The rule of law trumps the rule of a ruler: USA 101

A version of this appeared in the e and print editions of the Sky Hi News November 7, 2018 and on line November 8.

 https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/opinion-usa-101-the-rule-of-law-trumps-the-rule-of-the-ruler/

The morning after November 6:  Still sitting in the Oval Office is a president who views laws as a barrier to his power, a challenge  to get around them or  claim he can bend the rule of law to his benefit. He brought with him to the White House this scofflaw attitude,  rooted  in his business experience. His midterm election promise to reverse the 14th Amendment is only one case in point. (added later November 7 A crisis is being engineered by Donald Trump to impede the Mueller investigation by appointing a yes man flunky on record to criticizing Mueller acting in place  of fired Jeff Sessions This is a direct result of Trump holding onto the Senate...By doing so, Trump has insulated himself against impeachment and can operate with all of the arrogance, retribution, and abuse of power he thinks he has...rule of law be damned. This is a third finger raised against Mueller and democracy. It is also one more element in building an obstruction of justice case  against Trump Mueller could use if Trump's appointee takes action to rein in Mueller.  A constitutional crisis is just beginning.  Expect Trump to take advantage of the lame duck session to get away with whatever he can before the newly blue majority  House is sworn in.  )

Throughout his life as an heir to a fortune which he nurtured into a greater fortune with a family run real estate  enterprise, Donald Trump  only needed  his  simple command to rule his business. Any challengers were to be hit back harder than they hurt him. For him, as expressed in interviews , fear is his power.  His reputation was not good  in the real estate field, already filled with con artists and puffing sales people and he shrugged off  a long list of suits and bankruptcies as  just another cost of doing business.  He survived claims of fraud and misdeeds   by  settling  disputes with money, as he did in the Trump University case or his problem with infidelities and abusive  behavior with women.
When he became  president, he tried  to run the White House with the same attitudes and ethics  as he had run his business. His TV reality show and real estate hawker mentality, his frequently uttered lies and exaggerations  continued. He arose to political power by leading causes like birtherism, claiming Obama was an illegitimate president because he was born in Kenya, contrary to overwhelming evidence.  This  appealed to many  who resented that  their preservation of ethnic and racial power was constrained by the rule of  law, political correctness (AKA civility),  and the Constitution. Later he was claiming he was above the law because of his position as president. He asserted  he could not be subpoenaed to testify  in a criminal case and he could pardon himself.
 He  has made promises that would challenge the very supremacy of the Constitution.  In a last minute midterm election promise, Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order to overturn the 14th Amendment. It guaranteed a  person’s  children born  or naturalized in the US  would be  US citizens.  With a stroke of a pen signing an executive order, he proposed to change the constitution. He would destroy this odious  birthright citizenship. It was obviously a promise made to appeal to his white nationalist base. If he had the power to change the Constitution by executive order,  then he could also  take action against his critics, the enemies of the people, the free press,  and  keep on going, until the rule of law, the Constitution, was not worth the parchment on which it was written. To keep some wannabe despot,   king , or dictator from altering that fundamental  document from which all laws flowed, the Constitution made itself very difficult to be amended, fortunately for democracy.    “Amendments must be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.”
Subject to interpretation, the application of some Constitutional provisions are  altered. However, the 14th is one of the most unambiguous amendments ever written.    “Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” He was trying to pull off another  con, counting on  the ignorance of his devout followers.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-maybe-u-s-will-have-a-president-for-life-someday

Why the fuss about midterms? Donald Trump is not on the ballot

A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News, Oct.30-Oct 31, 2018
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/opinion-muftic-why-the-midterm-fuss-donald-trump-is-not-on-the-ballot/

Donald Trump is not on the ballot but he  says he wants the November 6 midterms to be a referendum about him.  If so, send him a message with your vote.  That is the American way. What is not the American way are his  words of hate and fear or to deliver the same in return. Words have consequences." Violence begets violence" (MLK.Jr)

