10 Questions Voters Were Not Allowed To Ask Trump At The Town Hall Debate

Medium 10-8-16, HuffPo 10-12-16

   

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Donald Trump is the biggest bullshit artist our nation has produced in the past few decades. But his con game is full of holes. Anyone with a little common sense can see right through his would-be tyrant shtick, which relies on scapegoating undocumented immigrants and Muslims while pretending to be a successful, competent businessman with "one of the great temperaments" who can solve all of America's problems.

In order for Trump to maintain the illusion that he's not a fraud, he has to lie relentlessly about things big and small, and dodge as many serious questions as he can. That strategy posed risks for him on Sunday, October 9, when Trump met Hillary Clinton in the town hall-style second Presidential debate, and general election voters got a chance to weigh in on some of their concerns.

But more often than not, what was asked in St. Louis didn't wholly reflect the fact that most voters have a lot of questions Donald Trump doesn't want to answer.

The second debate marked the first time citizens were able to submit and vote on questions online, with the top 30 supposed to be considered for inclusion by the debate's ABC and CNN moderators. More than three and a half million votes were cast for over 15,000 questions submitted at PresidentialOpenQuestions.com, a project of the bipartisan Open Debate Coalition.

Unfortunately, the top 30 voter-submitted questions were ignored by Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper, who instead cherrypicked a single question from the site, one regarding the latest Wikileaks dump of e-mails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Left unspoken was any context that the leaked e-mails were almost certainly stolen by Russian intelligence agency hackers, in an effort to damage Hillary's campaign and boost Trump's chances.

The top question submitted ("Would you support requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales?") was endorsed by over 75,000 citizens, and the 30th most popular question favored by over 20,000, yet the only question chosen to be asked received a mere 13 votes.

This failed Open Debate Coalition experiment now serves as a glaring example of how the American public doesn't have enough opportunities to legitimately question the presidential candidates when it counts, in widely-viewed national forums during the general election season.

Here are ten Open Debate questions that all received more votes than the one selected by the moderators. They could have been fairly asked of both candidates, and yet would have exposed Donald Trump for the unqualified, racist, sexist, ignorant, sociopathically lying, shamelessly scapegoating, unfit to be President fraud that he is. Click on any question to view how it was originally submitted online.

1) Do you believe in gender equality - equal rights for both men and women? Why?

Trump's lewd and vile remarks about groping, kissing, and attempting to have sex with married women as heard on the 2005 tape released by the Washington Post on October 7 confirmed what we already knew about the man's despicable character.

This week, more shoes dropped as former Miss Teen USA contestants revealed that Trump, who at the time owned the pageant, had walked in on them while they were changing. Some of the girls in the room were as young as 15. And multiple women came forward to confirm Trump had forcibly groped and kissed them, the same conduct he was caught on tape bragging about in 2005. At last Sunday's debate, Trump emphatically denied he had ever actually engaged in such behavior.

Trump has shown time and time again how he views women as objects, not equals. The day before he unleashed his now-infamous early morning Twitter storm against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, trying to convince the world she deserved to be weight-shamed because she was "disgusting," the Los Angeles Times published a lengthy investigative report about Trump's apparent sex discrimination in the workplace. Statements made by multiple employees of a Trump-owned California golf course show Trump wanted female employees fired who weren't young, pretty and thin enough.

2) Unemployment has fallen from 7.8% to 4.9% since Jan 2009. Why has this happened?

(UPDATE 10/13 - The Labor Department reported last week that the unemployment rate ticked up one tenth of a percentage point to 5.0% in September, the result of what most analysts agreed was more Americans actively looking for work.)

Trump falsely claims our economy is in shambles, and it's all President Obama's fault. In reality, Obama has brought the economy out of the ditch that George W. Bush's policies drove it into, and presided over the longest stretch of private-sector job growth on record.

In an August speech before the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said the unemployment rate as reported monthly by the Labor Department was one of the "biggest hoaxes in politics." Although the reported unemployment rate has hovered around 5% for the past year, over the course of his campaign, Trump has claimed the real rate ranges from 18% to 49%.

Independent economists agree the outdated, discredited economic policies Trump would implement - huge tax cuts for the wealthy that would blow a $5.9 trillion hole in the national debt, restricting immigration, and a global trade war - could wreck the U.S. economy.

