Donald Trump's supporters have been called deluded, racist, ignorant and bigoted – but even Mr. Trump's harshest critics have to admit that his fanbase is remarkably loyal. It's really quite amazing that he's still a serious contender for the U.S. presidency, especially when the bumps and scandals he's faced could've easily thrown any other candidate off track – possibly beyond repair.
(Then again, this is anything but a typical election.)
With this in mind, here's a quick recap of the kind of chaos that Trump's campaign has, somehow, survived.
1. Categorically insulting an entire ethnicity, equating Hispanics to rapists and drug dealers.
(But "some, [he] assumes, are good people" – which doesn't really justify the other comments.)
And yes, the "rapists" and "drug dealers" are " coming from all over South and Latin America" as well, so my Peruvians, Brazilians and other Latino friends: don't worry, you're not being left out of the racist fearmongering rhetoric!
2. Ditto on the sexist trash-talking.
“You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” — Esquire 1991
I mean, you'd think with these comments he'd be isolating at least one-half of the American voting population, and that's assuming that no male feels indignant because of Mr. Trump's remarks here (which, in my humble opinion, they kind of should).
3. Somehow thinking it's both possible and rational to propose a complete shutdown of all Muslim immigration.
"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on," Trump said about himself in a campaign speech on December 7.
He later expanded these comments to propose a ban on immigration "from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism."
In other words, under a Mr. Trump presidency, we'd potentially face an inherently racist policy that keeps people that practice one specific nonviolent religion outside the country. And refugees can just suck it up, I guess. I'm shocked that many people consider this to be Mr. Trump's big great idea.
To be sure, Mr. Trump's outlook would probably be a bit better if he hadn't slighted every Hispanic, Muslim and female American – and certainly, these comments have hurt him in his endeavors. (Then again, maybe not: all that support he's getting from others has arguably been energized with these hateful comments.)
What amazes me is that most Hispanics have, by now, shunned Mr. Trump as their candidate – but many of our Caucasian friends have not done the same. Personally, I'd be disgusted by a man that claims to aspire to represent America on an international stage, yet shuns entire ethnicities and belief systems (even if the ones he shuns aren't identities I personally belong to).
A feeble nonapology – like tweeting a picture of himself eating a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo – won't cut it. By now, even if he did offer a genuine sentiment of remorse, I wouldn't believe him, because he'd almost certainly be doing it in a last-ditch effort to save his campaign from the likely demise it faces on Election Day.
In short, I believe that these three comments should have hurt him beyond repair in his presidential campaign. He should not have a realistic (albeit small) chance at winning the election.
Not everyone reading this article is female, Hispanic or a Muslim, but I'm willing to bet we all know at least one member of these three groups. If you value that acquaintance and still plan to vote for Mr. Trump, reconsider.