Both parties use  heated political oratory, but no one is  equivalent to the bully pulpit of a president  and no one equals Trump’s constant insults of rivals by name, his demeaning racial and religious minorities, and his exhortation of  violence against reporters.  This is still a citizen driven democracy. If that is the president we want to continue to empower, that is the president we get.  My hope is that  most Americans  see an America better than that.  We are becoming two countries: one mired in yearning for a past where racism was not tempered by political correctness  and patriarchy reigned unchallenged.  There is another America driven  by tolerance, fairness,  and idealism of our founders who gave us a form of democracy that, unless abused, would protect us from hate mongers.  In the Novembers of  2018 and 2020, this country has the opportunity to choose which country it will be for years to come.

The horrific massacre in the Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday reminds us  of what an atmosphere of hate of “others” can foster. The anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant shooter posted his beliefs on social media. Chants of “lock her up”, “Build the wall” rocked and still rocks Trump’s  rallies. Earlier in the week, a  frequent Trump rally attender addressed letter bombs to the who’s who of Trump’s  named enemies and critics  and  had plastered his van with targets drawn over faces of those who were to become  bomb recipients.  The FBI and Attorney General Jeff Sessions quickly put to rest Trump media promoted conspiracy theories that this was a hoax, committed by Democrats to make the President look bad. The bombs were real. The accused was a partisan.

Trump cannot control how every unhinged follower will react, but Trump with his powerful position  bears a special responsibility not to be a match that lights the fires.  Trump  does not stop hate filled chants at rallies; he regales in them.  Trump, taking no responsibility in inspiring hateful violence,  blamed the bomber  on the mainstream media he had frequently called  the  enemy of the people. For what? For reporting and preserving Trump’s own words, for providing live coverage of his rallies, and  fact checking?

Not to be lost in breaking news, are issues that impact many,  health care coverage and Roe v Wade’s survival.  We are voting for  state officials who can shape them .Twenty GOP State Attorney Generals have sued  to declare the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)  unconstitutional, ending subsidized health insurance  premiums and  coverage of pre-existing conditions. There is no comparable replacement.  The Democrat  Colorado Attorney General candidate Phil Weiser would  defend  the ACA against the Texas suit destined for the Supreme Court. His GOP opponent  George Brauchler, once had backed repeal.  The conservative Supreme Court  majority is likely either to rule against Roe v Wade or to give more power to states to restrict access. The Governor can veto  what  its legislature passes.  Democrat Jared Polis is pro choice. His opponent Walker Stapleton is pro life and  is mum if he would sign state legislation further restricting abortions. In the Attorney General’s race, Weiser is pro choice.  Anti choice Brauchler has left open  whether he would file  a brief  before the Supreme Court urging  repeal  of Roe v Wade

 Forgot to register?  No problem. In Colorado, you can register up to and  on election day , November 6. Visit https://www.sos.state.co.us/voter/pages/pub/home.xhtml for how.  For candidate positions, google.

(This  posting draws on, condenses, joins and updates some recent postings
Footnotes and sources can also be found in prior postings on similar subjects)

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/what-to-know-about-the-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/latest-trump-claims-blamed-mail-bombs-58764292
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_begets_violence
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/413519-director-of-adl-we-will-continue-to-call-out-trump-but-this-is#.W9cIA9nCQ4Y.facebook

Trump's power tools: hate, fear and lies. On October 24 there were consequences.

