For example, I never liked former GOP President George W.
Bush. I think he was an unintelligent & reckless president. The U.S. is
STILL cleaning up after his war-loving & money-wasting ways. But at least
he seemed like a generally nice guy. I mean he didn’t seem racist, chauvinist,
or xenophobic. If I didn’t know the guy, and he had never been a U.S.
president, I might enjoy having a cup of coffee with him & a group of
friends, as long as we didn’t discuss politics. While I think he was dangerous
while in power, I still think he meant well. And yes, I was one of the Democrats
that threatened to leave the U.S. if Bush was elected president (both times)
but never did, because my country wasn’t in that much trouble. It was in
trouble, for sure, but it wasn’t in trouble of immediately crumbling to pieces
and becoming something unrecognizably disgusting, so I rode it out – for 8
ridiculous years.
But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something 110% more sinister. I’m talking about the GOP front-runner in the 2016 presidential primary, Donald J. Trump. When I say I can’t stand Trump, and that I fear for my country’s future in the hands of this man, I’m serious. It’s not at all like when I jokingly told my dad “Dead world walking!” when George W. Bush was elected president the first time. That could be taken as halfway joking. But with Trump, I’m serious. When people tell me “Think of how much you hate Trump; that’s how much I hate [2016 Democratic presidential primary candidate] Bernie Sanders.” No. Just No. You’re not getting it. You dislike Sanders, because you look at socialism as a dirty word. You dislike Sanders, because you are not as liberal as he is. You dislike Sanders, because you don’t like high taxes. I dislike Trump, because he is a racist, chauvinistic, xenophobic, & Islamophobic narcissist, and he is an actual threat to the physical and emotional safety, as well as to the civil liberties and rights, of my country and the people who live here. We have seen what happens when evil people are given power, and many people in this country blindly want to give Trump the highest of powers in this country. This is no longer a “haha, funny” joking matter or a friendly game of “Whose Candidate Will Win?” between two friends. This has now become genuinely dangerous. And what is just as scary is the sheer number of people who follow Trump and believe his rhetoric. I knew there were hateful, racist xenophobes in this country, but I had absolutely NO clue the problem was this bad until Trump brought them all to the surface for everyone to clearly see. And what is infinitely worse is what our children are seeing from someone who aspires to govern this nation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrX3Ql31URA).
We are talking about a man who wants to spend trillions of dollars on the mass deportation of an entire group of people, all the while forcing another country to build a huge, expensive wall to block this race of people out of the U.S. completely. A man who wants to do away with birthright citizenship, so that he can deport American citizens who were born here – to where exactly? Who knows? This is a man who wants to ban everyone of one specific religion from entering the U.S, as well as force the ones already here to wear special I.D. badges. (Sound familiar? Adolf Hitler did this.) This is a man who, when confronted about his sexism by a female reporter with genuine, hard-hitting questions, responded that she must be on her period. A man who, in the face of a woman who needed to pump breast milk to feed her baby, said “That’s disgusting” and shamed her for giving her baby the necessary nourishment for life. A man who spoke sexually about his own daughter and speaks about all women as if the only thing we are worth is our looks & bodies. A man who found a statistic about instances of rape on the rise in the military, and responded by asking the world of Twitter what we all expect to happen when putting men and women together in the military, as if men are uncontrollable, wild animals who will rape a woman any chance they get. This is a man who has raped and cheated on women in the past, and instead of being ashamed, he is proud of it and boasts about it on international television. We are talking about a man who disrespects military personnel, as he denies that a prisoner of war was a war hero, simply because he was caught by the enemy. A man who publicly mocked a mentally disabled person. A man who incites fear, anger, and violence at every opportunity, such as offering to pay the legal fees of any of his supporters who commits assault against protesters at his rallies, or advocating for the murder of terrorists' families, whether they are innocent or not. A man who publicly suggested that his supporters assassinate his opponent, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A man who, in the face of genuine questions that Americans need to know in order to choose the best presidential candidate, laughs, scoffs, pokes fun at people, makes jokes, & calls his critics indecent names. This man says and does what he wants without any regard for the feelings or rights of others. He is rude, narcissistic, condescending, arrogant, hateful, obnoxious, & boisterous, and the rhetoric he spews isn't even the truth most of the time; put simply, he's a liar. He is clearly racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, & misogynistic. He is reckless and dangerous, and he uses scare tactics to recruit angry, fear-mongering fools to join his army. He uses this anger & fear to divide this country, rather than encourage people to come together.
