An Endorsement for Hillary Clinton

For the sake of argument, I will concede most of what has been said against Hillary Clinton. I am not interested in a tit-for-tat about who--Clinton or Trump--is more loathsome on a personal level. Even if you do not share my opinion on that question, you can still agree with me that a vote for Clinton serves a worthwhile purpose.

If you read no further than this paragraph, consider these three main reasons to support Clinton over Trump:

1. Clinton has experience and knowledge relevant to the office; Trump does not.

2. Clinton does not evince religious or ethnic bigotry; Trump does.

3. Clinton believes in the basic equality of all people, particularly in terms of sex; it is clear that Trump does not.

1. A candidate for public office, especially the highest office in the country, should have considerable experience in public service. Experience limited to the private sector does not adequately prepare a person for the presidency. At a minimum, a candidate for president should have served as a mayor, governor, congressional representative, senator, or in some other prominent public position. Whatever you think of Hillary Clinton, she has a long record of service in public office, and Donald Trump has none.

It has been said that we should welcome an outsider as an alternative to the typical corrupt politicians, but Trump is not really an outsider. He has a long history of cozy relationships with high government and corporate officials. Moreover, an outsider can still have experience in public office. A plurality of Republican voters chose someone who they thought represented them, but Trump comes from a position of immense privilege, building upon his inherited wealth via exploitation of the very kind of people who voted for him.

Perhaps you still think that Trump is a better choice than Clinton, or that Trump and Clinton are equally unsatisfactory. If Clinton's public policy experience and knowledge do not convince you that she is preferrable to Trump, consider some of the ideological differences.

2. Trump believes that people can be barred from entering the country based on their religion. He called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States". I know that there are some Americans who agree with Trump, but if you are not one of them, you should be aware that Clinton, for all her faults, does not propose to exclude people based on religion. Such a policy would contravene a fundamental principle upon which our nation was built. We do not discriminate based on religion, and we certainly do not judge entire groups--religious, ethnic, or otherwise--based on the actions of a few. Clinton understands this, and Trump does not.

If you are not impressed with this, perhaps you will consider the fact that Trump accused an American-born judge of being unfit to decide a case simply because the judge's parents were from Mexico. Trump assumed that the judge would be biased because of Trump's proposed policies to curb illegal immigration. Again, this blatant bigotry distinguishes Trump from Clinton. This is true--and crucial--even if all the accusations made against Clinton are true.

3. Finally, Trump bragged about actions that amount to sexual assault. This continued a long pattern of misogynistic statements and behavior. Whatever you can say about Clinton, she has not been accused of forcing herself on anyone in a sexual manner. At a minimum, a president should be someone who believes in respecting people's basic dignity.

Perhaps you agree that a president should have prior public service experience, that a president should not be someone who endorses discrimination based on religion or ethnic background, and that a president should not be someone who has not sexually harassed and assaulted people, but you still are not convinced that Clinton is a better choice than Trump. Some are disgusted by Trump but just as disgusted by Clinton. Some simply will not vote; others will vote for a third-party or independent candidate. It has been suggested that I do the same, but even if Sanders, my first choice, had not endorsed Clinton, I still would decline to write in Sanders' name.

In other essays, I have praised electoral systems that provide third-party and independent candidates a meaningful chance. In France, people can vote for their favorite candidate in the first round; if their favorite candidate loses, they can vote for the lesser evil in the second round. Unfortunately, we do not have two general election rounds. We have one round, in which it is virtually assured that one of two major-party candidates will succeed. If left-leaning people are split between two or more candidates, Trump will win easily, as long as he has enough right-leaning people behind him. I will not be part of this. Instead, I will vote for a candidate who, though flawed, has sufficient experience, knowledge, tolerance, and basic human decency to be president.  

The Case against Donald Trump

(Before we even get to the many problems with his policies)

For the sake of argument, I am conceding every point in the case against Hillary Clinton, but there is a good chance that her rival, Donald Trump, will become our next president. Before that happens, I think it's important that people know the things that the man has said and done. I include only those accusations with strong or undeniable evidence, followed by supporting links.

Trump's wrongdoings

The Trump University scam: everything from deliberately misleading people to telling outright lies in order to take their money for useless education. Among the many deceptions, he falsely told people that he had hand-picked the instructors.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/432010/trump-university-scam

Suggesting that a judge's Mexican heritage (a judge born and raised in Indiana) made the judge biased against Trump in a case:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/05/27/trump-attacks-federal-judge-in-trump-u-case/
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/06/03/donald-trump-judge-mexican-trump-university-case-lead-sot.cnn

Found guilty of cheating unions on pension funds, using underpaid and mistreated illegal immigrants to get around the union obligations:
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/27/nyregion/judge-says-trump-tower-builders-cheated-union-on-pension-funds.html
And, yes, Trump knew that the workers were here illegally: http://time.com/4465744/donald-trump-undocumented-workers/

Falsely accusing former Miss Universe of being in a pornographic video: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/298645-trump-check-out-sex-tape-of-former-miss-universe
Here's the fact check, concluding that his claim is "mostly false":
http://www.snopes.com/alicia-machado-adult-star/

Taking an illegal loan from his father for his casino. Trump was fined for it:
http://articles.philly.com/1991-04-09/news/25780577_1_casino-control-act-donald-trump-casino-owners

Antitrust violation, charged by the Federal Trade Commission:
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1988/Trump-Agrees-To-Pay-%24750-000-Penalty-To-Settle-Antitrust-Lawsuit/id-54ea0dc590fc97d9e9e86c65336649a1

Refusing to pay his bills to small businesses and workers: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/
(Trump's excuse is that the people did a poor job, but in some cases he hired the same people again. This clearly indicates that he was stiffing them.)