Why I voted for Trump

By Mike Measday, Las Vegas

Friday, July 28, 2017 | 2 a.m.

I’d like to explain my vote for President Donald Trump to those — particularly in response to a recent letter to the Sun — who cannot understand how any reasonably smart or rational person could vote for him.

Let me begin by saying that Trump was my 15th choice out of 17 Republican candidates. I thought that while he seemed to be a typical New Yorker, he had some good ideas, and I liked the idea of an outsider being in office. The letter’s list of things we crazy Trump voters ignored or were oblivious to, is typical of the arguments made by those who do not care for our president.

Here’s a short list of typical accusations toward our president: racism, lacking a moral or ethical compass, political inexperience, bankruptcies and his refusal to release his tax returns.

It is true that in 1973, Trump was sued, along with many other companies, by the Justice Department for racial discrimination in renting apartments to minorities. The case was settled with no admission of guilt, but that hardly meant there was no wrongdoing. Did I ignore this while voting for Trump? Yes. It was 40 years ago, it was his dad’s business, Trump was 27, and the man has made up for it by the way he’s treated minorities in his many businesses since then.

As far as not having a moral or ethical compass, this one is my favorites. Once the primaries were over, we all had the choice between Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. If I’m looking for a moral compass, I don’t think Clinton is the place to look. I can name a lot of things that demonstrate her lack of morals, but I’ll use only one. To stand in front of the coffins of four dead Americans and flat out lie about their deaths is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in politics.

Trump has no political experience. This is laughable after our last president, who was elected after serving less than one full term as a junior senator. I remember a lot of comments like, “Let him get his feet beneath him,” and, “He’ll grow into the role.” How about the same courtesy for this president?

Trump filed bankruptcy three times. Yes, I ignored this. He’s a businessman and he used the laws available to him to his advantage — otherwise known as good business practice.

Trump didn’t release his tax returns. I ignored this as well. There is no law requiring him to do so. The end.

Trump failed to pay subcontractors money owed to them. Did I ignore this? Yes. I have no defense for this. I believe in paying what you owe to anyone who has provided a service. There is no excuse for this. This is a failure on his part. Plain and simple.

The letter said that we Trump voters were counting on the president bringing his business acumen to the White House. This was the one thing we thought we could count on, but it was never there. Only time will tell whether this is true. What is true is that we voted for him anyway. What we could definitely count on if Clinton was elected, was more of the same old empty lies and dirty politics emblematic of Washington.

We could count on liberal justices appointed to the Supreme Court. It is for this reason alone that I voted for Trump. It was a tepid yes to him, and an emphatic hell no to Clinton.

I sure I’m not alone in wishing I had better choices to vote for. When it came down to the final two candidates, it was the easiest choice in the world to me. As with every election cycle in recent memory, I had to vote for the lesser of two evils. I have no reason to believe it’ll be any different anytime soon.