Debunking Donald Trump

1. Building a wall between Mexico and the US will not block illegal immigration, as Trump so confidently claims. Desperately poor immigrants will always find other ways to enter the Land of Opportunity. Moreover, how would President Trump make Mexicans pay for the wall – go to war with Mexico?
2. Trump wants to kick out 12 million illegal immigrants. How? Conduct roundups like the Nazis did during World War II? And don’t Americans understand that this mass ejection would send prices skyrocketing – especially for agricultural products?
3. Trump has pledged to slap hefty duties on Chinese imports. Again this will raise prices – in this case of cheap Chinese products Americans depend on. Moreover Beijing will retaliate by cutting US exports to China.
4. Trump vows to take back jobs from other countries. Again this will hike prices and trigger countries to retaliate by kicking out American firms. The likes of Apple Inc will not tolerate this. Moreover taking back jobs while there is nearly full employment in the US will be disastrous for the economy.
5. Trump wants to “fix” the military. What is there to fix? The US Army is the most powerful fighting force in the world, capable of conquering any other country many times over.
6. No more trade deals. So, back to isolationism, which would mean no more profiting from low production costs in places like China. The way forward in this world is more cooperation, not less.
7. Fixing the economy. Trump gives no concrete plans for this, fuelling suspicion there is nothing he could do any better than Obama. The US has the highest growth rate among most developed nations, while other countries can only dream about its 5-per-cent unemployment.
The only valid reason I can think of for the strong Trump support is his entertainment value.
Egon Wout