It’s not enough for Donald Trump to just lose this election. He must get crushed. Why? Simple, we need to send a message to Trump—as well as to the rest of our nation—that his sexism, bigotry, and racism have no place in America. And perhaps more importantly this would send a powerful message to Trump’s white supremacist and anti-Semitic fans that we will not sit by as Trump mainstreams their hate.
Those are the stakes. Yet stunningly a Washington Post poll released Tuesday finds that enthusiasm among Hillary Clinton supporters is dropping given FBI director’s James Comey’s irresponsibly timed letter about emails found on Huma Abedin’s computer.
Trump and the hate mongers of his base want you to lose enthusiasm. They hope good people sit home and let hate triumph. We can’t allow that.
Let’s be blunt: Trump has served up the most vile, despicable garbage we have seen from a major party presidential nominee ever. And that’s not just my view but also people who have been active in politics for decades, such as Ralph Nader and Barney Frank, who shared that exact sentiment while guests on my SiriusXM radio show.
There’s no moral equivalence between what Clinton has done—or even allegedly done—regarding emails and Trump’s hate-filled fear mongering. Just on Sunday Trump claimed that Clinton would allow “650 million” immigrants “to pour” into our country. That is an absolute lie as noted by the nonpartisan Politifact. But the idea of keeping America a white majority country is red meat for Trump’s xenophobic base.
In that same speech Trump went on to fear-monger about Muslims—something he has been doing since his lie last fall that “thousands” of Muslims cheered in New Jersey on 9/11. This time he claimed that allowing even one Syrian refugee in the country would mean “generations of terrorism” that soon will be “spreading to your schools and communities.”
This type of rhetoric is nothing new for Trump. In fact literally day one of his campaign he began spewing hate when he lied that Mexico was sending rapists. Later he went on to mock a disabled reporter, claim that American-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel should be disqualified from presiding over the fraud lawsuit against Trump because he’s a “Mexican,” and defended his white supporters beating up a Black Lives Matter protester. He has claimed “Islam hates us,” bragged about sexually assaulting women (in the Access Hollywood tape), and made sexist remarks about Megyn Kelly and Carly Fiorina.
And despicably, just 10 days ago he claimed that the 11 women who courageously came forward to report that Trump sexually assaulted them were “liars,” telling a cheering crowd: “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign.”
Forget politics for a moment. Trump’s attack on these women will no doubt make other women who are sexually assaulted less likely to come forward. Why? Well, if a major political candidate like Trump can call victims of sexual assault liars to the cheers of thousands of Americans, this sends a message to women across the nation that they may be subject to the same type of abuse.
Imagine a President Trump having the mantle of the presidency and demonizing minorities, stoking hate against Muslims, and shaming women. And if you are going to tell me he will change as president, you’re being an apologist for his hate.
However, the most alarming aspect of this election is that Trump has emboldened the scum of our nation. I’m talking specifically the white supremacist and their ilk openly supporting Trump. These people have crawled out from the shadows thanks to Trump. On Tuesday the KKK’s official paper dedicated its front page to express proud support for Trump noting he best represents the “white Christian Republic” they envision to make America great again.
On Monday one prominent white supremacist launched robocalls trying to help Trump in the battleground state of Utah by claiming conservative third party candidate Evan McMullin is gay. And in September other leaders of the white nationalist movement held a press conference in Washington, D.C., only blocks from the White House, where they expressed their support for Trump and their vision for making America a white homeland that will be free of Jews
These Jew-hating white supremacists have launched a wave of anti-Semitic attacks on social media. The Daily Beast’s Jay Michaelson recently wrote about the Anti-Defamation League’s report documenting the chilling rise in anti-Semitic tweets that the league connects to Trump’s candidacy.
In fact, CNN’s Jake Tapper noted Sunday while interviewing Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway that a Trump supporter at a campaign event was yelling at the media “Jew-S-A.” Tapper explained that anti-Semites and racists feel a “comfort level” with the Trump campaign yet Trump has alarmingly only responded with a pro forma “I disavow.”
Tapper is 100 percent correct. Trump has shown no hesitation calling people like Senator Elizabeth Warren a “racist” and a “fraud” but has never used such harsh language to describe the anti-Semites and white supremacists supporting him. Indeed, when Trump was given a chance in May on CNN to point blank denounce the anti-Semitic attacks by his supporters on Jewish journalists who had criticized Trump, he responded “I have no message.” Clearly Trump is sending them a message to stay on the Trump train.
Despite what some want you to believe, in the race between Trump and Clinton, Hillary is not the lesser of two evils. There’s only one evil in this race and his name is Donald Trump. And we must unite to crush him come Election Day. Anything else will make Trump and his deplorables believe that their hateful views have a place in mainstream America. And we cannot let that happen.