Updated  of a prior posting on October 24. Trumps  words of hate, fear and lies have consequences. His oratory of hate was heard by someone who used his words to target his  letter bombs exactly  to his most  frequently named  subjects  of his angry, degrading  rhetoric.  It  happened October 24. Trump then blamed in a tweet the fake mainstream media he called the enemy of the people. For what? For reporting his  own words on video and in live coverage?
Donald Trump wants the November 6 midterms to be a referendum about him.  If that is so,  bring it on. Trump  has faith in the gods of hate and fear that will rally to his cause as he summons them with lies and racist and sexist code words and calls the free press an enemy of the people.   If that is the president we want to continue to empower, that is the president we get.  My faith lies with the hope that  most Americans  see America greater than that, a shining city on the hill, the beacon of freedom and democracy, in Ronald Reagan's stirring words. We are becoming two countries: one mired in yearning for a past where racism was not tempered by the rule of  law and political correctness  and patriarchy reigned unchallenged.  There is another America driven  by changing demographics and remembered idealism of our founding fathers who warned us of a return   to kings and despots led by populist demagogues .  In 2018 and 2020, this country has the opportunity to choose which country it will be for years to come.

We have been there before when  hyping  hate and fear were in your face political tactics.  In the late 1930's the US was swept with isolationist fever and a rise of Nazi sympathizers. America Firsters led by Charles Lindbergh as their chief spokesperson wanted peace at any cost and advocated for the US  to stay out of the Nazi advancement in Europe.   22,000 American  filled Madison Square Garden to mimic Hitler's Nuremberg rallies.   Franklin Delano Roosevelt was running for an unprecedented third term which he won in a landslide in 1940, dimming the lights of the American Nazis and the American Firsters. Nonetheless less, the GOP Senate  isolationists were strong enough to keep us from sending troops to Europe to help the English and the French.  The Day of Infamy, Pearl Harbor, delivered the final blow to both the American Nazi movement and the political isolationists..  The folly of our disengagement  with the world was revealed in a smoldering, mangled fleet in a Hawaiian harbor.  Isolationism remained  out of fashion until 2016 when another generation of GOP American Firsters revived it and hate and fear became a core rally message  delivered by Donald Trump.

Charlottesville, Virginia  has been the scene  of two pivotal declarations:   FDR, in an address to University of Virginia law school graduates in June of 1940, called out the Nazi aggressors  as "the gods of war and hate".  Donald Trump, orating from afar, called the neo Nazi, White Nationalists,  tiki torch bearers chanting Nazi slogans in German and in English in that very  same city in the summer of 2018, as some" fine people".  That was no slip of the tongue, but a continuation of his racism and campaigns of coded appeals to a large group of core supporters, who feared brown and black people would end their domination. The rest of his party either tolerates, ignores  his hate filled tweets and oratory, splits tickets,  or changes party affiliation. Shouted chants of "build the wall" at his anger filled rallies  were and are  code words  for his  racially tinged anti immigrant campaign aimed at keeping Mexicans who he lied " were murderers and rapists "from flooding into America . While Nazi tiki torch marchers were fine, women who flooded the streets in revulsion of his amoral, woman grabbing boasting,  his  anti women rights, his anti #me too movements, were mobs to be deplored and feared as a bunch of hysterical, emasculating females. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh became the symbolic  martyr of the counter attack by white males frightened by  such an out of control challenge of demonstrators and were  told by Trump  wing media those mobs of women  were  obviously organized and  paid by George Soros.  Soros has been a frequent  right wing scapegoat. That  fact checker three Pinocchios lie  was a twofer: it appealed to both fearful white males and anti-Semites.

