Let's Help, Not Hinder, President Elect Trump (Congress, Iraq, middle east)

[chrissy_rox2]

I think folks (Dems and Hillary supporters specifically) need to calm down and not be so fatalistic about what a Trump presidency is going to look like. We don't know for sure. People say all kinds of things to get elected, then change once they are in office for various reasons (remember Obama talking about closing Gitmo and totally pulling out of Iraq... or George H Bush Sr who said 'read my lips; no new taxes'? MY POINT EXACTLY).

Donald Trump has the ability to evolve on certain mainstream issues that he has brought up in the past. He may look deeper into certain things he targeted on the campaign trail such as the undocumented, the Supreme Court, stop and frisk and banning Muslims from the country. On its face, all of the aforementioned have merit in how he discussed them:

1) There should not be as many undocumented in the United States as there are.
2) The Supreme Court needs another justice and he does have the right to choose a conservative one.
3) We do need to restore 'law and order' to this nation... some Americans are reacting to situations in such a way as to make them worse.
4) People are afraid of terrorism and vetting those coming into the country is a wise idea (even under extreme vetting – lol)... he is right to say that as a country, we have our own problems and don't need anyone else’s.

I believe deeply that Donald Trump is not the pariah that the main stream media has made him out to be. I don't believe for an instant that someone who has been in business for as many years as he has in one of the most diverse cities in the world and having dealt with the international community in regards to his business dealings is the “Hitler” that some have been led to believe. He is not Buddha or Jesus, that's for sure. Still, he is not a “Hitler” or even 'Hitleresque' and we need to stop throwing those terms around so casually because Adolph Hitler was the real pariah.

Donald Trump appears mentally and emotionally flexible to me and he would have to be in order to successfully navigate his business dealings and bounce back from various business failures. With this in mind, he may come to understand:

1) Many of the undocumented here are from Latin America... why are so many fleeing their native countries to come here? Their political structures are not serving the people in their native countries. Why? Because the west in general and the United States in particular have deeply interfered in and undermined Latin American politics and democracy for the past 40-50 years. Donald Trump, if he sticks with his more non-interventionist policies, may wind up deporting some people back to countries where we will stop interfering so they can potentially fix their own political systems and vote those into office who would be accountable to the people instead of their western handlers.

2) In regards to the Supreme Court, it is unrealistic to expect a president in this age to not choose a justice whose ideology sides with the party who chose him/her. If Hillary had gotten in, she most likely would have chosen someone who was either center or center right. Though Trump has come out against abortion, he may wind up being more centrist or center right versus extreme right. We don't know exactly what he is going to do… he may (or may not) evolve on what he's stated in the past. He may not even be far right conservative (he doesn't strike me as such) and all the constant fretting may come to not. We have no way of knowing. All we can do is apply some pressure and wait and see.

3) Law and Order... this can mean many things. Let's not assume that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump are going to go right back to the 'Stop and Frisk' policies that Mr. Giuliani put into place while Mayor of New York. Much has happened since then both legally and news-wise to state that racial profiling is both illegal and does not work. We have extensive data to back this up now that we did not have before. They also have access to this same data, which they may review and as such, take a different approach. Their approach may be equally bad or worse... or... it could be better. If Donald Trump is serious about being a leader for all Americans and having us come together (which he does appear to want on some level... at least I believe he is sincere when he says it), then let's make sure that we who are in the know start calling and emailing both our congress men/women on both sides of the aisle with this information. As for the police and unarmed black men getting wounded or killed, has anyone considered the possibility of undiagnosed or mis-diagnosed mental illnesses in these cases? There is definitely racial bias in the United States... there always has been and sadly probably always will be on some level. This has been extensively documented and is available for anyone to see if they truly want to know about it. US Law Enforcement in general, do need better training and information in how they both view and handle African-Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans and First Nation peoples in this country. That said, we as Americans need to also take some onus to try and understand why people are resisting arrest. A mentally sound person usually will not resist a law enforcement official's commands. It is not new news that the US does not handle mental illness well. It is also not new news that most poor people and people of color in the US have not had equal access to healthcare which mental illness falls under. Why don't we start emailing, calling and petitioning our congress men/women on this issue as well. Donald Trump needs access to good information. Perhaps we can help get him that information so he can make better and more informed decisions.

4) Fortunately, Donald Trump has at least publically altered his stance on 'banning Muslims'. He has morphed his stance into 'extreme vetting'. I know that there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and that only a fraction of a fraction are 'committing acts of terror'. I also know that via our foreign policy, we are making a bad situation worse in the Middle East not to mention the FBI recently came out with data stating that our foreign policy is contributing to the creation of terrorism in the Middle East and parts of Africa. Again, like in Latin America, our and Britain's interference and constant undermining of Middle Eastern governments over the course of the last 70 years since WWII has helped to create this mess. There are a lot of angry, hurt, scared and frustrated people in parts of the Middle East right now... some of whom are fearful and angry enough that they do want to come over here and harm us the way we've harmed them. They know the US Government has corrupt leanings in regards to parts of if not all of the Middle East ... just take a look at some of the Clinton/Podesta emails that Wikileaks has published in regards to the Clinton Foundation accepting millions of dollars from both Qatar and Saudi Arabia (which we support financially and provide military weapons to) when she knew that both governments were funding ISIS/ISIL. If she knew this, is it far-fetched to think that President Obama and the Obama administration did not know this? Democracy be damned! If President Elect Donald Trump decides to stop interfering in Middle Eastern politics in a nefarious way, perhaps some may be able to go back to their respective countries and create the governments they need. Or at the very least, perhaps he will come to understand that the West in general and the US specifically helped to create the mess that is currently over there including the refugee crisis, and he may (through extreme vetting – lol) allow people into the United States who truly need refuge.


