Oh, Yes, He Did

If you know any undecided voters in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, will you please share this with them — like today? Thank you kindly.

Dear Swing State Voter,

This isn’t a rant about guns, same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, or global warming. Those are issues — and issues are for elections with two qualified candidates of unequivocal character. I hope to have the luxury of debating issues with you again someday. 

What this is: just a list of well-documented things Donald Trump has done (go ahead, look ’em up) while overseeing the most powerful country on Earth. We joke about having become numb to the shocking behavior coming from the White House over the past four years. But today, as the electorate waits for you to fill in the tiny oval that best reflects your values — it’s worth remembering.

2015 

• Said, “I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”

• Mocked a reporter who is disabled by mimicking his arm movements and facial expression.

• Despite avoiding military service with five deferments, said of the late Republican Senator and Vietnam POW John McCain, “He’s not a war hero…. I like people that weren’t captured.” 

2016

• Belittled the Muslim parents of a slain American soldier, who died while trying to save other troops in Iraq.

• Is believed to have inspired the 86 percent rise in attacks against Jews in the six months since his election.

2017

• Appointed a Secretary of Education with no experience in government or public schools. 

• Barred the New York Times and other investigative journalism outlets from White House press briefings.

• Required “killer graphics” on top-secret daily briefings to hold his attention.

• Blocked a group of half a million veterans on Twitter that criticized him.

• Said, “There were very fine people on both sides” after a woman was killed and 19 were injured while protesting a rally of neo-Nazis and former KKK members in Virginia. 

• Instructed staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to no longer use the words “evidence-based” and “science-based” in official documents.

• Withdrew from the Paris Agreement, making us one of very few countries on the planet not to agree to the environmental pact. 

2018 

• Asked immigration lawmakers why the United States would accept immigrants from “shithole countries” in Africa and the Caribbean.

• Said a Paris cemetery for slain American soldiers was “filled with losers” and called the more than 1,800 Marines who perished in the WWI Belleau Wood battle “suckers.”

• Was laughed at by the United Nations when he stated, “My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”

• Was found to speak at a 4th-grade level, the lowest of any president on record.

2019

• Tweeted that four Congresswomen of color — three US-born and raised — should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” 

• Became the third president in history to be impeached. 

2020

• Tweeted, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” in February.

• Suggested ingesting disinfectants to treat the disease, and said he accepted no responsibility for the immediate rise in medical cases of people doing just that. 

• Ordered a slowdown in COVID testing, tweeting: “Without testing, we would be showing almost no cases.” 

• Called for Obama’s resignation after two Americans died of Ebola but told crowds that COVID-19 “affects virtually nobody” as the nation’s death toll from the virus reached 200,000.

• Had two of his Tweets flagged with warning labels by Twitter for falsely claiming that mail-in ballots are fraudulent — then threatened to shut down the social-media platform.

• Had protesters sprayed with tear gas so he could walk to a nearby church and pose for a photo with a Bible. 

• Did not join former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama in attending the funeral of congressmember and civil rights icon John Lewis, saying, “He chose not to come to my inauguration.”

• Is responsible for the 545 migrant children whose parents still haven’t been found after they were separated at the border.

• Refuses to say that he will accept the election results if he loses.

Have your say. Speak your piece. Cast your vote.