I will always put policy above personality – IF I can’t have both.
Let me repeat what I wrote in 2021 – January 2021, and explain why when the option is Kamala or Trump, there is only ONE option.
I’m not here to defend Trump’s at-times terrible tone, messaging, character and communication.
But here in NZ, we had a Prime Minister who had what the media called superb tone, messaging, character and communication – yet divided the country in ways we have never seen and are still recovering from, and championed one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world.
So I will always put policy above personality – IF I can’t have both.
But I’m more than happy to put on record that Trump’s administration between 2017 and 2021 was superb on many issues of life, family and religious liberty.
This link from the Family Research Council gives you a long (impressive!) summary of superb policies over the past four years.
Trump was a breath of fresh air compared to Obama’s administration. Most of these policies have been attacked, overturned and destroyed by the Biden/Harris administration, as they would have been if there had been a ‘Hillary administration’.
It also highlights why most of the media hated him so much and why – ironically – they never accepted his valid election for four years – and still don’t!
And just as a reminder, here’s the ticket that won the last election (for those trying to excuse Kamala from the past four years of disaster
Here’s just some of the highlights from the long list during Trump’s presidency:
So I will always put policy above personality – IF I can’t have both.
But I’m more than happy to put on record that Trump’s administration between 2017 and 2021 was superb on many issues of life, family and religious liberty.
This link from the Family Research Council gives you a long (impressive!) summary of superb policies over the past four years.
Trump was a breath of fresh air compared to Obama’s administration. Most of these policies have been attacked, overturned and destroyed by the Biden/Harris administration, as they would have been if there had been a ‘Hillary administration’.
It also highlights why most of the media hated him so much and why – ironically – they never accepted his valid election for four years – and still don’t!
And just as a reminder, here’s the ticket that won the last election (for those trying to excuse Kamala from the past four years of disaster
Here’s just some of the highlights from the long list during Trump’s presidency:
* addressed the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (2020). In this speech, the president highlighted his administration’s commitment to advancing religious liberty, protecting unborn children, and combating human trafficking.
* reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy which blocks funding for international organisations that perform or promote abortion
* rescinded President Obama’s guidance that required public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and showers of their choice
* formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and stated that the American embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
* Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem. The document required countries which signed to develop national action plans to reduce the demand for illicit drugs, cut off supply at their borders and strengthen international cooperation. (NZ refused to sign it!)
* issued a new proposed regulation on conscience protections related to abortion
* would no longer conduct internal research using tissue from aborted babies and would greatly increase the ethics rules and safeguards that govern external fetal tissue research contracts.
* called states to join a coalition of countries that seek to advocate against pro-abortion policies at the World Health Organization and the United Nations (UN).
* in 2019 he hosted a meeting during the U.N. General Assembly and gave a speech solely on the topic of religious freedom – the first time a U.S. president has hosted a meeting focused solely on religious freedom at the UN.
* removed burdensome requirements that all government funding grantees, including those that are faith-based, must accept same-sex marriages and profess gender identity as valid in order to be eligible. This included the adoption and foster care space, where these requirements had been used to shut down faith-based providers of foster care and adoption.
* issued guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public elementary and secondary schools.
* became the first sitting president to give remarks in person at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. (2020). In his address he stated that every child is a sacred gift from God and reiterated his effort to defend the dignity and sanctity of every human life.
* during his State of the Union address 2020, President Trump called on Congress to pass legislation that would ban late-term abortions.
* confirmed 200+ judges who are constitutional originalists (will interpret the law as written, rather than interpret it according to their personal policy preferences.)
* sent a letter to the UN Secretary General advocating that the UN not push abortion during the coronavirus crisis.
[* Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech on the importance of protecting life and reaffirmed the administration’s pro-life positions. He also became the first vice president to visit a pregnancy resource center. In contrast, Harris became the first vice president to visit an abortion center. What a contrast.]
* signed an executive order that reinforces existing protections for children born prematurely, with disabilities, or in medical distress, including infants who survive abortion.
* as a result of his appointments to the Supreme Court – which is his role and privilege just as it is every President before him (but they didn’t get attacked like Trump did for the appointments, even though one of them, a black woman, couldn’t define what is a woman) – the horrendous and legally flawed Roe v Wade case was overturned.
And every unborn child celebrated. The media didn’t.
That’s an impressive list. Phew!
We may not miss his personality, he undoubtedly has many flaws (as do all politicians), BUT his policy achievements were stunning.
And we need more of them.
Here’s one other person that’s voting for Trump. Chloe Cole is a victim of the left ideology of chemicalising and castrating young confused people in the name of gender ideology.
Of course, Kamala doesn’t only want to promote the butchering of young people – but the killing of unborn children in the womb.
She is one of the most anti-life politicians ever. But she won’t be the last, sadly.
