Donald Trump has had his name plastered everywhere during this presidential election. He has been a candidate that has run on an “all press is good press” platform, which drives him to be in the media as much as possible. Trump has created a new quasi-scandal almost every week by making controversial and divisive statements in order for his name and his campaign to be front and center in election coverage.

Trump began his campaign by making inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants. The exact quote is "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." He said that Mexican immigrants are rapists, criminals, and drug dealers. He was giving a speech on illegal immigration. He did not talk about the issues illegal immigration creates nor did he propose comprehensive policies to deal with the issue of illegal immigration beyond building a wall. He made racist and xenophobic comments about Mexican immigrants (note that not all undocumented immigrants are Mexican and that undocumented immigrants that cross the Mexican border are not necessarily Mexican). Understanding his comments as racist and xenophobic is not twisting his words.

In addition, the GOP nominee for president, Donald Trump, has consistently disrespected veterans and the families of veterans. When speaking about John McCain, Trump said "He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." By saying this, Trump completely and utterly disrespects one of the Republican Party’s senior and more respected members. The recent controversy over Trump’s disrespectful comments and attacks on Ghazala and Khizr Khan continues to show Trump’s disrespect for veterans, the families of veterans, and in this instance Trump shows his Islamophobia. Ghazal and Khizr Khan are the parents of Humayun Khan, a veteran who gave his life to save his fellow soldiers. The two parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention about their son and about the discrimination against Muslims that Trump has proposed. After the speech, Trump said "I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional. And probably looked like -- a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably -- maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say." When Trump said this, he showed his complete and utter disrespect for the families of military veterans. Trump also shows his blatant ignorance of Islam and Islamophobia. He ignorantly claimed, in a bigoted manner, that Ghazala Khan was not allowed to speak, completely ignoring the fact that she has lost her son and was on live television to give a speech in front of a large picture of him.

On the topic of Islamophobia and bigotry, Trump has made incredibly divisive statements and proposals. By saying “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 proposes violating the first amendment of the constitution that bars the government from making any laws for or against any religion. This proposal is blatantly Islamophobic and xenophobic. It suggests that all Muslims, even refugees which have gone through a terrible situation and still have to go through a rigorous background check, are terrorists and come to damage American society. The comments are xenophobic in that they suggest that foreigners are coming to ruin our society. Both Islamophobia and xenophobia have a basis in racism. Islam has been, and is still viewed, as inherently non-white. American xenophobia has a basis in racism because America has historically been ruled by white individuals which enforced discriminatory laws and policies.

Donald Trump also put his sexism on display after one of the first GOP primary debates. During the debate, Megyn Kelly asked Trump multiple questions regarding his past sexism. Trump claims that the questions were unfair and he stated that the reason why she would dare ask him difficult questions was because of her period. He said, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her, wherever.” The idea of a woman acting strangely or rude because of her period has been an American sexist trope for decades. Trump put his firm belief in the trope on display on live television during an interview with Fox News.

Trump’s most recent comments are some of the most disturbing. Trump quite possibly called for Hillary Clinton to be assassinated should she become president. He said, “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don’t know. But -- but I’ll tell you what. That will be a horrible day.” He later claimed this to be sarcasm and that the media reaction is overblown, but it is not. A presidential candidate just suggested that "second amendment people” do something that would make a day a terrible day. He clearly, even though halfheartedly, called for Hillary Clinton’s assassination. This is not something a presidential candidate is supposed to joke about. Trump has even refused to apologize for it.

We are not twisting Donald Trump’s words. We are taking Trump seriously and simply regurgitating what Trump said. Donald Trump has said horrible and despicable things. Donald Trump has proposed unconstitutional policy. Trump is a terrible candidate for the presidency of the United States of America. Trump will forever be a blight on American politics and on the Republican Party. The media has and will cover Trump truthfully and will not twist his words to make it seem like he did not say something horrible.