I can let much of the ridiculousness on social media, Xitter in particular, go by and not respond. But when it’s self-serving gibberish from someone with more than a million followers and billions of dollars, I can’t let that slide.
This past Sunday, billionaire Bill Ackman tweeted his 33-point excuse for supporting a 34 times convicted, adjudicated rapist, who attempted to overturn a free and fair election, uses the language of Nazis, is a blatant racist and misogynist, and pushes foreign policy to benefit Vladimir Putin. After I replied to Mr. Ackman’s post, he invited me to refute each of his 33 justifications for supporting Donald Trump. So, I did.
Below are Mr. Ackman’s “points” and my responses in bold:
Bill, saying you support the candidate who has promised to cut taxes for billionaires vs. the candidate who will raise taxes on billionaires, but you don't really support the tax cuts is a bit like the old "I read Playboy for the articles." But fine, let's assume you are convinced that all the benefits of a Trump presidency compensate for the burden of having your taxes cut. Let's look at your 33 reasons.
But first, let's dispense with the misty-eyed absurdity that you can vote for an openly racist Trump, but you'd like it known that you don't support racism. The ballot box isn't a cafeteria where you can go down the line and pick and choose what you like. If you vote for Trump, you are voting for a criminal out on bail who describes non-white immigrants with the same language as National Socialism described Jews. Don't pretend that by voting for Trump, you get some pass because you insist that's not who you are. It may well not be who you are, but it is very much who Donald Trump is.
(1) open the borders to millions of immigrants who were not screened for their risk to the country, dumping them into communities where the new immigrants overwhelm existing communities and the infrastructure to support the new entrants, at the expense of the historic residents
Historic residents? What are you talking about here, Bill? The "historic residents" like my paternal grandfather's family who came to America in the 1700s or the "historic residents" like my maternal grandfather's family, who were Irish immigrants. Are you talking about the 'historic residents" of New York City before Ellis Island opened in 1892? Curious: How long have the Ackmans been "historic residents."
Perhaps you don't realize how referring to "historic residents" is the language of white supremacists. Perhaps you are choosing to ignore that it was Donald Trump who killed the most aggressive border security reform in history. Perhaps you are unaware that Barack Obama deported more undocumented immigrants than Donald Trump. And perhaps you have missed that the current border crossings are lower than at the same point in 2020 under Donald Trump.
(2) introduce economic policies and massively increase spending without regard to their impact on inflation and the consequences for low-income Americans and the increase in our deficit and national debt.
Perhaps you are unaware that the national debt increased more under Donald Trump than any non-wartime president in US history. Perhaps you do not realize that President Biden cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion in the first two years, the largest cut in US history.
Perhaps you have not read the multiple projections of how much another Trump presidency will increase the deficit. Here's a good start: https://washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/07/trump-harris-national-debt/
(3) withdraw from Afghanistan, abandoning our local partners and the civilians who worked alongside us in an unprepared, overnight withdrawal that led to American casualties and destroyed the lives of Afghani women and girls for generations, against the strong advice of our military leadership, and thereafter not showing appropriate respect for their loss at a memorial ceremony in their honor
It's accurate that President Biden honored the deal Donald Trump made with the Taliban. It's also accurate that more Americans died in Afghanistan under Trump than Biden. It's odd that you see Donald Trump as some positive alternative for the women of Afghanistan, as Trump insists that he has always opposed American efforts to fight the Taliban.
(4) introduce thousands of new and unnecessary regulations in light of the existing regulatory regime that interferes with our businesses' ability to compete, restraining the development of desperately needed housing, infrastructure, and energy production with the associated inflationary effects
Republicans have used this line for years. But somehow, despite all these regulations that hurt business, the stock market is at record highs, and more Americans are working today than ever before. Perhaps you are unaware that Donald Trump is the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than when he was inaugurated.
(5) modify the bail system so that violent criminals are released without bail
Bill, I didn't make the Willie Horton ads, but I have made many ads accusing Democrats of being weak on crime. But if you trust FBI statistics – though you may agree with Donald Trump that they are just an arm of the Deep State – murders increased by 5,795, from 16,619 in 2019 to 22,414 in 2020.
The number of murders had never increased by more than 2,000 in a year, meaning that 2020's increase was nearly triple the previous record.
Under Biden, murders and other violent crimes have decreased.
(6) destroy our street retailers and communities and promote lawlessness by making shoplifting (except above large thresholds) no longer a criminal offense
What in the world are you talking about, Bill? Can you find a quote from VP Harris advocating decriminalizing shoplifting? Perhaps you are confusing California, where a referendum passed in 2014 that reduced jail sentences for shoplifting under $950, with Texas, where the limit is $2,500.
