Donald Trump is America's Worst

I've held my tongue about Donald Trump up to this point, in part because I've been hoping the Republican Party was crazy enough to nominate him for President. The man has no particular qualifications for the job, and does not have the temperament. His penchant for insulting entire groups of voters limits him to the same, lily-white base of voters that Mitt Romney lost with (to be clear, I do not believe you can expand that electorate enough to win). I have held firm that I have more faith in the American people than to believe that this clown of a person could win the general election. I have always had a belief that he could win the Republican Primary though. Their base has become so insulated, resentful, and angry that they would back someone this ignorant and incapable to be the President. Sure, he's not winning majorities, even amongst them, but it has been clear to me for months that the Republican establishment was too broken to function and clear their field.

I do find this entire process funny. In the 1980s, when I was a small child, Donald Trump was a cartoon character of a human being. He was bankrupting companies, having high-profile divorces, participating in pro-wrestling matches, becoming famous for firing people on a reality TV show, having wives get in fights over bringing dogs on airplanes, and fighting with hosts on "The View" for most of my life. The man was never a serious character. He was always a punch line. I would have personally taken a Presidential campaign by Howard Stern or David Letterman as more serious. At least they were honestly comedians. Trump was always a sideshow. Sure, some people theorize this is what is at the heart of his appeal, a sort of "kindred spirits" thing between society's outcasts and the guy we consider a joke. That may be a piece of it, but I consider it worse than that.

For me, Donald Trump represents all that is wrong with America. Trump is not some "self-made" wealthy man, but as he puts it, his father gave him "a small, million dollar loan." He's made most of his money on conning people, whether that was with his casinos taking down gambling addicts, his failed "Trump University," his mindless "reality TV" shows, or now, his ridiculous Presidential campaign. The man was born on third base, believes he hit a triple, and got to home plate on the backs of any suckers he could find in our economy. Whether he's really worth ten billion dollars or not, I'm not really impressed. Trump hasn't really been a net-positive for society.

Donald Trump's candidacy is an embarrassment to America. He has built it on the ashes of a once proud political party, simply gaming out their angry and scared voters. Because Trump is not someone who built a political career to a high office like Senator or Governor, he has no skin in the game, and because of that, he has been willing to go beyond the coded language and dog whistle talk of Republicans in times past, and has simply said what the most ignorant members of his party's base think- that Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers, that we should assume Muslims are terrorists, that protestors from the left are jobless, that all of their opponents are liars, that President Obama is a foreigner, and other ignorant, bigoted statements. By throwing this red meat that no one in "respectable politics" was willing to throw, he left his Republican opposition in the dust. In doing so, he has reduced the party to rubble. In the process, he has threatened to build a wall with our Southern neighbor, start a trade war with China, and cozy up to the likes of Vladimir Putin. He has attracted the support of David Duke, and attracted actual Ku Klux Klan men to his rallies. He refused to disavow the KKK. He's had rallies cancelled because of violence.

I do get it- Trump supporters think things are so bad that they have to "be heard," by voting for someone to blow up the "status quo." It's a tired, old "fight the man" shtick that doesn't impress me much. You live in the greatest country in the world. People are willing to die to get here. You have great national parks, great cities, great popular culture, and freedom. You don't need this snake to come "fix" us. America is great now, it doesn't need to be made great again. If you don't think it's a great place because "others" are now living as equals amongst us, I honestly just suggest you leave. You don't believe in the principles that America was founded on, and you don't deserve it's benefits. Go somewhere like Somalia, where the central government is weak, religious radicals kill opponents, and everyone is armed. You'll be happier.

So, to be clear, I have mostly begged other Democrats to shut up and let Trump be Trump throughout this mess. I believe we will beat him, and beat him handily in November. That has been a political calculation, not a value statement. I believe Donald Trump is an embarrassment to our nation, personally. I think his campaign represents all that is wrong in our politics. He has run a racist, angry, ignorant campaign, and he has fed off of the public being misinformed and fed up. I have no respect for the man, what his "movement" represents, or frankly, his supporters.

In short, if you think we need to "Make America Great Again" with Donald Trump, I think you are what's wrong with our country. I think Donald Trump is what's wrong with this country. I look forward to defeating your mindset in 2016.