Trump for president

[HairOfTheDog]

I've since listened to segments of it and even they were hard to get through. I don't view my country as dark & scary, I don't feel the foreboding that he is trying to impress upon me. What he sees and what I see are two very different Americas. I am not frightened and I don't feel hopeless.

No matter where I tuned in to this speech all I heard were ridiculous promises, I didn't hear a plan of action or even a starting point. I didn't hear anything of substance and I wanted to so that I could argue about it in an informed manner.

I understand where you're coming from. I think the center and left pundits are gauging the effectiveness of Trump's speech from the same perspective as you.

But, you (and those pundits) are not part of Trump's target market. You aren't undecided and you're not of the hold-your-nose-for-Hillary mindset.

So the fact that Trump's speech didn't appeal to you isn't indicative of its effectiveness, in my opinion.

A few points in Trump's speech were accurate and scary to a lot of people, especially if they believe Trump's rhetoric as to why it's happening and don't have surrounding context. I think he may have swayed a number of undecideds who disagree with him on some issues but worry a lot about crime and immigration.

1. Trump was accurate when he talked about a 17% increase over last year in homicides in the nation’s 50 largest cities; and the homicide rates in Washington, Baltimore and Chicago.

2. The number of police officer deaths (from gunshot wounds only) has in fact risen nearly 50% compared with the same period last year. However, the overall number of police officers killed in the line of duty is actually flat.

3. Hillary Clinton does plan to increase the number of Syrian refugees by 550%.

One of the most concerning things that Trump said, from my perspective, wasn't even mentioned by the pundits I heard last night.

He said that it's a violation of free speech that churches and religious institutions can't donate to political groups lest they lose their tax-exempt status. First off, they shouldn't be tax exempt at all, in my opinion. Secondly, I think the separation of church and state is a very good thing, money is not speech, and the last thing we need is religious special interests wielding immense influence over the government.