If you’ve turned on the TV or gone online at all recently, you’ve probably noticed that election season has begun in the United States. Right and Left wing candidates with a few in between are all going after any screen time they can get, hoping for name recognition and an early chance to get their messages and platforms across. But this season, one GOP candidate in particular has managed to seize the spotlight.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has turned into the itch that just won’t go away for everyone in the 2016 presidential race. Since his campaign announcement, Donald Trump has generalized an entire group of people as drug dealers, criminals, and rapists, given out a U.S. Senator’s phone number out of spite, said one of America’s most notable war heroes was only a hero because he was captured, and suggested that Fox host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly must’ve been on her period because she was tough on him.
Most of America is either laughing at Trump, or, if they happen to be another Republican presidential candidate, insisting that he doesn’t really represent the views of the party. But it’s no longer reasonable to say that he shouldn’t be taken seriously.
While most politicians work hard to be on their best behavior, Trump (who has no experience in any government office) has made no such effort. Trump’s entire campaign has been a jumbled mess of controversial statements, childish responses to criticism, and countless appearances on various news programs to address them. But it’s important to note that the controversy that seems to surround Trump began before his campaign announcement. Among other things, Trump said he would date his daughter if she wasn’t his daughter, told a woman on his show ‘The Apprentice’ that it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees, and his ex-wife once made allegations of rape against him.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Trump’s campaign is the fact that he actually has support. Although it’s early on in the race, Trump continues to surge ahead in the polls. Polls taken by Huffington Post, NBC, and many others have put Trump far ahead of even his closest fellow Republican competitors. A man like Trump potentially getting a party nomination says a lot about the Republican Party. I’d like to believe that to most reasonable people, Trump wouldn’t even be considered an option. But the relentless media attention and his racist, misogynistic, childish tendencies seem to appeal to a growing number of conservatives.
As much as we would like to laugh off Donald Trump’s rantings, it’s also important to consider that at this point, he is a serious candidate who wants to be our president. It’s difficult to imagine him leading a country of three hundred and thirty million people, with the strongest military in the world, but that is a potential reality, and frankly should scare the sh*t out of people. Laugh all you want at Donald Trump, but keep in mind that he means what he says and there are people who wholeheartedly support him.
Ardently Feminist 