It is a oft repeated truism that fear is the greatest  political motivator .  Candidate Donald Trump himself in an  interview with journalists  Bob Woodward and Robert  Costa  in  April 2016  opined that"real power was fear. "  If there was not enough fear to turn out his voters, his contribution to that strategy of fear was to tell lies so that he could  cause  even more intense fear.  Brown immigrants, murderers and rapists and gang members  were not flooding the border, as he claimed; in fact, illegal immigration was at its lowest  in years and nearly all  were women and children fleeing gang warfare in Central America. That mid easterners, gang members, and Democrats comprise a caravan of migrants are fact checked as lies: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-on-migrants-saudis-and-the-hispanic-vote  He tells you Democrats want open borders.That too is a lie . He rejected the Democrat's offer of a compromise on immigration (the famous Chuck and Nancy sit down)  this summer that provided for greater border security. Those minority voters were not voting illegally ,either.. Voter fraud was a myth and Trump's commission to prove his point was shut down when, embarrassingly, no evidence was found. Nonetheless, in the name of voter fraud, dirty tricks were launched from South Carolina to North Dakota to suppress Democratic votes, constructing voter ID conditions impossible to meet, failing to process 53,000 voter registrations of mostly African American, strategically removing poll sites from minority neighborhoods, dropping less frequent voters too quickly  from registration rolls.  The Trump administration's inhumane policy concocted to scare off migrants  by separating families at the border resulted in  12,800  young migrant kids in tent gulags and shelters.  That  cruelty was  condemned world wide as a violation of human rights. Donald Trump has pulled the plug on the light of that shining city on the hill.

; https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/23/nazi-german-american-bund-rally-madison-square-garden-215522

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-rally-violence_us_5bd121b1e4b055bc94882565?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-doubles-down-on-blaming-media-as-suspicious-packa

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shep-smith-methodically-fact-checks-090230287.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/us/politics/nationalist-president-trump.html

Trump ramps up fear and hate with lies in advance of midterms: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-on-migrants-saudis-and-the-hispanic-vote

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-revolution-of-1940-americas-fight-over-entering-world-war-two
Lindbergh America First
Joseph P Kennedy...JFK father...Ambassador to Great Britain
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-revolution-of-1940-americas-fight-over-entering-world-war-tw


https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/the-debate-behind-us-intervention-in-world-war-ii/277572/  FDR: June 10 1940  "Gods of War and Hate" Charlottesville

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/23/nazi-german-american-bund-rally-madison-square-garden-215522

Trump has said the real power is fear. "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/02/transcript-donald-trump-interview-with-bob-woodward-and-robert-costa/?utm_term=.df1ec3bf6177
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/11/bob-woodward-donald-trump-fear-time-feel-afraid/1255246002/

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/America_is_a_shining_city_upon_a_hill

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/04/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-days/?utm_term=.228b6545036f

Examples of recent Trump lies to raise hatred  and fear levels and scapegoating:
In appealing to anti Semitism and fear of women rising in mobs,  George Soros paid them:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/05/no-george-soros-isnt-paying-kavanaugh-protesters/?utm_term=.833096f3d39d
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/newsy/factchecking-the-suggestion-george-soros-paid-kavanaugh-protesters
https://www.snopes.com/tag/george-soros/
Immigrants are murderers and rapists:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-
Caravans of Mexicans etc swarming the border.  Truth: illegal immigration at new lows..down 18% in past years;https://www.wral.com/trump-renews-fiery-immigration-rhetoric-as-midterms-near/17927212/
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/defend-his-immigration-agenda-trump-points-riots-dont-exist?cid=sm_fb_maddow

Democrats want open borders to let in these rapists and murderers and get more Democrativ votes
false:   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html   "

"Democrats have argued that building a wall on the southwestern border is ineffective and a waste of resources, and rejected hard-line proposals to limit legal immigration. But Mr. Trump is grossly exaggerating Democrats’ positions when he conflates their opposition to his signature campaign promise and immigration priorities as “open borders.” And there is no evidence that they “want anybody,” including MS-13, to enter the United States freely.

While criticizing Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, the Democratic National Committee has committed to improving border security.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders, have rebutted the president’s charges. Additionally, their aides cited several examples of legislation that are supported by Democrats and would have provided border security funding."