Not all of the votes for Donald Trump were so called “White-Backlash”. I am a 43 year old Black woman born and raised in Boston, MA (living elsewhere now) and have been a die-hard Democratic Party voter and advocate since I turned 18 years old in 1992 and voted for Bill Clinton. I wear Birkenstocks, eat granola, believe in marriage equality and want universal healthcare. I came within a hair (literally 3 days) of voting for Donald Trump. I changed my mind 3 days before Election Day and wound up voting for Jill Stein due to a chance encounter (or maybe not – wink) with a lady who was Muslim in full covered regalia at my local beach. She saw me and my daughter playing on the beach and offered my daughter some bread from her hotel breakfast to feed to the seagulls. You know what we talked about? Raising children, how all 3 major religions are linked and how much I don't like living in the city I live in (she chuckled because she likes it). At no time did politics, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, terrorism, the Middle East or racism/Islamophobia come up. She was warm, kind and had an open spirit. After 1.5 hours of conversation, I realized that personally I did not merely need to cast a protest vote or take a guess as to how Donald Trump was going to govern. I decided to cast an ethical vote for someone who's political and social justice background has never been in question. And I am glad I did.

Having said all of this, now that we have Donald Trump, I challenge everyone to turn off both cable and network news as they are corporate, government run propaganda machines meant to keep you in the dark and mislead you. They are not news organizations and you need to turn them off today. I also challenge my fellow Americans to come to Donald Trump's table with an open spirit and HELP him govern in a way that is better than what we've had for the past 35 years since Ronald Reagan. Reagan was not a great president. He helped Wall Street run amok, essentially turning all the faucets on to leave them running. President Clinton and Dubbya doubled down and turned the faucets on at full blast. Obama wasn't much better and apparently via the Clinton/Podesta emails published by Wikileaks, Hillary was going to carry on the Wall Street run amok legacy... and this is just on domestic financial policy... never mind foreign policy.

I think Donald Trump is going to try to go against the establishment and govern more independently. He is going to make some errors and not going to do everything everyone wants him to do. I'm sure his mind is set on certain things and flexible on others. Where we can, lets help educate this man and give him solid information to think about and from which to govern. Let's not tear him down just because you don't agree with all of the things he's talked about... because again, on the surface, much of what he's talked about has merit.

In his presidential acceptance speech, he asked for us to come together and said he would need help governing. That sounds like an open soul to me and I am going to help and not hinder him!

[Jimmyp25]

The liberals that you see on TV are all brainwashed by the media. It will take some serious George Orwell to wake them up. I don't think any of them can be helped though...

[Nickchick]

Well if he wants to go against the establishment and says he wishes to make America great again, here's how I will personally be more open minded is if he finds a way to either do one of two things get the money back that was scammed from me years ago or makes it so online applications are no longer a thing. If he was able to get back that money then I know he wasn't lying about going against the establishment since the statute of limitations was passed on it.
I know I'm not the only one who was scammed out of my hard earned money either..it seems to be a conspiracy because I hear about tons of people who for example got swindled in time share scams. I tend to take what I read with a grain of salt but these sound like real people complaining and the stories they share sound like something out of a horror movie.
Of course serious crimes are important too so please don't think I'm saying that but as a person who has had serious crimes done to me, it would make those serious crimes a little less traumatic to have the money that I spent so much time to get back. Also I don't know what he would do to make the serious crimes not happen. People who commit serious crimes in my experience can't be stopped as easily so we might be doing the best we can on that.

Basically in conclusion these are the two things that I think need to be fixed in this country: scams being taken more seriously than they have been and the job application process. He would need to find a way to make it so more applications are being heard since they end up in a black hole..although he may not have to do away with online applications but that might be the only way. Strip it and go back to basics because while technology is great, it should not be in certain things.

If he (and his team of Congress obviously) fixes both of those things for me and the rest of the country, I may still not care for him as a person but I will respect him as a leader so much. I don't see him doing either of these things or much of anything to help us though but it would be evidence of him following up on his impossible claims.

Healthcare is of course broken too but I'm not sure if we can fix that. Also I want to start with those two things since he is a businessman so his tasks can be money related. I also feel like if we can fix money related matters then maybe less people will do serious crimes because the world is governed by money.

[Annie53]

Let's Help, Not Hinder, President Elect Trump


You mean the way everyone helped President Obama?

[metalmancpa]

You are preaching to humans. Good luck with your wishes. And please let the GOP that publicly was out to stonewall Obama that you are so appreciative of their team spirit.