(7) limit and/or attempt to limit or ban fracking and LNG so that U.S. energy costs increase substantially, and the U.S. loses its energy independence
VP Harris has stated she is not opposed to fracking. But if you want to point to the Biden-Harris administration record, as Donald Trump likes to do, oil production is higher today than at any point in US history. We are now the largest oil exporter in the world.
(8) promote DEI ideologies that award jobs, awards, and university admissions on the basis of race, sexual identity and gender criteria, and teach our students and citizens that the world can only be understood as an unfair battle between oppressors and the oppressed, where the oppressors are only successful due to structural racism or a rigged system and the oppressed are simply victims of an unfair system and world
While a case can be made for the sort of diversity and equity approach that enabled J.D. Vance to be selected at Yale as a disadvantaged applicant, this idea that a Harris Administration will usher in a DEI Dark Ages is best left to the pages of the Daily Stormer, where the case is frequently articulated.
(9) educate our elementary children that gender is fluid, something to be chosen by a child, and promote hormone blockers and gender reassignment surgeries to our youth without regard to the longer-term consequences to their mental and physical health, and allow biological boys and men to compete in girls and women's sports, depriving girls and women of scholarships, awards, and other opportunities that they would have rightly earned otherwise
Bill, relax, no one is coming for your gender identity under a Harris presidency. You are confusing policies adopted by states and different educational institutions with a national policy. As Republicans, we called this Federalism and considered it a good thing.
(10) encourage and celebrate massive protests and riots that lead to the burning and destruction of local retail and business establishments while at the same time requiring schools to be shuttered because of the risk of Covid-19 spreading during large gatherings
It is so odd that you cite protests and riots as a reason for supporting Donald Trump since it was under Trump that America had the most recent incidents of large-scale protests following the murder of George Floyd. Trump's solution was to attempt to issue illegal orders to the military and walk into Lafayette Park holding a Bible.
(11) encourage and celebrate anti-American and anti-Israel protests and flag burning on campuses around the country with no consequences for the protesters who violate laws or university codes and policies
This is confusing. On the one hand, many on the left attack Biden-Harris for the Administration's record-breaking level of support for Israel, military and economic. As for disrespecting the flag, it's Donald Trump who is often photographed holding onto an American flag on stage grotesquely and disrespectfully.
(12) allow antisemitism to explode with no serious efforts from the Administration to quell this hatred
Bill, Bill. Haven't you read that Trump says if he doesn't win, it will be the fault of the Jews? Are you really longing for a "blame the Jews" new movement in America?
(13) mandate vaccines that have not been adequately tested nor have their risks been properly considered compared with the potential benefits adjusted for the age and health of the individual, censoring the contrary advice of top scientists around the world
There is a clear choice on medical issues across the board between Harris and Trump, from women's health rights to vaccines. Harris supports school vaccinations, as has been US policy for the last century. Trump and Vance oppose ALL school vaccinations, which means no measles or polio vaccinations. Perhaps there is a "let's bring back polio, measles, and whooping cough" argument to be made. Please feel free.
(14) shut down free speech in media and on social media platforms that is inconsistent with government policies and objectives
It's Donald Trump who has threatened to sue and shut down CNN, ABC, NBC Sixty Minutes, The Washington Post, and the New York Times, among others.
Live in reality, Bill. It's not as frightening as your imaginary world.
(15) use the U.S., state, and local legal systems to attack and attempt to jail, take off the campaign trail, and/or massively fine candidates for the presidency without regard to the merits or precedential issues of the case
Have you seriously forgotten that Donald Trump was elected to chants of "Lock her up?" I work with the Lincoln Project, and Donald Trump demanded his Department of Justice shut down the Lincoln Project. If you think the unanimous jury in New York who convicted Donald Trump on 34 counts was politically motivated, including the juror who listed "Truth Social" as his main information source, that's your prerogative. But if you are taking up the cause of unjust prosecution, it would be better to start with those who cannot afford competent representation rather than the Billionaire who spends millions on lawyers (though he does call his own lawyers incompetent.)
(16) seek to defund the police and promote anti-police rhetoric causing a loss of confidence in those who are charged with protecting us
I will buy you a new Tesla of your choice if you can demonstrate that a Harris Administration would support defunding the police.
(17) use government funds to subsidize auto companies and internet providers with vastly more expensive, dated and/or lower-quality technology when greatly superior and cheaper alternatives are available from companies that are owned and/or managed by individuals not favored by the current Administration
Bill, this might be helpful: https://latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html Your issue is with Elon Musk. Take it up with him.
(18) mandate in legislation and otherwise government solutions to problems when the private sector can do a vastly better, faster, and cheaper job
What exactly do you want to privatize, Bill? We have private prisons, private roads, private hospitals, private schools, private delivery services, etc. What's on your wish list to privatize?
