Donald Trump is a ridiculous sideshow in American politics, and I firmly believe he is not only making a mockery of our electoral system, but he’s also an idiot.
I loathe even to give him attention in my column, or in general, but I’ve noticed new rhetoric around his campaign that I find disturbing — namely, his love of shirking political correctness to appear bold and brash in the face of the sensitive American liberal.
I don’t mind someone speaking about a challenging subject and, in doing so, needing to step around political correctness — when it comes to debates around race and gender this sometimes happens, and, as long as each party is respectful and it produces a good conversation, I am in total support.
But Trump’s idea of political correctness does not seem to be about challenging old ideas or systems. Instead he only seems upset that he can’t blatantly use racist terms and stereotypes.
His way of appearing daring is simply to be extraordinarily offensive — see any and all comments he’s made about Mexican-Americans.
I began to take serious note of it when video began circulating of Ann Coulter’s introduction of Trump before a speech in Iowa earlier in August.
She is a conservative author and syndicated columnist whose most recent book carries the astonishingly distasteful title, “Adios, America!”
She called liberal Americans “speech-Nazis” because they expressed their offense at Trump’s racist views.
Coulter praised Trump for allowing people to be able to express their “opinion,” or rather, given the nature of the rest of her segment, to use hate-speech.
She was liberal with the term “anchor baby,” a name given to children born to non-citizen mothers in a country in which they wish to be citizens, and Coulter delivered an impressive array of racial slurs against Mexican- and Latino-Americans.
Coulter even referred to anchor babies as “aborted babies” and voiced her musings on the “Great Wall of Trump,” a plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and just how funny it would be to watch immigrants try to cross.
The fact Coulter was so inspired by Trump that she felt it totally acceptable to deliver, in slightly less than 3.5 minutes, the most racist thing I’ve seen in a long while speaks to the true nature of Trump’s campaign — namely that he is operating under racist, sexist and homophobic ideology that is not only totally wrong and entirely unacceptable, but it’s also dangerous.
In a conversation about the elections, someone told me they like what Trump is tapping into, even if the anonymous person will not vote for him.
As far as I can see, what he’s tapping into is the dangerous nature of white people afraid of losing their power.
That dangerous rhetoric can contribute to the already swelling ulcer that is race, gender and sexuality issues in our country.
Adding Trump and his ideas to the equation is like dumping gasoline on a fiery mess.
So please, don’t vote for Trump.
ewenning@indiana.edu
