....but that's not the point....

Just South of the Belt Parkway in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn stands the Trump Village.housing development, built by Fred Trump - Donald's dad - and not the supposed financial genius, himself.  And it is certainly hard to understand how NYC ever allowed its prestigious 5th Avenue of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, FAO Schwartz, and Tiffany's to be joined by the gaudy Trump Tower.  And on an issue of far more seriousness, you need only walk a block or two from Atlantic City's boardwalk to realize that Donald and his casino cronies never brought a trickle down economic boom to that impoverished town.  And after tossing aside the bride of his youth, how did Donald get any Christian denominations to bless "marriages" 2 and 3?  Truth be told, Donald Trump has long been a blowhard jerk with plenty of sycophantic enablers. 


While informed Catholics are not "single issue" voters, any careful reading of the Catechism informs us that there are certain non-negotiables.  Toward the end of the second presidential debate, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were asked about Supreme Court choices:

• Clinton: "....I want a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose, and I want a Supreme Court that will stick with marriage equality.  Now, Donald has put forth the names of some people that he would consider. And among the ones that he has suggested are people who would reverse Roe v. Wade and reverse marriage equality. I think that would be a terrible mistake and would take us backwards...."

• Trump: "....I am looking to appoint judges very much in the mold of Justice Scalia. I’m looking for judges — and I’ve actually picked 20 of them so that people would see, highly respected, highly thought of, and actually very beautifully reviewed by just about everybody.  But people that will respect the Constitution of the United States. And I think that this is so important...."

The words of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence toward the end of the vice presidential debate are also very telling:

• Kaine: "....I grew up in a wonderful household with great Irish Catholic parents....I was educated by Jesuits at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City....And I worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras....I try to practice my religion in a very devout way and follow the teachings of my church in my own personal life, but I don't believe....that the doctrines of any religion should be mandated for everyone...." 

• Pence: "....I know Senator Kaine, you hold pro-life views personally, but the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their life taken from them is just anathema to me, and I can't conscious about a party that supports that....Hillary Clinton wants to repeal the long-standing provision in the law where we said we wouldn't use taxpayer dollars to fund for abortion. For me, my faith informs my life....it all begins for me with cherishing the dignity, the worth, the value of every human life."

• Kaine: "....We support Roe v. Wade....Governor Pence wants to repeal Roe v. Wade...."

• Pence: "....there is a choice here and it is a choice on life. I couldn't be more proud to be standing with Donald Trump, who is standing for the right to life. It's a principle that Senator Kaine -- and I'm very gentle about this because I really do respect you -- it's a principle that you embrace and I’ve appreciated the fact you supported the Hyde Amendment, which bans funding for abortion in the past, but that's not Hillary Clinton's view...."

• Pence: "A society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable: the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn. I believe it with all my heart, and I couldn't be more proud to be standing with a pro-life candidate in Donald Trump."

Donald Trump may be a jerk, but that's not the point.  Given the Clinton/Kaine positions, informed Catholics have no choice but to support the Trump/Pence ticket.