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Georgia in contrast: red and blue

I spent yesterday afternoon monitoring opening and scanning of paper absentee, overseas, and military ballots in Hall County, Georgia. Hall is just north of Fulton (Atlanta), where I spent the last two weeks as a roving (outside) poll watcher. Hall is a deep red county, whereas Fulton is deep blue.

The process is good

I did not get to talk with many voters in Hall. The process I observed there started with slitting open the envelopes containing paper ballots, their removal from the “secrecy” sleeves, tearing off of the tabs that contain inventory numbers connected to particular voters, shuffling so that ballots cannot be traced to individuals, and scanning into the election system computer. Some ballots can’t be scanned and are separated out for later human scrutiny. Friday I’ll be on a panel adjudicating what to do those. Some ballots are not clearly marked, contain write-ins, or are printed on plain paper. Military units can send in the those on plain paper. The last are received from military units.

Throughout, the election workers keep careful track of the number of ballots and envelopes. Discrepancies happen. Sometimes two ballots arrive in the same envelope, or none. They don’t open the envelopes until the day they process them. Three workers oversee the scanning. They process all the ballots from opened envelopes the same day.

It would be hard to find fault with the process. Or with the attitude of the election workers. They seek to make cheating impossible.

So why is Hall County red?

Of course I don’t really know why Hall County is red. My few interactions with people there were entirely friendly. The folks at the Waffle House made me a fine steak and bacon sandwich. There were a few very large Trump signs and American flags. Some signs promised a Trump victory would lower taxes. I doubt anyone in Hall County is rich enough to gain from the tax cuts Trump will try to make. The main industry in Hall is chickens. Many of the workers are immigrants.

I asked one Harris-supporting resident about why people in Hall County support Trump. She thought it was crime. A few spectacular murders, especially the first at the University of Georgia since 1983, have generated fear. An undocumented immigrant is on trial for that one.

There is little a President can do about crime. Local authorities run most police forces, courts, and prisons. But Trump’s conflation of crime with immigration has gained traction. Never mind that immigrants don’t commit more crimes than native born Americans. Or that Hall County was red well before the February University of Georgia murder.

It’s about identity

My own conclusion is that people vote Trump more because of identity than policy. Hall County will gain little if Trump wins and deports immigrants. To the contrary, it will wreck the county’s chicken industry. The fear of immigrant crime is not based in the facts. It is based in the feeling that immigrants are not like us. They speak a different language, have different customs, and likely vote for Harris. That’s enough to make white men like a four-flushing liar. Go figure.

Ten reasons to vote for Trump, nine refuted

Meidas+ has saved me the trouble. It lists 200 reasons not to vote for Donald Trump. I suppose it wouldn’t be all that hard to get to 300. It is hard for me to understand why any patriotic American–or even a non-patriotic one–would vote him.

Ten reasons to vote for Trump

So let’s consider the options:

1. You are a diehard Republican who has never voted for a Democrat.
2. Trump will be better for the economy than Harris.
3. Trump will keep the US out of war.
4. You want the Federal government cut back.
5. You want abortion restricted.
6. LGBTQ and trans people are not your thing. Or you don’t want your children learning about such things in school.
7. You don’t like what the Israelis are doing in Gaza and Lebanon.
8. The US should stop supporting Ukraine and start getting friendly with Putin.
9. The US should stand up to China.
10. You don’t want a Black, Asian woman as President.

Even diehards are voting for Harris

Harris can’t please diehard Republicans on the policy issues, but they are voting for her anyway. Liz Cheney and her father are not alone. Many Republicans see that Trump is not planning to sustain American democracy but to dismantle it. His former White House chief of staff and his Chair of the Joint Chiefs have both labeled him an autocrat. Actually, they said “fascist.” You don’t have to be a never Trumper to vote against someone who does not accept election results unless he wins.

Pulling the Democratic lever is not all that hard. I pull Republican levers whenever I am unhappy with the Democratic candidate. You can do the right thing too.

It’s the economy, stupid

It is, and America’s economy is bigger and better than ever. The Economist calls it “the envy of the world.” Growth has recovered faster from the epidemic downturn than other developed economies. Manufacturing is up sharply. The Biden Administration has presided over the creation of a record number of jobs. The stock market has continued its rise.