Now I want to be fair and acknowledge that some of Trump’s messaging recently has rightly caused concern.
And here’s a couple of excerpts from previous McBLOGs. In April I said this:
Former President Donald Trump position on abortion has previously been unclear looking toward the 2024 presidential election, despite the fact that the former president appointed three Supreme Court justices who ultimately made it possible to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022 by a majority vote.
He now says each state should follow “the will of the people” and pass state-specific laws on abortion.
He had previously hinted at a federal ban across the country limiting it to 15 weeks
But this week he laid out his policy. I want to play you the full clip so that you can hear it all in context – something the media in NZ will never do.
He first talked about IVF and encouraging families to have babies – and this is a good tool if it promotes the natural process between married couples. Unfortunately IVF has become about surrogacy, sperm donation and manipulating science and parenthood, and the discarding of fertilised embryos – those parts of IVF are unacceptable.
But here’s his comments about abortion
So although Trump championed the overturning of Roe, he did not publicly say whether he would endorse a 15- or 16-week abortion ban, which prominent anti-abortion activists had hoped he would endorse.
I don’t think he’d veto it though – as Biden would definitely do!
Since the Dobbs decision, some in the Republican camp have sought a 15-week limitation, and some Democrats on the other side of the aisle want to "codify" Roe v. Wade with virtually limitless abortion access nationwide.
Polls have shown, time and again, that most Americans want abortion to be legal after the 2022 that overturned Roe v Wade and returned the issue to the states after several decades, though many are open to restrictions such as a ban after 16 weeks.
So they support abortion but certain types – and definitely want restrictions. That’s something Democrats – and pro abortion politicians in NZ don’t want. They have no respect or acknowledgement of the unborn child.
Commentators have said that Trump’s stance could play well with centrist and independent voters, who are mostly likely to decide the fate of the 2024 election. He appeared to allude to that by encouraging listeners to “do what’s right for your children. Do what’s right for our country and vote.”
But I want Trump to be unapologetically pro-life.
And then after the Presidential debate between Trump and Biden when the world realised that the Democrats and the media had been gaslighting us all about Biden’s cognitive ability to even be President, I commented on this part of the debate and Trump’s comments:
During the presidential debate with then-President Biden who was the Democrat nominee, Trump caused major concerns from pro-lifers when he affirmed his support for the legal availability of chemical abortion drugs (which are used in approximately two-thirds of abortions nationally). He added that he would not block abortion pills (mifepristone) from being mailed to states that prohibit abortion.
Sadly, Trump is totally wrong on this. On two aspects.
The Supreme Court did not approve the abortion pill. The Supreme Court in the US unanimously rejected a challenge to the safety and availability of, a widely-used abortion pill for chemical abortions – which is also used in New Zealand - citing the pro-life organisations lacked legal standing to sue. In other words, because the pro-life doctors could conscientiously object to prescribing the drug, they weren’t affected. So the ruling was based on procedural grounds. The Court’s ruling, therefore, did not address safety concerns or the FDA's decisions since 2016 to relax regulations on the abortion drug. Mifepristone remains a dangerous drug that now causes more than 60% of all abortions in the United States.
Secondly, he should be open to allowing a review of the drug.
He’s right that he appointed supreme court justices that overturned Roe v Wade. He should receive huge credit for that. The way the pro-abortion groups and the mainstream media manifested with that decision shows just how significant it was.
But sadly, allowing different states to determine the law in their state means that the unborn child is hugely at risk in democrat states, and even some republican states.
Now the so-called “fact checkers” at the Associated Press, CNN, the Washington Post claim that former president Donald Trump was wrong to say in the debate that not only do late-term abortions and partial-birth abortions still occur, babies are being killed after an abortion, and that the Democrats support it.
Democrats love abortion. Everyone knows that. Just like the Greens and most of Labour, and sadly most of National
If I had my way, Ron de Santis would be the Republican nominee. I like his policy AND his personality.
But he’s not the nominee. So we’re back to the binary choice of Harris or Trump.
One of these two will be the next US President.
That’s the way the system works. Even if you don’t vote, that’s the way the system will still work.
There is no 3rd option.
And please note – this is not an endorsement – as every Hollywood star seems to be doing at the moment. I’m not endorsing anyone. Or telling anyone who they should vote for.
You need to come to your own conclusion based on your research & understanding & and personal conviction.
This is just a simple presentation of how I would vote if I was an American citizen and why I would vote that way.
To conclude, Dennis Prager is a columnist for The Daily Signal, nationally syndicated radio host, and creator of PragerU. He wrote a superb and challenging column:
Here’s a few excerpts:
A great many Americans claim that they cannot vote for former President Donald Trump because they loathe him. That was also their argument in 2016 and 2020. That argument was childish in 2016 and 2020, and it remains childish in 2024.