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-rejects-yet-another-bipartisan-compromise-immigration
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/20/17483738/trump-family-separation-border-trudeau-may-reaction
On Trump lies about sanctuary cities...https://www.yahoo.com/news/twitter-agog-trump-whopper-californians-055804686.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

Trump lies re Dem support of opoid legislation:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/senate-sends-opioid-package-to-trumps-desk

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html

Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/montana-rally-president-trump-praises-greg-gianforte-body/story?id=58596529

And without need to document because it has become an every day occurrence or oratory: Trump's rise to power on bitherism, claiming Obama was born in Kenya and turning Kavanaugh into the poster child of male patriarchy under attack.. His claim that all press and media criticizing him are "fake news", regardless of facts, proof, and corroboration, a common technique of  demagogues rising to dictatorships.  Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist.
 Calling those who accuse men of sexual missdeeds liars.  Calling women who threaten him with power pigs, horse faces, confused, mobs, an empty bag.. Men are the victims.  Neo Naxis are some fine people who march with torches and giving white nationalist and Nazi salutes.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/

Backing  and campaigning those who officials who use dirty tricks  to suppress African Americans and Native Americans votes.https://www.politifact.com/georgia/article/2018/oct/19/georgias-exact-match-law-and-its-impact-voters-gov/
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/native-americans-north-dakota-fight-protect-voting-rights/story?id=58585206
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/20/trump-georgia-republican-brian-kemp-stacey-abrams

Trump's disdain for the rule of law, contending he has a right to pardon himself if charged with crimes.

Examples of promises made and not kept:  Better cheaper health care for all (and backing  law suits and candidates advocating overturn of Obamacare and coverage of pre-existing conditions, as well as legislation backed by the GOP in Congress).    Tax cuts for all became a sham cover for giving tax breaks to the rich and corporations; the middle class has already figured that one out and now the GOP is afraid to run on his tax programs.  That the trillian dollar  tax cut would pay for itself by increasing growth and income to the treasurty has resulted in ballooning debts and deficits.  Going it alone without alliances, trade or otherwise, would make America greater in the world, yet Trump has become the laughing stock at the UN and his world approval ratings have tanked, the exact opposite from Obama's.

So what if Trump tells lies

A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News  October 23-24, 2018
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/opinion-muftic-so-what-if-trump-tells-lies/


I have seen chains of Facebook comments posted on time lines of friends that had me shaking my head.  One was "so what if Trump lies, I like what he is doing".  Another: "If you disagree with Trump, it is because  you are a socialist,  so go live in Venezuela".  The latter writer has no idea of the shades of kinds of socialism, but right off the bat, I hope they turn in their Social Security card and give up Medicare, because those are socialism by any definition.  For the record, I want capitalism to succeed. I do not support government ownership "of the means of production",  but capitalism has its rough edges that  leave many in the economic dust unless the bad parts are recognized and dealt with, whether by government or by the private sector or  by charitable giving. If  that does not represent your values, at least consider it is key to a stable society in which all have hope they can be treated fairly.

I am not freaked out by the word "socialism" itself. My questions are how much, what kind,what for,  and are we willing to pay for it.  I have lived in Europe and have close family members who live there now, but the extent of government involvement  in their economy is their own choice because they also live in a democracy.    They get the economic system the majority  wants decided in a democratic process.  They have lived under fascism and communist dictatorship  and gone down those hell holes. What does frighten me is a large number of Americans who do not support  or understand democracy and do not recognize a demagogue wannabe despot  or condemn one when they see one.  In my view,  I fear they are passengers on the Titanic dancing to the music they love.

 Remember that Hitler, Hugo Chavez, the Marxists, and Putin and all of the other despots, strong men, absolute  kings and dictators seized and kept  power using and abusing existing democracies or took advantage of chaos, economy's  hard times,  anarchy, and  inheritance. They made promises that could not work and told lies to exaggerate victimization, intensify hatred  and fear,  and  scapegoating  others so they could appear as a savior.  This happened whether the existing systems were fascism or socialism  or market or oil based, communist, capitalist, socialist,  industrialized  or agricultural, and with well educated or illiterate populaces.

