Trump goes for divisive, rather than acknowledging the desperate need for unity 

I just watched Donald Trump’s acceptance speech and I have so many different lines of thought going through my head.

I am a compulsive fact-checker by nature, and the sheer number of twisted and molded statistics in Trump’s speech is going to drive me to find a transcript and probably waste an entire day trying to find the original studies from which he pulled numbers and percentages.  I’m not naive.  I know statistics can be spun in almost any direction to back nearly any claim.  This speech just seemed rife with half truths whose only purpose was to generate fear.

I was also disappointed in the lack of diversity of the audience.  Trump repeatedly banged on his plan to be inclusive, but it didn’t ring true when the delegates all seemed to be older caucasians.  Where were the representatives of these “people without a voice” that Trump repeatedly cited as part of the “We” he was eager to represent?

I will give Trump credit – he managed to say all the things his constituents wanted to hear without saying anything substantial. Politically speaking, he used every trick in the book to incite his supporters.  To me, it just seemed scary – as though Trump is living in a dream world with absolutely nothing in place to bring about his pie-in-the-sky vision of how America will be with him as president

We all want to have peace and safety – 2016 has been a very rough year so far – but I was hoping he would delineate his plan to make our country safe.  At times, he almost sounded as though he planned to implement  quasi-martial law. I worry about what he has planned in the way of immigration and violence BY police against citizens (a statistic he conveniently skipped over). According to the database being compiled by the Washington Post, 533 people have been shot and killed by police in 2016.  In 2015, 990 people were killed in police shootings.  Of those, 250 victims showed signs of mental illness.  NPR published an article last year that is worth a read. 

Of All U.S. Police Shootings, One-Quarter Reportedly Involve The Mentally Ill

(the data NPR compiled came mostly from the Washington Post Database; I encourage you to find independent sources.  Fortunately or unfortunately, The Post has created one of the most up-to-date and comprehensive databases on the subject, so it can be difficult not to encounter circular sources.)

I respect police officers.  I could never begin to do what they do every day, but so much of Trump’s focus was on attacks on officers, that he did not spend time addressing the growing racial and class tensions in this county.

We need to pull together – not follow Trump’s path to more divisiveness.  I try to do my best to be aware if diversity and inclusion in my everyday life – but  I wish I knew more powerful ways I could make a difference.  I guess the key is to keep looking for opportunities to promote diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion, and equality.

Trump’s speech had a particularly odd throw away line about including the LGBTQ community

Trump appeals to LGBTQ community in convention speech

“As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” he said.

What about domestic ideology?   I firmly believe the shooting in Orlando, FL had more to do with homophobia, than some command from ISIS.  ISIS is becoming an excuse for individuals to carry out their own prejudices and anger.

Mr Trump – it is superficially inspiring to hear you promise to rid our country of unrest.  But please share with us this magic plan you speak of so often.  This county needs to start to focus on solutions.  If you have answers – reveal them.  Don’t make promises with no plan for their implementation.  This is a time for- coming together, constructive conversations, and education.  We are ready to act.