On this July 4th, as we consider how far we’ve come from the world of our founding fathers, we should also consider how much there is to lose.
When Donald Trump first announced his candidacy and then immediately followed it up with racist statements about Hispanics and attacks on women, I figured he would enjoy a few months of media attention and then be rejected by the public. Boy, was I wrong.
Each election, I consider the merits of all candidates regardless of party. I do find myself voting one way more than the other, but it is not specifically because of an affiliation. In the past, I have generally been able to see the point of view of someone who does not support my candidate of choice even if I don’t agree with their reasoning. We can talk about our differences of opinion rationally, and hopefully go our separate ways respecting the each other’s point of view.
I have not found myself able to do that this election, and I am struggling to understand why anyone would support Trump.
I have read many points of view on why he garnered so much interested from the public and how we arrived at this point: the Republican Party was too fragmented, career politicians under-estimated his appeal and too few spoke out early, the public was fed up with party bickering, the explosion of racial tensions in America, an “us vs. them” mentality towards big government, a growing divide between those who support gun control and those feel it is a violation of rights, and many more. But the thing is, I don’t see how anyone believes Trump is the answer. He has further divided the Republicans through his bullying and name calling, bickering has only gone up, if he isn’t a racist he certainly acts like one which does nothing to calm the tensions in our country, he praises dictators and criticizes our allies, he attacks everyone through suggestions of impropriety that are clearly baseless and designed to plant the seed of doubt via rumor, shows a complete lack of situational awareness…the list goes on. While I have a hard time taking everything any politician says at face value, with Trump I cannot take anything that way.
Unless something even more historic than his rise occurs at the Republican National Convention, we are at a place where each of us needs to decide if Trump represents our version of the US, and take action accordingly.
I have heard some folks say that they dislike both Clinton and Trump, so they just won’t vote. That baffles me. In my mind, there is nothing Clinton has done or been accused of that approaches the the hate, distrust and contempt of all people, American or foreign, that Trump encourages through his racist and misogynous comments. I’m similarly confused by folks who believe Clinton is a shoe-in and do not think they need to show up at the polls. Are those not voting really okay with a Trump presidency if that is what their inaction leads to?
You’ll notice I’ve not tried to espouse on Clinton’s virtues. That’s not the point of my message—I’m not attempting to make anyone “like” her if they do not. Nor is this a Democrat vs. Republican issue. But it is a “vote for anyone but Trump” call to arms. He doesn’t represent the America I want to live in. Not even close.