And as I said, Trump’s followers are almost as dangerous as Trump himself. This man has inspired his followers to urinate and assault a homeless Mexican man, while they told him to get out of their country. (These men didn’t even know if the Mexican man was here legally or not, making this not about illegal immigration, but about racial hatred.) His followers scream “White power!” at his rallies and are quite often openly racist. His followers like to speak for everyone else by saying that Trump is just saying out loud what everyone is thinking. (Let me be clear, Trump is NOT saying what I’M thinking; he is only saying what hate-filled racists are thinking.) This man has the support of the KKK, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Un, for crying out loud! His followers are not only bigots but also cowards, as they are motivated by fear, anger, and hatred. They are unintelligent, ignorant, uneducated, & uninformed. They believe everything they hear Trump say, most of which are lies, but they don't bother to actually learn the truth and recognize that Trump is just telling them what they want to hear, because he knows they're angry. (Take, for example, the poll that recently exposed that 41% of Trump supporters that participated in the poll voted in favor of bombing Agrabah. For anyone who may not know, Agrabah is the fictional city in the Disney movie Aladdin.) These people make up Trump’s fan base! And they will most likely be voting in the upcoming presidential election.
If you are not yet convinced of what this man is, and how much of a danger he and his followers pose to this country, consider how he is unqualified and has no clue what he’s doing. When asked a simple question as to what he will do as president, he answers with nothing but drivel, babbling about “mak[ing] America great again” without actually explaining what he thinks is wrong with America, nor divulging his plans for how he specifically wants to accomplish this goal. Not only would he have no clue what to do in office, but he would make some extremely important decisions that, in his state of mind, would be reckless and inevitably cause a downfall in our entire system – and not in a good way. He is a threat to national security, as he would be negotiating with foreign powers, but the careless things that he says would likely cause many of our allies to turn their backs on us, but it would also likely cause other countries to attack us. Take Muslims for instance; he has openly disparaged all Muslims, and they make up 1.6 billion people in the world. If he enrages an entire huge group of people like that, we could end up in another world war. Trump is too emotional and has about as much self-control as a toddler. On the opposite end, he could become enraged at a foreign entity and lose complete control of himself. We don't need someone like that in charge of our nuclear codes! Onto his resume now: He has never held public office nor served in the military; he has made his way to the top simply by being a businessman who has gone bankrupt multiple times, and has had more failed businesses than I can count off hand. Check out this news article (and there are many more out there just like this one) to read about how Trump often doesn't pay companies that he hires to do jobs for him: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/. Trump alleges that he is all for creating and protecting jobs, yet investigations have turned up hundreds of small business owners who Trump never paid for services their companies delivered to him. In 30 years, Trump has been involved in over 3,500 such lawsuits! In fact, he is currently in the middle of a lawsuit for committing fraud in one of his failed businesses, Trump University. The last time his tax records were made public, it was revealed that he had paid $0 in federal taxes, cheating the system, and now he refuses to release his latest taxes, which leads many people to believe he has continued to commit such tax fraud. He doesn't believe that the rules which apply to everyone else should apply to him as well. As Oklahoma state senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out in a brilliant video she recently made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OpLFsememc), Trump drives on the roads that U.S. citizens pay for; uses workers to build his businesses, whose education U.S. citizens pay for; and benefits from a police force, which U.S. citizens fund. Donald Trump has not contributed one bit to any of that, yet he benefits from it all. Is such a selfish, fraudulent, unfair man the kind of candidate U.S. citizens should trust or desire as their leader? Where else will he cut corners as president? He deceives U.S. citizens and puts all of the financial burden of keeping this country going on the impoverished citizens of this country, while he basks in his wealthy glory, as if he is more deserving than everyone else. He only makes money from committing fraud, cheating people, not paying his bills or his taxes, and from his inheritance. He started it all by using Daddy's money! He was, luckily for him, born into a rich family, and his father gave him a million dollars to start up his businesses. I'm not saying I wouldn't do the same if my dad gave me a million dollars to start some businesses, but his supporters give him way too much credit for being a "good businessman". If he had actually wisely invested the money he was given, he would be worth billions more dollars than he is worth now, but he didn't do that, because he's NOT a good businessman, as if that even matters. You can't run a country like a business anyway, because a country is not a business. And if my country is to be run like a business, then I certainly would rather entrust it in the hands of a businessman who doesn't have a track record like Trump's. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a modern-day United States version of Adolf Hitler, and he is making his way to power. The only differences are 1. This is the U.S, not Germany, attempting to eradicate Mexicans and Muslims, rather than Jews, and 2. At least Hitler held office and served in his country’s armed forces prior to taking power.
