There’s one presidential candidate that’s been the talk of every major media outlet since announcing his campaign: Donald Trump.
His most recent controversial comments are about Muslims yet again and how he would ban all Muslims from entering the country.
Excuse me?
These outlandish comments aren’t funny anymore. They’re not indicative of Trump’s wild approach to politics. They’re outright offensive and it’s time we take his words more seriously. Masses are supporting his provocative words, defending his position that in reality should never feasibly happen. Trump is encouraging racism and religious intolerance across the United States and putting our country in danger.
Trump has been compared to Hitler on social media, citing similarities such as supporting mass deportation, labeling a group of people and finding specific citizens through their employment. The comparison is frightening and acts as a comment on our political system as a whole – how could we possibly allow someone who uses crisis and tragedy as a tool in his campaign to run for president of this country?
It was only a matter of time before Trump crossed the line – not to say his previous comments were any more or less horrible. His position on immigration and women have already put him in hot water, but these more recent reflections show us another side of Trump – an extremist side.
His entire campaign is based around his thoughtless spewing because it gets him the media attention every other candidate dreams of. He doesn’t have to spend money on this part of campaigning because it happens naturally; news outlets and social media naturally flock to his political jargon because it’s so divisive. In a time where political correctness is everything, Trump is running the other way, choosing to instead make overarching, dangerous and offensive remarks for attention.
The GOP can’t afford to drop him though – its presidential campaign would completely fall apart. The two people trailing Trump are Ben Carson, who may be the only person less qualified than Trump, and Ted Cruz, who is notoriously hated by everyone who has ever worked with him. According to The Washington Post, most of Trump’s support comes from white, middle class American Republicans with a high-school diploma or less. This majority has skewed the polls and put Trump in a position to succeed.
As if the Islamophobia in the United States right now isn’t bad enough, Trump’s support of the anti-Muslim movement is only justifying the present prejudice. The only way to stop this movement is education and acceptance that not all Muslims are affiliated with ISIS. Trump uses American fear of ISIS as a weapon in his campaign, which is a dangerous precedent.
No one expects Trump to win the nomination. In theory, he has no chance – his lack of experience, controversial commentary and brash attitude make an imperfect president. But he’s still leading the polls. He’s still the Republican front-runner. While the Democrats have two strong candidates in Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, could they really defeat someone who has such massive support?
We’re just going to have to wait and continue listening to Trump’s nonsense until the nominations are officially announced. For our own future, we can only hope that Trump isn’t among them.
The editorial board can be reached at eic@ubspectrum.com.