3) What is your plan to combat climate change & build a green economy?

Trump claimed in a 2012 tweet that "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." During his first debate with Clinton, she called him out over that fantasy. "I did not say that," lied Trump in response. But of course, he did. And he has labeled climate change a hoax numerous times.

4) Why is it important for every American to pay our fair share of taxes?

In the first debate, when Clinton pointed out Trump hadn't paid federal income taxes during some years, he replied, "That makes me smart." An hour later, he denied having said it, although 84 million viewers saw and heard him.

Studies have shown most Americans consider paying taxes to be a moral obligation and act of civic duty, and agree with Hillary supporter and actual billionaire Mark Cuban's view that "after military service, the most patriotic thing you can do as a wealthy person is pay your taxes."

5) Do you support a woman's right to choose?

If elected, a President Trump would solidify a conservative, reactionary majority on the Supreme Court for the next generation. He would attempt to pack the Court and the federal judiciary with extreme right-wing ideologues who would work to further limit women's access to safe, legal abortions as currently protected by Roe v. Wade.

One of the nominees Trump has proposed putting on the Supreme Court, former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, has described Roe as creating "a constitutional right to murder an unborn child." Another, Diane Sykes, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, wrote a 2013 opinion in which she called some forms of birth control "abortifacient drugs."

6) How will you address systemic racism?

Trump has a documented history of racist behavior, statements, and actions dating back more than 40 years.

Trump's divisive record couldn't be more different from Hillary Clinton's, who has been a strong advocate for civil rights for most of her adult life.

7) How will you address the issue of 11 million undocumented immigrants?

Trump is playing with the lives of millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States by repeatedly threatening to deport them all, despite waffling on exactly how fast mass deportations would take place. Besides being logistically impossible, prohibitively expensive, and disastrous for the U.S. economy, such an idiotic plan would tear apart families on a scale unprecedented in our country since the WWII-era Japanese American internment camps. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, is sanely and sensibly committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform.

8) Do you agree with doctors and scientists that children should be vaccinated?

Trump is one of the most prominent celebrities who in recent years have spread phony anti-vaccine propaganda, and U.S. children have died as a result.

Hillary is the only presidential candidate who is unequivocally pro-vaccine. Trump is an unrepentant anti-vaxxer, and Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have both pandered to the anti-vaccine movement.

9) What community service in your past has prepared you for the job of President?

Trump's lack of any prior community service should disqualify him outright him for the job he's seeking. Electing Trump would be the first time in two and a half centuries of American history that voters chose a President with no prior government or military experience. He's never held public office before, which means he's never given voters a chance to see how he could handle a lesser office before asking them to trust him with the presidency.

Trump has never held an appointed position in any previous presidential administration. He hasn't represented his fellow citizens as Governor, Mayor, or even a City Council member. He's never helped run any sort of government body whose goal is to serve the public interest. All Trump has done in his 70 years on this planet is expand a business empire that he inherited from his father, while managing to bankrupt his companies several times.

In addition to serving in elected office as a U.S. Senator from New York and at the cabinet level as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has a nearly 50-year record of community service.

10) Do you have many lifelong friends? Tell us about one of them.

In Trump Revealed, an exhaustively-researched biography written by Washington Post reporters that came out in August, based in part on twenty hours of interviews with Trump, a shocking fact came to light. When asked about his friends, Trump said he had no time for any. "It was apparent that Trump had no friends, outside his immediate family," wrote the reporters.

What Donald Trump does have is a deeply-rooted addiction to fame, money, and attention. He almost certainly needs psychological help, but as these ten questions make clear, the last thing America needs is to put Trump in the Oval Office.

Why is America Still The Only Developed Country Without Paid Maternity Leave?

   

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The Supreme Court hears testimony today in "the most high-stakes challenge to pregnancy discrimination law in a generation," according to Time magazine.

At issue is the case of former UPS employee Peggy Young, who was put on unpaid leave and subsequently lost her job after the company denied her request to not lift heavy packages during her pregnancy eight years ago. Her story raises the question of why we are so far behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to providing paid maternity leave for pregnant women.

