There will be some who will criticize and/or be annoyed by these views because they are worn out by the politics. They will say that it is too divisive to put political views out there. I understand that. However, I cannot help thinking that I (and many others) stayed too quiet in order to not offend, and in turn our silence contributed to what we are faced with in having a reality TV personality as the president of the United States.
Some will quickly dismiss my thoughts as being sour grapes because my political party did not win. Well… that can’t be it; I have not had a party affiliation for many years. If I did, it would be closer aligned to the Republicans. I certainly never voted for a Democrat presidential candidate prior to this election; I am certainly not a Democrat. I voted for some Democrats in this election, and some Republicans. I voted for people that I thought were the most qualified and would lead with an interest in stewarding our money judiciously and effectively. I certainly had no great affection for Hillary Clinton, but she was clearly qualified. Between the two of them, she also seemed less likely to drive our economy off of a cliff.
To say I am devastated that as a nation we just elected Donald Trump, that would be quite the understatement. I do not say that because I like Clinton’s politics more than his. I also do not say that because choosing Donald Trump to lead our country is a huge risk to our nation’s security. What has me so sad today is what his election says about the moral fiber of our country. I know that those that support Trump will say that Hillary, and the political establishment, are corrupt. They will argue that a Hillary win would have similarly indicted our collective conscience. I get it; you are not wrong. However, I cannot express this in stark enough terms, the election of Donald Trump goes far beyond a rational response to the repudiation of the corrupt establishment. I have been railing against the corrupt and free-spending establishment for many years, but this guy is not the solution.
Putting aside the fact that Trump has zero experience and penchant for saying terribly inflammatory things that put us at risk on the world stage, his election says something about who we are as a nation. We voted for a guy whose main platform is nationalism, and not some patriotic national pride. No, his words and actions speak to a nationalism rooted in bigotry and discrimination. As a nation, we decided that we are OK with banning entire religious groups. We are fine with clear bigotry toward multiple groups of people. We believe it is time to indiscriminately deport a massive amount of people. We think it is funny to mock those with disabilities. We collectively shrug our shoulders at blatant misogyny, the objectification and mistreatment of women. We have embraced a demeanor that wins at any cost however vile or outrageous. We demean the service of our veterans by agreeing that those captured or killed in action are losers; we “like people that weren’t captured.” We are cool with the fact that if anyone opposes the Donald, they can expect to be sued or prosecuted according to his will.
None of these statements are hyperbole; these are the direct words and actions of Donald Trump. I guess I am in the minority, but words and actions mean something to me. People will say, “Ah, he doesn’t really mean any of that stuff, it’s all show.” However, there is literally no evidence that these words from Donald Trump are anything but his legitimate and true feelings.
It is time to get real and understand that the Republicans did not win this year’s election. The Republican Party died as a result of this election cycle. Donald Trump performed a coup on the Republican Party. He is a nationalistic strongman that was allowed to manipulate a political party and morph it into something it never was.
I will leave you with this, the thing I keep hearing from reluctant supporters of Trump and from other Republican leaders is that once he takes office, he will get good people around him and he will be more moderate and disciplined. I truly hope so. There is no evidence to support the theory that he will do that, but I hope so. Think about that for a second though, even his supporters are hoping he won’t actually do the things and keep saying the things he said throughout the campaign; that is a very precarious ledge to stand on.
Dan Benjamin
Maple Valley
