The scary thing is that Donald Trump’s words reflect our darkest thoughts. We can’t pretend we don’t have them sometimes. Of course, they don’t become anything more than small, deep thoughts, but they are there. That’s why Donald scares us. We’re worried that he represents a small part of us. We have to eliminate these small thoughts from our minds completely. They don’t serve us positively at all.
Most people assume there’s no way that Donald Trump could be elected as the U.S. President, but let’s not fool ourselves. Everyone (very nearly everyone) thought that Brexit could not succeed, but it did. Let’s not make a poor assumption like this a second time.
Let’s honestly evaluate Donald Trump and talk about this issue. It would be bad to be indifferent and assume he won’t be voted in.
Firstly, we must look at why having Donald Trump as the U.S. President is worth avoiding.
Donald Trump Quotes
Let’s get an idea of what Donald Trump stands for based on some of his quotes.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.”
This is one of his most famous quotes. He’s spreading the idea that Mexican’s are criminals, drug runners and rapists. He’s creating a divide between Americans and Mexicans. How does that help anyone or anything. Apart from this quote being divisive and distasteful, it is substantially untrue. It suggests that there are no criminals or rapists in the United States but of course there are (many more than they’d like), and it makes people think that the problems in the United States are due to “someone else” who should be sent home.
The world needs more acceptance and inclusion as this is the only way to become stronger.
“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
Another very famous quote about Mexicans where Donald claims he’ll get the Mexicans to pay for a wall between the two countries. What an obvious example of hot-air from a politician. This statement alone should be enough to stop taking him seriously. Again, it is very condescending and very divisive. Nothing good can come of that.
Here’s an up-to-date report on Trump’s wall from the Washington Post. It really is a sad joke that reflects very badly on Donald Trump as a presidential candidate.
“Donald J Trump is calling for a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
Now Donald puts all Muslims in one category and implies they can’t be trusted. Very divisive and will create more problems, not solve them. Terrorism is not about Muslims, it’s about some groups of people who have got things wrong.
“Our great African-American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore.”
Here he insults all black people in the U.S. and suggests that they are all thugs and criminals. How unfair.
“We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country”
May as well insult all Chinese people while he’s at it. This is also very unfair and won’t do anything good for anybody.
“You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young, and beautiful, piece of ass.”
Denigrating women and especially working women.
“All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”
More bad comments for women and showing that he has a very unrealistic view of himself. He’s not operating in the real world.
“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”
The comments of a self-absorbed person who has an ego that holds himself in excessive regard.
“I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.”
What is it with these comments about women and how he uses them to make himself appear better? Could we trust a man with thoughts like this to lead a very powerful part of the world?
“My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”
In case you haven’t seen enough reasons yet to acknowledge that Donald operates from a different world to the one we’re experiencing.
“The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”
Donald defines his self-worth by the numbers in his bank account. That’s sad. Is that what he’d do for America? Sadly for him, this statement isn’t even really true (read what Michael Bloomberg has to say about Donald Trump or here).
“The point is, you can never be too greedy.”
Donald tells us very clearly here that he’d run the U.S. with greed as a prime motivator. What a dangerous concept.
About Saddam Hussein – “He was a bad guy — really bad guy,” Trump said at the rally. “But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were a terrorist, it was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism.”
Donald implies that he’d be happy to rule America like Saddam ruled Iraq. Really? And people want to vote for him?
“I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
Confirming that he’d like to bring back practices that have been outlawed. Talk about taking giant steps backward.
“What I won’t do is take in 200,000 Syrians who could be ISIS.”
Here Donald insults all Syrians and shows that we shouldn’t expect any compassion from Donald as a President.
“I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.”
Now insult all fat people. I don’t think Diet Coke is good for anybody but Donald is implying it’s only fat people who are trying to lose weight that drink it. Basically saying that fat people are pathetic losers. So unfair and unhelpful. By the way, Donald is overweight himself isn’t he?
“It’s freezing and snowing in New York – we need global warming!”
Here he’s giving us a hint that environmental concerns would be off the agenda if he were President. Combine his love for greed and disdain for the environment and just imagine what we’d have.
“I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
This is creepy. Not even sure what to really make of it. For sure, he’s denigrating women again. So sad.
Further Analysis
So what can we make of Donald Trump? It’s wrong to vilify him. He’s just a person that seems to making some bad mistakes and using poor judgment right now. We know that all people (every single one of us) are capable of peace and love, and this is all that matters. Some (a lot?) of what Donald says these days seems to be in opposition of peace and love, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable of it. Of course he is. He could change his thoughts in a microsecond.
The problem is that if he doesn’t change his thoughts quickly, and he is elected president, his attitude of bigotry and discrimination could be very damaging to the world. This is what we have to avoid. It’s another potential Brexit for the world, and we could do without that.
If you agree with me and think that Donald Trump, in his current state of mind, would be a dangerous President, then please speak up about this. Talk to your friends and colleagues and make sure they are aware of the potential danger. Don’t be indifferent and then regret it later (that’s a little how I feel about Brexit), please post your thoughts in the comments section below.
Donald Trump is not a bad guy. Nobody is really. But Donald’s thoughts are dangerous and we need to shut those down, not elect them into prominence and power.
Let’s be diligent and not allow our world the slip a little further backwards.
Peter – good post. Here are my immediate thoughts.
Where to start with the Donald? There is so much that is concerning about his attitudes. I don’t have your confidence that they can change, and I would be reluctant to take any apparent changes at face value.
The one that has struck me recently as quite alarming was his casual comment about Vladimir Putin:
“The man has very strong control over a country. It’s a very different system and I don’t happen to like the system, but certainly in that system, he’s been a leader. Far more than our president has been a leader.”
