Hi there.
I’m a Republican, and I’m not voting for Donald Trump.
As a moderate conservative, I can’t bring myself to pull the lever for Donald Trump. As a matter of fact, the thought of voting for him is so odious that I couldn’t even hold my nose to vote for him just to stop Hillary Clinton from becoming president.
The stench is too strong.
The fact that Trump was even nominated is scary to me. It makes me wonder where we’re going as a party and as a nation.
While I’m very much against HIllary Clinton and what she stands for, I don’t believe that Trump is an acceptable alternative. I’m not really sure who’s worse, but I’d rather stand with my principles and vote for someone who I stomach.
In this post, I will discuss the reasons I’m choosing not to vote for Donald Trump. I’ll also discuss what I believe this election means for modern masculinity. .
How Trump Has Alienated Many in the GOP
As you probably already know, Donald Trump has managed to alienate most of the nation. No big surprise there, right?
When it comes to conservative Republicans, there are a few reasons why many find Trump’s candidacy to be problematic. I’ll discuss some of the mainreasons because I’m sure you won’t have time to read through the seemingly never-ending list of reasons why Trump is a horrible choice for President.
He’s Racist Demagogue
Donald Trump is a racist demagogue.
Now, I don’t throw around the word “racist” lightly. I think people are much too quick to erroneously label people they don’t like with this term. As a matter of fact, I was even hesitant to use this term to describe Mr. Trump. However, when I look at the evidence, it’s too hard to avoid it.
There are several instances where Trump has shown his racist leanings. His comments on Mexican illegal immigrants were nothing more than racist rhetoric that was intended to incite fear and hatred. The fact that Trump and his supporters are okay with characterizing Mexican illegal immigrants as “rapists and criminals” is concerning to me.
I don’t agree with illegal immigration. I think something should be done about it. But the reasons why have nothing to do with the race of those who are illegally entering this country. Those who are coming into this country are hard-working people who wish to make a life for themselves. They are not the horrible monstrosities Trump and his ilk make them out to be.
There were also the comments he made about Judge Gonzalo Curiel. His implication that Curiel wouldn’t not be fit to judge Trump’s lawsuit fairly because of his heritage further shows Trump’s ignorance and prejudice.
Finally, Trump’s treatment of black tenants who wanted to rent space in one of his buildings shows how he feels about black people. In 1973, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Trump because he was discriminating against black prospective tenants.
It was shown that they separated black prospects out by attaching a piece of paper to their application. The piece of paper was marked “C” for “colored.” As a black man, I have trouble voting for a President that would judge me on the color of my skin.
Look, I get it.
We all have prejudices, right? None of us are perfect in this regard. But in Mr. Trump’s case, the issues seem to go far beyond run-of-the-mill prejudice. As a nation we’re supposed to be better than this, and I’m troubled by the fact that someone who clearly has racial issues can become a Presidential nominee.
He’s Not Really a Conservative
I consider myself to be a conservative, which means if I’m going to vote for somebody, it’s going to be a conservative. The problem with Donald Trump is that he’s not a conservative. People tend to make the mistake of believing that Trump is a conservative just because he’s the Republican nominee.
I can’t blame people for making that mistake. But that’s what it is: a mistake.
Donald Trump is not a conservative. He’s a leftist who became a Republican five minutes ago and pretends to have conservative leanings. Determining Trump’s stances on most issues can be a chore since he regularly changes his positions whenever it suits him, but here are a few that stand out to me.
- Trump is anti-free trade.
- Although he says he disagrees with Obamacare, he wants to replace it with another version of Obamacare.
- He expresses admiration for leftist world leaders like Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.
- Supports eminent domain.
- Has said that he would raise taxes on the wealthy. To be fair, he later said that he wouldn’t, but when someone changes their positions as often as he does, it’s hard to trust what he says.
These obviously aren’t conservative positions. He may hold some conservative positions, but overall, he’s not conservative.
Also, the fact that Trump can’t seem to stay consistent with his positions is problematic for me. Even if he were to adopt a position that I agree with, I can’t truly be sure that he really means what he says. If I can’t have a reasonably good idea of what positions a candidate holds, I can’t vote for him.
He Acts Like a Child.
Donald Trump acts like a petulant child. He never admits when he’s wrong, and he has a childish impulse to lash out at anyone who dares to say anything negative about him.
Remember when his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was caught on video getting physically aggressive with a reporter? It was a huge fiasco. All the Trump campaign had to do was apologize. It really could have been that easy.
