As the Republican National Convention drew to a close I thought it would be appropriate to lay out the case for why I support Donald Trump for president. Being an immigrant from India, many people are surprised that I would be willing to support the candidate who is perceived as anti-immigration. I support him because I believe that his policies are what will preserve the America that my family came to enjoy, as I mentioned in my first post. The issues that are most important to me are immigration, the economy, and national security. I will go through all of these issues in detail in this post and explain how Trump’s policies provide the best solutions. I will also explain how the media has misled the American people on what Trump actually believes.
Let us begin with the most controversial of Trump’s proposals: immigration reform. He began his campaign by talking about the troubles the United States has with its border with Mexico. He was condemned as a racist for saying that Mexicans are “rapists.” He in fact did not say that. He was talking specifically about certain illegal immigrants from Mexico, not all Mexicans in general. Also, it is worth noting that when we are talking about illegal immigrants, we are talking about a group that is composed entirely of criminals, given that they entered the country illegally. Trump went on to say, “some I assume… are good people.” Is that not a kind thing to say about a group of criminals? The Mexican government has actually published pamphlets giving its citizens advice on how to enter the United States illegally. It speaks about what clothes to wear while fording a river, namely the Rio Grande, and how not to get dehydrated when walking through a desert. It also informs them of their rights when they are detained. Trump was right when he said that Mexico was “sending” its people to America.
He has also said in the debates and on his official website, that he wants to stop immigration to preserve the rule of law. On the immigration reform page of his website it says, “a nation without laws is not a nation.” He is correct. My family followed the immigration laws perfectly when we entered the country and when we got our citizenship. We had to wait for over a decade for the latter. I think it is entirely unfair to people like my parents and I who followed the law to grant illegal immigrants amnesty. The reason the Democrats fight so hard for amnesty is because they know that illegal immigrants favor them 54% to 19% over Republicans. The Washington Post article also says,”among Hispanic legal permanent residents (legal status but not citizens), Democrats led 67-13 percent. And among Hispanics who immigrated to the United States and became citizens, they led 69-17.” Amnesty would grant citizenship to millions more hispanic illegal immigrants. I will not stand for the constitutional structure that created this great nation being torn asunder for the sake of the Democrats’ miserable careers.
Trump’s proposal to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it is actually very viable and also a sensible step. The cost to the Mexican government is projected to be between $5-10 billion. Mexican nationals send approximately $24 billion in remittances back to Mexico to help their families. Trump proposes that aliens may not wire money out of the United States without first verifying their lawful presence in the United States. If Mexico does not make the one time payment of $5-10 billion for the wall, the regulation will go into effect. It would be a good deal for Mexico to make the one-time payment to ensure that the remittances keep entering their country.
Welfare usage by both legal and illegal immigrants is also a major concern for me given that America has a national debt of over $19 trillion. The Center for Immigration Studies did a study that shows that 73% of households headed by immigrants from Central America and Mexico consume welfare. Households from the Caribbean are at 51% and those from Africa use welfare at 48%. Only 26% of households from Europe consume welfare. The group with the lowest welfare consumption is the one I belong to, South Asians, at 17%. The reason I mention these numbers is because we need to start having an immigration policy that benefits America. We do not need to be an alms house for all of the poor immigrants of the world. We need to be bringing people into this country who will not be a burden for the taxpayer and will add value to our nation’s economy. Immigrants from Europe and South Asia consume welfare at the lowest rates. Furthermore, immigrants from India have the highest levels of educational attainment out of any ethnic group. This is perhaps the reason why Indians as a group have the highest median income in America at $101,591.
In addition to productivity, immigrants should also assimilate to the American culture and adopt the values of our nation. In the early 1900s, assimilation in America came out of economic necessity. There was no welfare state to provide from immigrants at that time. Therefore, they had to learn English, interact with Americans and adopt their values in order to be employed or run a business. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the immigrants to America before 1965 were mostly from Europe. Integration was much easier since they shared western traditions and were largely Christian. However, assimilation is not taking place to the same degree today due to both the presence of the welfare state and the influx of immigrants from the 3rd world. When a welfare state is in place, immigrants will not have to assimilate out of economic necessity because the government is there to provide for them. In many cases they do not have to learn English and simply stay within their own communities, isolating themselves from the rest of the country. They therefore keep their 3rd world values and turn the areas they go to into versions of their home countries. For example, the age of consent in Mexico is 12. In many states in Mexico, a rapist can avoid punishment if he marries his victim. Approximately 80% of the women from Central America who cross the border illegally are raped along the way according to the Huffington Post. This is the culture that is being imported into the United States without assimilation as a result of our porous border.
About 62% of illegal immigrants use welfare. This is a huge burden on the American taxpayer. It is also very unjust given that they should not be in the country in the first place. Trump has proposed that we end welfare abuse by immigrants by having applicants for entry to the United States certify that they can pay for their own housing, healthcare and other needs. By having this requirement, we will be bringing the immigrants who are productive and able to provide for themselves when they enter the United States. They will assimilate in the same way that my family did as a result of their economic value.