Every time I turn on the radio, hosts on every station have something to say in reference to blasting Donald Trump. Comedians everywhere are having a ball making fun of him in their bits. Celebrities everywhere denounce him. Politicians and the general public alike, many of which have always been Republicans, have been not only denouncing Trump but leaving the party altogether to either join the Democratic or Libertarian parties. If you don't believe me, check out this letter from GOP National Security officials, who have been lifetime Republicans, some of which even served in President George W. Bush's cabinet, but refuse to vote for Trump: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/08/us/politics/national-security-letter-trump.html?_r=0. When making an anti-Trump ad, Hillary Clinton didn't even have to make her own statements against him to put together a great ad; all she had to do was compile statements from powers in the GOP against Trump, so the ad basically wrote itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XOocb-DId4. People all over the world wonder where Americans' brains have gone. I've gotten message after message from my foreign friends begging me to not let this maniac become our president. The world thinks we've lost our marbles! Foreign powers and citizens, alike, are terrified, because the United States is one of the world's largest super powers; what we do often affects the entire world. And when we ask why other countries are making fun of us, they always point to the Donald. They don't seem to have any qualms with any of the other presidential candidates, just Trump. He is making Americans ashamed to live in the United States of America, as we have now become a complete joke and the laughing stock of the world.
I know this is turning out to be an incredibly long entry without getting to the point of it all, but I guess I needed to get as much background venting done as possible. Now, with all of this said, I want to write a letter to any of my “friends” who are or are considering becoming Trump supporters:
Dear Trump-supporting “friend,"
I wish I could be sorry to you for being so genuinely angry that you are a Trump supporter, rather than being able to agree to disagree and respect your opinions, no matter how different they are from mine. I wish I could sincerely apologize for being brash when talking to you about this, but if I apologized, it would be a lie. I wish I could truthfully show remorse over what I’m about to say, and I truly hope you will understand why I feel the way I do about this.
Depending on how long I’ve known you, I’ve probably accepted our differences before. I’m liberal, and I’m sure you’re conservative, but somewhere along the line, we found some common ground and looked past something that is a potential problem for other people. But it was never a problem for us, because we respected each other’s differences. The reason I am so genuinely upset with you and can’t accept our differences this time is because of the gravity of this situation. I truly believe Donald Trump is the epitome of evil and anti-intellect. He is a terrible person and would be an even worse leader. I may be upset with the state that my country is in currently, but I do love my country. I want the best for this place, and I have been proud of many accomplishments we have made in recent times. Donald Trump would ruin all of that. He would be the downfall of the U.S.A. as we know it. This country would become something unrecognizable – something dark and disturbing – ironically like the corrupt countries in the Middle East that you hate so much. Watching the imbecile leader of my country strip people of their religious rights, spend gobs of money to eradicate an entire race of people from my country, and turn this country into a place where only white radical Republican Christians are welcome would be heart-breaking. What Trump calls for is completely un-American and morally wrong. It would be completely backwards to what we have always done, which has always made this country great, which is not only accept but embrace different types of people from all over the world. If Trump were to become president, that would be the end of my alliance to this country, as I would feel that my country had become something different than what it has always been – something that I wouldn’t be able to, in good conscience, associate myself with. I view him as a modern-day U.S. version of Adolf Hitler. Would you want to associate yourself with a Nazi sympathizer? If you support him and/or vote for him, then you perpetuate the worst things that have ever happened or could ever happen in this world. If you could ever think like this man and aren’t disgusted by him, then I can’t say I’m sorry that I look at you as a completely different person that I feel like I must have never truly ever known.
I’ve explained my moral issues with Trump, but believe it or not, it actually goes even deeper than that – to a personal level. I take it personally that you would even think for a minute that Trump would be a good leader for this country. It feels like a personal attack, which people are not supposed to do to their friends. I feel betrayed. I feel like you never actually cared about me or the people I love if you would support someone who wants to hurt us. Why is this personal for me? There are several reasons:
1. This is my country you’re messing with. As I’ve said, Trump wants to warp this country into the most disgusting, un-American place in the world. When he’s finished, we won’t even recognize this country – and not in a good way. This U.S. is where I live; it’s where I’m from. I love my country, and at least for now, I want to stay here. But I don’t want to live in a country ruled by a bigoted tyrant who thinks the only people that matter are the people who are just like he is. I would hate life here if Trump won the presidency, and I feel like I would have no other choice but to leave (if I could muster up the funds to do so.) Much like many Democrats, I joked about leaving the country when George W. Bush entered office both times, but that was a joke. I’m not joking anymore.