But they didn’t.
Instead, they smeared Michelle Fields and even implied that she made the whole thing up, even though it clearly happened. It was jaw-droppingly stupid.. But that’s Trumpism at its finest, isn’t it?
Whenever Trump gets called out for making a gaffe he just acts as if it’s just a case of unfair media bias. The sad thing about this is that the media is clearly unfairly biased against Republicans, but Trump makes it so easy for them.
When it comes to dealing with his critics, Trump takes things to an unnecessary extreme. Now, I completely understand the need for someone to defend themselves. The problem with Trump is that he doesn’t know how to choose his battles.
Anytime someone says something unkind about him, he just has to respond in kind. This makes sense when you’re responding to your opponent. It doesn’t make sense if it’s a Gold Star family. The way he conducted himself with the Khans was horrendous. It was also classic Trump.
He’s the most thin-skinned Presidential candidate I’ve ever seen.
Not only is this off putting, it makes me concerned about his ability to lead. Can you imagine having a hypersensitive bully as the commander-in-chief of our military?
Yeah, me neither.
He Lacks the Knowledge Necessary to be President
Donald Trump has demonstrated a serious lack of knowledge on the issues. Even in the times I’ve agreed with his diagnosis of a particular issue, I’ve disagreed with the solutions he’s proposed.
Let’s take illegal immigration for example. Yes, illegal immigration is a problem. But the idea that Trump can solve this problem by building a wall makes no sense.
It’s not very likely that Trump will even be able to build the wall he’s promising. Even if he could, it’s not likely to be effective at limiting illegal immigration. Not only that, it may cost more than it’s worth.
What about Islamic terrorism? It’s obvious that terrorism is a threat that must be taken seriously. We need to do something about Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS. We need to find a way to halt the spread of their ideology.
But the idea that banning all Muslims from entering the country will protect us is ignorant and short sighted. A blanket ban isn’t going to solve this problem, and could even make it worse. I understand that Trump recently started backing off of the ban (supposedly), but the fact that he suggested it in the first place is concerning. And then, of course, there’s also the possibility that Trump could change his mind again and go back to pushing a ban on all Muslims.
Trump also opposes free trade. He thinks it’s what’s destroying jobs in America. He believes it harms our economy. He’s wrong.
Free trade is what makes the products we buy more affordable. If we were to stop trading with other nations, it would hurt regular folks like you and I because we would have to pay much more for the things we buy every day.
Not only that, restricting free trade limits our freedoms to buy what we want. If I don’t want to buy an American car, my government shouldn’t force me to by restricting what I can buy from another country. Trump says free trade is destroying American jobs. Actually, it doesn’t. As a matter of fact, free trade can actually add more jobs.
I don’t believe Trump has the temperament, or the knowledge necessary to be an effective President.
Modern Masculinity and the 2016 Presidential Election
To me, masculinity means voting your conscience, regardless what society expects you to do. It means not being afraid to go against the grain and think for yourself. I don’t believe in either of our candidates, which is why I can’t vote for them. I’ve done the work. I’ve done the research, and I’ve found them both wanting.
I refuse to limit my choices to a corrupt career politician and a boorish con man. Do I know who I’m going to vote for? Not yet.
But here’s the thing.
As a black man, I believe it’s important for me to think for myself, rather than to just do what society tells me to do. I’m not going to vote Democrat just because it’s what most black people do. I’m not going to vote Republican just because my party chose a horrible candidate.
To me, that wouldn’t be masculine. It would be cowardly, lazy, or both. Instead, I’m choosing to make my own decision based on what’s available to me. I may not get the candidate I want, but I can still choose to use my vote in a way that I can be proud of.
I think the modern man needs to use his own brain. Examine the facts. Think critically about your choices. These decisions are too important to be made based solely on what everyone else is telling you. Perhaps if more of us did this, we can stop finding ourselves in a position where we have to choose between the lesser of two evils.
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Photo: Getty Images
There are is only one thing I disagree with you in this article but on the whole, you knocked it out of the park. Im a former County GOP chair, a white woman whose husband is active duty. I’m voting Castle because the Trump and Johnson are liberal.
Did Bush put his pen to this article? Google search “queen of crime” to understand who Trump is battling.
It’s interesting to me, that this site went YEARS with basically no conservative writers. Now, suddenly, there’s republicans all over the place… but only those who are “against Trump”