Running Into the #Hillz and Away From Trump's Little Hands

I am a young person who enjoys watching satirical news shows because I have a sense of humor. But every so often something happens to make the jokes less escapist and more real. Like this election.

This stuff is not the "Ha h aha omg, Samantha Bee is just the best. Well, now it's time for bed!" funny. It's the "Ha ha ha ha. Remember when Sarah Palin was all like, 'I can see Russia from my house?' and everyone was like, 'Oh Sarah, you're pretty.' THOSE WERE THE GOOD DAYS. OH MY GOD, IS THE WORLD ENDING SOON?" insomnia inducing funny.

There was an audiotape leak last weekend that revealed who Donald Trump really is. Just kidding, we already knew that! Because it's hard to forget when a presidential nominee, let alone any human being ever, openly states (on multiple occasions) that he would date his daughter if she weren't his daughter. It's even harder to forget when someone says that women who get abortions should be punished. Oh, how about the way he shrinks a woman's intellectual worth to the point where she is only as good as her appearance? And finally (for now), how could one erase from their memory hearing someone dismiss the fact that grabbing women by their vaginas isn't sexual assault because he's famous? That. is. assault. not. locker. room. talk.

On June 16th, 2015, the day that he announced his presidential campaign, Donald Trump said that Mexicans were "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists." And now he's the Republican nominee for President. He's running against Hillary Clinton, the most experienced person to run for President, ever.

When he says the election is rigged against him, I want to ask him how he was able to win the Republican primary. When he says the media is biased, I want to ask him why FoxNews answers the phone every single time he calls onto their programs to insult Hillary Clinton. When he says that his comments were just "locker room talk," I want to ask him if he's proud of himself for defending sexual assault. When he says that he's the "law and order" candidate who supports stop and frisk, I want to ask him why he doesn't believe that black lives matter. When he says that illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries, I want to ask him about the people who have built his hotels and keep them running. When he mocks a reporter with special needs, I want to ask him if there is anyone he is capable of having empathy for other than himself. When he shamelessly attacks a Muslim Gold Star family, I want to ask him again what he has sacrificed for this country. When he says that he's going to make America great again, I want to ask him how many years, days, hours, or mere seconds he has dedicated to public service; to work that had no monetary value. When he says that climate change is a hoax, I want to ask him about how it's possible to function in this world with such a tiny brain. I'm going to have to break the pattern here because this is reason enough to not vote for someone. Be okay with him being a misogynistic asshole, but not with the fact that he denies science.

OH ALSO when he says that SNL is "unfunny" and should be cancelled, I want to ask him why he hosted the show in 2015 once his campaign had already started. WTF.

There's something about how an anti-human decency, anti-reason, and anti-factual lizard dipped in cheeto powder can be a presidential candidate that gets a girl down. The fact that said lizard is running against a former Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady gets me even more down, like the Upside Down from Stranger Things level down. "Can you believe these are our two choices?" Actually yes, I can believe that Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee because she's made it clear that she's wanted to be since at least 2008.

The surprise and un-satisfaction about this election should be targeted towards Donald Trump. He's the one who has made it into a joke. He's the one who is consistently targeting minorities and women and the people who dare to question his qualifications while making it seem like he's a victim. A man who has made it this far in the presidential race without laying out his policy plans and who is constantly attacking others is not a victim.

I try to understand (and sympathize?) with the people who are voting for Trump because he's "not Hillary." But I also wonder how it's possible to ignore how much is at stake for the groups of people that Trump continuously attacks. Someone who has no respect for the current President - the person with the job Trump wants - by default has no respect for the people who voted him into office. Someone who feels comfortable talking about how horrible of a state the economy is in and deems himself the only person who can fix it while having benefited from the flaws of that system doesn't care about lower middle and middle class America. He never has. He disrespects and he bullies those who are below him and those he disagrees with.

Trump saying that he's going to Make America Great Again is implying that what it is now isn't great. There was a time in this country when African Americans were considered, by law, as being only three fifths of a person. They couldn't live freely in a country that they contributed so much to. It was legal to discriminate against someone based on the color of their skin, their gender, and their sexual orientation. Women couldn't vote until 1920. We can't turn back on the social progress that we've made as a country now. Because it isn't guaranteed that the rights of everyone who has been and who is still being wronged by racism, sexism, and xenophobia are protected. I want to vote for someone with the intellectual and emotional capacity to understand that.