So there we have it: what seemed inconceivable is now a reality. Donald J. Trump, former “Apprentice” host, a businessman with a slew of failed ventures to his name, and a man with literally no public service experience, has defeated Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a woman who spent her entire life working toward this moment and who was poised to become our first female president.

Mr. Trump has been surprisingly indestructible during this election cycle. Despite his astounding hypocrisy, consistent lies, and vile and hateful rhetoric toward nearly every group imaginable, he made it. Even after starting his campaign off by calling Mexicans rapists, insulting a Gold Star family, being caught on tape talking about groping a woman, and literally any other time where it seemed like he was self-sabotaging his campaign, he made it.  We have our next Commander-in-Chief.

Look, Trump voters, I get it. A lot of you are part of a disenfranchised and largely-ignored group of Americans, and “Make America Great Again” sounds like a really simple solution to a lot of the major problems you’re dealing with. And yes, the government feels like it consistently is dealing with partisan gridlock, which makes it difficult to actually get things done. People want a change from all of that, and it’s understandable; these are issues we must acknowledge and take action on as a country.

But I’m sorry to tell you: Trump doesn’t care about you. If you voted for him because you think he’s the one who’s going to solve these problems, you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake.

Here’s what Trump cares about: power, fame, money, and himself.

Here’s what Trump doesn’t care about: climate change, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, religious minorities, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, income inequality, refugees, diplomacy, education reform, veterans, Black Lives Matter, and criminal justice reform.

Trump has yet to explain his policies on the most pressing issues facing this country today. His views on fighting terrorism? He says he’s going to get rid of ISIS, but he doesn’t want to tell us how because he doesn’t want to tip them off. His immigration plan mainly consists of two words: “the wall.” (By the way, Mexico hasn’t agreed to this wall, and there’s not really a way to make them do it, so that will probably add to our debt).  His proposed Muslim ban is probably unconstitutional.

But hey, he will bring our jobs back, right? Well, a lot of his economic proposals don’t really add up, and his economic plan is likely to add trillions to the debt.

Fine, he can appoint advisors and Cabinet members who have more experience with these issues. But do you really want a leader who doesn’t understand what he’s talking about, and who advocates for policies that are straight-out unconstitutional, unfeasible, and downright criminal? Even if he’s unable to act on certain things he’s said over this campaign, he is now the world’s representative for America.

He doesn’t understand your problems; he’s never lived them. Throughout his campaign, he’s shown us his narcissism and his love for attention. Even with his alleged billions of dollars, he’s not even charitable with his money. Oh, and don’t forget that we still haven’t seen his tax returns, despite the IRS giving him the okay to release them even under audit.

I haven’t written this to shame Trump supporters, but for people to fully understand the choice they made when they stepped into that voting booth. If Trump doesn’t fulfill his promises, don’t say you weren’t warned. After Brexit, a lot of “leave” voters had regrets over their decision. I don’t know if that will happen in the U.S., but I wouldn’t be surprised if some voters have buyer’s remorse not long after he takes power.

Congratulations, Trump voters. You celebrate along with ISIS, the KKK, and many other hate groups that are thrilled that about this election result. For the sake of our country, I genuinely do wish that he does “make America great,” but I don’t have much hope that he will.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Dear Fellow Americans: Trump Doesn’t Care About Us appeared first on Law Street.

Americans take great pride in our democratic system, which we tout as the main opportunity for our citizens to be a part of the political process. Despite this, voting (the mechanism that gives us the most access to this process) is still something we struggle with: America’s voter participation rates are still astonishingly low compared to other developed countries. With a 53.6 percent participation rate among eligible voters, we fall far behind countries such as Belgium (87.2 percent), Sweden (82.6 percent), and France (71.2 percent). In an especially crazy and unpredictable general election year, exercising your right to vote is more crucial than ever.

While the overall national participation rate is low, the rates vary widely on a state-by-state basis. With the presidential election just one day away, Law Street took a look at the average state turnout during general elections to see who’s been voting (and who hasn’t) for president. We’ll have to wait until Election Day to see if these states will maintain their spots on the list.