Most commentary has focused on the fact that Trump should not be so positive about a leader who has invaded the Crimea, supports Assad, etc., but for me there is a deeper concern with Trump’s statement.
It implies that he believe leadership is first and foremost about control, and therefore that political leadership is about control of a country. This is either a very serious misunderstanding of how democratic governments are supposed to function, or it is an ominous sign of what to expect from a Trump presidency. I think that a Trump presidency would be the most serious test indeed of the system of check and balances that the founding fathers of the United States saw fit to put in place.
That’s an interesting analysis Richard. Thanks for adding that. A lot of what Donald says is very worrying and this comment about Putin certainly increases that.
I don’t think there’s a high likelihood that Donald Trump will change the way he thinks, just that it is possible. Changing thoughts is something humans can do easily. Unfortunately, we’re often “set in our ways”.
I received this communication from my friend, John, and he’s agreed that I can post it here.
FROM JOHN
I think Europeans are falling for the anti-Trump media ‘Propaganda’ about how scary a successful businessman (NON-POLITICIAN) might be.
I visited Europe this summer and had friends greet me with “I sure hope you don’t support Donald Trump…………..”
Most couldn’t believe it when I came with a list of what the Clinton’s have done. Funny how nothing negative about her ever gets reported over there…….
You should do the same analysis with Crooked Hillary Clinton who has 30+ years as a corrupt ‘celebrity politician’ whose only life accomplishment is enriching herself at the expense of others and digging up dirt on her husband’s mistresses and using her power and money to ruin their lives.
And don’t forget who invented modern dirty politics: The Clinton’s wrote the book on it!
Let’s just go down memory lane shall we??; Pay for play, covering up rape, how many sex scandals???, lying about Benghazi (and just about everything else), Travel Gate, Nannygate, Whitewater, Filegate, Pardongate, Emailgate. Not to mention she was an avowed Saul Alinsky disciple. Do we dare say SOCIALIST?!!
Real Americans are tired of the Clinton-scandal-a-week lies and corruption. They are tired of being lied to by these ‘elitist’ socialists who think they are smarter than the rest of us. Real Americans don’t hand wring over every remark made by Donald Trump. Why? Because we know what he really means. This is an important point! We know what he is saying. We don’t need a ‘liberal filter’ that hangs on to every word. What we know is that Hillary says one thing and does another. (Yea I’m also a real New Yorker unlike Hillary!) So you see you are worried about Trump’s words and yet you give Hillary’s lying corrupt actions a pass?
While Trump may not be the ideal conservative candidate he actually has a track record of accomplishments. I’ve listed Hillary’s above and believe me those scadals are just the tip of the iceberg.
I think real Americans are willing to take a chance on a non-politician who isn’t surrounded by hatemongers like Sydney Blumenthal, John Podesta or David Brock. He might actually acomplish a few things..
Real Americans want to protect the sovereignty of their borders and only allow people to immigrate that share the American dream.
Real Americans want to develop their Natural resources and don’t fall for the fantasy world of wind & solar supplying our needs.
Real Americans are hardworking and self-sufficient and don’t need a government ‘nanny state’ to take care of them.
Real Americans know that ‘Climate Change’ is is a natural phenomena that is always happening. Real Americans want to protect the environment using sound science, technology and innovation – not government control and censorship. We understand that elitists like Hillary would like to see us revert back to living in caves rubbing sticks together while they jet off to their next global warming conference! Now there is something to fear!
Like the Brexit voters most Americans are fed up with government over-reach and corruption and the same goes for the corrupt Clintons and the status quo. They are tired of political correctness and they should be tired of crooked Hilary. And if elected, we know what we are going to get with a Clinton presidency; more lies, deceit, corruption and a scandal-a-week.
Americans are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore!
My reaction to John’s comments are to thank him for sharing so fully his view. I’m really happy to see that and appreciate it very much.
My original post was in no way an attempt to support Hillary Clinton. I do not know enough about Hillary to qualify to do that. I’m worried about many things that Donald has said, and my aim of this post was to focus on those and bring them up as a discussion point.
One thing that John brings up is the American Dream. The dream includes freedom, acceptance of all Americans and equal opportunities for all Americans. I believe this is why America has been such a successful country, even though some of this American dream appears to have been crumbling over the past 10-20 years. In any case, I imagine it would be a good thing if freedom, acceptance and equal opportunity extended to everyone in the whole world. A single country cannot be strong if the rest of the world goes to ruin. A country can only be strong if the whole world has a certain level of strength as well.
This is one thing that worries me about Donald Trump. He might try to improve America at the expense of the rest of the world and, if so, that cannot turn out well.
The real political choice is really about who do you favor. A cheating liar who only wants her family Foundation to flourish or an egotistical fowl-mouthed tycoon building walls of all sorts. Our country, my country, deserves better than these two to choose from after 8 years of Obama.
It’s a little odd to me that the end of the presidential election in the US comes down to such a personal battle between just two people. If neither appear to be a good choice, what does one do? Just not vote? That’s not a good situation.
However, in other countries I’ve lived, there can be numerous candidates on the ballot paper, and none of them appear to be that great. Maybe we just need better politicians.
In your opinion, was Bernie Sanders a good candidate?
Large companies don’t want good candidates with their own minds and positive principles. That might be bad for their businesses. They want candidates they can manipulate.
Irrespective of who gets elected, let’s hope the American people stand together and demand what is right from their politicians, whoever it is that is elected. In the end, the people are more powerful than any politician if they stand strongly together.