I try to cottle my fear for this country when I see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I do, however, believe this is not the worst thing that can ever happen as many have exaggerated it to be. Hillary Clinton, while not likable, is competent and intelligent and we must respect that. With Trump, on the other hand, however competent and intelligent he is, he is not an experienced politician who understands the ramifications of his actions and policies. He is an intelligent and experienced businessman, not a politician, and the skill sets needed to excel in either field cannot be applied to the other.

Trump has professed a desire to remove the United States from NATO, like a true businessman, for the sake of saving money. I do agree with him, in theory, that we shouldn’t be footing the bill and the other countries should be carrying their weight. Yet in practice, I completely disagree with it and find it naive to even think it’s a good idea. With the ability to keep the lights at NATO on, we hold immeasurable power over Europe and our allies into conforming to our policies. That’s a unique opportunity no other country on the planet has. If we leave NATO, we lose influence in the region and will see Russia slowly creep in -- not militarily, but economically -- and soon Russia will see their economy on the rise and ours on the defense. Inadvertently, by trying to save money on NATO, we will most likely be investing the savings right back into it later when we realize how much we don’t like the Russians taking over our economic interest in the area.

NATO, one of the most important and powerful military alliances ever established, is a defense wall against Russian influence, which we need now more than ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Vladimir Putin has expressed expansive attitudes appropriate for a king or queen in the age of imperialism. It isn’t a coincidence that Russia has been cheering Donald Trump on. He is helping the Russian cause.

I am begrudgingly supporting Hillary Clinton, yet when I look into myself and try to find the exact reason why I am “begrudgingly” supporting her, I can’t find a legitimate excuse other than simply I just don’t like her as a person. It's a strong accusation, but it doesn’t matter whether she is a likable or not. I’m never going to meet her one on one. I’m never going to trade texts or phone calls with her or ever remotely have the chance to know her personally, so why does likability matter?

It matters because people don’t like supporting someone they don’t like. As much as it doesn’t matter in practice since we never have the chance to be friends with our president, it goes against our own selfish interests to give a vote to someone we feel we wouldn’t like if we met them in person.

Remember, Bush won one of the narrowest victories in any presidential election, and a major factor was that voters felt they could enjoy having a beer with George W. Bush.