New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020nypost.comMichael Goodwin
I
N March of 2016, I wrote
that I would likely support
Donald Trump because he
was the only presidential
candidate speaking for work-
ing-class Americans. I also
viewed the contempt for
Trump by the media and elite
of both parties as contempt
for his supporters as well.
As the campaign wore on,
that contempt became an ac-
ceptable form of bigotry, as
reflected in Hillary Clinton’s
“basket of deplorables”
smear at a fundraiser.
On Election Day, I put
aside concerns about
whether Trump was ready
and voted for him. My hope
was that enough people
agreed the nation desper-
ately needed a course correc-
tion on policies and leader-
ship, and that Trump, despite
his background and lack of
experience, could rise to the
occasion.
Four years later, everything
has changed, not all of it for
the better. Trump shook
Washington to its core and
remade the Republican Party,
but the nation’s fault lines
make the divisions of four
years ago seem almost
quaint.
One thing that won’t
change is my vote. In fact, the
2020 choice is much easier.
There are two main reasons
why I’m sticking with
Trump.
One is because of what he
has done, and the other is be-
cause of what his opponents
have done to sabotage and
overthrow him.
First, the primary yardstick
of a president is whether he
produces peace and prosper-
ity. Trump achieved both un-
til the pandemic sent the
economy into recession.
Thankfully, the recovery is
happening and a vaccine
should give it rocket fuel.
Trump’s most admirable
trait is that he has kept his
key promises. That is re-
markable only because vot-
ers have too long tolerated
politicians who sell one thing
and deliver another. For all
his flaws, the president has
largely delivered what he
promised.
From the start, he was a
jobs president and his po-
lices benefited workers of ev-
ery race and income level.
His ironclad commitment to
job creation was illustrated at
last week’s debate, where
sharp contrasts with JoeBiden centered on the Dem-
ocrat’s pledge to raise taxes
and “transition away” from
oil and gas. Trump correctly
called both job killers.
Cutting taxes and regula-
tions, controlling immigra-
tion, supporting school
choice and nominating quali-
fied, conservative judges and
Supreme Court justices are
other big things Trump said
he would do, and he did.
Biden would do the opposite.
On foreign policy, he was
true to his word to wind
down the longest wars and
keep America out of new
ones while strengthening the
military. He is making his-
toric peace between Israel
and Arab states while making
clear to Iran it must give up
its nuclear and terrorist am-
bitions or be brought to its
knees.
True, some European allies
feel neglected, but it’s also
true they looked down their
noses at Trump’s America
First agenda. Though they
preferred the apology tours
and soft internationalism of
Barack Obama, they agreed
to Trump’s demand to pay
more for NATO.
The most important and
difficult Trump initiative is
his confrontation with China
over lopsided trade deals and
its regional aggression. No
other president even at-
tempted it. While real
progress is being made, a
long struggle will be needed
to reverse the three decades
where China used subterfuge
and theft to build its econ-
omy, often at the expense of
American jobs.
Many voters believe the
president wasn’t focused
enough on the coronavirus, a
belief cemented for some
when he and the first lady
got infected.
Those voters have a point
— up to a point. The virus
was a once-in-a-century phe-
nomenon and despite erratic
presentations and odd com-
ments, Trump commanded
an enormous mobilization of
government and industry re-
sources and distributed them
with dispatch to the states.
The rapid progress on vac-
cine development is unprec-
edented.
Any honest score card
must also include the dispar-
ities in the states’ performan-
ces, with governors in New
York, New Jersey and else-
where issuing fatally flawedorders that led to thousands
of unnecessary deaths in
nursing homes.
In addition, blue states that
remain under stringent lock-
downs have unemployment
rates nearly twice as high as
states where GOP governors
moved faster to reopen
schools and businesses.D
ESPITE Trump’s suc-
cesses, or because of
them, the many forces
arrayed against him in 2016
refused to accept his presi-
dency. They did everything
they could to end it, and that
beyond-the-pale defiance isthe second reason why I will
vote for him.
The other side must not be
rewarded for its efforts to
sabotage and remove a duly-
elected president.
Russia, Russia, Russia was
a scam that ruined lives and
put a cloud over the White
House for nearly three years.
The sequel was partisan im-
peachment, a clumsy coup
attempt orchestrated by
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Trump haters in Congress,
the deep state, and the media.
The press corps’ bias of
2016 has morphed into full-
blown partisanship on a dailybasis at print, digital and
broadcast outlets. Facebook,
Twitter and other platforms
openly use their power to
censor pro-Trump news and
opinion while promoting
anything that makes the
president look bad.
It’s not the algorithms; it’s
the people behind them.
Their decision to block
The Post’s groundbreaking
reports on Hunter Biden’s
business deals and Joe
Biden’s involvement should
scare anyone who treasures
the First Amendment. To
censors, Orwell’s nightmare
is their dream.All fairness has been aban-
doned in a frenzy to destroy
Trump and everything he
represents. This culture war
extends backward, too.
The destruction of art-
works celebrating Christo-
pher Columbus, George
Washington, Abraham Lin-
coln and black and white
abolitionists reveals a de-
termination to erase Amer-
ica’s founding ideals and re-
place individual liberty
with socialism and identity
politics.
The New York Times’ er-
ror-ridden 1619 Project, de-
spite repudiation by histori-
ans, is nonetheless being
adopted by many schools.
Biden, in public life for
nearly 50 years, falls in line
with his party’s radical wing
by insisting that “systemic
racism” stains the nation, es-
pecially law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the spread of
political violence and the re-
fusal of many on the left to
condemn Antifa and those
who burn and loot embold-
ens a new criminal class of
anarchists.
Shamefully, Democrats, the
Times, The Washington
Post, CNN and broadcast
networks defend the unwar-
ranted 2016 spying operation
against Trump led by Jim
Comey at the FBI, and ap-
proved by the Obama-Biden
White House. Although the
top leaders of the storied
agency were removed in dis-
grace, just one agent has
been charged with a crime
related to the dirtiest politi-
cal trick in history.
The outrageous endorse-
ment by the media of the cor-
ruption of law enforcement
and intelligence for partisan
purposes is reason enough to
vote for Trump.
I believe much of the na-
tion’s discord can be traced
to the Times’ decision to be-
come an activist propaganda
sheet to defeat Trump. The
most powerful influencer in
the country, it has a trickle-
down effect on nearly all me-
dia institutions.
If The Gray Lady were to
return to being a trusted
source of news, others would
follow and the country could
return to more civil debates
about our differences.
Thus, the election is not
just Trump vs. Biden. It’s also
America vs. The New York
Times.
Vote for America.AP