2. I am a female, and Trump is quite obviously a misogynist. He couldn’t care less about women’s rights or their feelings. He talks about us as if the only thing we are worth is our appearance and bodies. He degrades us every chance he gets. If you support him, then you agree with him that I should be dehumanized, and that I’m only worth something if I look good. If you are a woman, then you should be equally disturbed by this, so if you’re not, then maybe you have a case of Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it’s idiocy or willful ignorance; I really don’t know, but I do know that I don’t want anything to do with a woman who doesn’t stand for women’s rights. If you’re a man, you should also be equally disturbed by this, because you should want women to be treated respectfully and as equals, so if you support a presidential candidate who doesn’t have women’s rights toward the top of his priority list, then you are not the kind of man I need in my life.
3. I have dated the rainbow. I have friends who are every color, from every country, from every background, are every gender and gender identity, & are of every sexual orientation. I have family that makes up different genders (of course) and sexual orientations as well. If you would support racism/xenophobia against my Mexican friends, Islamophobia against my Muslim friends, sexism against my female friends, homophobia against my LGBTQ+ friends, as well as many other issues that Trump perpetuates, then you are against my friends and family, who happen to be some of the most important people in my life.
4. I stand for all of the causes mentioned in #3. If you know enough about me to have ever considered yourself my friend, then you should know how important they are to me. I stand with Black Lives Matter (the activists that are protesting peacefully.) I stand for religious freedom and understand that 99.9% of Muslims are not terrorists. I embrace diversity. I stand for LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights. If you support Trump, who not only doesn’t support any of these causes, but actually works AGAINST them all, then you are against everything I stand for.
5. This is the most important reason that your admiration for Trump insults me personally. The single most important person in my life is my boyfriend. I intend to marry him when the funds are available and every part of our lives fall into place. He is sticking around, so anything that is his problem is also my problem. He is Mexican-American. He was born here in America and has never even been to Mexico, but his parents are Mexican-born. Their parents brought them here in hopes of a better life when they were both teenagers. Yes, they came here illegally, because coming here legally is almost impossible. They have been here in the U.S. for more than 25 years now, and circumstances have changed. Illegal statuses have now changed to legal statuses, and my boyfriend’s mom even wants to apply for citizenship soon. They are good people. They have never committed a crime. They live here peacefully and are not on government assistance or receiving government benefits; they work hard and honestly for their money.
Despite this turnout, I realize not everyone’s situation is the same. I realize there are some illegal immigrants who are criminals; some are on government assistance, and some receive government benefits that they should not receive if they are here illegally. Some people take advantage of the system, and it’s not ok. (Although, the majority of people on welfare are white, so far more white people take advantage of the system than immigrants, but I get that this is a problem.) Although I understand illegal immigrants’ situation, since it is pretty much impossible for Hispanics in particular to get into the U.S. legally, I do believe that everyone should enter this country legally. But deporting an entire race of people from this country is not the way to go about rectifying the situation. It would cost trillions of dollars that we don’t have, and it would inevitably make it all about race. (Think about it. There are plenty of illegal immigrants that are white from European countries and black from African countries, but no one would ever suspect they are not here legally, because they look like everyone else, so the only people who would be sought out and deported would be the Hispanics.) I have my own idea of how to make illegal immigration less of a problem, and believe me, I do believe it’s a problem – maybe not the #1 problem in the world today but a problem, yes. But deporting an entire race of people from this country is not the way to fix the problem.
Now, what I just explained is actually just something I wanted to touch on, but there is a worse problem here that makes me out of my mind furious. As I said, my boyfriend was born here in the U.S. He has never even been to Mexico; as a matter of fact, he has never even been outside of this country. But Trump wants to end birthright citizenship, so that he can deport “anchor babies,” which Trump defines as children who were born here, because their parents came here illegally and decided to reproduce in order to lay down roots here. While my boyfriend was an unplanned baby, Trump would still technically define him as an “anchor baby,” because his parents were here illegally when they had him. You want to know a good way to turn me into Psycho Jo? Threaten to take away the most important person in my life. He is the best man I’ve ever known for many reasons, and I count my lucky stars every single day that he chose me, out of every other woman on the planet. He’s everything to me, and he’s an absolutely incredible man. Whether or not you agree with Trump on ending birthright citizenship, so he can deport “anchor babies,” is a moot point. If you would support a candidate that wants to do something so outrageous and deport the love of my life, who has just as much of a right to be here as you and I do, then you can’t blame me for despising you. You should completely understand, and I hope that makes you ashamed of yourself enough to re-think who you want to support in this presidential race.
