By Jason D. Greenough | Web/Social Media Editor
Let the record state that I am not writing this as an endorsement of Hillary Clinton. While I will be voting for the Democratic front-runner this November, I think I should clarify that I am not a huge fan of Clinton, given her tactics during the primary season against Bernie Sanders.
Needless to say, I still love Bernie and still do believe that it should be him up at the podium destroying the Republican front-runner instead of Clinton. I use “destroy” in this context like Clinton is doing the unthinkable. It’s a bar that is pretty damn low, if you ask me. And Trump’s inability to be a cooperative human being is making me fall in love with Hillary all over again.
Clinton’s back door shenanigans make for a fair case against her, sure. Untrustworthy, manipulative, conniving…I get what you mean. But, at this point, she could bulldoze an orphanage on Christmas (Or a Taco Bell on Taco Tuesday), and I would still vote for her, because no matter what exaggerated scenario you can say she might make reality, it’s much lesser of a stretch to say that Donald “Bad Hombre” Trump would actually do something catastrophic to our country.
Trump’s overall idiocy has caused me a great deal of stress, and has me revisiting what I left after the 2008 Democratic National Convention– my admiration for Hillary Clinton. Clinton is unlikable in a variety of ways, but Trump’s lunacy and “drunk uncle at a barbecue” demeanor has me going full-fledged for HRC.
To say that Trump wouldn’t hit the red button because Kim Jung Un told him he had small hands would, in all honesty, be a dumb thing to say. I mean, c’mon, the guy has reverted to a child-like state every time something doesn’t go his way, His spoiled-rich-kid temperament and the fact that a majority of his supporters believe he “won” each of the three debates, in which he mostly just pointed fingers at everything wrong with Clinton’s campaign instead of focusing on the direction of his own, not only baffles me completely, but makes me lose respect for those supporting him, to be completely honest.
Throughout this whole election cycle, I have heard Trump say very little, if anything, in regards to a detailed policy on camera (No, “we’re gonna build a wall and Mexico is gonna pay for it” does not count as “detailed”, and neither does “China”, “Isis”, or “You’d be in jail”), nor have I heard him say much that wasn’t targeting women, African-Americans, latinos, handicapped journalists, or Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server. For instance, during the final debate on October 19th, Chris Wallace asked Trump to address the numerous rape and sexual assault allegations, and Trump deflected with a mention of Clinton’s e-mails.
He doesn’t specify any policy positions regularly, because he doesn’t seem to care very much about the office of the Presidency, but only his brand. He has given nothing to me that shows me that he is qualified in the least to be the guy who fastens tabs onto soda cans, much less the President of the United States.
As specified in a recent article from NBC News, he has flip-flopped on at least 22 original stances, ranging from his belief that the election was rigged against him in the primary (He doesn’t anymore, because he won the nomination, according to the Washington Examiner), to his widely-praised (and criticized) proposal to bar believers in the Muslim faith from entering the United States (First stating that no Muslim is allowed into the country for any reason, then he changed to saying it would call for “extreme vetting” while on 60 Minutes, and has gone back and forth on it numerous times over the last year.)
So what exactly about his policies has people so gushy about his candidacy? There is no solid, sustainable idea that he has proposed that he hasn’t either completely backed out of, or re-structured with more sugar-coating, but is still equally as repulsive and counterproductive. For example, according to The Washington Post, his stance on abortion and a woman’s right to choose went from “There should be some form of punishment,” to “I am pro-life with exceptions,” and finally to “States will be given the right to protect the unborn” all within 72 hours. The man has no commitment to what he is proposing, so why should I be voting for him? This is another thing that is just making me support Hillary again.
All I keep hearing is “I just wanna see America great again!” …..WHEN DID YOU SEE AMERICA GREAT TO BEGIN WITH?!?! Let’s say I’m talking to 20-somethings like myself. You were born in the middle of the Bill Clinton Presidency and (probably) can’t recollect a whole hell of a lot from it. I know I sure can’t. So when exactly did you, yourself, see America great before? Let’s take a look back in history, by decade, over the last century to find some clarity in what you mean…
Women weren’t allowed to vote until 1920, and African-Americans weren’t truly given that right until 1965 (They have, technically, had the right to vote since the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, but loopholes created in various states barred them from casting their vote).
The Great Depression eroded the fiber of the country for years, starting in 1929, and even after its declared end in 1939. Segregation and racism ran rampant through the ‘40s, ‘50s and hitting a peak in the ‘60s, amidst assassinations and propaganda, while never really ending, just taking a “back seat” to the economic dismemberment of the 70s and 80s, the Cold War, the AIDS epidemic that was brushed off by the majority of elected officials, not to mention the droves of bigots who, even after learning more of the terrifying disease, still sought out to harm those in their neighborhoods suffering from it.
The ‘90s saw the injustice of the OJ Simpson verdict, the Rodney King chase and beating, and its subsequent reaction of riots across Los Angeles, the Oklahoma City bombing…I could practically go on forever. Again, I ask…
When did you see America great? And do you really think our solution to getting back on the saddle is a reality TV star who would consider dating his own daughter if she weren’t blood-related? Is Benghazi a big deal to his supporters because it was a horrible accident? Or because the word is just fun to reiterate?
A large number of his supporters love the fact that he was in favor of the Bathroom bill, because that means he wants what’s best for our children, yet you find nothing wrong with him bragging about sexually assaulting women, and when asked to address the allegations during a debate, deflects to barking about Hillary’s e-mails uhhhh-gain? Do you hear yourselves? Can you even reiterate one of his policies? Or are you just riding the coattails of some empty motto that looks cool on a hat, and looks good on paper? Is Hillary the ideal candidate? Certainly not. But is she better than the alternative (Gary Johnson and Jill Stein included)? I can honestly say yes to this.
Donald’s Trump’s website offers detailed policies ranging from education to veteran affairs, as does Clinton’s website. But something I noticed upon further investigation is that Trump’s website also includes a section, at the bottom of each policy detail, that is titled “Contrast with Hillary Clinton”. Why must everything revert to what Hillary hasn’t done, as opposed to what he plans to do?
He’s playing on the fears and desperation of the middle and working class. His “big money” persona, and his (incredibly exaggerated) success in business make him look like he has all the answers when it comes to pulling America out of the well. But he doesn’t. Well, really no one does. But he really doesn’t. The circus that he has created in this election has me doing something I said I would never do when Bernie Sanders was in the race – overlook Hillary’s flaws.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”….Well, Trump is one big orange ball of fear, the human equivalent to a narcissistic, sociopathic Garfield, and I, for one, am scared to death that there is an actual possibility that he can become our next President.
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