Thursday, March 28, 2024
 
Independents Share Trump Supporters’ Anger, But Most Remain Wary of Candidate

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 1 (DPI) – America’s swing voters – blocs of independents and libertarians – are wary of voting for Donald Trump, yet they understand the groundswell of anger fueling his candidacy and expect no third-party candidate to emerge.  That’s according to a range of informal surveys in recent weeks, which all suggest that the Trump-vs-Hillary slugfest will be the most entertaining – and potentially destructive – presidential contest in US history.

It will also be, according to several pundits, a campaign in which “going negative” will be central to both strategies, and being discredited as a candidate – over and over, by the media and competitors – may not even matter.  A string of press reports about Trump’s many business failings have so far failed to make a serious dent in early national polls, in which he is in nearly a tie with Clinton.

Swing voters – those independents whose actions decide elections – share the view that the nation’s political duopoly needs an outsider to challenge it, and reform the political process.  But Trump – bombastic, unscrupulous and underhanded in his business practices – hardly looks like the agent of healthy political reform.

Two of the five most popular posts among more than 2,000 reader comments on NYTimes.com today:

I continue to find it astonishing that so many Americans would seriously consider Donald Trump for president. I suppose that it can be tempting for people to block out individual stories, like these, that demonstrate his unfitness to lead the United States against the backdrop of the many other unflattering stories that have already been printed. But this story underlines how Mr. Trump is at heart nothing more than a glorified salesman, out to make a buck in any way he can, even at the expense of students who had to max out their credit cards. And it further underlines how readily he resorts to race baiting of Latinos, as demonstrated by this case where there was absolutely no reason to comment on the race of Judge Curiel. For those of you who dislike Hillary, we get it. She shouldn’t have made paid speeches on Wall Street or used a private email account. But given how seriously she has approached public policy her entire life and her progressive positions across the board, how do her mistakes overshadow the prospect of putting the unsavory Mr. Trump in the Oval Office? This man has no moral compass.

It wasn’t enough that a financially pressed couple were pushed to” sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future” No, others were urged to max out their credit cards on a high risk scheme, lured by Trump’s promises. This is the man who is suppose dto be trusted to look after the financial welfare of America’s citizens? He didn’t even care about exploiting a relatively small group of people whose financial futures were endangered by his willingness to take their money. And for what? Another notch on his list of “successes”?  The coup de grace? Pressing students to write only positive reviews. Standing over them to intimidate them. Some may sneer at those who were duped, casting blame on them. And yes, perhaps they were naive. But the ethical decision to make empty promises – and charge tens of thousands for them – begins and ends with Trump. After all, It was his signature on the marketing materials. Either the university courses truly had his stamp of approval or he demonstrates a shameful lack of oversight in signing off on them. Either way, he falls far short of presidential stature.

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