A Case for and a Case against each GOP Presidential Candidate: Donald Trump

     As the political circus comes to my state of South Carolina, I have decided to look at a case for and a case against each GOP Presidential candidate starting with the frontrunner. When Donald Trump first announced his participation, I for one thought he would never gain any traction. I was wrong. He quickly jumped out with a lead in several national polls. Even then I thought that the polls had to be mistaken. I was wrong. When the actual votes came in Iowa, I wasn't surprised when Trump finished second and could've been third; but when New Hampshire gave him a landslide, I was somewhat surprised. It wasn't until then that I actually began to take him seriously as a possible Republican Nominee. But he, like every candidate, has his pros and cons.

     Case For: Everyone knows what a successful businessman Donald Trump is, and quite honestly we could use someone who knows how the economy works to be in charge of a country with over 18 trillion dollars in debt. He also has the remarkable trait of not caring what people think of what he says. This seemed to help him gain popularity early on in his run. His comments about illegal immigration and his proposed ban on Muslims gave the impression that he wouldn't be controlled by political correctness and the politics in Washington. While offensive to some, others found his bluntness refreshing.
     Case Against: Although he claims never to have gone bankrupt, his businesses have filed for bankruptcy four times (which is the same thing). So though his business sense may be savvy, it's not foolproof, and rather than taking responsibility for his failure, he justified himself by besmirching the lenders and suggesting that they deserved it, saying in a debate: "These lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not nice sweet little people." I wonder if China (one of America's largest lenders) would qualify as one of these "killers". So while he has the ability to improve our economy; he also has the ability to destroy it.
     As for caring little about what people think, that too could hurt us when it comes to working with Congress and also when working with other countries. With the endorsement of Vladimir Putin and some in the United Kingdom petitioning for Trump's national ban, one can only wonder what an America led by Trump would look like. Donald Trump clearly lacks understanding of the Constitution. He has all of these plans; Muslim ban, building a wall, and sending illegals back, but not once has he mentioned working with Congress. So logically one can only imagine he plans on using executive orders. One of the biggest problems Conservatives have with President Obama is his disregard for the original intent of the Constitution and his executive orders that defy it, his scorn for Congress, and his seemingly unlimited power. In this instance, there is no difference between our current President and Donald Trump. If one believes Obama to be a devil, that individual may be trading one for another. Trump's Muslim registry idea resembles Nazi Germany's with the Jews.
     A major concern of conservative Christians is Trump's apparent lack of a Biblical moral standard in spite of claiming to be a practicing Christian. Even those who are not Christian find his extramarital affairs, ownership of casinos, ruthless business practices, foul language, and lack of respect for individuals' feelings evidence of a defective moral compass.
     Summary: I give Donald Trump a lot of credit for his boldness and his disregard for political correctness, but in my opinion the risk vs. reward in his case is far too great for a country hanging in a delicate balance. I agree with his stance on immigration and I like what he could bring to the economy, but if he is willing to bend some of our Constitutional rights, it is only a matter of time before we lose others, either through him or through the precedent he will set for future leaders of our nation.