How to Beat Trump in 2020

Sometimes people do the opposite of what they need to do to get what they want. It reminds me of the time a friend was having trouble with her marriage and said, “We decided to have a baby to help us fix our problems.” Sure enough, they had a baby and then got divorced. Democrats keep talking about beating Trump in the November election, but there doesn’t seem to be any person on a clear path to do it.

When I moved to White Plains, New York twenty years ago, I decided to get engaged in politics. I wrote a letter to one of the guys running for mayor, and the next thing I knew he was buying me a coffee. That is how small-town politics work. He was attempting to unseat a multiple term mayor with a famous family political name and wanted my help.

As I worked on the campaign, it became apparent that the ideas generated by his supporters and campaign workers weren’t aligned with his goals. He was less than encouraging one on one, and the night he lost the election it became clear that he was a bad candidate. Years later, when we were trying to remove a mayor who was charged with domestic battery, my old candidate cast the final, singular vote that kept me from talking at a party meeting to discuss the ouster of the bad seed. You see, this is what turns people off to politics.

The next thing that happened was rather intriguing. One of the common council members consistently voted with the mayor on issues his party opposed. This caused many members of the local Democratic party to question his loyalty. At the next election the party leaders told the wandering party member he would not be their candidate. I was astonished, “They can do that?” Yes, they can, and they did. He ran as an independent and lost.

Had the Republican party just said Donald Trump wasn’t going to be their guy in 2016, things would have turned out much differently. The party hedged their bets early on and imagined that Trump’s words and actions were solely designed to get attention and they believed he would eventually moderate and bring the country together.

The vast divide that Donald Trump has created in America is far beyond repair. The Iowa Democratic caucuses have shown us that it isn’t going to be easy to gain the faith and respect of the electorate. Donald Trump and his gang of sycophants are saying the system is rigged and we have a debacle in our processes. Some people believe Trump and his cronies are right, and that is wrong.

Outside of our borders there is a common criticism of our electoral process that says our campaigns are too long and involve too many people. I used to think that as well, but now I feel our methods have great value. As things change and get reshaped, we must see a whole field and not just one obvious candidate. The “chosen person” routine, along with leaked emails, controversial investigations and Trump’s lies, damaged the Democratic party in 2016. I can’t help wondering if there is a way around this massive pile of political dung.

The gravity of American interest has always been based in drama. As the saying goes, one cannot have drama without conflict, and so it is with the Democratic party. We have this dramatic divide between pushed liberal ideals and sober moderate philosophies.

I use the word “pushed” because older people like me are being pressed by younger people who grew up with a whiff of fairness mixed in with a need to change things. I get it. When I was young, I and others my age wanted to get rid of Richard Nixon and end the Vietnam war. I think we helped do both, but Nixon and the war were so corrupt that the adults of that time finally woke up and made changes.

If you write down on a legal pad all of the good and bad things about Donald Trump, you will begin to see how difficult it will be to defeat him in November of this year.

Yes, the economy, as hot as it can possibly get, is a giant strength for Trump. Unemployment is low and lots of people are working. There is probably some kind of job for anyone who wants to work. That is not a mountain, that is a monument. Wages are going up, never fast enough, but there is some evidence that giving rich corporations big tax breaks made them feel guilty enough to give a little back to the folks who drive their successes.

What the hell is Tom Steyer talking about when he says he’ll take Donald Trump on the economy? Does he claim he will make it better? Hardly. Then there’s Michael Bloomberg attempting to buy his way into the nomination with well-crafted TV ads, but is that enough? He has the personality of an undertaker. Bernie and Warren will be cast as horned communists by Trump and millions will buy it. Trump wouldn’t know a communist if he shook their hands. Oh, wait, he already has: Putin, Xi and Un.

Buttigieg is interesting. What will Trump do with a well-spoken logical Christian homosexual. Is Pete ready to be president? That will be the number one question for pundits to unravel, but no human is ready for that job. And with all due respect to Amy Klobuchar with her levelheaded demeanor, she tends to keep telling us why she is running and how good she is, rather than just proving it.

Joe Biden may have been “Joe Biden his time” up to this point, but he’s already been punched in the face by Trump. The Donald didn’t need Ukraine’s help in defaming and denouncing Biden He has generated enough doubt for people to throw him out. Sorry Joe, the train has left the station. As much as Biden has the experience to do the job on day one, he’s going to stumble and stutter through a campaign that, in the end, will not defeat Donald Trump. Correct me if I am wrong, but is there any Democratic candidate with overwhelming edge and power to defeat Donald Trump? Am I wrong? Or am I painfully correct?

Machiavelli’s “The Prince“ highlights different kinds of leaders, “…one is generous, another greedy; one cruel, another tender-hearted; one is faithless, another true to his word; one effeminate and cowardly, another high-spirited and courageous; one is courteous, another haughty; one impure, another chaste; one simple, another crafty; one firm, another facile; one grave, another frivolous; one devout, another unbelieving.” I bolded those words that remind me of Trump. The great historian and author Stephen Kinzer detailed in his books how America used the CIA to overthrow governments we didn’t like. The people who executed those undemocratic actions were just a reflection of our citizens. We have many haughty, greedy and frivolous people who are exactly like Trump. Sorry, but hey, the truth hurts.

Congress had their chance to unseat a terrible president who has exploited the system at every turn on his way to the most powerful office in the land. The way to take down Donald Trump is for someone in the government to leak his tax returns. They hold the secrets of his past and near future. He has fought so hard to keep them secret. There mut be something there. Without that information in the public domain, Donald Trump will be reelected. Who is that brave American who can do what must be done?

New Book About America

The book that tells it like it is…

Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs shows how we’ve wasted our GOLD on bad wars and corruption. While GOD is there for many people as a spiritual enrichment and the provider of glowing feelings, the truth is just praying and believing will not change our major arc. We don’t determine who gets a GUN. We aren’t sure if we have paramilitary groups ready to storm the White House or a White Castle. There is no control of weapons. The GOOFBALLS with the power constantly try to manipulate us into spending more money on bombs and tanks and wars. When all of our institutions are infected with neglect and fall in disrepair, we will only have ourselves to blame. This book is not an antidote for the left or right, it’s an accelerant to move the middle off their collective asses to go do something positive for America.

Get the Kindle Version HERE. Or order your paperback edition HERE.