This is going to be my last post until after the elections. I'm just done with it all. My heart is broken, seeing people I respected, people I thought were good and kind, support a monster.
Yesterday, I saw an article titled something like "Why You Don't Get to Judge Donald Trump." I didn't read it, because I already knew what it was going to say. "Locker room talk," "typical guy," "private conversation," etc., etc., bullshit, whatever. Here is my response. Here is why we not only can, but should judge Donald Trump: because he's running for president.
This is not a pro-Hillary post. It's not an anti-Republican post. It is strictly a plea not to vote for Trump. I don't care if you write in Ronald McDonald, so long as Donald Trump's name is not the one you select on election day.
I can agree, to a point, that we shouldn't judge people on what they did more than a decade ago. I can also agree that it matters more how they present themselves in public than it does how they act around their friends. However, Trump wasn't with a "friend" when he made those comments. It was before an interview. And he wasn't some dumb college kid trying to impress his friends. He was a grown adult, married, with children, who knew exactly what he was saying. As someone who was in a relationship with a mechanic - a "man's" profession - for ten years, I can tell you that I heard a lot of guy talk. There were comments made that made me want to punch him right in his sexist face. But, I have never heard any comments even remotely close to what Donald Trump has said. And you know what? I'd be lying if I said I hadn't made some comments myself. But, I'd say the worst thing I've ever said about a man is, "I'd let him do things to me," which is generally said about a celebrity, and has no bearing on reality. And the key word there is "let." Donald Trump was not talking about a woman "letting" him do anything to her. He was talking about taking what he wanted, like a child. And let's stop pretending that this was an isolated incident. The man is a pig, and he has shown us that again and again. That particular comment might have been made more than ten years ago, but he's made comments during his campaign that are nearly on par. He's not a changed man. And he's not an "average" man. He's a rich man, who has never heard the word no in his life. He grew up privileged and has no concept of what the average person is like. He doesn't know how they live, how they talk, how they struggle. He is the very last person we need running our country.
I think we can all agree that we let our true selves show when we think no one is watching. We all say and do stupid things when we think we're alone, or when we think we're with someone we can trust, but Donald Trump's comments went above and beyond that. And both of the apologies he issued threw his opponent under the bus. He cannot defend himself without tearing down someone else. I don't care what Bill Clinton said to you on the golf course. He's not the one on trial here. Own it. Apologize sincerely, without acting like a child: "but...but...what he did was wooooooorse!" No.
The President is someone we elect to represent our country. This is the person who represents us, as people, to the rest of the world. He or she is supposed to represent our standards and our values. He or she is the person we choose who is most like us, and can adequately defend us, and stand for us. Is Donald Trump the kind of person we want representing us? Can you honestly look at him, and listen to him dodge questions, and hear him talk about sexually assaulting women and dating his daughter, and say, "yes, that is the way I want America to be represented"? Despite what others try to argue over and over again, this country was founded on religious freedom. We are not a Christian nation. Freedom of religion is written into our constitution, which only seems to matter when we're talking about guns. A man who wants to abolish the world's largest religion does not represent us. He feeds on our fears and delivers exactly what he thinks we want to hear.
I watched about ten minutes of the debate last night (I had work until 10:00), and I can tell you this: I saw a man talk a lot about what this country needs, but who didn't say a word about how he plans to get us there. Everyone knows what we need. We all know. We should want someone who has concrete plans, legitimate plans, plausible plans, to get us there. He has none of that. You cannot base a campaign around bringing down your opponent. We need to stop blaming and pointing fingers, and seriously start looking at what this person has to offer. Hillary Clinton may have been responsible for a hand full of deaths, but how many do you think Donald Trump will order? If you don't think that he will bring in the next World War, then you know nothing about your history. His plans are on par with Hitler's. Replace Jews with Muslims, and it's the same guy. I have Muslim friends, and they are some of the sweetest, kindest, most sincere people I have ever met. The actions of the few do not define the majority.
We are better than this. We deserve better than this. Our children deserve better than this. The only thing not great about America is who our Republican presidential candidate is. Prove that we're already great by making sure this man stays as far away from the White House as possible. I'm begging you.