The UK guarantees an entire year of paid leave - 52 weeks. Australia gives 18 weeks, and Mexico offers 12 weeks, during which mothers are reimbursed fully 100% of their normal pay. Yet here in the United States? Nothing. Not even a single day of paid maternity leave.

Our children are our future, and we can do better!

#standwithpeggy #waronwomen #reproductiverights #notright

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January 20, 2001 Remembered: A Fraudulent Inauguration Kicks Off the Debacle of George W. Bush

Emotions ran high after Bush stole the 2000 election. On Inauguration Day 2001, the largest number of protesters since the Nixon era came to Washington, D.C. and staged a counter-Inaugural, vowing to resist the fraudulent Bush Administration. It was only after 9/11 that the country was shocked into forgetting about the fact that George W. Bush's presidency was illegitimate from the start. The following are some of the slogans heard chanted in the streets on that cold and mournful day:

BUSH LOST, GORE WON. REMEMBER IT.

WHAT IF THEY HELD AN ELECTION...AND NOBODY COUNTED THE VOTES?

WAKE UP AMERICA

BUSH STOLE THE ELECTION

BUSH WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED

SHAME ON YOU, GEORGE W. BUSH

THE SYSTEM LIED TO US

DEMOCRACY HIJACKED

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

DEMOCRACY DIED WHEN BUSH WON BY 300 STOLEN VOTES

UNITE AND PROTEST THIS MADNESS

DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT



GOVERNMENT BY RICH MEN, NOT LAWS

OVERTHROW KING GEORGE

PATRIOTS UNITE

COUNT THE VOTES

WONDER WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THEY HAD COUNTED THE VOTES?

HAVE THEY COUNTED THE VOTES YET?

WONDER IF THEY EVER COUNTED THOSE VOTES?

HOW TO WIN AN ELECTION: DON'T LET THEM COUNT THE VOTES

YOUR VOTE ONLY COUNTS…IF YOUR CANDIDATE'S DADDY ALREADY PACKED THE SUPREME COURT

YOUR VOTE ONLY COUNTS…IF YOU VOTE THE WAY THE SYSTEM WANTS YOU TO

YOUR VOTE ONLY COUNTS…IF YOU'RE RICH OR REPUBLICAN

YOUR VOTE ONLY COUNTS…IF YOU CHOOSE THE PUPPET RIGGED TO WIN

YOUR VOTE ONLY COUNTS…IF NEXT TIME YOU VOTE TO SAVE AMERICA FROM GEORGE W. BUSH



I LOVE MY COUNTRY

I REFUSE TO SUPPORT AN UNLAWFUL DICTATOR

I REFUSE TO ACCEPT A PUPPET REGIME

I REFUSE TO FORGET ABOUT A STOLEN ELECTION

I REFUSE TO GO ABOUT MY BUSINESS QUIETLY

I REFUSE TO CALL GEORGE W. BUSH MY PRESIDENT

Memo to Al Gore: Don't Concede

E-mail to Al Gore, 11-9-00

(Note from 10-28-08 - After 1996, when my heart was broken a second time by North Carolina’s willingness to re-elect a hatemonger like Jesse Helms over a dynamic, progressive challenger like Harvey Gantt, I was burned out on grassroots organizing. For the next few years, I took a break from politics and sat out the 2000 elections. In the closing weeks of that race, I woke up and realized I’d made a big mistake. I will forever regret not having been involved in trying to turn Florida blue, the state that decided the entire election, where one of my political mentors was on contract that fall registering black voters. In fact, I think I was personally, uniquely positioned to have made a difference in Florida, if only I had put two and two together. But that’s another story.

Once the election was over, I wasn’t under any illusion that Al Gore would take advice in an e-mail from some random knucklehead, but I was pissed off enough about how things went down to send it to him anyway. Which was probably evident by my liberal use of exclamation points. As things turned out, Al fought the good fight, but he fell short by the five Supreme Court votes that ultimately shut down the Florida recount and installed George W. Bush as the most illegitimate U.S. President of the modern era.)



>>Dear Al,

When they finish the recount this afternoon, don’t concede! Even if Bush is still ahead by 1,000 votes or whatever.

