LifestyleWould you guys vote for... Trump?

submitted by joy1090 from self.LGBDropTheT

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[–]fuck_reddit 16 insightful - 3 fun16 insightful - 2 fun17 insightful - 3 fun -  (5 children)

This is probably unpopular here, but I was planning on voting Trump regardless of his LGB stances because of his economic success and foreign policy successes (especially in the last month). That said, from what I know of his personal life and business career, I support him on LGB issues as well. I know people will point to how the DoJ argued before the SCOTUS, but I frankly agree that sexuality and "gender expression" are not covered under sex-based legal protections. I would prefer amending the law over lazily re-interpreting it. Also, I supported the ban on trans people that have begun their transition serving in the military. He's also making battling HIV and the criminalization of homosexuality internationally a major issue and, frankly, I never expected any president to do that. For me, that shows his character because he's doing more for LGB people internationally than Stonewall, GLAAD, the HRC, etc. combined. Edit: he's also elevated very competent LGB people to high positions (Rick Grenell was the first openly-gay cabinet member and he's one of the most successful people in the US gov. rn).

[–]BEB 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

My job for a long time was to pay attention to world events, especially the Middle East. Trump is not having foreign policy successes in the Middle East. If anything, he is making the situation even more fraught.

[–]fuck_reddit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I would partially agree. I strongly dislike how quickly he is withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. I think everyone has so drank the koolaid on the oil/WMD's in Iraq that no one sees it was Obama's withdrawal that doomed Iraq. In that way, I think Trump is making the same mistake. In terms of Iran and Israel though, I think he is doing very well. Two peace deals with Israel and Arab League countries in a month when none had been made for decades is amazing. Also getting Kosovo (majority muslim) to recognize Jerusalem as the capital is a major shift as well.

[–]BEB 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Obama withdrew under George Jr. Bush's agreement, not his own.

Trump is withdrawing troops AT THE LAST MINUTE because, believe it or not, many disillusioned veterans and anti-war types, including libertarians, voted for Trump as an anti-war candidate, then got disillusioned when he didn't deliver. This is Trump desperately playing to one of his former bases.

Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel enrages not just the Arab street, but many devout Muslims. There are Muslims in places like Indonesia and Malaysia and India who will not be happy. The population of Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, will not be happy.

I don't have the time to go further on this argument but I would suggest anyone interested in the Middle East read MondoWeiss and InformationClearinghouse.info to start with. I don't agree with all of it, but at least those sites casts a critical eye on all this.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I was planning on voting Trump regardless of his LGB stances because of his economic success and foreign policy successes

Can you tell us what you mean by this, without assigning Trump credit for the policy successes he inherited from previous presidents?

[–]fuck_reddit 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Tax cuts, massive deregulation (this is, IMO, probably the most important part of his presidency and the reason for his economic success, probably even more so than the tax cuts), opportunity zones, Israel deals, sanctions on China/Venezuela/Iran, SCOTUS appointees, appellate court appointees, the killing of terrorist leaders in the ME, de-escalation with N. Korea and return of US soldiers' bodies, combating child trafficking, opposition to double-standards for Chinese firms v. US counterparts, record low unemployment across all demographics and people returning to the workforce, real wage growth, reduction in reliance on food-stamps, reduced drug prices for the first time in decades, increased military spending from NATO, Right-To-Try, vast increase in efforts to stop HIV epidemic in the US, improved VA wait times and results, withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords yet still beat the US's carbon reduction goals, Space Force (it's a meme right now, but it is extremely important that we are ahead of the curve in this area), reduced EU tariffs on American goods, no new wars (I'm Luke-warm on this. I don't think we can just pull out of countries and leave them to fend for themselves. I would like peace, but I fear that leaving too quickly will create more conflict), revelation of FISA/intelligence apparatus abuse.

Some things I'm excited to see: national school choice, re-shoring of critical industries like drug manufacturing and rare earth mineral, decoupling from China, near-shoring and re-shoring of major industries, further ME peace agreements, trade deals with EU, UK, and others (such as India).

I haven't read too much about the USMCA or Phase One with China. I can't say if I like them or not. Phase One will probably be a failure due to the Coronavirus. It wasn't meant to be a standalone deal, and US antipathy to China will probably prevent further deals. I think it'll be a failure due to unforeseen circumstances. I like that he has forced a shift in how the US views international trade, I don't know if he has gone far enough towards actually establishing true free-trade deals.