Here is the comment I posted in response to the one who wanted my friend to move to Venezuela calling her a socialist because she criticized Trump for lying. It is also  my answer  to the one who does not care if he lies.  "What the heck does  lying to cover your tail have to do with socialism? Seems like any form of government or despot of any economic or political ideology that lies is trying to fool its citizens or the world to maintain power. If citizens swallow lies because they like what the lies or promises sound like and suppress  and muzzle  those who tell uncomfortable truths, eventually their experiences in real life reveal the lies. Demagogues tell you what you want to hear, true or not, as they oppress, intimidate,  destroy the opposition, and that is how they become dictators. The fooled eventually get disillusioned, and try to revolt peacefully in the ballot box in a democracy with fair elections and a free press. That peaceful transition of power is  the gift of democracy, given us through our Constitution  by our country's founders.  If it is too late, that  people have already handed over all of their power to a dictator , the revolt takes place in the blood of the streets or on a battlefield. That is the story of political history ".    That is no lie.

Trump has said the real power is fear.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/11/bob-woodward-donald-trump-fear-time-feel-afraid/1255246002/

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/04/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-days/?utm_term=.228b6545036f

Examples of recent Trump lies to raise hatred  and fear levels and scapegoating:
In appealing to anti Semitism and fear of women rising in mobs,  George Soros paid them:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/05/no-george-soros-isnt-paying-kavanaugh-protesters/?utm_term=.833096f3d39d

Anti immigration has become Trump's code word for making America White again, appealing to racists and fear of brown and black people:
Immigrants are murderers and rapists:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-
Caravans of Mexicans etc swarming the border.  Truth: illegal immigration at new lows..down 18% in past years;https://www.wral.com/trump-renews-fiery-immigration-rhetoric-as-midterms-near/17927212/

Democrats want open borders to let in these rapists and murderers and get more Democrativ votes
false:   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html

On Trump lies about sanctuary cities...https://www.yahoo.com/news/twitter-agog-trump-whopper-californians-055804686.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

Trump lies re Dem support of opoid legislation:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/senate-sends-opioid-package-to-trumps-desk

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html

Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/montana-rally-president-trump-praises-greg-gianforte-body/story?id=58596529

And without need to document because it has become an every day occurrence or oratory: Trump's rise to power on bitherism, claiming Obama was born in Kenya and turning Kavanaugh into the poster child of male patriarchy under attack.. His claim that all press and media criticizing him are "fake news", regardless of facts, proof, and corroboration, a common technique of  demagogues rising to dictatorships.  Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist.
 Calling those who accuse men of sexual missdeeds liars.  Calling women who threaten him with power pigs, horse faces, confused, mobs, an empty bag.. Men are the victims.  Neo Naxis are some fine people who march with torches and giving white nationalist and Nazi salutes.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/

Backing  and campaigning those who officials who use dirty tricks  to suppress African Americans and Native Americans votes.https://www.politifact.com/georgia/article/2018/oct/19/georgias-exact-match-law-and-its-impact-voters-gov/
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/native-americans-north-dakota-fight-protect-voting-rights/story?id=58585206
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/20/trump-georgia-republican-brian-kemp-stacey-abrams

Trump's disdain for the rule of law, contending he has a right to pardon himself if charged with crimes.

Examples of promises made and not kept:  Better cheaper health care for all (and backing  law suits and candidates advocating overturn of Obamacare and coverage of pre-existing conditions, as well as legislation backed by the GOP in Congress).    Tax cuts for all became a sham cover for giving tax breaks to the rich and corporations; the middle class has already figured that one out and now the GOP is afraid to run on his tax programs.  That the trillian dollar  tax cut would pay for itself by increasing growth and income to the treasurty has resulted in ballooning debts and deficits.  Going it alone without alliances, trade or otherwise, would make America greater in the world, yet Trump has become the laughing stock at the UN and his world approval ratings have tanked, the exact opposite from Obama's.