I say “childish” because mature people don’t vote on the basis of whom they like. They vote on the basis of which candidate is best for their country. As I asked both eight years ago and four years ago, other than friends and a spouse, whom do you choose based on how much you like a person? Do you choose your surgeon on that basis? If you or a loved one had cancer and were presented with a choice of two surgeons, one known to be an honourable man and loyal husband, the other known for his abrasive personality and for being a womaniser, but also known as one of the best cancer surgeons in the country, which would you choose? We all know the answer.
…He is, they constantly tell us, a “threat to democracy.”
... But it is coming entirely from the Democrats.
· For the first time in American history, under Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has been weaponized against political opponents.
· For the first time in American history, a former president and the nominee of one of the two major political parties has been arrested and put on trial—on nonsensical charges, moreover.
· For the first time in American history, an administration has colluded with Big Tech to suppress political speech they consider unfriendly.
· For the first time in American history, one major party has attempted to remove the presidential nominee of the other major party from multiple state ballots.
And the intelligence agencies have been likewise politicized. Fifty-one current and former heads of intelligence agencies lied on behalf of the Democratic presidential nominee when they signed a statement right before the 2020 election declaring that the Hunter Biden laptop story was the product of Russian disinformation.
… when it comes to marital fidelity, compared to three of the Democrats’ heroes—President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and President Bill Clinton—Donald Trump is a holy man.
We know how bad things will get because we know what the Biden-Harris administration has already done to the country. Because we know what Harris and her fellow California Democrats have done to California. And because we know what Gov. Tim Walz has done to Minnesota.
To vote for the Democrats because one hates Trump is not merely childish. When how one feels about Trump is more important than the future of the country, we are dealing with something far more serious than childishness.
We are dealing with destructive narcissism.
When the choice is binary (which a presidential election is – it’s one or the other) – and the other option is Kamala (and everything that comes with her and her shocking and destructive policies)…
I’m more than happy to put on record that for me, there is only one option.
Donald Trump.
He’s not perfect – far from it – but name me one politician who is perfect.
There isn’t one.
Bob McCoskrie is the National Director of Family First New Zealand, he has a Masters of Commerce with Honours from the University of Auckland and a Diploma of Teaching from the Auckland College of Education. He posts regularly on McBlog - Where this article was sourced.
7 comments:
One thing this article fails to do is explain what connection the author has with USA that gives him the right or authority to tell Americans how they should vote. We certainly resent foreigners telling us how we should vote in NZ. It's none of their business.
If we look at it from the point of view of who is worst for NZ's interests, Trump is far worse than Harris. When Trump became president one of the first things he did was to withdraw from the Trans Pacific partnership. His isolationist policies gave China an open door to expand their influence in the region, which they did.
Yes, I guess if abortion and a perceived threat posed by LGBTQI people, and fundamentalist religion are your big issues, then you'd vote for Trump. But you'd have to do so quite cynically. He's the guy who brandished a Bible outside a church - holding it upside down. And I can well imagine that if any of his extra-marital sexual escapades had resulted in a pregnancy that might have embarrassed him politically, he'd have paid for the woman to have an abortion.
>"Yes, I guess if abortion and a perceived threat posed by LGBTQI people, and fundamentalist religion are your big issues, then you'd vote for Trump"
I am quite liberal when it comes to abortion (typically European stance: no problem with abortion on demand during first trimester, the tighten up a bit), am a live-and-let-live guy when it comes to sexuality (but won't be dictated to by any fashionable minorities), and am a militant secularist with a disdain for most religion and certainly Christianity. But I would vote for Trump because I espouse the Enlightenment values of liberty and democracy and regard marxofascism as the greatest challenge to freedom that we have seen since the Enlightenment.
One big issue here is, are there any strings attached? It surely seems that there are with Kamala, but not or at least not apparently with Trump. On that basis I would hold my nose and vote for him.
I do wonder who is pulling Trump's strings. He was the battering ram when President but there was clearly someone else dictating the policy.
Voting for Trump would be like getting old. It's not ideal but better than the alternative. Yes he's a buffoon, and a narcissist and says ridiculous things but can you picture Kamala negotiating with the Russians or Chinese or Iran? Really? Crazy that its come down to this choice.
Barend
I thought for a moment I had posted your comment.
On every point I tend to agree.
PS I was in Beijing when Trump was shown on the hotel TV dinning room that he was going to fire and fury destroy North Korea. The whole dinning room erupted in laughter. Point? His mouth runs away with him at times, but I agree that Trump is a better choice than Harris and Trumps Muldoon policies of protecting his home market with tariffs will generate jobs back home PS Id just come out of North Korea the day before Trump said he was going to nuke the place.
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