If this does not sway you or even make you question yourself and your morals, then I don’t have anything else to say, except goodbye. If I ever loved you or currently love you, then I will always be there for you if you need me, but I have to take a step back.
Sincerest as I’ve ever been,
Jo
But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about something 110% more sinister. I’m talking about the GOP front-runner in the 2016 presidential primary, Donald J. Trump. When I say I can’t stand Trump, and that I fear for my country’s future in the hands of this man, I’m serious. It’s not at all like when I jokingly told my dad “Dead world walking!” when George W. Bush was elected president the first time. That could be taken as halfway joking. But with Trump, I’m serious. When people tell me “Think of how much you hate Trump; that’s how much I hate [2016 Democratic presidential primary candidate] Bernie Sanders.” No. Just No. You’re not getting it. You dislike Sanders, because you look at socialism as a dirty word. You dislike Sanders, because you are not as liberal as he is. You dislike Sanders, because you don’t like high taxes. I dislike Trump, because he is a racist, chauvinistic, xenophobic, & Islamophobic narcissist, and he is an actual threat to the physical and emotional safety, as well as to the civil liberties and rights, of my country and the people who live here. We have seen what happens when evil people are given power, and many people in this country blindly want to give Trump the highest of powers in this country. This is no longer a “haha, funny” joking matter or a friendly game of “Whose Candidate Will Win?” between two friends. This has now become genuinely dangerous. And what is just as scary is the sheer number of people who follow Trump and believe his rhetoric. I knew there were hateful, racist xenophobes in this country, but I had absolutely NO clue the problem was this bad until Trump brought them all to the surface for everyone to clearly see. And what is infinitely worse is what our children are seeing from someone who aspires to govern this nation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrX3Ql31URA).
We are talking about a man who wants to spend trillions of dollars on the mass deportation of an entire group of people, all the while forcing another country to build a huge, expensive wall to block this race of people out of the U.S. completely. A man who wants to do away with birthright citizenship, so that he can deport American citizens who were born here – to where exactly? Who knows? This is a man who wants to ban everyone of one specific religion from entering the U.S, as well as force the ones already here to wear special I.D. badges. (Sound familiar? Adolf Hitler did this.) This is a man who, when confronted about his sexism by a female reporter with genuine, hard-hitting questions, responded that she must be on her period. A man who, in the face of a woman who needed to pump breast milk to feed her baby, said “That’s disgusting” and shamed her for giving her baby the necessary nourishment for life. A man who spoke sexually about his own daughter and speaks about all women as if the only thing we are worth is our looks & bodies. A man who found a statistic about instances of rape on the rise in the military, and responded by asking the world of Twitter what we all expect to happen when putting men and women together in the military, as if men are uncontrollable, wild animals who will rape a woman any chance they get. This is a man who has raped and cheated on women in the past, and instead of being ashamed, he is proud of it and boasts about it on international television. We are talking about a man who disrespects military personnel, as he denies that a prisoner of war was a war hero, simply because he was caught by the enemy. A man who publicly mocked a mentally disabled person. A man who incites fear, anger, and violence at every opportunity, such as offering to pay the legal fees of any of his supporters who commits assault against protesters at his rallies, or advocating for the murder of terrorists' families, whether they are innocent or not. A man who publicly suggested that his supporters assassinate his opponent, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. A man who, in the face of genuine questions that Americans need to know in order to choose the best presidential candidate, laughs, scoffs, pokes fun at people, makes jokes, & calls his critics indecent names. This man says and does what he wants without any regard for the feelings or rights of others. He is rude, narcissistic, condescending, arrogant, hateful, obnoxious, & boisterous, and the rhetoric he spews isn't even the truth most of the time; put simply, he's a liar. He is clearly racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, & misogynistic. He is reckless and dangerous, and he uses scare tactics to recruit angry, fear-mongering fools to join his army. He uses this anger & fear to divide this country, rather than encourage people to come together.
