Essay: Reasons for supporting Trump

My reasons for supporting Trump are not complicated.  Throughout the primaries, Trump’s speeches were often rambling exercises in free-association.  At the same time they were often compelling , persuasive, and passionate.  Trump’s extemporaneous speeches gave me a valuable insight into what he cares about passionately because people tend to talk about what they really care about when not delivering a prepared speech.  Jack, you asked what positions does Trump have on the issues that would commend him to high office.  I think that is one of the crucial questions.  I think a better question is “What does the candidate care about with intensity and passion?”  We need to know that because that’s what the future president will focus on. I know where Hillary stands on the issues as she publishes that information on her Web site, but what is she passionate about?  Hillary Clinton is a policy wonk, and while there is nothing wrong with being a wonk, I would like to see the next president have a driving ambition about where to steer the ship of state.  I see that leadership quality in Trump, and I do not see that in Hillary Clinton.  George H.W. Bush had the same problem and he knew it.   He called it “the vision thing.”
At this point, I am almost a one-issue voter, and that one issue is the economy.  I hold this view because I know that fixing the economy will cause many of our other problems to fix themselves.  I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating:  without good jobs (like the kind we keep exporting) we will not have a wide and vibrant middle class, and without a strong middle class we will not have a great economy, and  without a great economy, we will not be able to have the following:  a great educational system (that attracts students from around the world), a dominant military (to keep the peace), a great medical system (that attracts patients from around the world), a great infrastructure, and a great space program, to name but a few benefits.
I don’t know that I agree with every position Trump has, but I enthusiastically agree with the following:
Trump has proposed to:
* Renegotiate NAFTA (NAFTA at 20: One Million U.S. Jobs Lost, Higher Income Inequality ) Clinton signed this.
* Stop the implementation of the Trans Pacific Partnership (How the TPP Would Impact American Jobs) (Hillary Clinton voted for the TPP and now says she’s against it)
* Identify nation-states that violate the currency manipulation provisions of international law and apply the appropriate sanctions / remedies (Stop Currency Manipulation and Create Millions of Jobs: With Gains across States and Congressional Districts | Economic Policy Institute )
*Identify nation-states that improperly subsidize their exports and apply sanctions / remedies
* Stop Hillary Clinton’s proposed $1.3 trillion tax increase
* Lower the federal income tax
* Lower the corporate tax (This will induce companies to invest their profits in the US and will encourage repatriation.)
* Make the income tax less graduated (to incentivize investment and risk taking)
* Reinstate work-for-welfare  This was a program, signed into law by Bill Clinton and largely rescinded by Obama.  It required adult, able-bodied welfare recipients to put in work hours as a prerequisite for receiving welfare.
* Eliminate the carried-interest loophole.  This allows hedge-fund managers to have their income taxed at capital gains rates, which are lower, even though that income was not the result of capital gains.  Even Obama agrees with this.
It is one thing to compare the candidates’ positions, but it is quite another to know which issues are the most meaningful to them.  It is for these reasons that I am unreservedly for Trump.  I don’t view him as the lesser of two evils, but as someone with the vision, drive and leadership skills reverse the decline of America.  Adam