Click through the slideshow below to see the top to see our rankings of the top five states with the lowest and highest voter turnout rates:

*Note: these numbers reflect the average of the turnout rates of general elections since 1980, based on Census Bureau statistics.

Image courtesy of Ruediger Gros; License: (CC BY-ND 2.0)

#1 Lowest: Hawaii

Average Voter Participation Rate: 54.8 percent

Blue/Red/Swing State?: Blue

Hawaii’s voter turnout rate among eligible voters is almost astoundingly low. Among the citizen-age voter population, a little more than half of Hawaii residents on average have shown up to vote during general elections. This past summer, the state set a new record for voter apathy in a primary election, after only 31.4 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

It’s not just the laid-back lifestyle that seems to be keeping people away from the polls; among native Hawaiians, there is reportedly an overwhelming sense of disconnect with American politics. The belief that Hawaii shouldn’t have been occupied by America is still strong among many in the state, which is leading to a lot of voter apathy. So no, people aren’t just too busy surfing (although that honestly does seem to play a small factor).

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post Which States Vote the Least and Which States Vote the Most? appeared first on Law Street.

Are you a voter in a solidly red or blue state, and frustrated that your preferred candidate has no chance of winning in that state? Alternatively, are you a voter in a swing state who would like to vote third-party, but are afraid that your vote will help another candidate get elected?

Enter “vote trading,” a practice which allows voters in swing states who are not a strong proponent of either candidate to vote third-party without feeling like their vote is wasted.

It goes like this: say a voter in Virginia, a swing state, does not want to vote for Clinton, and instead prefers a third party candidate such as Jill Stein. However, they do not want to make it easier for Trump to win by taking away a potential vote from Clinton. That individual can reach out to a Clinton supporter in a heavily blue state, such as California, and make an agreement to “swap” so that the Californian votes for Stein and the Virginian votes for Clinton without worrying about contributing to a Trump win in the state.

According to Vox, this practice first came about in the 2000 election, when voter trading websites popped up to help Nader supporters in swing states make sure that their third-party vote didn’t help Bush get elected. This time around, the #NeverTrump app is an attractive option for voters who refuse to vote for Clinton but also fear a Trump victory. The app claims that it “matches Hillary voters in blue states with third-party voters in swing states to help them trade votes.” It also allows users to chat with their matches before agreeing to trade, helping to increase trust (although there’s no way to completely ensure that both parties will follow through on their agreement).

It’s not too surprising that this practice is making a comeback during this election cycle, in which both candidates have favorability ratings of under 50 percent. It is clear that there are a large swath of voters that do not feel that they can vote for either candidate in good conscience, but still want to avoid a worst-case scenario of a Trump presidency.

And yes, vote trading is legal: as this New York Times op-ed explains, a ruling after the 2000 election declared this practice permissible as “constitutionally protected speech and conduct.”

For voters that are particularly uninspired by this year’s major party candidates, vote trading might actually be an option to consider.

Mariam Jaffery

Mariam was an Executive Assistant at Law Street Media and a native of Northern Virginia. She has a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration from George Washington University. Contact Mariam at mjaffery@lawstreetmedia.com.

The post What Is “Vote Trading?” appeared first on Law Street.

With today’s constant access to news and commentary on law, policy, and legislation, voters expect candidates to be “policy wonks.” Bernie Sanders was commended during his presidential bid for his strong socio-economic policy reform proposals. Speaker Paul Ryan is lauded for squeezing out a laborious policy plan while a loud presidential election overshadows congressional action. Yet somehow Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, is running a nearly policy-free campaign.

Now, let’s give this a fair appraisal; Donald Trump has seven published platform points. This pales in comparison to Hillary Clinton’s 32 published platform points. Trump has even published less than libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s 13 points.

While this might be excusable if his policy proposals were comprehensive and diligently crafted, they are not. Point for point, Donald Trump offers contradictory opinions, fosters disdain for Obama-era policies without offering alternatives, and proposes costly measures without revenue-building measures to offset them. Here are two of the most jarringly unrefined “policies”:

Immigration Reform/The Wall

While Donald Trump claims that his infamous wall along the Mexican-U.S. border will cost $8 billion, construction economists estimate that it will cost at least $25 billion, not including maintenance and surveillance.

