20 Reasons Why Trump Should Not be President

Trump openly sought Russia’s help to win the presidential election in 2016. This is precisely what Russia did according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as well as the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee. With help from his Attorney General Bill Bar, Trump claimed that Mueller’s report exonerated him, which it did not. These probes documented the ways that Trump encouraged and benefited from Russian assistance and obstructed justice.

His first impeachment in 2019 was for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump held up military assistance to Ukraine in a bid to extort that country into digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter.  

His second impeachment in 2021 was for incitement of insurrection, which was preceded by a coup attempt. He continues to lie about his election loss, despite losing over 60 court cases related to the election. Trump is one of only three US presidents to be impeached and the only president ever to be impeached twice.

Trump’s criminal record

Trump is a convicted felon with a history of criminal behavior. Although some cases are still pending, he has already been found liable for sexual abuse and has been found guilty on 34 felony counts. Criminality is a defining feature of Trump’s businesses and his presidency. Trump’s career in real estate started with a federal lawsuit in 1973 alleging racial discrimination at his housing developments. Before becoming president, he broke campaign finance laws by paying hush money to cover up an affair, and in 2020 he led a coup attempt and a violent insurrection. By the time he left office Trump had 9 major cases pending.

Trump is also a serial fraudster. He was fined $25 million in 2018 for his Trump University scam. In 2024 the Trump Organization was fined $354 million for decades of financial fraud involving the falsification of records.

Trump was charged and convicted of ‘intent to defraud’ for the hush money payment to influence the 2016 election. He was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice over his refusal to hand over 15 boxes of classified documents. He was also charged with ‘willful retention of national defense information’, ‘scheme to conceal,’ and ‘false statements and representations’.

Trump was indicted for his role in the Jan 6, 2021 insurrection on the Capitol and conspiracy to defraud the United States to retain power. He was also charged with conspiring to “corruptly obstruct and impede” the certification of the electoral vote on Jan. 6 and for attempting to obstruct an official proceeding with his slate of fake electors. The charge states the former president conspired with others to “injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States — that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.”

Trump was also indicted in Georgia for his attempt to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. His charges include conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery, false statements and writings, and conspiracy to file false documents. He is also charged with a violation of Georgia’s RICO laws.

Trump is the only presidential nominee who is a convicted felon, he is also the only presidential nominee to be found guilty of fraud and sexual abuse.

Trump’s history of corruption

Trump is a born cheater, he cheats in business he cheats in golf, so it should come as no surprise that he cheats in politics. While Trump’s niece reports that he has always been morally dubious, it was the unscrupulous mob lawyer Roy Cohn who helped the former president take the art of the grift to the next level.

Trump’s corruption was on display during his time in office. He and his family devised a wide range of schemes to monetize the presidency. Trump used his hotel in Washington to squeeze millions out of foreign governments who sought to ingratiate themselves to this transactional president.

In what may be the single biggest transaction, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner received two billion dollars from Saudi Arabia for a private equity firm, despite having no experience and Saudi concerns about the merits of Kushner’s firm.

Even after he was rejected by Americans in 2020, Trump continued to use bogus lawsuits and his criminal court cases to bilk his base and drive fundraising. This is a president who even used the pandemic to enrich himself.  He hawks anything to make a buck, he has recently resorted to selling sneakers, Bibles, and watches. Whether in his personal life, his business life, or his political life, Trump has proven himself to be quintessentially corrupt.

Trump sows disinformation and division

Trump is the divider and chief and the world’s leading purveyor of disinformation. He knows how to use digital media to weave a web of lies that exploit people’s biases.  

Trump sews disinformation and division as a reiteration of the age-old strategy of divide and conquer. He fosters fear and hyper-partisanship as a political weapon.  He has succeeded in exploiting the identity crisis that resulted from rapidly changing economic and social realities. Trump uses disinformation to gin up the outrage of mostly working-class Americans. He does this by dehumanizing entire groups of Americans who he calls “vermin” and “the enemies within”.

