With the 2016 election right around the corner and the rhetoric growing increasingly divisive, only one thing is clear: this election is about so much more than who you cast your vote for.
Traditionally, American politics has been a matter of competing political ideologies, a debate about who succeeds and how. Donald Trump has uprooted this idea of politics and made the debate about who belongs in America.
Donald Trump has made it very clear who does not belong. He made it clear when he mocked a disabled reporter, asked black people “what else do you have to lose?”, said that prisoners of war were not heroes, called Mexicans rapists, proposed banning Muslims from entering the country and bragged about sexual assault. This is only the beginning of what is a long list of people and groups of people he has insulted. This is not how a candidate for president should act.
This rhetoric has defined Donald’s America. It’s an America where few are given the room to prosper, or even enter for that matter. It’s an America that breeds ableism, racism, xenophobia and rape culture. This is simply not okay.
Your vote for president is no longer just about differing tax policies, health care policies, education policies or approaches to foreign policy. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for the whole package. On election day there is no separating the man from his words. You aren’t voting for ideas, you are voting for Donald Trump.
What separates a vote for Donald Trump from a vote for say, Gary Johnson, is simple: our disagreement is no longer about politics. It’s about a fundamental disagreement about whether or not America is a place for everyone regardless of ability, sexual orientation, race, gender or circumstance.
Shawn Bond is a sophomore in the School of Communication.