And as I said, Trump’s followers are almost as dangerous as Trump himself. This man has inspired his followers to urinate and assault a homeless Mexican man, while they told him to get out of their country. (These men didn’t even know if the Mexican man was here legally or not, making this not about illegal immigration, but about racial hatred.) His followers scream “White power!” at his rallies and are quite often openly racist. His followers like to speak for everyone else by saying that Trump is just saying out loud what everyone is thinking. (Let me be clear, Trump is NOT saying what I’M thinking; he is only saying what hate-filled racists are thinking.) This man has the support of the KKK, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-Un, for crying out loud! His followers are not only bigots but also cowards, as they are motivated by fear, anger, and hatred. They are unintelligent, ignorant, uneducated, & uninformed. They believe everything they hear Trump say, most of which are lies, but they don't bother to actually learn the truth and recognize that Trump is just telling them what they want to hear, because he knows they're angry. (Take, for example, the poll that recently exposed that 41% of Trump supporters that participated in the poll voted in favor of bombing Agrabah. For anyone who may not know, Agrabah is the fictional city in the Disney movie Aladdin.) These people make up Trump’s fan base! And they will most likely be voting in the upcoming presidential election.
If you are not yet convinced of what this man is, and how much of a danger he and his followers pose to this country, consider how he is unqualified and has no clue what he’s doing. When asked a simple question as to what he will do as president, he answers with nothing but drivel, babbling about “mak[ing] America great again” without actually explaining what he thinks is wrong with America, nor divulging his plans for how he specifically wants to accomplish this goal. Not only would he have no clue what to do in office, but he would make some extremely important decisions that, in his state of mind, would be reckless and inevitably cause a downfall in our entire system – and not in a good way. He is a threat to national security, as he would be negotiating with foreign powers, but the careless things that he says would likely cause many of our allies to turn their backs on us, but it would also likely cause other countries to attack us. Take Muslims for instance; he has openly disparaged all Muslims, and they make up 1.6 billion people in the world. If he enrages an entire huge group of people like that, we could end up in another world war. Trump is too emotional and has about as much self-control as a toddler. On the opposite end, he could become enraged at a foreign entity and lose complete control of himself. We don't need someone like that in charge of our nuclear codes! Onto his resume now: He has never held public office nor served in the military; he has made his way to the top simply by being a businessman who has gone bankrupt multiple times, and has had more failed businesses than I can count off hand. Check out this news article (and there are many more out there just like this one) to read about how Trump often doesn't pay companies that he hires to do jobs for him: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/. Trump alleges that he is all for creating and protecting jobs, yet investigations have turned up hundreds of small business owners who Trump never paid for services their companies delivered to him. In 30 years, Trump has been involved in over 3,500 such lawsuits! In fact, he is currently in the middle of a lawsuit for committing fraud in one of his failed businesses, Trump University. The last time his tax records were made public, it was revealed that he had paid $0 in federal taxes, cheating the system, and now he refuses to release his latest taxes, which leads many people to believe he has continued to commit such tax fraud. He doesn't believe that the rules which apply to everyone else should apply to him as well. As Oklahoma state senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out in a brilliant video she recently made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OpLFsememc), Trump drives on the roads that U.S. citizens pay for; uses workers to build his businesses, whose education U.S. citizens pay for; and benefits from a police force, which U.S. citizens fund. Donald Trump has not contributed one bit to any of that, yet he benefits from it all. Is such a selfish, fraudulent, unfair man the kind of candidate U.S. citizens should trust or desire as their leader? Where else will he cut corners as president? He deceives U.S. citizens and puts all of the financial burden of keeping this country going on the impoverished citizens of this country, while he basks in his wealthy glory, as if he is more deserving than everyone else. He only makes money from committing fraud, cheating people, not paying his bills or his taxes, and from his inheritance. He started it all by using Daddy's money! He was, luckily for him, born into a rich family, and his father gave him a million dollars to start up his businesses. I'm not saying I wouldn't do the same if my dad gave me a million dollars to start some businesses, but his supporters give him way too much credit for being a "good businessman". If he had actually wisely invested the money he was given, he would be worth billions more dollars than he is worth now, but he didn't do that, because he's NOT a good businessman, as if that even matters. You can't run a country like a business anyway, because a country is not a business. And if my country is to be run like a business, then I certainly would rather entrust it in the hands of a businessman who doesn't have a track record like Trump's. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a modern-day United States version of Adolf Hitler, and he is making his way to power. The only differences are 1. This is the U.S, not Germany, attempting to eradicate Mexicans and Muslims, rather than Jews, and 2. At least Hitler held office and served in his country’s armed forces prior to taking power.