Trump villainizes the media, Muslims, immigrants, liberals, and Democrats to separate them from their humanity and cultivate hate which consolidates the division. It is worth noting that during Trump’s four years in office, there was a significant uptick in hate crimes, homicides, and, gun sales. The goal is also to create a distraction and confusion that obscures the truth. The more we are engaged in cultural conflicts or reacting to his outlandish statements the less likely we are to scrutinize his policy positions and notice his grift. As Al Sharpton said, Trump sows division to enrich himself. Dividing people with disinformation is both the con and the key to Trump’s political strategy.

Trump’s mismanagement of COVID

The COVID pandemic illustrated the tragic impact of Trump’s propensity to spew disinformation. From the onset of the pandemic, he undermined efforts to contain it and as a result, it spiraled out of control. Trump ignored COVID, the same way he ignored climate change. He pretended COVID was over even as three thousand Americans were dying from the disease every day.

At the start of the pandemic, Trump told people he chose not to wear a mask, and he told others they could do the same.  A study published in the International Journal of Health Services concluded that this resulted in thousands of needless deaths. A 2021 study by The Lancet, linked Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic to 461,000 deaths.

Trump’s response to the COVID pandemic would be comical if his mishandling did not contribute to the needless deaths of so many Americans. As people were sick and dying and many others were suffering from mental health crises, Trump was unconscionably incompetent.

At a time when the country needed leadership, the president was making wildly false and dangerous statements. Rather than listen to the experts, and follow the pandemic playbook, Trump disbanded the National Security Council’s pandemic response team. He made hundreds of false statements including suggesting that disinfectants and ultraviolet light could treat COVID. Researchers at Cornell University determined that while Trump was president he was responsible for 38 percent of COVID misinformation. The result of this misinformation was that compared to other countries, the US had one of the highest COVID infection rates and one of the highest pandemic-related mortality rates.

There is also a partisan divide that illustrates the negative impact Trump’s misinformation had on his followers. A study published in the Journal of Public Economics indicated higher levels of social distancing in Democratic counties and lower levels of COVID infections, while Republican counties had less social distancing and higher infection rates. Pew research shows that there were higher vaccination rates in Democratic-leaning areas and more COVID-related deaths in Trump/GOP-leaning areas. Trump’s misinformation not only made more Republicans sick his failed leadership also significantly contributed to sickness and death across the country.  

Trump and the GOP’s lies

Birds fly, fish swim, and Trump lies. Lies are not just a political strategy, for Trump, they are a self-aggrandizing way of life. The former president is infamous for his chronic, incessant lying. According to the Washington Post, he lied more than 30,573 times during his four years in office. To this day he continues to unleash a steady barrage of lies almost every time he opens his mouth.

Trump’s contempt for truth and propensity to lie is well known and a matter of public record. He lied during the first presidential debate in 2016 and he remained true to form during the second. Within minutes of becoming president, he lied about the crowd size at his inauguration. He then went on to lie consistently throughout his term and after. As Trump attempts to secure the presidency again in 2024, he has doubled down on his lies.  This was evident in his debate with Joe Biden and subsequent debate with Kamala Harris.

Trump’s lying is not only a pathological quirk of his character, it also has a practical political application. As with disinformation, the goal is to create confusion which leads some people to doubt the veracity of facts. Like Trump, the GOP advances a litany of lies in their pursuit of power.  One of these lies is the vote-rigging fallacy. This is a pretext to restrict voting rights and provide cover when they lose. Republicans worked to subvert democracy in 2018, 2020, and 2021. The cynical self-interest of the GOP is a matter of public record.

With the inducement of fossil fuel industry money, the GOP engages in deception and disinformation to control large swaths of the electorate and shape political outcomes.  This makes Republicans among the leading purveyors of disinformation and climate denial.  

The Republican party has acquiesced to Trump, but the GOP’s corruption and cynical politics predate him. Trump is a symptom of the cancer that infected the grand old party decades ago. The origin of Trump’s Republicanism can be traced back to Newt Gingrich and the ruse of blaming both sides. This is the type of mendacity that paved the way for the most dishonest president in American history.

Trump and the GOP’s war on science

Trump continues the GOP’s long-standing tradition of opposing science. During his time in office he was overtly anti-science and his administration all but declared war on fact-based policy.  He flouted the findings of government scientists to systematically eradicate a wide range of safeguards designed to protect Americans. Successive budget recommendations demonstrate the Trump administration’s intent to kill science.

