I didn't vote in the last Presidential election. Mostly because of paperwork, but it was also because of a lack of belief in the candidates. This time around, though, I have a candidate that I support staunchly. Although he is behind in the polls, I will support him, as he is the only one who really seems to make sense to me. However, that is not my point here. There are many candidates I don't like, but one man who will absolutely not have my vote is Donald Trump. There are several reasons, but I will only go into a few of them here.
1. His remarks towards women
Remember after the first GOP Debate where Trump said Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever?" This is just a microcosm of Trump's misogyny. Even women of the Armed Forces are not immune (see Tweet above). Even when Rosie O'Donnell spoke against Trump, he subjected her to remarks about her appearance.
2. Remarks in general
When anyone speaks out against Trump, man or woman, the face the idiotic vitriol of "The Donald." At a recent rally in Boston, a protester was thrown out, after which Trump said, "You know it's amazing, I mentioned food stamps and that guy who's seriously overweight went crazy. Amazing. Amazing. That's an amazing sight." Donald Trump is fantastic at pandering to those who can agree with his idiocy, because that remark was meant with cheers and applause, coinciding with the belief that many (mostly Republicans) have that everyone on food stamps abuses the system. Are there people who take advantage of the system? Yes. Does that apply to EVERYONE? No.
3. Grandstanding
When I hear Donald Trump speak, all I hear are repeated promises and claims that he is unlikely to deliver on. How many times have we heard Trump say he's going to build a wall... and then go on to say that he will force Mexico to build it? To which the people at rallies cheer raucously while the rest of us laugh at Trump's audacity. Many times we hear Trump and he regurgitates things he has already said. He isn't saying anything new, yet he continues to rise in the polls. That scares the hell out of me. The American people used to be informed. Donald Trump does speak boldly, and you can clearly hear him when he speaks. I don't know, maybe people are just scared. In times of fear, people turn to whoever speaks the loudest. It happened with Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, etc. and it's happening again. America needs to get back to common sense and rational responses.
3. Low level intellect
He might have a degree in business from a prestigious school, but he does not speak with the intellect that is becoming of the President. Debate dialogue ran through the Flesch-Kincaid grade level test showed that Trump speaks at the level of a 4th grader. Then again, what can you expect from a person who calls his opponents "dummy," "losers," "haters," "morons," etc. And this is the guy who wants to reform America's education system?
4. Foreign policy
Donald Trump is not a man I would trust nuclear access codes to, ever. He lacks the composure to speak in a civil manner with someone who disagrees with him. With a man who lashes out so poorly with words, can you imagine giving him weapons as well as an unlimited capacity with which to wage war? Donald Trump is a businessman, but he cannot be allowed to wage war, especially a guy who counts military school as a teenager as military service.
5. Willingness to disseminate false information
Multiple times, we have heard Donald Trump make outrageous statements presented as fact with absolutely nothing to back it up. Most recently, "The Donald" has claimed there were thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering on 9/11. This has been debunked more times than Trump has said it, yet he presents it as absolute fact. If matters and issues like this are matters he is willing to lie about, what ELSE do you think he won't tell the truth on?
6. Specific policies of discrimination
Never mind the 1970s, when Trump wouldn't lease properties to African Americans, but look at the policies he has said he would implement: Muslims with special ID pages (yellow Stars of David, anyone?), databases that register Muslims, as well as shutting down mosques. Do I agree with Islam? No, but I also believe in the Constitution, which Donald Trump is desecrating with his excremental policies.
7. Inconsistency
Simply put: Donald Trump was a Democrat long before he was a Republican, and financed many of the campaigns for Democratic Congressmen (hundreds of thousands of dollars while Republicans got $1,000) just before the Affordable Care Act (or "Obamacare"), that law that Donald Trump is so against, was passed. Trump was also close to the Clintons (yes, THOSE Clintons) for a long while. They were even at Trump's last wedding.
8. "But he's fresh, he says what we're all thinking!"
Get a family around the dinner table for Thanksgiving or Christmas in some places, give people some booze, and they might lose their PC filter and "say what we're all thinking." Should they run for President as well? There have been many politicians who were good at saying what their people were thinking: Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini... seeing a pattern here?
In conclusion, I'm not voting for Donald Trump. It is part of my American Dream to one day have a family of my own, and for them to grow up and see and love America as I have and do. If Donald Trump is allowed into the Presidency, America as we know it will be no more. All of our American Dreams will die.