Every time I turn on the radio, hosts on every station have something to say in reference to blasting Donald Trump. Comedians everywhere are having a ball making fun of him in their bits. Celebrities everywhere denounce him. Politicians and the general public alike, many of which have always been Republicans, have been not only denouncing Trump but leaving the party altogether to either join the Democratic or Libertarian parties. If you don't believe me, check out this letter from GOP National Security officials, who have been lifetime Republicans, some of which even served in President George W. Bush's cabinet, but refuse to vote for Trump: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/08/us/politics/national-security-letter-trump.html?_r=0. When making an anti-Trump ad, Hillary Clinton didn't even have to make her own statements against him to put together a great ad; all she had to do was compile statements from powers in the GOP against Trump, so the ad basically wrote itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XOocb-DId4. People all over the world wonder where Americans' brains have gone. I've gotten message after message from my foreign friends begging me to not let this maniac become our president. The world thinks we've lost our marbles! Foreign powers and citizens, alike, are terrified, because the United States is one of the world's largest super powers; what we do often affects the entire world. And when we ask why other countries are making fun of us, they always point to the Donald. They don't seem to have any qualms with any of the other presidential candidates, just Trump. He is making Americans ashamed to live in the United States of America, as we have now become a complete joke and the laughing stock of the world.
I know this is turning out to be an incredibly long entry without getting to the point of it all, but I guess I needed to get as much background venting done as possible. Now, with all of this said, I want to write a letter to any of my “friends” who are or are considering becoming Trump supporters:
Dear Trump-supporting “friend,"
I wish I could be sorry to you for being so genuinely angry that you are a Trump supporter, rather than being able to agree to disagree and respect your opinions, no matter how different they are from mine. I wish I could sincerely apologize for being brash when talking to you about this, but if I apologized, it would be a lie. I wish I could truthfully show remorse over what I’m about to say, and I truly hope you will understand why I feel the way I do about this.
Depending on how long I’ve known you, I’ve probably accepted our differences before. I’m liberal, and I’m sure you’re conservative, but somewhere along the line, we found some common ground and looked past something that is a potential problem for other people. But it was never a problem for us, because we respected each other’s differences. The reason I am so genuinely upset with you and can’t accept our differences this time is because of the gravity of this situation. I truly believe Donald Trump is the epitome of evil and anti-intellect. He is a terrible person and would be an even worse leader. I may be upset with the state that my country is in currently, but I do love my country. I want the best for this place, and I have been proud of many accomplishments we have made in recent times. Donald Trump would ruin all of that. He would be the downfall of the U.S.A. as we know it. This country would become something unrecognizable – something dark and disturbing – ironically like the corrupt countries in the Middle East that you hate so much. Watching the imbecile leader of my country strip people of their religious rights, spend gobs of money to eradicate an entire race of people from my country, and turn this country into a place where only white radical Republican Christians are welcome would be heart-breaking. What Trump calls for is completely un-American and morally wrong. It would be completely backwards to what we have always done, which has always made this country great, which is not only accept but embrace different types of people from all over the world. If Trump were to become president, that would be the end of my alliance to this country, as I would feel that my country had become something different than what it has always been – something that I wouldn’t be able to, in good conscience, associate myself with. I view him as a modern-day U.S. version of Adolf Hitler. Would you want to associate yourself with a Nazi sympathizer? If you support him and/or vote for him, then you perpetuate the worst things that have ever happened or could ever happen in this world. If you could ever think like this man and aren’t disgusted by him, then I can’t say I’m sorry that I look at you as a completely different person that I feel like I must have never truly ever known.
I’ve explained my moral issues with Trump, but believe it or not, it actually goes even deeper than that – to a personal level. I take it personally that you would even think for a minute that Trump would be a good leader for this country. It feels like a personal attack, which people are not supposed to do to their friends. I feel betrayed. I feel like you never actually cared about me or the people I love if you would support someone who wants to hurt us. Why is this personal for me? There are several reasons:
1. This is my country you’re messing with. As I’ve said, Trump wants to warp this country into the most disgusting, un-American place in the world. When he’s finished, we won’t even recognize this country – and not in a good way. This U.S. is where I live; it’s where I’m from. I love my country, and at least for now, I want to stay here. But I don’t want to live in a country ruled by a bigoted tyrant who thinks the only people that matter are the people who are just like he is. I would hate life here if Trump won the presidency, and I feel like I would have no other choice but to leave (if I could muster up the funds to do so.) Much like many Democrats, I joked about leaving the country when George W. Bush entered office both times, but that was a joke. I’m not joking anymore.