The spoiler is inflation, which peaked in the first two years of the Biden Administration. Since then, it has been declining. It is now approaching the Fed’s 2% goal. No one is happy paying more for food and housing, but wages have more than kept up with inflation. Most people, on average, are not worse off.

Trump’s proposed tariffs will resuscitate inflation and tank growth. They do not need Congressional approval. Affected industries will challenge them in court, but in the meanwhile they will be collected. American consumers will pay for them. Other countries will retaliate. The tariffs spell disaster for the American and world economies.

War no more?

The Trump campaign claims to have suffered no terrorist attacks and kept the US out of war 2016/20. But that isn’t true. Trump ordered strikes in Syria and Iraq, killed Iran’s Qassem Suleimani, and presided during several terrorist attacks inside the US. He also rightly provided lethal assistance to Ukraine that the Obama Administration had denied.

Trump negotiated the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan but left too few soldiers to cover the evacuation of Afghans. He promised total withdrawal of US troops from Syria, but then he left some there.

Bloated government?

The Federal government grew more under Biden (6%) than under Trump (3.7%). But Trump claims now that he can fire many thousands of Federal employees and increase efficiency. He certainly didn’t prove that in 2016/20. The notion that Elon Musk will help him do it is laughable. Musk eviscerated Twitter and is still losing lots of money. Recovering rocket bodies and improving efficiency are not the same thing.

Trump’s intention is to fire civil servants and replace them with servile Trumpkins who do his will, despite the law. He has made no secret of this. Do you really want decades of experience to be replaced with loyalty to a 79-year-old fascist?

Abortion is the Republicans’ Achilles heel

I am not pro-abortion. I don’t know anyone who is. Nor do you need be if you vote for Harris. But banning abortion, as many Republican states have done, gives government responsibility for a decision that belongs with individual women.

Trump is right that the Supreme Court has sent the issue back to the states. There the Democrats are repeatedly winning the argument whenever it is posed in a referendum. Any Republican who wants to see her/his party in power should be wondering whether the issue is politically toxic.

Dislike of LGBTQ and trans people

You don’t want your kids to learn about these things? Guess what: you won’t be capable of stopping them. There is nothing new under the sun. The Ancient Greeks knew all about non-heterosexual preferences. Sure, you might “protect” your children for a few years. But sooner or later they will know what you know, and maybe more.

Anyway, decisions on what schools teach are mostly made at the local level. Keep it there. Why vote for a candidate who claims kids are getting operated on at school without parental consent? Is that the untruth you want your children learning?

Gaza and Lebanon: blank check for Netanyahu

I don’t like what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza and Lebanon either. This is something on which American Jews, American Arabs, Israeli Jews, Lebanese, and Palestinians all agree. At least two-thirds of all these groups want a ceasefire and exchange of hostages/prisoners in Gaza. That would bring with it a ceasefire on the Israel/Lebanon border.

Things will get much worse in the Middle East if Trump is elected. He gave the Israelis everything they asked for when he was President. He’ll do it again if re-elected. I’m not sure what Harris will do, but it won’t be a blank check.

Ukraine won’t be the end of it

Trump has made it clear he will give Putin whatever he wants in Ukraine. That, he thinks, will end the war. If that is what you want, please do vote Republican.

But it won’t end the war. Putin will go after whatever part of Ukraine he doesn’t get, and then Moldova. Poland and the Baltic states will be at risk. He won’t stop until he is stopped. Trump won’t do it. Harris will.

Xi cleaned Trump’s clock

The same is true for China. Trump doesn’t want to defend American allies in Asia. That’s why he has suggested Japan and South Korea get their own nuclear weapons. Why not Taiwan and Philippines as well? Do you really think the world would be better off with another four nuclear powers? America would be safer?

As for trade, Trump negotiated an agreement with China. Beijing did not implement it. The result has been massive agricultural subsidies to American farmers, to compensate them for lost markets due to Chinese retaliation. The Trump tariffs will bring more retaliation and more subsidies to injured industries.

You don’t want a Black, Asian, woman as President

I’m not going to quarrel with this one. If you don’t want a smart, well-educated Black and Asian woman as President, vote for the crude grifter and felon. You are the company you keep.