"Enough!" exclaims Condelleeza Rice in a tweet posted on Saturday. "Donald Trump should not be President. He should withdraw. As a Republican, I hope to support someone who has the dignity and stature to run for the highest office in the greatest democracy on earth."
"He's not a politician," many have claimed. Sure, he is not a politician, but he isn't exactly a decent human either.
As a political science major, I have harbored nothing but disappointment in this election and in our country's response to it. I love studying policies and procedures, understanding governmental affairs, and taking part in initiatives built to help our cities and our homes. I love my country, and I love my government. America has the oldest functioning Constitution, and the way in which it was intended to work is not faulty; the failure is not in the form or function of the American Government, but it is in the faultiness of the humans who run it. The laughing stock of the world isn't American Government -- it's American politics.
This 2016 Election is unique, indeed. The debates we see have nothing to do with the issues; they have more to do with scandals and personal attacks, tailored behind the scenes by mudslinging campaign staffers and carried out by the nominees on the world stage.
At nineteen years old, I have given up hope in this election and in our country for the next four years. My heart hurts when I think of the future of this country -- of our country -- crushed underneath the power of either Clinton or Trump.
A Marco Rubio (and John Kasich) supporter from the beginning, I had finally reconciled myself to voting for Donald Trump a few weeks ago; but with this seemingly continuous stream of controversy, the most recent being the vulgar comments made to Billy Bush about Trump's sexual assault of a married woman, I am not sure that in good conscience I can support such a man.
Yet there are still those who support him and his so-called policies. Policies of what? Humiliation, racism, rape-culture, and the like?
My professor, a long-standing and faithful member of the republican party, called him "a monster," in class a few days ago. "I don't trust him," he said, "I would not let any of you near him."
Sonia Ossorio, the president of the National Organization for Women of New York, points out that "in a campaign short on any concrete policies, Donald Trump has accidentally shed light on a very serious issue.”
Which, I am sure, was not his intention. Donald Trump seems to have stayed far away from any "real solutions," to pressing problems in our world. He has proposed seemingly phony fixes, such as: building a wall, which he claims that Mexico will pay for; deporting all illegal immigrants, placing Muslims into camps and giving them specific identification (seclude members of one religion in a camp... sound familiar?); and throwing Hillary Clinton into a jail cell when he becomes President, an objective that has gotten him compared to "tin-pot dictators" of global recognition.
The Republican National Committee Chair, Reince Priebus, released a statement that claims they will continue to fully support Trump in his campaign, simply brushing past the remarks that came out over the weekend. But others are outraged.
"Donald Trump's behavior makes him unacceptable as a candidate for president and I won't vote for him," said Martha Roby, a Republican House Representative from Montgomery, Alabama. She is joined by many other Republican congressmen and women who have withdrawn their support from Donald Trump in the days after the release of the horrendous audio recording.
“There was a time when they could have spoken out against him,” Ms. Palmieri, Hillary Clinton's communications director says. “That time was this summer. Obviously, it is too late now.”
(To clear up any confusion, I am certainly not "With Her," either. Washington elites who know the system too well also pose a great threat to American safety and well-being. I am a registered Republican and I believe fully in my party -- I simply wish that we had a viable candidate, but we do not. I am not advocating for a third party candidate, or asking anyone not to vote. I am simply joining the ranks of thousands of voices who simply do not know what to do.)
We have come to a sort of political stalemate in which neither candidate offered by the parties is one that people can support; however, Clinton certainly does a better job in aligning with her party's traditional platform, whereas Trump's ideals and policies seem to waver as sporadically as his hair does when a breeze blows.
While there is a sharp divide in the policies and supporters of Clinton and Trump, there is an overwhelming majority of eligible voters who simply do not know what to do. This campaign is leaving voters with their heads spinning and their hearts downcast: what kind of country do we live in? and how do we get out of this mess?
The answer is simple: we must demand better. We have to stop seeking entertainment from our politicians, and start seeking real, ethical, and solid answers to pressing questions. While the answer is simple, the execution will take cooperation and participation from an overwhelming majority. We have to stand up for our rights as American citizens: this is a democracy, which is supposedly representative of the people -- hearing their voices and responding to them. But, at this moment, the only voices we are hearing are those of Hillary and Donald, screaming over one another about e-mails and genitals on the so-called "debate," stage.
