Hillary Clinton’s. I agree with many of Clinton’s policies, and I disagree with others. But on the whole, her policies are far better than Trump’s.
Take, for example, Trump’s pet issue: immigration. Everyone knows that he plans to build the wall and have Mexico pay for it, yet no one really thinks that Mexico will pay for it (hopefully). Trump himself says the wall would cost about $10 billion (Bernstein Research reports that the cost of the wall is “widely expected to be greater than $15 billion and perhaps as much as $25 billion”). With an exploding deficit, a school system that doesn’t do our country justice and failing entitlement programs, Trump wants to spend billions of dollars on an ineffective solution to a real problem our country faces. Hillary, meanwhile, is seeking comprehension immigration reform and opposes mass deportation (unlike Trump). She seeks a humane, tangible solution to the real immigration policy that we face in our country.
On other issues, Trump’s ideas take us down the clear wrong path. The (conservative-leaning) Tax Foundation estimates that his tax plan would reduce tax revenues by about $10.14 trillion dollars over the next decade. He has proposed no way of making up for this tax revenue by cutting spending, adding this to the national debt, which is a problem the Republican party itself calls “a burden on our economy and families”. Granted, Hillary Clinton doesn’t have any real policies to reduce the debt. She does propose large government projects such as debt-free college, but she has actually planned out how she plans to pay for it (through higher taxes on the rich). Yes, Hillary’s policy on the debt isn’t great, and I disagree with her idea of higher corporate taxes. But Trump’s ideas are poorly thought out, harmful to our nation’s health and take us backwards.
Trump also has proposals that are downright dangerous. He embraces Vladamir Putin’s leadership, a man who murders his opponents and invades other countries. He has expressed a desire to leave NATO, an organization that a large majority of experts maintain keeps our world safe. He wants to dismantle trade policies such as NAFTA and TPP, starting a trade war with China and Mexico. By doing this, he would plunge the economy into a recession and cost the country about 7 million jobs. And he wants to repeal Obamacare completely, which would leave about 24 million people without health insurance.
Yes, you may dislike Hillary Clinton. You may think she’s dishonest, and you may disagree with her bigger government, higher taxes and more interventionist policies. But compared to Trump? She’s a safer option for our country. It’s understandable to disagree with policy specifics. I do. I don’t like her corporate tax policy, her promise of totally debt-free education and her pro-choice ideals. But no one is ever going to agree with any politician (unless you run for office). And Donald Trump is too dangerous. I don’t disagree with his policy specifics; I disagree with everything. Because what he proposes is dangerous. It’s radical and it’s un-American, and it threatens everything we stand for. If we take him at his word, by what he’s proposed, it’s nonsense. His policies have the potential to destroy our country; for that reason alone, Clinton crushes him on policy.