The president’s appointees also actively suppressed science in the departments they headed. This includes Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, the two secretaries who led the Department of the Interior. However, nobody did more to undermine science than Scott Pruitt the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. According to a study published in JAMA, Pruitt’s softening of the EPA’s regulations has been linked to 80,000 deaths and well over a million cases of respiratory illness.

During his time in office, Trump pressured government scientific bodies to support his politically motivated deception.  He forced NOAA to support his misstatements, and he pushed the CDC and the FDA to ignore the facts about COVID.

A second Trump Term could be far worse. As reported by The Guardian, 82 American Nobel prize winners wrote an open letter in which they warned a second Trump term would endanger the future of science.  Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, one of the authors of the letter said, “I hope it’s a wake-up call for people.”

Trump has indicated that if elected his administration will do away with crucial scientific bodies like NOAA. He also wants to get rid of the Department of Education.

The reason Trump wants to marginalize science is because facts contradict both his policy positions and his political strategy. Science is a threat to his stance on everything from the economy to climate change. It is also a threat to his divisive agenda because it can bring people together around a shared understanding of the issues.

Trump’s environmental assaults

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 heralded a dark time for environmental and climate action in the US.  He pulled the country out of the Paris Agreement, he derided climate science, and eviscerated environmental protections, all while advancing the interests of the old energy industry.

The Trump administration was chalked full of fossil fuel advocates and the symbiotic relationship with the oil and gas industry drove environmentally egregious policies. His administration declared war on nature, a point made abundantly clear by their assaults on wildlife and their gutting of the endangered species act.  

Trump’s four years in office amounted to a genocide against the natural world that resulted in unprecedented anthropogenic extinction rates. Trump was an environmental nightmare and if granted a second term, he has promised to further eliminate regulatory safeguards and expand oil and gas development.

Trump’s words and deeds make him a fascist

If the past is prologue we should pay heed to what Trump and the Republicans did to subvert democracy in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. They are preparing to do it again in 2024. Republicans are knowingly rallying around a wannabe dictator. Trump’s authoritarian tendencies were on display throughout his presidency.

Going after your opposition is one of the trademarks of fascism and on multiple occasions, he tried to weaponize the justice system. He pushed his first Attorney General (Jeff Sessions) to arrest Hilary Clinton. He later urged his second Attorney General (Bill Barr) to arrest Joe Biden and his son Hunter.  He also called neo-Nazis wielding tiki torches and chanting anti-Semitic slurs “good people”.

Trump is the first president in American history to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, the first to stage a coup, and the first to launch an insurrection. On Truth Social, Trump called for the “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Now he is saying openly that he will use the justice system and the military to go after the “enemy from within”. Anyone–from politicians to the media–who dares to tell the truth is in his crosshairs. Most recently he threatened to have the FCC revoke the broadcast license of CBS because they aired reporting that portrayed him unfavorably.

He has made his intention clear; he said he will govern as a “dictator” on “day one”. His words and his deeds have all the hallmarks of fascism: ultranationalism, racism, sexism, violence, forcible suppression of opposition, and control of the media.

Generals who usually keep a low political profile are stepping out of character to warn America that Trump is a fascist.  John Kelly, the retired Marine general who was Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, said the former president “certainly fits into the general definition of fascist”.

In Bob Woodward’s book “War” Trump’s Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair and retired Gen. Mark Milley said Trump is “the most dangerous person to this country,” calling him “a total fascist”. In his retirement address, Milley said, in a thinly veiled message to Trump,

“We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or tyrant or a dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator…We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

More than 248 years ago, the great American experiment began with the declaration of independence from a powerful king. Now Americans must decide whether they wish to continue that experiment. After collaborating on the newly drafted constitutional text in 1787, Benjamin Franklin famously proclaimed, America is a Republic, adding, “If you can keep it”.

Track record of the Biden/Harris administration

In 2020, Americans turned out to vote for Biden/Harris in unprecedented numbers. During their almost four years in office, they delivered on their promises of environmental and social justice with a raft of legislation and executive orders. They rejoined the Paris Agreement and pledged to slash emissions by more than half by 2030. They also called on world leaders to double their emissions reduction efforts.  

They rolled back a long list of Trump’s EOs and reinstated states’ right to enact stricter air pollution rules. They strengthened the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific standards and put safeguards in place to ensure that they will be free from political interference.  They provided tangible support for low-carbon technologies, efficiency, waste reduction, clean energy, and transportation. They also supported technological innovation with the largest increase in non-defense research and development funding in American history.

