Now that it seems clear that Republicans will choose Donald Trump as their candidate for president in the 2024 election and that West Virginians who vote Republican will likely support him in overwhelming numbers, many of us are asking, “Why?”
Why support a man who has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, who had open affairs during and between his three marriages, and who has been found by a jury in the civil trial to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carrol and continues to defame her by claiming he never met her (there’s a picture of them together), calling her a liar and worse?
Why support a man whose father built a fortune in real estate, and with him, was charged by the government for discriminating against African Americans in apartment rentals? A man who lived the life of a rich playboy and tried to build a casino empire on borrowed money, declared bankruptcy, only to be propped up by banks forced to try to recover their money by using his name. A man who created a fake university that defrauded students, One who constantly refused to pay small contractors and fought them in court with his wealth to force them to give up and settle for underpayment or loss, and whose company has already been found guilty of fraud in the state of New York and is awaiting judgement on how much they must pay and whether they will ever be allowed to do business there again?
Why support a man who narrowly won an election for president of the United States with millions fewer votes than his opponent in 2016 by claiming that he would build a big beautiful wall to keep out the supposed rapists and murderers who were swarming into our country from Mexico? Who managed to build many miles of wall on our southern border, though that wall has not stopped immigrants who climb it or cut holes in it and walk through.
Why support a man, who, during a pandemic caused by a new kind of virus that was sickening and killing Americans, denied that it was serious, called it no worse than flu, and encouraged people not to take precautions like wearing masks or gathering in groups? He succeeded with the help of Congress in creating a program to quickly create vaccines, but then did not get them out to the public quickly or even promote their use, instead promoting quack remedies like horse medicine or bleach. The result was needless deaths of millions of American, which continues today as people refuse life saving vaccines and treatments.
Why support a man who refused to agree to our basic democratic principle of a peaceful transition of power, instead, knowing he was likely to lose the upcoming election, claimed that the only way he could lose was if it were “rigged,” and made that claim starting on election night and continues to make it to this day despite losing cases claiming fraud in some 60 federal courts, many presided over by judges he appointed.
A man who, after asking violent groups like the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate, called them to come to the Capitol on January 6, 2021 after failing to overturn the election results in various ways and then, despite knowing many were angry, armed, and dangerous, asked them to “fight like hell” to somehow force his Vice President and the Congress to change the results of the election to keep him as their president.
Why support a man facing 91 felony counts in four criminal cases for his behavior during and after his presidency for allegedly paying a porn star to cover up an affair, trying to overturn a lawful election, and mishandling classified documents after leaving office, refusing to return them, and obstructing the investigation into the matter.
Many who support this man are devout Christians and some are saying that God chose Donald Trump to lead our nation. Doesn’t religion warn to beware of false prophets? Doesn’t it warn of the possibility of an anti-Christ? I know that the people who support Trump probably won’t read this, because they follow news sources or people who believe as they do.
So I’m asking those of you who know Trump supporters, who are in their families and go to their churches, to try to reason with them. Raise the questions, though they likely will not believe facts. Do your best to wake them up. Maybe they can be convinced not to vote for Trump even if they can’t support President Biden. Our democracy depends on it.
Paul Epstein is a retired teacher and musician living in Charleston
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