2. I am a female, and Trump is quite obviously a misogynist. He couldn’t care less about women’s rights or their feelings. He talks about us as if the only thing we are worth is our appearance and bodies. He degrades us every chance he gets. If you support him, then you agree with him that I should be dehumanized, and that I’m only worth something if I look good. If you are a woman, then you should be equally disturbed by this, so if you’re not, then maybe you have a case of Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it’s idiocy or willful ignorance; I really don’t know, but I do know that I don’t want anything to do with a woman who doesn’t stand for women’s rights. If you’re a man, you should also be equally disturbed by this, because you should want women to be treated respectfully and as equals, so if you support a presidential candidate who doesn’t have women’s rights toward the top of his priority list, then you are not the kind of man I need in my life.
3. I have dated the rainbow. I have friends who are every color, from every country, from every background, are every gender and gender identity, & are of every sexual orientation. I have family that makes up different genders (of course) and sexual orientations as well. If you would support racism/xenophobia against my Mexican friends, Islamophobia against my Muslim friends, sexism against my female friends, homophobia against my LGBTQ+ friends, as well as many other issues that Trump perpetuates, then you are against my friends and family, who happen to be some of the most important people in my life.
4. I stand for all of the causes mentioned in #3. If you know enough about me to have ever considered yourself my friend, then you should know how important they are to me. I stand with Black Lives Matter (the activists that are protesting peacefully.) I stand for religious freedom and understand that 99.9% of Muslims are not terrorists. I embrace diversity. I stand for LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights. If you support Trump, who not only doesn’t support any of these causes, but actually works AGAINST them all, then you are against everything I stand for.
5. This is the most important reason that your admiration for Trump insults me personally. The single most important person in my life is my boyfriend. I intend to marry him when the funds are available and every part of our lives fall into place. He is sticking around, so anything that is his problem is also my problem. He is Mexican-American. He was born here in America and has never even been to Mexico, but his parents are Mexican-born. Their parents brought them here in hopes of a better life when they were both teenagers. Yes, they came here illegally, because coming here legally is almost impossible. They have been here in the U.S. for more than 25 years now, and circumstances have changed. Illegal statuses have now changed to legal statuses, and my boyfriend’s mom even wants to apply for citizenship soon. They are good people. They have never committed a crime. They live here peacefully and are not on government assistance or receiving government benefits; they work hard and honestly for their money.
Despite this turnout, I realize not everyone’s situation is the same. I realize there are some illegal immigrants who are criminals; some are on government assistance, and some receive government benefits that they should not receive if they are here illegally. Some people take advantage of the system, and it’s not ok. (Although, the majority of people on welfare are white, so far more white people take advantage of the system than immigrants, but I get that this is a problem.) Although I understand illegal immigrants’ situation, since it is pretty much impossible for Hispanics in particular to get into the U.S. legally, I do believe that everyone should enter this country legally. But deporting an entire race of people from this country is not the way to go about rectifying the situation. It would cost trillions of dollars that we don’t have, and it would inevitably make it all about race. (Think about it. There are plenty of illegal immigrants that are white from European countries and black from African countries, but no one would ever suspect they are not here legally, because they look like everyone else, so the only people who would be sought out and deported would be the Hispanics.) I have my own idea of how to make illegal immigration less of a problem, and believe me, I do believe it’s a problem – maybe not the #1 problem in the world today but a problem, yes. But deporting an entire race of people from this country is not the way to fix the problem.
Now, what I just explained is actually just something I wanted to touch on, but there is a worse problem here that makes me out of my mind furious. As I said, my boyfriend was born here in the U.S. He has never even been to Mexico; as a matter of fact, he has never even been outside of this country. But Trump wants to end birthright citizenship, so that he can deport “anchor babies,” which Trump defines as children who were born here, because their parents came here illegally and decided to reproduce in order to lay down roots here. While my boyfriend was an unplanned baby, Trump would still technically define him as an “anchor baby,” because his parents were here illegally when they had him. You want to know a good way to turn me into Psycho Jo? Threaten to take away the most important person in my life. He is the best man I’ve ever known for many reasons, and I count my lucky stars every single day that he chose me, out of every other woman on the planet. He’s everything to me, and he’s an absolutely incredible man. Whether or not you agree with Trump on ending birthright citizenship, so he can deport “anchor babies,” is a moot point. If you would support a candidate that wants to do something so outrageous and deport the love of my life, who has just as much of a right to be here as you and I do, then you can’t blame me for despising you. You should completely understand, and I hope that makes you ashamed of yourself enough to re-think who you want to support in this presidential race.
If this does not sway you or even make you question yourself and your morals, then I don’t have anything else to say, except goodbye. If I ever loved you or currently love you, then I will always be there for you if you need me, but I have to take a step back.
Sincerest as I’ve ever been,
Jo
I'm trying to lighten the mood after all this seriousness.
#FeelTheBern
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