Their crowning achievement was the passage of the historic Inflation Reduction Act which is the largest single investment in the environment by any nation in human history. They also addressed wealth inequality and racial justice with the Build Back Better Plan and the American Jobs Infrastructure Investment Act.

Biden and Harris have fought in defense of democracy, and they have called out the threat of domestic terrorism from white supremacists. On the world stage, they embraced the kind of multilateralism that is required to deal with the interconnected global threats we are facing.

Harris is the opposite of Trump

As a prosecutor, Attorney General, Senator, Vice President, and now Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris has always focused on helping people. She has defended people from predators, scammers, and powerful interests. Trump was the most divisive president in the history of the presidency. Unlike Trump, Harris promises to work for all Americans and be a president who brings people together. Harris and her running mate Governor Walz are fighting for what they call a “New Way Forward”. They are focused on protecting fundamental freedoms, strengthening America’s democracy, and ensuring every person can not just get by, but, as they say, “get ahead”.

Trump vs. Harris comparison of economic plans

While Americans give Trump a higher rating than Harris on the economy, the facts suggest this trust is misplaced. In his four-year term, Trump’s only significant legislative accomplishment was tax cuts for the wealthy.  These cuts did not generate the massive economic growth promised, but they did increase the wealth gap, grow the deficit by an unprecedented $2 trillion, and make America less competitive.

In 2020, the Trump administration contributed to the economic collapse that resulted in the loss of nine and a half million jobs in the US. This is the largest single-year job reduction in American history. If he wins a second term Trump wants more tax cuts for the wealthy and tariffs. According to 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists, Trump’s economic plan will massively increase the deficit, drive up inflation, and increase the costs to the average family by thousands of dollars a year.

These economists call Trump’s plan “counterproductive,” while they say Harris’ plan is “vastly superior”. Harris has vowed to focus on supporting ordinary people. She will do this by cutting the taxes of 100 million Americans while lowering the costs of energy, health care, housing, and groceries. She also has plans to help small business owners and entrepreneurs.

In a side-by-side comparison with Trump, the group of Nobel economists wrote,

“Harris’s policies will result in a stronger economic performance, with economic growth that is more robust, more sustainable, and more equitable.”  

Trump vs Harris on immigration and border security

Immigration and border security have become the centerpieces of Trump’s campaign.  Calling immigrants, ‘murders and rapists’ to gin up fear and create an enemy is the central pillar of Trump’s campaign strategy. He separated more than 5,000 children from their parents and put babies in cages.

It is important to note that Trump does not want to solve these issues, he wants to use them as election issues. This point was illustrated last summer when he prevented his party from supporting a bill, written by a conservative Republican, that would have significantly helped address the immigration and border security issues. Harris has indicated that if elected, she will face these issues head-on, starting with passing into law the bill that Trump killed.

Trump vs Harris on reproductive rights

While polling shows Americans favor Trump on the economy and immigration, Harris leads Trump by a wide margin on reproductive rights. Trump’s stacking the Supreme Court with 3 conservative judges resulted in the overturning of Roe vs Wade. This ruling has resulted in a huge spike in maternal mortality.  

As reported by NBC, from 2019 to 2022, maternal deaths are up 11 percent across the country. In Texas, a state with some of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, maternal deaths have increased 56 percent. According to Nancy L. Cohen, president of the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI), the research indicates that Trump’s abortion ban is causing this increase in maternal mortality. “Texas, I fear, is a harbinger of what’s to come in other states,” she said.

Harris has promised voters that she would restore reproductive rights. She will also prevent Trump from further packing the courts with even more right-wing ideologues who are out of step with American values.  

Trump vs Harris on freedom and the rule of law

Trump has unambiguously cast himself as a threat to freedom of the press and the fundamental freedoms that Americans take for granted. Anyone who dares to tell the truth would be at risk if Trump gets re-elected. When authoritarians promise to use their powers to persecute any group, that same unjust use of power could one day turn against you. No one is safe in such a system, anyone can find themselves at odds with the power brokers, even the sycophants that worship the wannabe dictator.

