The presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump is visiting Bangor on Wednesday. There are many unanswered questions about him, his policies and his campaign. Here are 10 questions Mainers might ask Trump if they run into him in Bangor. Maybe U.S. Sen. Susan Collins might seek answers to these questions before deciding whether to support him.
1. Will you change your mind and release your tax returns by July 10, which is about a week before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland? You’ve said you can’t release your tax returns because they are under audit by the IRS. But that’s simply not accurate, according to tax experts. Your campaign considers candidate tax returns important because you’ve asked your prospective vice presidential running mates to provide their tax returns for review.
2. If you won’t change your mind and release your tax returns, will you at least have your accountants certify for disclosure your gross income figure for each of the last five years, the total amount of tax you paid each year and a list of your charitable contributions?
3. Will you commit to putting all of your business interests into a blind trust, as has been the practice with prior presidents, and have no involvement with them while in office?
4. What role would women have in the Trump administration? Your insensitive comments about women have been widely reported, and you’ve never apologized for those comments or indicated that you’ve changed your mind about respect for women and the capabilities of women. Why not?
5. What place do immigrants, children of immigrants born in the United States, people of color, LGBT people and the disabled have in our society? Does the government have any responsibility to any of them?
6. You’ve often said that as president you will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. Is this no longer your policy, as you’ve said in recent interviews? If elected, will you again advocate to make mass deportation into a national policy? If so, how would you accomplish this mass deportation and pay for it?
7. Should each of us be competitive and self-motivated to get the best possible “deal” for ourselves and “win” regardless of the expense to others? Or is it important that we share common goals, respect each other and work together to achieve a more educated, just and supportive community and society?
8. Will you commit to stop talking in ways that encourage violence and intimidation at campaign events and at the convention toward political opponents?
9. Do we have a right to expect our leaders to be accurate and truthful? It seems like you hold others to that standard. How do you score on this test? Why repeat rumors and innuendos such as whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States or whether Ted Cruz’s father was connected to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Will you commit to making only accurate statements for the remainder of the campaign?
10. Your campaign slogan is “make America great again.” When exactly did America stop being great?
The importance of answers to these questions extends far beyond Bangor and Wednesday’s campaign event at the Cross Insurance Center. So, if people have an opportunity, they may want to ask Trump one or more of these questions and insist he answer them directly, not change the subject to something he would prefer to discuss or attack the questioner.
As citizens, we have the right to ask and expect answers from public officials so we can make informed decisions when choosing our leaders. If questions go unanswered, must we conclude that the answers would undercut the “deal” that Trump wants to make with us?
John Kaminski is a practicing attorney who lives in Portland.