Don’t vote for Donald Trump. Just don’t do it. Please.
I don’t care whether or not you’re a Republican. You can vote for some other guy or gal — just make sure it’s not Trump. The man is ignorant and unprepared to be our president. America would not be doing itself any favors by electing him.
When I research presidential candidates in order to determine who to support, one quality I admire is someone’s willingness to stand firm on political issues. But when I look look at Trump’s history of political donations, all I see is how much ideological flip-flopping he’s done over the course of his career.
For example, from 1989 to 2009, more than half of Trump’s political donations aided the Democratic party. But betwen 2010 and 2015, 97 percent of his donations benefitted the Republican Party.
This inconsistency makes me think of Trump like I think of those friends who always say they’ll hang out with you and then post pictures of themselves hanging out with someone else. In 2004, Trump even said he didn’t see himself as a Republican.
Aside from consistency, I also look to see whether respected journalists and news outlets take presidential candidates seriously. Seemingly everything I see in the news lately is about Trump. Clearly, people are taking him seriously enough that they’re willing to dedicate time and energy to discussing him. But why?
My guess is that many media outlets see Trump as a threat to the political equilibrium. He’s a wild card, and we don’t know what will happen if he becomes president. That’s a scary thought because being president of the United States is (to put it mildly) a huge deal.
It’s also a task I’m not sure Trump is up to handle. You certainly don’t need to tell me twice not to not vote for him — but why don’t other people feel the same way as I do?
My guess is that all this media coverage works in Trump’s favor. Maybe people support him because he positions himself so strongly against the current political establishment. After all, voters are sick of paying taxes. They’re sick of not seeing results. And maybe they think having someone as radical as Trump in the Oval Office would actually make their lives better.
Perhaps they support Trump because he’s everything our current president isn’t. Trump is polarizing. And this year, voters are showing they aren’t afraid of something new.
Unfortunately, there may little time for us to prevent Trump from becoming the Republican Party’s nominee. But it’s not yet time to pack up and move to Canada.
We still have time to research other political candidates who would fit our country’s highest office better. We can advocate for these men and women, spreading the idea that they’re more likely than a businessman to make a difference as president.
It can be overwhelming to sift through all the noise about Trump. Try to sift through what’s right and what’s fluff. And when you vote, please vote for someone else. You’ll be thanking yourself in four years.
Martha Pietruszewski welcomes comments at [email protected].