Next Tuesday will hopefully be the end of the absolute fiasco, disaster, or whatever less printable name you would like to call this year’s election. As much as I would like to talk about it, there is little to nothing positive that outweighs all the negative associated with both candidates. In the last few weeks, there have been rumors from both sides that either Clinton or Trump would drop out of the race leaving the election all but decided in favor of the other candidate. Both times these rumors have come out I was terrified at the very real prospect of either Clinton or Trump becoming president, though honestly I was more terrified at the thought of POTUS Trump than POTUS Clinton. I’m not here to support one or the other. They are both deplorable candidates. That a country of 320 million people has to choose between these two is embarrassing though not altogether surprising. Watching this campaign has been nothing short of Kafkaesque as we watch this garbage, unable to do anything. This is not an election where the voters will vote in favor of a candidate, but rather, for the most part, against a candidate. If anyone is still unaware, next Wednesday the future president of the United States will almost definitely be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Writing those words, my heart beat faster and a wave of fear crashed over me as I realize yet again how bleak the future is.
Why I’m scared of Trump…
To start, the obvious bad, the ignorant evil. Trump is clearly an absolutely atrocious choice for president. Randomly choose any one of his speeches, tweets, or TV interviews and you will surely find enough to disregard him as a viable candidate. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for everybody. Recent polls show he is leading by 1 point over, as he calls her, “Crooked Hillary Clinton” and it is easy to see why. There is no filter between his brain and his mouth. He says whatever he thinks is appealing to those who are completely fed up with politicians, political rhetoric, and empty political promises. And that’s what is scary about Trump; it’s not only what he says, which while terrible is mostly the ravings of a madman who has never been told “no”, but also the support he has managed to gather. Let me remind you that this is a man who has denied climate change as a Chinese hoax, has called Mexicans rapists and murders, has bragged that being famous allows you to sexually assault women, and he has suggested that best way to deal with terrorists is to murder the rest of their families (which is a war crime).
His supporters have followed him through a lot of controversy, to put it lightly. One of the most telling signs of the devotion of his supporters comes from one of his more recent debacles, when he suggested that being famous allowed one to sexually assault women. Many thought this would be the final nail in Trump’s coffin as many of his supporters finally turned on him, but he has somehow turned it around. This is worrying for two reasons. One, the fact that he still has support after such a scandal is shocking, and two, all the supporters who turned on him then had supported him through everything else! Sexual assault is a horrendous act, however before this news broke some of Trump’s public suggestions included the literal genocide of anyone related to suspected terrorists! Trump is a bumbling ape who has somehow gone from a bad joke to a very real fear and as scary as it would be to have him in office with his bumbling little fingers on the nuclear button and his golden sharpie signing and repealing executive orders, the bigoted and racist movement that he has unwittingly started is something possibly even more dangerous as their political savior struts around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Why I’m scared of Hillary…
Now comes Clinton, the lesser of the two evils, the intelligent evil. There is so much about Hillary Clinton that is unknown to the public. From the allegations and scandals to her mistake-ridden “political experience” and finally her questionable allegiances, Hillary Clinton is a figure with so many skeletons in her closet. To list quickly some of her more troubling acts: we have her vicious campaign against Bernie Sanders to become the Democratic Nominee, her cosiness with the mainstream media, her plethora of “pay-to-play” scandals and allegations, the fact that she constantly antagonizes Russia. While many of her supporters will dispute these claims, the fact remains that Hillary Clinton’s biggest asset in this debate is that she is “Not Trump”. That is not a reason to vote someone into possibly the most powerful position in the world, especially someone who changes their stance often and someone who has received money from Wall Street, big Pharma, foreign governments, and from various other less than reputable sources. This is a person who wore a 12,000$ jacket to a speech about inequality!
Now for my biggest fears about the possibility of Hillary Clinton in the oval office. First is that, despite all the allegations and with the help of her opponent’s even worse track record, Clinton has been able to take the moral high ground in this debate. Compared to Trump, she is an angel in many of the social categories. She is not outwardly and constantly racist (although she has found it difficult to shake her “superpredators” comment), she is not a bumbling idiot who has lacks filter usually between her brain and her mouth, she supports LGBT rights (for now), and she is a woman, which would make her the first female president, perhaps the best thing about her candidacy. From a social activists standpoint she is a clear and obvious choice and this is worrying. While she takes up the mantel of social justice, what will she be doing behind the scenes on the other fronts? Antagonizing Putin to the brink of World War III? Disregarding what is best for the American people and the people of the world in favor of her billionaire buddies? And all this while using the media to hide her true intentions while labelling anyone who says differently as a “conspiracy theorist”. Only Trump could make Hillary Clinton look like the better candidate and to the best of his ability, he has. But the fact that this will be a close election is telling. My second fear when it comes to Clinton is that she knows how politics works. Both choices are abysmal, that much is clear, but while Trump has little to no experience, greatly hindering him as he tries to push through his moronic schemes, Clinton knows exactly what she is doing and will, to the best of her ability, get things done. How else could such a candidate get the nomination over the well liked Sanders. Looking at her history, this is terrifying, as is the prospect of either one of these candidates become president.
Now to conclude my ranting and raving I would usually try to offer a solution, but it seems it is far too late and this is far too big a challenge to take on. This sham of an election is an embarrassment to democracy and unfortunately, the results will be unavoidable as everyone will be affected. Writing this piece has been a rollercoaster of emotions from anger, to fear, to straight disbelief, finally back to anger. How could we come to this? The fact is we are here and there is nothing any of us can do about it.
Click here for more by Ryan Minett.
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