The presidential candidacy of Donald Trump scares me. Like more than just the usual disagreement with someone with opposing political beliefs. This isn’t just pro-life vs. pro-choice or tax policy or foreign policy. It’s his proud racist/misogynistic/xenophobic views and his ‘I’m Trump, you suck’ demeanor.
And I’m not the only one scared of Trump.
This will be the fifth presidential election I’ve followed, and while I’ve disagreed with and spoken out against candidates, I’ve never been afraid of the possibility of one winning.
Maybe the scariest thing is that people are voting for Trump.
So here’s my honest question for my Republican friends: Is this how you feel about Obama?
I get being passionately opposed to Obama, but except for the crazies (He’s a Muslim! He’s wasn’t born in the U.S.! … and who led that crowd? Oh yeah, Trump.), I would guess that opposition is mostly policy based. Or do you find Obama that odious?
Trump just feels like something different. I keep expecting his campaign to deflate as people come to their senses, but it just isn’t happening. (Yet. Lord, let it be ‘yet.’)
So are Republicans just as horrified by Trump? Even though we disagree on a lot of issues, is being anti-Trump something we can all agree on?
Or is Trump saying things that a lot of conservatives agree with and he’s just doing so with brashness and bluster that pisses off (and scares) someone like me?
I guess I’m asking if this is a fringe, splinter movement like George Wallace in 1968 (the pro-segregation campaign that captured 13% of the popular vote and carried five states for 46 electoral votes, possibly swinging the election—though I’m no political historian, so that last bit is uninformed speculation)? Or is this relatively mainstream GOP, just in a brassier packaging?
We’re a pretty polarized country right now. But one of those options means we have some hope. The other means it’s just going to get worse.
(FYI: I don’t like writing about politics. It usually starts Internet fights and I bristle when other people do it, so I hate doing it myself. But sometimes you can’t sit there wondering about it anymore.)