(19) seek to ban gas-powered cars and stoves without regard to the economic and practical consequences of doing so
Your Wolf gas stove is safe, Bill. Just as is my Landcruiser.
(20) take no serious actions when 45 American citizens are killed by terrorists and 12 are taken hostage
What is it that you want the US military to do in Gaza that is not being done? What's your plan?
(21) hold back armaments and weaponry from our most important ally in the Middle East in the midst of their hostage negotiations, hostages who include American citizens who have now been held for more than one year
More military aid has been spent on Israel under Biden-Harris than any US president.
(22) eliminate sanctions on one of our most dangerous enemies enabling them to generate $150 billion+ of cash reserves from oil sales, which they can then use to fund terrorist proxy organizations who attack us and our allies. Exchange five American hostages held by Iran for five Iranians plus $6 billion of cash in the worst hostage negotiation in history setting a disastrous and dangerous precedent
This number 22 is sort of a dog's breakfast of ill-informed grievances. Why is it that military leaders who served with Trump overwhelmingly oppose him? Because they want America to be less safe? Is that really your view, Bill?
(23) remove known terrorist organizations from the terrorist list so we can provide aid to their people, and allow them to shoot rockets at U.S. assets and military bases with little if any military response from us
What in the world are you talking about, Bill?
(24) lie to the American people about the cognitive health of the president and accuse those who provide video evidence of his decline of sharing doctored videos and being right wing conspirators
Bill, you seem concerned that another Trump presidency would result in his palace guard, like his campaign, trying to hide and deny his cognitive decline. I agree, that is a very serious concern.
(25) do nothing about the deteriorating health of our citizens driven by the food industrial complex, the fraudulent USDA food pyramid, and the inclusion of ingredients in our food that are banned by other countries around the world which are more protective of their citizens
Bill, I'm not sure backing the obese president, who is a walking advertisement for super-sizing every fast food portion, is the most credible way to pursue this argument.
(26) do nothing about the proliferation of new vaccines that are not properly analyzed for their risk versus the potential benefit for healthy children who are mandated to receive them
This sounds like something you heard from RFK, jr. while falconing. America has the safest drug system in the world.
(27) do nothing about the continued exemption from liability for the pharma industry that has led to a proliferation of mandatory vaccines for children without considering the potential cumulative effects of the now mandated 72-shot regime
See number 26 above.
(28) convince our minority youth that they are victims of a rigged system and that the American dream is not available to them
Let me get this straight. One candidate is the daughter of immigrants, raised by a single mom, who worked her way through college and rose to become Vice President vs. a candidate who inherited $443 million with a trust fund that made him a millionaire in high school. Which one do you think is better proof that the American dream is alive?
(29) fail to provide adequate Secret Service protection for alternative presidential candidates
Unlike you, Bill, I've spent a fair amount of time around the Secret Service working for presidential candidates. They do an extraordinary job under the most difficult situation. Was it Ronald Reagan's lack for support of the Secret Service that resulted in him being shot? Or the two assassination attempts against President Ford? No one is arguing for less funding for the Secret Service. Quit attacking law enforcement and start laying the blame on those who break the law.
(30) litigate to prevent alternative candidates from getting on the ballot, and take other anti-competitive steps, including threatening political consultants who wish to work for alternative candidates for the presidency, and limit the potential media access for other candidates by threatening the networks' future access to the Administration and access to 'scoops' if they platform an alternative candidate
I was a political consultant at the highest levels for 30 years, and let me reassure you that business is just fine for political consultants, though I appreciate your concern.
(31) select the Democratic nominee for president in a backroom process by undisclosed party leaders without allowing Americans to choose between candidates in an open primary
I'd refer you to the Constitution. There is no mention of political parties. Political parties are no more than bowling clubs, private organizations that can make any rules they so choose. You were free to announce your candidacy against President Biden in the primary or after he decided not to accept the nomination. Just as Donald Trump turned the RNC into a family-held scam, political parties are free to govern themselves
(32) choose an inferior candidate for the presidency when other much more qualified candidates are available and interested to serve
Is this more of your "Jamie Dimon should be president" trope?
(33) litigate to make it illegal for states to require proof of citizenship, voter ID, and/or residence in order to vote at a time when many Americans have lost confidence in the accuracy and trustworthiness of our voting system.
The problem we have in America is getting people to vote when it is legal, not illegal voting. By refusing to accept his crushing defeat in 2020, Donald Trump has done more to weaken faith in American democracy than almost a century of attacks from the Communist Party of the USSR. It's disgraceful, and supporting a candidate for president and vice-president who will not state that America has a legal president is shameful.
Hope this helps.
