I need to tone it down. And from this point forward, I will.
I was an undecided Democratic primary voter until late January/early February when I concluded Hillary, despite her flaws, would ultimately be a better general election candidate than Bernie. I still think that’s true, regardless of the recent polls. I think Bernie would ultimately have been ripped to shreds by Trump and the GOP machine and by November would have much higher negatives.
But, let’s put all that aside for the moment. The point is I came into this race with an open mind and so I understand a lot of the frustrations Bernie supporters have about Hillary and the “Democratic Establishment.” I don’t have the same level of anger many Bernie voters seem to have, but I understand the anxiety and sense of loss people are feeling — not just in this race, but in the struggles to build a more just and fair country.
I think I know enough about Bernie supporters (I’m related to at least three of them) that I’m wasting my breath in trying to persuade you to feel really positive about Hillary. Some of you, maybe. But many just resent her and the kind of politics she represents. So I’m not going to try to get you to like Hillary. But I hope you’ll vote for her in November. And I’m asking you to try to tone down your anger against her and the Democratic Establishment.
Why am I asking? Well, first and foremost, I have two kids, a daughter who is 11 and a son, 9. My wife’s family is from Guatemala, so while I’m as white as white can be, my wife and kids are not. Donald Trump is a openly racist man who has no problem blaming brown and black people or Muslims or whatever “other” group will come in politically handy to win votes. I fear a surge in racially charged division and violence across the country beyond what we’ve already seen. I fear a normalizing of open racism, a renaissance of bigotry if our country puts this sick asshole in the White House.
I’m also asking on my kids behalf because of the planet they’ll inherit. We have not made nearly enough progress under President Obama, but we have laid important groundwork for future emission reductions necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. Trump will undo all of it. He has called climate change “bullshit” and if he is elected, I think we can kiss our fuel economy standards and the Clean Power Plan goodbye, which will set us back a generation in terms of where we need to go to stop runaway climate catastrophe. He’s talked about abolishing the EPA, for crying out loud. This is crazy shit.
I don’t know what the hell Trump will do on the world stage. None of us does. He’s the most reckless and lose-lipped presidential candidate we’ve ever had this close to the White House. He says utterly insane and illegal shit like going after the family members of suspected terrorists and reinstituting mass torture well beyond what we had under President Bush.
None of his tax and spend policy proposals add up. If we take him at his word, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean, the deficit will explode beyond anything we’ve ever seen. He is proposing an $11.2 TRILLION tax cut! This is nuts. www.washingtonpost.com/…
Two more words: Supreme Court!
These issues just barely scratch the surface when it comes to the unmitigated disaster that a Trump presidency would be for the country and the world.
If we can’t all get along on the Hillary vs. Bernie divide, can we at least agree that every single one of us must do everything humanly possible to stop Trump from stepping one foot inside the Oval Office? And then we can come back together to hold President Hillary Clinton accountable and hopefully get some important stuff done to rebuild the middle class, protect women’s rights, promote better education and child care, work on climate change and other important environmental issues, reform our criminal justice system, treat our immigrants with respect, and much more.
In that spirit, I pledge from this point on to not say one more negative word about Bernie or his supporters. I encourage all my fellow Hillary supporters to do the same. And I humbly ask all my Bernie friends and family to focus your ire on Trump and the disaster that his potential presidency will be for our country and the planet.
The primary is coming to an end. It’s now time to come together to Stop Trump!