Richard Davis: Trump supporters need to look past the economy & 'swamp'

To The Daily Sun,

As a mostly liberal, more Democrat, absolutely anti-Trumpite, I've spent al lot of time trying to understand why Trump's supporters support him.

I've decided it's because (1) they think he is (was?) responsible for the strong economy, and (2) they fall for the line that he has been "draining the swamp" of our federal government. As to (1), any conservative Republican president would have had the same (presumed) effect on the economy; and as to (2), what Trump has called a "swamp" is nothing other than our Civil Service, with its career, highly-professional (and NON-partisan!) employees.

The shocking question is: how could millions of voting citizens get duped by such obvious and pernicious falsehoods as the two mentioned?

It was in college over sixty years ago that I realized that a thriving democracy depends on informed voters — with emphasis on "informed." During Nixon's crooked presidency, I realized that the fatal mistakes of uninformed voting could damage or destroy a democracy (as it did in Germany). In brief: a democracy is only as secure as its last and next elections: it is always dependent on its current voters.

Meanwhile, Trump has shown himself to be an insensitive, amoral, racist, bigoted, sexist, contemptuous, politically and governmentally-naive and ignorant man whose goal seems to be literally destroying as much of the federal government as he can: the Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Protection Bureau, State Department, etc. In the process, he sadistically enjoys firing government officials (without honest cause). He has also co- opted the Republican Senate, and tried to smash the House's oversight authority. (And I can't even remember every bad thing he has said or done!)

Assuming Trump supporters are good, decent Americans, I can only surmise that they are uninformed — that they think the words "economy" and "swamp" and think that's all they have to know.

Well, it isn't!

Richard Davis 

Thornton