@oralloy,
Not the reasons I think it would be a disaster - I'm not even sure what the difference between Democrats and Republicans is.
The US is now almost $20 trillion in debt?
How many times has Trump almost gone bankrupt? How has he pulled himself out of those situations? What style of leadership did he use to run his business? How did he deal with his suppliers? The answer to these sort of questions will reveal how he will run his Presidency, should he ever achieve the Whitehouse.
For what little I understand of the answers to those questions above, that alone leads me to suspect an economic disaster (if $20 trillion isn't already considered that).
Then, it appears to me, that he speaks his mind without huge amounts of thought behind it...and if he runs his presidency like his business, then there will not be people (left) prepared to:
- disagree with him
- play devils advocate
- broaden his perspective
- help him understand the consequences of particular policies
Good democracy needs people who are prepared to do this. Bad decisions get made in the vacuum of such.
As an example of the above, anyone who paid attention to how Colin Powell tried to moderate the Bush presidency, how he got sidelined, and the balls up the US made of the aftermath of Iraq (they didn't have a thought out plan for after the war),
can see the consequences of lack of devils advocate (etc) and the resulting poorly thought out policy
I'm all for open debate, talking about problems, and trying to find solutions. I'm not for people who:
- are sure they are right
- are not prepared to listen to both sides
- forcefully shut down debate, just because they disagree
- personally denigrate others, etc
In a leader, these traits become much more problematic. Not only is there domestic politics to consider, but also Foreign Policy. Whatever the outcome of domestic politics (which I think would be very combative), I don't see Trump having the diplomatic ability to navigate effectively through foreign policy / politics.
Those concerns are at the heart of it, before one gets into his policies.
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On the plus side for Trump, his views stir up debate - something that has been sorely lacking on important issues. His views on those issues though, I think would be highly problematic, if he were to win.