OK, it's really not funny anymore.

When Donald Trump initially announced his intention to run for the Republican presidential nomination, I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I figured it would be just like four years ago when there were almost 20 GOP candidates at the beginning of the race and two by the end, Donald Trump not included. I imagined his campaign would bring attention to the Republican party and perhaps even highlight the sensibility of some of the candidates comparative to his bad reality television antics.

However, I have been proven horribly, terribly, devastatingly wrong.

People actually like this man and what he has to say.

.

Yes. This man.

Now, I'm not going to talk about his appearance or judge him for it because that would put me on the exact same level as him, and that is not what I want to accomplish.

But the fact that I have to state that disclaimer at all is absolutely astonishing to me. A man who openly mocks a reporter's disability, generalizes an entire nation as rapists and criminals, refuses to speak out against the KKK, seeks to declare war on a religion, condones racial profiling, claims to know how to run the economy even though he has been bankrupt five times, and effectively ignores the entire minority population of the country is in a viable position to win the election for president of the United States.

You do not have to be a "liberal" or "PC" to comprehend how awful this truly is.

Donald Trump does not represent conservative Republican values.

Donald Trump does not represent smart economic values.

Donald Trump does not represent truthful political values.

Donald Trump most certainly does not represent Christian values.

And yet, that's what people keep saying he does. It makes no sense.

This man is running on a pseudo-conservative platform through which he claims he will "Make America Great Again." His plans for doing so are not constitutionally founded, and he hasn't proposed any policies that would make it through congress in the real process it takes to create legislation. I do not believe Trump is ignorant of this process; I believe he thinks he can circumvent the system built to protect the nation from people like him. That is what is particularly scary. Everything he says rests on the notion that he can do whatever he wants, and I do not want to live in a country that is directed by the mean girl from high school.

But there is something scarier than Donald Trump, if you can believe that.

There are people who actually vote for Donald Trump.

These people are far scarier than Trump himself, because he is an individual, and they are a large mass.

Now obviously, I am not claiming that everyone who votes for Donald Trump is immoral or racist or hateful is wrong, because that is a massive generalization... Because generalizations do not account for the value of individual people within a society. Generalizations tend to rely on bad traits instead of good ones. People are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. We shouldn't judge people we do not know.

What I will say, however, is that Trump supporters are just like all of us. They are scared. They are worried. They are skeptical. They see things happening in the world that seem unpredictable and uncontrollable, and their first instinct is to find the culprit. The problem is, there is no real culprit. What Trump has done that draws people to him is point his finger at a suspect. This argument could actually apply to any presidential candidate, including the Democrats. Trump points his finger largely at people of color and immigrants; Bernie Sanders points it at Wall Street and the rich. All of the candidates choose an issue and attack it in order to resonate with the largest amount of people possible. Unfortunately, in our world today, Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigrant, and Anti-Black sentiments ring very loudly with a large group of people.

And that is the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is that we can say Anti-Muslim and forget that it really means Anti-Person. Anti-Immigrant = Anti-Person. Anti-Black = Anti-Person. We use these labels and categories to try to distance ourselves from the personhood of anyone who doesn't live like we do. That is what Donald Trump has done, and that is why people feel safe supporting him. He has created an emotional detachment from any type of compassionate moral system that allows us to analyze and then solve real problems. He has created a generalized group of perpetrators so that his supporters do not see faces when they speak out against these people.

They just see difference, and Trump has made it OK to hate different.

The question is -- different from what? Well, different from the ideal that we all try very hard not to say even though we know it still exists. It is the reason why people of color get violently kicked out of Trump rallies. It is white supremacy -- the elevation of one group above another. It is terrifying to see who has identified with Trump's campaign slogan- "Make America Great Again" -- because it becomes clear very quickly that the idea of great they have is based on the expulsion of anyone who does not fit a very narrow definition. This is why we cannot allow Donald Trump to keep winning. It is evident by now that America's institutions and systems still only work for the majority, as if the minority does not matter at all. But that does not mean we can excuse hate speech and intolerance. We cannot allow white supremacy to be the law and dictator of the land in such a forthright manner. If we do let this happen, then we truly have not progressed at all since the original theft of this nation.

As Americans, perhaps we have been too "PC." We have allowed ourselves to be lulled into a daze of unity and tolerance. Perhaps it is fair to say that Donald Trump has woken us. We have not been tough enough on the existing bigotry, prejudice, and hate that still permeates our country. I hope that we turn ourselves around before our next president embodies all of these things.

I believe in the individuals who support Donald Trump. I believe that they have the ability to be loving, respectful people. I believe that eventually they can learn and create relationships with people who are different from them and face their fears.

I do not believe, however, that any of that will happen with Donald Trump as president.

If he is elected, there will be no reason to care about people different than us. There will be no reason to consider the value of individuals. There will be no reason to expand our horizons and cross borders. We will be trapped in this nation by artificial boundaries and walls.

And that is no way to live.

So please, do not be controlled by fear and suspicion. Do not allow one man to dictate your feelings towards other human beings. Think for yourself and do not join the chorus of Trump. He is not seeking the best interest of the American people, and that includes me and you.

Be brave. Cast out your fear. Don't vote for Donald Trump.