As a young man growing into the ranks of adulthood, I was particularly excited about the idea of an upcoming presidential election. I have always been fascinated with politics, and I was hoping for an opportunity to finally become a part of the process, but little did I know that this was going to be one of the worst elections in history.
In all fairness, I have only consciously experienced the leadership of two presidents, but the point still remains. There are many, many things that I can say about each candidate, but, for this article, I want to focus specifically on The Donald himself.
Now, Donald had threatened, yes threatened, to run for president many years ago. His interest in politics comes as no surprise. Back then, his sly remarks were taken with a grain of salt because, of course, no one took his interest in politics seriously. Back then it was the setup of a joke with nothing offensive yet, just a harmless setup.
When he announced his entrance into the 2016 presidential race, I laughed. I figured it was just the punchline, but little did I know that it would keep punching. “Donald Trump...? Ha-Ha. He won’t last a month. He will probably just use this election to promote his brand.” I was wrong; we were all wrong.
We are currently reaching the end of 2015, and we are about to officially begin election year where Donald Trump has been able to maintain the front runner status of the Republican Party. What was once a harmless joke has now become a serious reflection of the ignorance and bigotry within our current society.
Donald Trump’s presidential race is completely disgraceful. He lacks an education plan. He lacks a plan on improving women’s rights. He lacks a plan on diminishing institutional racism. He has an incredibly flawed and misleading economic plan, and he lacks the level of professional demeanor that is required to represent our country.
He is a narcissistic old rich man who is more concerned with himself than the well-being of the people he is running to represent.
So as you can tell, I do not have a very high opinion of The Donald, but he is not my biggest concern. I am deeply disturbed by the amount of people who follow him. If Trump does not have any initiatives to follow, than what exactly are his followers supporting?
The sad truth is that the majority, if not all, of Trump’s followers are simply supporting him because he serves as a representation of his bigoted beliefs. He serves as the personification of what is falsely perceived to be masculinity. “A man must be tough, violent, unrelenting, and demanding. There is no room for emotion, no time for thinking, only action…action…action!”
Is that the kind of individual you would want for a president?
Would you want your sons to imitate this hyper-conservative perspective of masculinity? Would you want your daughters to love it? I don’t, and I never will. Whether it's Donald Trump today or a similar candidate tomorrow, we as Americans must come to our senses and realize that the presidency is not a position to be bought but a reflection of leadership to be earned.
