In this election, people want and deserve change. That’s why Donald Trump, a man with no experience in government whatsoever, has gotten as far as he has, and it’s why Bernie Sanders, a senator unaffiliated with the Democratic Party, nearly won the Democratic Party’s nomination over his unfortunately credentialed rival, Hillary Clinton.

Now, with election day mere hours away, it is time to decide which of the candidates is more likely to deliver on substantive changes. We know that you’re busy, and since you trust us to bring you relevant news everyday, we’d like to now bring you our opinion about the election.

Feel free to vote for whomever you’d like. This is just the opinion of this editorial board, and while we’ve followed this election obsessively for months, we’re by no means infallible. 

Nevertheless, it is the belief of JP Updates that on Tuesday, either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be elected president. Of those choices, Donald Trump has no experience with the difficulties of changing government, and his vision for the U.S. is worlds apart from one that is safe and fair for everyone. 

Only Hillary Clinton has both the skills and the ideas to make the U.S. a better place, and it is for this reason that JP Updates is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.

Less Than Slogans

First, let’s look at what Donald Trump means when he says he will “Make America Great Again.”

What period is he referring to? Does Trump want to return America back to its founding, to slavery and a world where only a few landowning white men could vote? Or would he prefer the 1950s, when the South was governed by Jim Crow laws and universities had quotas on Jewish students? To the most forgiving eyes, Trump’s mantra is ambiguous and vacuous. To the most critical, it is malignant and hateful.

Trump has also vowed to “put America first.” Put aside the fact that he’s pulling that line from the deeply anti-Semitic “America First” movement, which lobbied for the U.S. to stay out of World War II. Instead, let’s look at the words themselves, and the facts show that Trump has always put himself first in his businesses.

Trump University, touted as a place to help those interested in real estate become rich by teaching Trump’s secrets, was nothing short of a scam. It was never an accredited university, despite claiming that it offered “graduate programs, postgraduate programs, and doctorate programs.” Instead, the program was a “bait-and-switch” scheme designed to allure students to continuously buy more expensive packages, including the university’s $35,000 “Gold Elite” program.

Furthermore, an investigation by the New York Times showed that Trump has not paid taxes since 1995. Unlike Trump University, which is the subject of a current lawsuit, Trump’s tax behavior is legal so far as we know. Nevertheless, these tax returns prove that Trump hasn’t contributed to our schools, healthcare or national defense in more than two decades; how can he now ask to run our schools, healthcare, and national defense?

A Candidate of Hate

Trump has no political experience, so his campaign has bolstered his scant credentials with fear-mongering instead.

Trump’s entire campaign is suffuse with hatred, up to his latest attack ad, which has been criticized by the ADL as anti-Semitic. The campaign did not alleviate fears of anti-Semitism when it tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton accompanied by a Star of David and dollar bills. Furthermore, Jewish journalists critical of Trump such as Julia Ioffe and Ben Shapiro have been targets of anti-Semitism from Trump supporters on social media.

Much of his campaign has been based on demonizing illegal immigrants, even though there is no solid evidence that illegal immigrants are more likely to commit violent crimes than U.S. citizens. This country was built on immigrants, and people come here every day with the hope of achieving the American dream. They need to be protected, not attacked.

Trump has been endorsed by some of the Jew’s most stalwart foes, such as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and former KKK head David Duke. Their support for Trump is far from surprising. These leaders share one thing in common—they all disseminate outlandish conspiracy theories that appeal to their followers basest instincts. It takes one to know one, as the saying goes.

Furthermore, he has promised religious-based restrictions, which is a matter of vital concern for any Jew. If practitioners of one religion are persecuted, who is to say Jews won’t be next?

Whether Trump is racist or not, we cannot say. We cannot know what lies in his heart. What we do know is that he has received more vocal support from hate groups than any candidate since George Wallace. And we know that, on multiple occasions, Trump has refused to condemn his worst supporters.

And we know that no minority group is projected to vote for Trump. They genuinely believe that he is racist and wants to harm Muslims. If we warned our neighbors that a candidate is anti-Semitic, we’d want them to listen. Now we are being warned that a candidate is racist and anti-Muslim, and it is our responsibilities as Jews to listen. Our neighbors are scared, and our neighbors deserve to be taken seriously.

Clinton: Qualified for Change

But we’re not just discouraging voters from choosing Trump; we’re endorsing his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

In contrast to Trump, who has no governmental experience whatsoever, Clinton is among the most qualified candidates to ever run for president, having served as senator and then secretary of state.

Of course, this is an election which has turned experience into a liability, and one of Trump’s most reliable applause lines is saying that Clinton has worked in government for 30 years.

In those 30 years, Clinton has worked side-by-side with two presidents in the White House. She should not always be liable for all those presidents’ decisions in the White House–Bill Clinton has the ultimate responsibility for the 1994 Crime Bill, for instance, and Barack Obama for intervention in Libya–but Clinton knows how the presidency works, and that is the most essential experience we can hope for from a candidate.

Granted, Clinton has made mistakes, but she has learned from them.

Any executive should be prepared for their legislative goals to be challenged, as Clinton learned as First Lady, when her plan for national healthcare reform failed to pass the Senate. Clinton reacted not by throwing her hands in the air and calling the system corrupt but by modifying her goals and helping to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Can you imagine Trump changing tact or modifying his strategy? Think about how he reacted to the Khan family or Alicia Machado. It is as if Trump is only physically capable of responding to challenges by attacking back, maliciously and blindly.

Then there is the nature of Clinton’s policy goals, which are principally about helping others, particularly the disadvantaged.

Clinton is a staunch advocate for climate change, women’s rights, and for raising the minimum wage. She was the most well-traveled secretary of state in U.S. history and played a significant role in securing over $21 billion in funding the World Trade Center’s redevelopment, in bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, and in negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

By comparison, Trump’s main focus is persecuting minority groups, and it’s hard to imagine this man, who couldn’t reach a ceasefire with Rosie O’Donnell, bringing any peace to the world’s most troubled regions.

Then, of course, there’s Clinton’s emails, a political scandal of great intricacy and fleeting substance. Clinton has admitted that she shouldn’t have used a private email server, but few of her critics care much about the actual act. After all, no one can point to any legitimate harm so far done to the U.S. because of the email server, and no one is expecting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to be indicted for also using a private email server. Meanwhile, the Trump University trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

If you want someone to bankrupt a construction company, Donald Trump is the logical candidate. For the job of re-tweeting white nationalists, he is a similarly rational choice.

However, for the job of president, Hillary Clinton is the best option.

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