Though this won’t be a superfluous expense because Trump promises that Mexico will pay for it. Trump proposes banning undocumented immigrants from being able to wire money to Mexico (an estimated $24 billion per year.) He will then tell Mexico that in order to resume wire payments, that it has to pay for the wall.

However there are two jarring flaws in this plan. Firstly, individuals wiring money to Mexico are not funding the government, but rather family still living in Mexico. Secondly, Mexico–a deeply fragile state currently–would not prioritize $24 billion in diffused money to families over a $25+ billion state-funded project.

Though this isn’t Trump’s only strikingly expensive proposal without a funding plan. Trump also proposes we triple the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, each with an annual salary of $30,000-$50,000.

Many of Trump’s immigration reform tactics are rooted in isolationist sentiments and labor practices, disguised as job creation. He proposes a temporary bar on granting green cards to force employers to hire authorized citizens, expresses persistent anti-trade sentiments, and falsely cites illegal immigrants as a large source of unemployment for authorized citizens.

To be clear, according to Pew Research unauthorized immigrants only comprise about 5.1 percent of the workforce and work predominantly in occupations like farming, maintenance, and construction. Even if these were widely desirable and growing occupations in the U.S.–which they are not–authorized citizens reclaiming these jobs would not significantly revitalize the middle class as Trump claims it could.

Healthcare Reform

Donald Trump’s ideas on healthcare are some of his most un-established and contradictory. The system which Trump describes is most similar to a single-payer healthcare system. Trump ensures that everybody will have insurance and that the government will pay for it. However he also promises a large, competitive private market.

Above all else, he promises the repeal of Obamacare. However, consider that the Affordable Care Act, a comprehensive multi-thousand page bill, extends healthcare coverage to more than 12 million people. Trump’s healthcare platform contrarily offers little more than supporting the sale 0f health insurance across state lines, support for health savings accounts, and a move to block-granting Medicaid to states.

He also suggests that those who cannot afford private health insurance plans should enroll in Medicaid. However, presently a family of four must make an average of $20-$35k to qualify. Further, in many states income alone doesn’t qualify a family.

Trump would have to support Medicaid expansion to bridge the gap between the current low income Medicaid threshold and the income level families who would strain to afford private insurance. This is contrary to his proposition to block-grant the program to states.

Trump acts as though by scapegoating immigrants and Obama-era policy, he can ignore how glaringly debt-inducing his proposals are. Holding executive power inevitably means holding vision for your party and country. It means planning to renovate, innovate, spend, and save all in future-minded consciousness. Ending each of your thoughts with “Make America Great Again” doesn’t invoke greatness from your policies, vision, or lack thereof.

Ashlee Smith

Ashlee Smith is a Law Street Intern from San Antonio, TX. She is a sophomore at American University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Journalism. Her passions include social policy, coffee, and watching West Wing. Contact Ashlee at ASmith@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Sorry Trump, but “Make America Great Again” Isn’t a Platform appeared first on Law Street.

Ted Cruz–he’s just your typical guy running for president of the United States. Or is he? He was born in Canada and is really only eligible because his mother is American. I think I’m going to need a birth certificate for this one…

But Cruz continues to captivate the masses with his allegedly non-human features, such as his melting-off-the face waxy skin, lizard-like appearance, and disturbing alien-like facial expressions.

Some on the internet are seriously doubting his humanity…but that’s fine, right? After all, an alien can run for president as long as they’re not illegal.

He Makes Unusual Facial Expressions

@kevinmaisto you forgot that Ted Cruz is a lizard pic.twitter.com/CnIdqQ3MoF

— // CJ // (@CJZOLANSKI) February 7, 2016

One of the ideas floating around theiInternet is that Ted Cruz is simply a lizard man in a human suit, and I really can’t say that I don’t believe it. Look at that face. If that is a normal human facial expression, then I have seriously been sending some mixed signals over the years.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post 5 Times We May Have Doubted Ted Cruz’s Humanity appeared first on Law Street.