With regards to the economy, I think that Trump’s tax plan will help boost economic growth and stop the growth of the national debt. He has proposed that we simplify our tax code to four brackets (0%, 10%, 20% and 25%), instead of the seven that we have now. Married couples that earn less than $50,000 will have a rate of 0%. The 25% rate only applies for single filers at $150,001 and up and for married filers at $300,001 and up. By lowering the tax rate, it will make people save more money and also boost consumer spending.
With regards to the corporate tax, the United States has the highest corporate tax rate of the 34 countries in the OECD at 39.1%. It is important to remember that when we tax a corporation, we are really taxing people. It is not the entity on paper that pays the tax, it is the people who work for the corporation that pay it. Corporations have to pay their employees less or increase their prices in order to compensate. To stay competitive, many companies have left America. Trump therefore plans to cut the corporate tax down to 15% to incentivize corporations to come to America. This will result in an increase in GDP and an increase in job creation. It will also help bring back about $2.5 trillion that corporations are keeping overseas back to America to drive investment.
I believe that a revival of the U.S. economy is the best way that we can balance the budget in addition to spending cuts. Trump’s plan seems to be best poised to energize our economy with strategic tax cuts.
National security has become a very high priority for me, given the terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, Orlando, Nice and now Munich. I think that Islam is an existential threat to the West and it is tearing Europe apart. Trump has proposed that we put a moratorium on Muslim immigration on account of our inability to vet immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. An official from the Department of Homeland Security has said that there is no way to vet the 10,000 Syrian refugees that have recently entered America. Europe faces the same problem, which has manifested itself in a huge spike in terrorism and sexual violence. The muslims in Europe also hold many values that are antithetical to Western values.
For example, Europe and North America recognize the separation of church and state. Islam does not make the distinction between the two. In fact, they are one and the same under Shariah law. There is no freedom to disbelieve in Islam like there is in Christianity. The punishment for apostates in Islam is death. Large numbers of muslims in Europe are also against people criticizing their religion publicly. Terrorists have killed those who have done so, like in the Charlie Hebdo attack. All of these positions are antithetical to secular western democracies. I think a temporary ban on muslim immigration would be appropriate to prevent these values from being imported into the United States. In America, 51% of muslims are in favor of Shariah law. The Pew research data also shows that 25% of muslims in America think violence against Americans is justified as part of the global jihad. Trump has said that he would examine the mosques in America to find the radicals that are peddling extremism, which I think is important since the muslims in America have not helped law enforcement at all in this area. He has also emphasized the need to promote and preserve Western values in the face of this threat, which I think is absolutely essential if we are to protect ourselves.
Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech outlined his strategy for providing for the national security of the United States. He mentioned that the United States paying a disproportionate amount of the cost of defending Europe in NATO. Only 4 of 28 other member countries besides America are spending the required 2% of GDP on defense. Given how high the United States national debt is, we would do well to have our allies pay more for their defense. Trump said that if they refuse, “the United States must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.” I admire his assertion of American interests in this alliance. I also think it would make the world safer if European nations did more to defend themselves and abstain from involvement in the Middle East.
Trump also spoke about how the Middle East is in turmoil as a result of U.S. interventions over the last 15 years. Trump said at the RNC, “after fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction and weakness.” As a nation we tried to turn countries in the Middle East into Western democracies, when they had no experience or desire to become a Western democracy. We destroyed the institutions they had and ISIS filled the void.
I am glad that Trump has derided the Obama-Clinton foreign policy and has rejected the idea of nation building. I think we should move in the new direction that he outlined with rebuilding our military, which has been depleted under Obama, and not intervening in foreign countries to the extent that we have. I am especially glad that he acknowledges that we are at war with radical Islam. We cannot hope to fight back against this evil unless we accept that we are at war. The Europeans do not understand this yet, but I hope they do before it is too late. Perhaps Trump can lead the way on this as president, just like he has led his business organization.
I have outlined here the three most important issues to me and how Donald Trump’s policies will help solve these problems. I will talk about Trump himself to conclude.
Donald Trump has been hugely successful in a wide variety of fields in his illustrious career. He is an international real estate mogul, and more importantly the only one that people can recognize. His name is synonymous with excellence. He is also a best-selling author, with The Art of the Deal being one the best selling business books of all time. He also produced The Apprentice, an enormously popular reality show that others have tried to emulate, but were not able to do so. Trump’s presence on the show was the deciding factor. His success can be attributed not only to his executive experience but to how media savvy he is. Trump has been in the public eye for more than three decades and knows how to handle them better than anyone in the business. The success of his presidential campaign is a testament to that.
I cannot think of anyone who is more qualified in terms of executive experience and knowledge of the media than Donald Trump. Coupled with his policy prescriptions, he is a truly outstanding candidate. I hope that this rather long post will help spread useful information to voters during this election and will also help explain why an immigrant would support Donald Trump for president.