A neighbor recently told me that he could not trust President Trump. He raised a legitimate issue. Trustworthiness is important in a President. It is part of the “character” issue that Joe Biden has raised in the current campaign. Let’s examine the trustworthiness of the two candidates.
I can certainly understand why people could believe that Donald Trump could not be trusted back in 2016 when he pulled off his stunning upset of front-runner Hillary Clinton. Trump had never held political office before, and his words and deeds as a private citizen were often out of line. Nevertheless, if the President is judged on his actual performance in office, something the media has purposely refused to do, you can see that he has largely been true to his word, even if you disagree with his policies.
He claimed from the start that he was for peace and against the interminable wars that the country has been involved in during the last two administrations. Under his leadership our military defeated ISIS and then the President proceeded to bring back troops from the Middle East. Moreover, he brokered unprecedented deals between Israel and its Arab neighbors, something that was not even discussed in the recent debates. He followed up on his pledge to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, and the world did not come to an end.
From the beginning the President argued that previous trade deals were bad and not in the Nation’s best interests. Despite much opposition, he scrapped NAFTA, a trade deal that everyone agreed was flawed and his administration negotiated a new one that seems much better. He imposed tariffs and sanctions on foreign countries like China that were not playing by the rules.
He claimed that other foreign deals were flawed and followed through by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, and the Iranian nuclear deal. There would be no more planeloads of cash shipped to supporters of terrorism. He also claimed that NATO allies and South Korea were not paying their fair share for their own defense, and got them to pony up billions.
From the first, he argued that the tax code was unfair and overly complicated. He followed through with the tax reform act of 2017. By 2019 Federal tax revenue increased 4% over the pre-reform level and figures indicate that the average taxpayer paid less.
Before his election Donald Trump produced a list of 20 names from which he would fill any Supreme Court vacancies. He followed through on his pledge and so far has chosen three extremely qualified justices, none of whom were party hacks or personal friends.
On the other hand, I have to admit that I find it hard to trust Democratic candidate and former Vice-President Joe Biden. Even before the recent documents appeared I wondered how a man who could work 47 years as a “public servant” could amass a huge fortune, well in excess of most of the people he was supposed to serve.
I also wondered how his son Hunter, with no qualifications whatsoever, could be on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company at a salary in excess of $600,000 per year. Moreover, I wondered how Vice-President Biden, who was in charge of overseeing billions in aid to Ukraine and bragged that he forced the government of Ukraine to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating that company, could not be aware of his son's position. Subsequently, Biden claimed that not only was he unaware of his son’s activities in the Ukraine, he also knew nothing of his dealings with China even after flying there together on Air Force II.
In the last two weeks my suspicions were confirmed when the NY Post broke the story about the emails on a computer that Hunter Biden dropped off at a repair store but never bothered to retrieve. The emails indicated that the former Vice President not only knew of his son’s activities but that they were part of a whole Biden family enterprise designed to capitalize on the Biden name.
Incredibly, the story was spiked or censored on most news outlets. Even when a former business partner of Hunter Biden went public with corroborating testimony and evidence, his story was only reported on Fox News. Even the Wall Street Journal, which featured editorials on the subject, did not mention it on its news pages.
Nevertheless, the story stinks and the silence of the Biden campaign has been deafening.
I also find it difficult to trust Joe Biden because I suspect that he and his campaign are hiding something else. At age 78 Biden is obviously suffering the effects of old age. I won’t speculate on his medical or psychological history but his garbled and confused statements are troubling. Even his handlers keep him away from stressful situations or interviews.
He won’t, for example, say whether he is for or against his party’s idea of packing the Supreme Court with more judges in order to get favorable outcomes. He claimed that he is the Democratic party but he will not say. Unlike the President, he will not publish names of potential Supreme Court nominees. On other questions, he just says he has plans or will appoint blue-ribbon commissions to investigate and come up with solutions, a typical evasive tactic.
It seems clear to me that rather than being the Democratic Party, he is just a front man, an old war horse brought out of retirement as the party’s only hope to regain power. The other Democratic candidates looked dangerous or lackluster. There is no enthusiasm for Biden even among Democrats.
The President was correct in the last debate when he branded Biden as just “a politician.”
###
No comments:
Post a Comment