While Trump attacks and marginalizes groups of people, Harris wants to protect civil rights and embolden the freedoms of all Americans.  As explained on her website this entails: “Freedom to make your own decisions about your own body without government interference; the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride; and the freedom that unlocks all the others: the freedom to vote.” 

Harris believes in equal justice under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or position. Unlike her opponent, she believes no one is above the law, not even the president.

Trump vs Harris on the world stage

Trump wants to do away with the rule of law and the international order that has kept the peace for more than 70 years. This is a man who gets weak in the knees when he is around dictators. His fawning relationship with Putin or his love affair with Kim Jong Un is more than just a source of national embarrassment, bolstering autocrats is antithetical to American interests.

Trump strained America’s relations with NATO and said he would allow Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to allies in Europe. A second Trump term threatens to unravel the NATO alliance and other vital global partnerships. Harris believes in the proven power of cooperation and multilateralism. She will stand with America’s allies and stand up to dictators.

Trump is not a leader

There were lots of reasons to reject Trump in 2016, there were more reasons to do so in 2020, and in 2024 the case against Trump has never been stronger. Trump degraded the air people breathe, and the water that they drink. His vitriol divides people and inspires violence, his lies made them sick, and his policies made them poorer. His criminality and corruption are a threat to the Republic.

There are many good reasons to want change, but we will not see the kind of changes we need with Trump at the helm. When he spoke at the University of Pittsburgh, Former-president Obama indicated that he understands the frustration and the desire for change, but, he explained:

“What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you…there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”

Those who seek to enrich themselves under the guise of public service have no place in politics. We cannot elect leaders whose pursuit of power is premised on obfuscation and lies. We need leaders who are receptive to facts, leaders who work in the best interests of all the people they are supposed to represent.

Trump is a stain that will not wash. Everyone in Trump’s orbit is irrevocably sullied by association. Some, like Rudy Giuliani, have been bankrupted and disbarred. More than a dozen Trump lawyers are facing significant legal consequences.

At a minimum, we need a leader who accepts the rule of law. Failure to do so should be disqualifying. Trump’s record speaks for itself. His bid for the presidency in 2016, began with him breaking campaign finance laws and his presidency ended with a coup attempt and a violent insurrection. Everything in between and since has been chaotic and dysfunctional. This is not a partisan interpretation of events; this is a matter of public record.  

Trump does not understand the issues, worse still he is not interested in understanding, nor is he interested in good governance. He will not even attempt to solve problems for ordinary Americans, because that would undermine his political strategy. Chaos serves him and he has no higher calling beyond the pursuit of power and self-enrichment.  

Trump used his first four years in office to benefit himself to put his interests ahead of the interests of Americans. if he wins again, there is every reason to believe it will be even worse.  He is no longer surrounded by people like General Kelly. He is surrounded by sycophants, so there is no one left in his orbit who will restrain him. To make matters worse, a recent Supreme Court ruling removes legal guardrails. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in her dissenting opinion, the ruling on presidential immunity makes Trump, “a king above the law”.

Trump is running for office to keep himself out of jail. He has promised to use the powers of the presidency to circumvent justice, flout the law, and free the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. While Trump wants revenge, many want justice.  This means holding Trump accountable in the courts. This is not revenge, this is justice under the American common law system, it is based on the rules of fairness, ethics, and equality. Revenge refers to an action taken by an individual in a fit of rage.

Stark choice

The election of 2024 is a referendum that will reveal the intellectual, emotional, and moral health of Americans. Generations to come will look back on this choice as a defining moment, not just in the US but in the history of the world.

The choice between Harris and Trump could not be starker. For women who want to have access to reproductive health care, the choice is clear. For minorities who want to uphold their civil rights, the choice is clear. The choice is also clear for those who believe in defending fundamental rights and freedoms, and for people who support the Constitution and America’s democracy. The choice is clear for anyone who cares about the planet and our relationship to each other.  

The alternative to Harris is a twice-impeached, four-time criminally indicted, convicted felon, sexual abuser, and fraudster. If you are attracted to xenophobia, racism, and misogyny, if you have no love for democracy, human rights, and nature, if you are comfortable with the death, pain, and suffering he has caused, if you are ok with lies, division, disinformation, cronyism, corruption, graft, inequality, and fascism, then Trump is your man.