First things first, to anyone out there who hasn’t watched John Oliver’s Donald "Drumpf" video go and find it right now, it’s all over Youtube.
As some of you may know, I don’t like to involve myself too heavily in politics; if you can run America and make us all grow then you’re good in my book, whether you’re left or right wing. I’m one of the very few people who actually think Obama did a decent job as president for the last 8 years, if you don’t then just remember what your gas prices are and where Osama Bin Laden is. Do we have problems in the wake of his leadership? Absolutely, I’m not going to deny that. At least Obama has an idea of what he wants to do. At least Obama tries as hard as he could to push a certain agenda. At least Obama is a good person.
Last night, I watched the FOX News Republican debate and it was the most appalling, ridiculous two-hour event I think I’ve witnessed in a long time. It was the first Republican debate I’d actually sat down and paid attention to in its entirety; needless to say it made me want to watch more. The more I researched the more I realized that every debate up until this point has consisted of Trump and some other candidate arguing the same way two kindergartners fight over the slide at recess.
As I’ve established in another article, I don’t consider myself a follower of the Republicans or the Democrats; if you’re smart enough and good-hearted enough to run this country, you will 100 percent get my vote. There are certain Democratic liberal ideas I don’t necessarily agree with and certain Republican conservative views I don’t particularly care for. Like many people, I think that America is in a pretty tough spot; our national debt is through the roof and still growing, terrorism is still an issue, unemployment is still an issue, our Senate and Congress are split on virtually every issue, and our economy is still a bit of a fixer upper.
The 2016 presidential race is probably the most important presidential race in American history, and that’s no exaggeration as many believe that our next president could make or break this country, myself included. We’re on the verge of incredible things as a country as we’ve already broken ground in various technological advancements and continue to show progress. Our world may be a scary place at times but you have to admit that things could definitely be worse.
We need a leader who’s willing to look towards the future and adopt a more liberal mindset while remembering what brought the US to this point in the first place. What’s shocking is that no leader fitting that description is leading the polls right now; if you take a look you’ll see that the proud winner of Super Tuesday was none other than Donald Trump. A man who has done nothing but mock our government and this election, yet is somehow in the running to be our future leader.
Simply put, I really don’t get it.
For those of you who don’t know or care, Donald Trump threw his hat (or toupee to be more accurate) into the presidential ring last summer and has dominated the Republican race ever since because of his ability to cater to an angry America. Building a wall around the Mexican border on Mexico’s expense, calling all illegal immigrants rapists and criminals, attempting to displace Muslim-American citizens, and claiming to be “the best potential president ever” has somehow been enough to sway the American public.
In a weird way, I think we’ve reached such a low point as a country that we need someone like Trump to open our eyes. Whether you’re looking to the left or the right, you can’t deny that people are angry; to put it bluntly, angry people need an angry leader to rally behind. Don’t confuse this with support though, I absolutely hate Trump and everything he stands for but I do understand the necessity of his campaign. To quote Batman Begins, “people need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy,” we needed someone as radical as Trump to come along and show us just how far we’ve fallen.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t exactly worked very well as the people who were angry before are even angrier now that they’ve been given an outlet to express their rage. Let me say this as honestly and bluntly as possible to any Trump supporters out there: Donald Trump cannot be our nation's next leader. If he is nominated as the Republican candidate or even runs as an independent it might be too little too late.
We’ve now reached the point where political scientists are predicting that the Trump administration is inevitable. I can’t say I don’t understand why, after all some of my family and friends are Trump supporters and it makes sense to me. Imagine if you’re someone who’s lived in an era before the Bush administration and can’t stand what this country has become. Imagine if you’re someone who’s lost their job because of an illegal immigrant who’s willing to do your job for less. Imagine if you can’t go to college because a financial aid board determines that you’re too rich for any help whatsoever. These are issues that people face all the time but weren’t talked about too heavily until Trump came into the picture.
People of America, I understand that you’re upset and that you’re scared of what the future holds for this country. I understand that you want to rally behind a man who’s uncontrollable and seems like a self-made man, but there are way too many downsides to his presidency.
In the debate mentioned earlier, he was asked what his plan was concerning the Islamic terrorist cell, ISIS. He stated that he would order the US military to slaughter the families of every member in the group to flush them out, which is a war crime in virtually every nation. When confronted with the fact that his plan was against the law and that soldiers would be legally bound against such orders Trump stated, “They’ll listen to me because they’ll have to, it’s that simple.” You can see the problem with this, right? As of this writing, he’s currently facing a civil suit over Trump University; a business venture that has left many in heavy student debt with an uncertified degree.
If he can screw over a bunch of people without batting an eye, what’s to stop him from doing the same to our country?
Trump is slowly gaining power and it’s clearly playing with his head, his support makes him untouchable and he knows it. Do you really want that kind of arrogant, selfish, and radical man running your country? I know I don’t, but unfortunately we’ve reached the point where people don’t want to look away from this flaming car wreck. I know how easy it is to follow someone as radical as Trump, but please don’t. Any bit of attention you give to him or anything you say about him increases his power, he’s already halfway to The White House because of the controversy he’s stirred up over the past few months.
The only thing that has the power to stop him is you; yes you, the person reading this right now.
Whether you like him or not, whatever you have to say about him fuels the Trump campaign fire. Can we please just stop? I’m sick of having to wake up every morning and read ten thousand news stories about the guy, I’m sick of getting into arguments with people who support him, and I’m mostly sick of how he’s slowly tearing the country apart.
America was once a country of great opportunity, where we thought things through logically without beating our chest and saying how good we are or how rich we are. We are great, we know we’re great; I’m proud to be an American despite all of the faults my country has. It’s time we stop listening to people who can offer us stuff and actually start making a difference ourselves; after all America became a free country because of the “little people.”
Despite our differences, we need to do everything with our limited time on Earth to help improve the world around us and do our best to co-exist, that’s how we make America great again.
