Over the weekend, three new coalitions joined the Trump Train and its fight to win the White House on Nov. 8.
These groups represent senior citizens, Native Americans and former Reagan administration officials. That’s a very divergent group of interests, all of whom are backing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Election Day.
The first announcement was of 240 “Reagan Alumni,” who are led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, Ambassador Faith Ryan Whittlesey, and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating. They issued the following press release Saturday, following their announcement:
The Honorable Edwin Meese III served as President Reagan’s Attorney General and also as White House Counselor to the President. He said, “Many of us remember 1980, a time when, as today, America suffered from high unemployment and even higher interest rates, a military that needed to be strengthened and rebuilt, and diminished stature in the world of nations. Ronald Reagan turned that around with resolute policies, such as the most significant tax cut in American history, which stimulated the national economy and created 20 million jobs, and a visionary foreign policy of “peace through strength, whereby he rebuilt our military and won the Cold War without firing a shot. We need a Trump-Pence Administration to change the direction of our country. We all know that Hillary Clinton will continue Obama’s failed policies, growing the size, scope and cost of the federal government, and endangering our national security.”
Ambassador Faith Whittlesey, who served in the Reagan White House as Assistant to the President for Public Liaison and twice as his Ambassador to Switzerland remarked, “Donald Trump believes, as Ronald Reagan did, that smaller, more-limited government that focuses on its core obligations better serves the public by creating conditions in which individuals can freely make choices and pursue opportunities that result in greater prosperity for all. Donald Trump has provided a list of prospective candidates to the Supreme Court, all of whom respect the sanctity of human life, religious freedom and the intent of the Founders. His America First foreign policy will bring about a much-needed reassessment of commitments abroad in view of our nearly $20 trillion in debt and a pressing need to rebuild our homeland infrastructure.”
Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who served as Reagan’s Assistant Secretary for Enforcement in the Treasury Department, U.S. Attorney, and later as Associate Attorney General, added, “Donald Trump embraces the Reagan philosophy of lower taxes, limited government, the repeal of the administrative state, and the right and responsibility of every citizen to determine his own future. That is the antithesis of a Hillary Clinton presidency.”
Meese, Whittlesey and Keating added, “We are disappointed that the media only wishes to cover personalities in this presidential campaign.Instead, we all need to focus on the policies that will be guiding our country going forward. Donald Trump and Mike Pence support policies that are needed to restore America’s greatness, while Clinton-Kaine’s policies will accelerate America’s decline.”
Also on Saturday, a group calling itself Strong Seniors Making America Great Again announced its coalition was supporting Trump, as well. The group is led by Jim Martin of the 60 Plus Association, 60 Plus Association spokesman Pat Boone, American Seniors Association President Mark Wingate, Latino National Republican Coalition National Chairman Manuel Rosales, and other leading advocates for American seniors.
“The Strong Seniors Making America Great Again coalition are working to build and strengthen support of the Trump-Pence ticket among America’s middle and senior aged Americans,” Martin said. “The election of Donald Trump and Mike Pence is crucial to all of our futures and to once again regain respect throughout the world of our nation.”
The group noted that Trump is a “leader for action—not just hollow words” who is committed to:
- Restoring America’s economic strength and vitality and world leadership so that our children, grandchildren, and their children can enjoy the great offerings of the American way of life.
- Repeal of the “Death Tax,” the egregious federal tax under which the government literally preys upon the estates built by the hard work of American families, grabbing a significant portion of the value that should be kept with the family and heirs.
- Saving Social Security and Increasing Retirement Savings Options
- Guarantee the long-term solvency of Social Security’s trust funds without onerous job-killing increases in employee and employer FICA taxes.
- Provide for additional and incentivized voluntary employer-employee retirement accounts opportunities, such as an “Early Retirement Account,” providing full survivor benefits that will ensure the growth of savings until retirement, unless the worker is disabled or dies before reaching retirement and which is needed by 50 million workers without retirement plans.
- Reforming health care so that insurance premiums can once again become affordable for all Americans, including those advancing into “seniorhood.”
- Strengthening Medicare Advantage, the private alternative and providing broader benefits coverage to that provided by the Medicare alone.
- Reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs upon which many seniors depend for health services and other benefits, but face interminable bureaucratic delays whenever they must contact them.
- Addressing the violent victimization of all citizens by working to restore and strengthen law and order as the key component to safety and peaceful living in all communities.
- Strengthening immigration law and enforcement to weed out and capture criminals and terrorists entering the country by securing the borders and increasing internal enforcement capacity and operations, thereby, providing a safer America.
- Reducing taxes on seniors living on modest or low incomes.
“The senior vote can very well be the tipping point in this election, and that bodes well for the Trump-Pence team,” Martin added. “Seniors in recent elections have turned out in larger numbers than other voting blocs and our coalition aims to make sure that continues.
“Seniors are flocking to Trump and can very well provide the margin of victory in a tight election. Seniors are not happy with President Obama and see Hillary as just more of the same.”
Then, on Sunday, during a campaign stop in New Mexico, Trump announced he had secured the support of a group of Native Americans. The new coalition is led by U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who said: “The daily flood of new federal regulations keep Indian Country from becoming self-sufficient. Local tribal decisions, not federal bureaucrats, are the best way to improve our communities. As both an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation and a Member of Congress, I will stand with Donald Trump in supporting tribal sovereignty and reining in federal over-regulation.”
