Dori: I like Donald Trump

I’m glad we were able to talk about so many Northwest issues with Trump in an exclusive interview Monday, because, let’s face it, we’ve all seen and heard him talk in a million national interviews about everywhere else in the country. He admitted that he isn’t sure if tonight’s visit in Everett is smart strategy or not. But he did tell state Sen. Don Benton that he really enjoyed his visit to Lynden in June and that he promised to come back. Back at the convention, Benton told me that when Trump says something, he always follows through on it.

As you know, I’m leaning toward voting for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, unless it looks like Washington actually seems like it might be competitive. But, I must tell you, on a personal level, I really like Donald Trump. When he was in the studio with me for an hour more than a decade ago, he was the most surprising guest I’ve ever had. He had no entourage, no deal making, no phone calls during commercial breaks — we just talked about family. I came away thinking that, when it comes to the public image of the guy versus the private reality that I dealt with, there’s a great chasm.

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From a political standpoint, though, I’m still not sure. I understand the persona and this character that he’s played on the campaign trail. It’s been very effective for him, as he picked off all the Republican opponents one by one. I don’t know if it will be effective in the general election. The fact is, though, in my opinion, Hillary Clinton is one of the scariest presidential candidates of my lifetime.

Trump still trails in most every poll, though the gaps appears to be closing at least a little. But the fact is that Hillary has a solid lead in the states he must win: Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida (which is getting more competitive). Which again leads back to the big question: Why spend any time and energy in the Seattle area, or Washington state at all? Outside of California – the bluest state in America – Washington is among the most unflippable state of them all. So why try to energize a voting base where the deficit is insurmountable? I don’t understand the strategy there. I think a disaster would need to befall Hillary Clinton to make it competitive in states like ours.

With that said, I liked that he brought up Boeing. I’m not a protectionist and have always been a free-markets guy, but I also recognize that if we’re going to bring a middle class back, we can’t lose Boeing-type jobs here in the Puget Sound. Trump swears that he will impose restrictions on American companies that start outsourcing, because he’s right, China can just devalue its currency. At some point, the US is going to have to devalue our currency, with the $19 trillion in debt. That’s the only issue I did not get to talk to Trump about and it’s the one I am most passionate about when it comes to evaluating presidential candidates.

We are $19 trillion in debt and there are more than 300 million people in America. That means we have $60,000 debt for every man, woman and child in this country! And I haven’t heard any major party candidate talk in concrete terms about how to bring the economy back.

And then there was his comment that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee can’t possible vet the Syrian refugees. He said it’s a disaster for our region and that the feds would get involved to get rid of sanctuary citizens. He says a federal government under a Trump administration would get rid of sanctuary status. The only way I could see that happening would be to withhold any federal funding from local governments that offer sanctuary status.

I’m not yet sure if Trump has changed my mind. We still have more than two months to Election Day.

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