OK, let's take a quick look at some that fit into what you requested:
I hope you don't mind if I address these one by one.
2016, fined for misuse of campaign contributions.
This sounds like passing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500, but at least he paid the fine.
I don't see how this directly affects the American people, though, nor is it really anything related to any particular issue being discussed today.
2016, fined for his Trump University fiasco.
I don't see how this affects the American people either. It sounds bad, but it's typical of the kind of scandal we've come to expect from US politicians - just like Bush and Haliburton or Clinton and Whitewater. Everyone has a checkered past in one way or another, but I don't see how this sets any precedents, nor is it a false equivalence.
Certainly, it's not worse than Nixon and Watergate or Reagan's underhanded shenanigans with Iran. Or JFK's Bay of Pigs (which was planned under Ike's watch).
Numerous times he's lost cases for refusing to pay sub-contractors.
Numerous times he has lost cases for refusing to pay back loans.
Yeah, point taken, but if he lost the case and paid the fine, then that should be the end of it.
And it still doesn't affect the American people as a whole. It's just between Trump and his sub-contractors.
His "Lock her up!" statements that would be a violation of the Constitution if done.
I just took that as campaign hyperbole. Obviously, he hasn't locked her up, so what's the problem?
Admitting twice he fired Comey to try and stop the investigation.
Yes, although I see this as a judgment call. Are these investigators acting in good faith, or are they doing so for political reasons?
They've had these investigations going on for quite some time, and if they haven't come up with some kind of "smoking gun" by now, they probably never will. Is this just a fishing expedition or what?
His attempt to eliminate the ACA and his elimination of the CHIP programs that help children and adults without insurance.
Now, we're finally getting to something that directly affects the people. But I would also say that the ACA wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The way it should have been, either the government should have paid for people's health insurance or mandated that employers pay 100% of the cost - no co-pays, no deductibles, period. Without that, it might as well be eliminated since it's no better than what we had before.
His tax cuts that will hurt the poor and many elderly because of the massive cuts in Medicaid.
That's been going on since Reagan. Nothing new here. Nothing to warrant any extra hatred of Trump that shouldn't be leveled at all of his predecessors.
His refusal to end his "zero-tolerance" policy that separates children from their parents while he blames the Democrats for that, which is a lie.
I would consider it half-truth/half-lie, since the Democrats are partly responsible (along with the Republicans) for failure to come up with any kind of meaningful immigration reform. Trump has said he wants to come to the table and make a deal with the Democrats on immigration reform, but the Democrats are refusing to do that. That
is their fault.
Both parties have had decades to resolve immigration issues and border security, but all they've done is pay lip service. I daresay that the reason for this is because too many vested interests (such as those who profit from the exploitable labor of undocumented immigrants) want to maintain the status quo indefinitely. The only real choice is to kick them all out or let them stay and grant them citizenship. I would vote to let them stay, but either way, our government needs to either poop or get off the pot.
So, let's put the "shoe"on the other foot and why in the world would you support a president who does these things, plus much more? And don't personal ethics count? Why would you separate them from other ethical violations? Why should a president get a free pass on this?
He's not getting a free pass. If and when any impeachable charges are leveled against him, and if/when actual concrete, tangible, verifiable proof is offered in the proper venue (such as in Congress or a Federal court, not in the media), then I will accept whatever judgment is passed.
I can't say that I actually "support" him that much, but I'm also looking at the ones who are attacking him (not on this message board, but those at the media/government level). Their credibility is also subject to question and scrutiny. The fact that all these people are coming out of the woodwork and going off like Chicken Little over Trump - that's what raises my skepticism more than anything else. Guys like Senators McCain and Flake, our two senators from AZ. I've hated those guys for years, and if
they hate Trump, then I consider that something worth thinking about.
And why would free-thinking liberals even put one iota of faith in reports from the FBI, CIA, NSA, or other such agencies which have absolutely horrible histories and reputations in the eyes of the public (far worse than anything Trump has done)? I'm supposed to believe them and their judgment of "ethics"? Why should they get a free pass on anything? Whatever happened to "question authority"? That's what I would ask.
I voted for Nixon in 1968, and I came to regret that decision and not make excuses as to why I screwed up. I know a fair number of people who voted for Trump and have told me that they've come to regret that, such as one of my son's-in-law. He doesn't defend Trump's actions, nor does he say or imply that they're somehow excusable because some other presidents haven't always acted morally.
I'm not making any excuses here. I haven't changed my views either. The big issue for me is the economy, and I've believed for decades that we need to end free trade and restore and revitalize the Rust Belt, our industrial base, and our infrastructure overall. The fact that Trump said much the same thing was what chimed with me, and I don't think that was a mistake at all. If Trump was lying about
that, I haven't seen any evidence of it. But we'll see.
Wrong is wrong, and two wrongs simply do not make a right-- at least that's how I was raised over 60 years ago. I very much respect you as a person, but I simply cannot accept the excuses for Trump's behavior by blaming past presidents.
Well, for me, it goes beyond blaming past presidents, as I blame an entire political system. It's not that I'm "excusing" Trump's behavior, but I think Trump is more of a symptom of a deeper problem. What I see are those who are focusing on Trump and only Trump, as if he's the beginning and the end of all America's problems. It reminds me of the song "Industrial Disease" where there's a line:
They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf blind, they want sap your energy, incarcerate your mind.