You won! You won the popular vote, and you won Florida, fair and square. With a margin separating you from victory of only 1,000 or so votes, there is hard, incontrovertible evidence that voters in at least one county, Palm Beach County, cast more than 20,000 ballots for you that (a) weren’t counted or (b) were mistakenly counted for Buchanan. So even assuming there’s a huge flood of overseas ballots still to arrive and George Bush might pick up another 5,000 (unlikely since in '96 there were only 2,300 and just 54% of them were for Dole), you would still have won Florida if the people’s will was respected.

The evidence is plain enough for the majority of voters nationwide to support whatever legal challenges have to be mounted in order to make sure the people’s will in Palm Beach County (and Osceola County and anywhere else where the same kinds of misleading ballots were used) is respected.

Whoever sees the ballots used will come to the same conclusion! I saw one on the internet yesterday, from the Sun-Sentinel, but today copies were re-printed in other newspapers around the country. Thank God Florida’s initial results are getting nationwide scrutiny, because it’s outrageous!

The Gore-Lieberman ticket was listed second, but voters had to punch the third hole! If voters punched the second hole, they cast their votes for Pat Buchanan! It’s that simple! Anybody can understand it!



As soon as I heard that 19,000 votes in Palm Beach County alone had been invalidated, because they had been punched more than one time, I knew something rotten was about to go down. Now we’re not just talking about 3,400 disputed votes, the majority mistakenly cast for Buchanan (which he himself admitted this morning on the Today show were probably not cast for him, but were probably Gore-Lieberman votes), we’re talking about more than 20,000.

20,000 Americans denied their rightful votes! Outrage! Shame! The democratic process must be respected. If misleading ballots were used in a county, re-vote that county. A simple solution that a majority of voters nationwide would support.

The reason why you’re on firm political ground for not conceding until the legal challenges are settled is that you’re not crying vote fraud, although there’s obviously arguments to be made that minority voters were intimidated in various counties and apparently, there was an official tainted by past voter fraud convictions (GOP mayoral candidate Xavier Suarez) involved with the GOP’s absentee ballot efforts.

This is not 1960, these are no vague, hard-to-prove allegations of voter fraud that you’re making, like Nixon would have been forced to do, this is a very specific case of ballots in one or two counties out of 67 being poorly designed, subsequently misleading voters, and casting doubts about the validity of the entire process. In order to retain people’s confidence in the system, a re-vote is necessary.

Here’s the important part: it was an honest mistake! The fact that the elections chair who approved the ballot in Palm Beach County is a Democrat is a powerful argument IN YOUR FAVOR!

It proves you’re not accusing Bush of voter fraud by allowing citizens of Florida to push for a re-vote in Palm Beach County, you just realize that an honest mistake has been made that INADVERTANTLY disfranchised over 20,000 Florida voters!

Understand that the people will support you! It’s George W. Bush who looks like he’s trying to steal the election. The onus is on him to begin with, not you, because his brother runs the damn state! He’s the one who people already suspect is trying to thwart the will of the Republic. And when you win Florida, assuming Bush takes Oregon, if he then tries challenging results in Iowa and Wisconsin, he’ll really look like he’s trying to steal this election.

You ran a great race and totally deserved to win. You made your dad and mom and Nancy very proud. How ironic that the voters of Tennessee refused to put you over the top. And you did it by running as a real Democrat, sure, one with New Democrat credentials, but embracing rather than repudiating the party’s progressive heritage. Listening to your stump speeches in the closing days, it was clear to me and many others that Al Gore is the current standard bearer of the progressive movement in this country.

And you ran this great race and worked your heart out against all odds, while under attack from Nader on the left, facing a potent, flush with cash challenge from George W. Bush, and almost doomed from the start thanks to Bill Clinton and his conduct re Monica Lewinsky! Al, you are the man.

I can only hope you’ve already reached the same conclusions about this recount yourself, but I wanted to make sure you heard them from a fan with a perspective far removed from the campaign bunker.

Good luck, Al, and thanks again for fighting for America!

Erik Ose
Chapel Hill, NC

Top 5 Reasons Not To Re-Elect George H.W. Bush

No. 5 - His doctor says he should get some rest.

No. 4 - The Lying-About-Being-A-War-Hero Thing.

No. 3 - He cheats on his wife.

No. 2 - Harry Blackmun is 84 years old.

No. 1 - If we vote him out, that's one new job created.