I know. It's another anti-Donald Trump article by a liberal college student. You've seen all the reasons why Donald Trump is a horrible person, and you've already made your mind up as to whether you love him or hate him. Nothing will change your mind, and this article will either please you or anger you with its beating the dead horse of calling Trump a racist. You're looking for reassurance that you're right. You'll share with your friends, hoping it will convince them he's unfit to lead. Or you'll sneer and say this article is stupid and uninformed liberal media bias anyway.

I hope you'll hear me out, since I've tried to be as reasonable as possible in seeing both sides of the argument here. I've still come to the conclusion that I can't in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, and I believe this will be a solid argument as to why.

I don't think Trump is evil. I don't think he's stupid. Both of those words are thrown around a lot to discredit him. No one as stupid as Trump wants us to think he is would have gotten as far as he has. He's playing his cards, and he's playing them well. He's playing to conservative fears and resentments, and has created an environment in which saying or acting upon prejudice is acceptable to those who agree with him. Discriminating against minorities in particular has become okay to voice and act upon because of his mentality of "no one likes to say it, but it's true."

The danger of that mentality is that, first of all, it's a fallacy. Just because people think something is true, even a large group of people, doesn't make it true. For example, people used to think the world was flat, or that Earth was the center of the universe. Both things have since been disproven by scientific evidence, just as many of Trump's claims have been disproven, both before and after he said them.

There's also a huge concern among liberals about what Donald Trump might do once he's in office. The proposals of a wall between the United States and Mexico, punishing women who get abortions, and banning Muslim entry into the United States are just a few things that would be disastrous if put into effect. However, as we know from presidents past, not only do they not keep promises they present when running, the promises they try to keep still have to get by the rest of the government. It is very likely that most if not all of the promises Trump has made will not come to pass, simply because of their discriminatory and unnecessary nature. It is not worth the money nor the effort to build a wall between us and Mexico, nor is it going to be legal to deny an entire religion entry into the United States.

That being said, Trump in office would still be a disaster. He has already proven to be callous with other people's lives by either encouraging violence (whether meant literally or not, he was still encouraging it) or just using them and not living up to his end of the bargain (i.e. paying them). This tells me that his main and possibly only concern is his own wellbeing. Not only that, but even just in election season, his rhetoric has been dangerous. It has and will continue to incite violence, and it paints a picture of a "great America" that make other countries shudder in horror. Trump's America is not my idea of a "great America", if by "great" you mean living in the way of "every man for himself", and creating walls (both literal and figurative) around ourselves so absolutely nothing bad can happen to us. Of course we want to be safe, but at what cost? Many dystopian novels have already depicted hundreds of different horrifying scenarios of "ultimate safety" - as long as you fit the mold of the society.

I'm also not saying that Trump would create a dystopian society. But if we continue to trek down the path of what he preaches, we may find ourselves there one day. I don’t know if Donald Trump really believes everything racist, sexist, and just plain wrong that he says, and honestly, it doesn't matter. The fact that he says it at all is the problem.

Ultimately, it looks as though Trump means to create an environment opposite to the American Dream. Instead of abundant opportunity for upward mobility, he means to protect those who are already well-off, and leave those disadvantaged and in poverty to fend for themselves. He is not a rags to riches story, no matter how he spins it. A wealthy father giving "a small loan of a million dollars" to his son is not starting from the bottom and working your way up. It is starting near the top and working all the way to the top. I won't deny Trump his success. He has succeeded - congratulations! My theory is that if he were to become president, it would just be another success to add to his many successes. He's not running for us. He's running for himself, and because he thinks he can do a better job than an experienced politician.

Trump would also just be an embarrassment to the presidency. He's inexperienced, and has not given a good impression to other countries. Of course, it is our president, so what do other countries matter? Well, respect is important in national relations, and for an aggressive, impulsive man to become president would likely cause issues, from tension, to even war. We don't need another war, nor any more blood on our hands.

And you can be sure Donald Trump would convince us that his hands are squeaky clean.