This nauseating campaign season just gets more, well, nauseating.
On Monday, Donald Trump:
- Continued to attack the Gold Star parents of a soldier killed in Afghanistan, even as his staff blamed the media for stoking the story. (Note to campaign: If you’d like the story to move on from the Khan story, you might suggest your candidate stop tweeting about them.)
- Called a quick press gaggle, not to talk about the pressing issues facing our nation but to call out the fire marshal for not allowing a more people into an event in Columbus, Ohio, and suggesting that it was politically motivated. He asked, “Is the mayor here a Democrat?” (In reality, the room where the event was held was at full capacity.)
- Called Hillary Clinton “the devil.” Let’s not forget that words have meaning, especially when they are spoken by the leader of the free world. Words spoken by a president can move stock markets. Words spoken by a president can start wars. Aren’t we better than name calling?
- Suggested, in response to a question about the sexual harassment suit against Fox’s Roger Ailes, that if his daughter, Ivanka, was being sexually harassed, she should find another career or another job, showing a complete lack of understanding about this issue.
- Spent about 10 minutes at a rally blasting CNN for never airing anything pro-Trump. You’d think a potential commander-in-chief would spend his telling voters why he’d be the best candidate rather than bashing the press. But there he is. And the irony here? At the exact same time he was bashing CNN, they were airing an interview with Patricia Smith, mother of a Benghazi victim, who was defending Trump against criticism of his comments about the Khan.
And this was just on Monday!
Given the scorched-earth campaign style of Trump, the decision in this election should be easy. But it’s not.
The other side — Hillary Clinton — has not been honest with the American people. I don’t trust her. I don’t like that she tried to destroy the reputations of the women who had affairs with his husband.
She’s had a bad week, too. In an interview with Chris Wallace on Sunday, she claimed the FBI said she was truthful in her answers about her private email server. In reality, he said no such thing. This story would have gotten more play had Trump talked about it all day Monday instead of the things I mentioned above.
So who do I vote for? In all honesty, I may skip this year’s election. This election is posing the question, “Would you rather be hit in the head with a sledgehammer or hit in the head with a baseball bat?” I choose neither.
People tell me that if I don’t vote for Trump that’s a de facto vote for Clinton. But I cannot in good conscience vote for someone I believe is bad for America simply to keep someone else I think is bad for America from getting elected.
America is a deeply divided country. Neither of these candidates has said anything that makes me think they can unite it. Just the opposite, in fact.
I do agree with Clinton on this: America is already a great country. It doesn’t need to be made great again. Do we have problems? To be sure. But we’ve had problems in every election of my lifetime. And of your lifetime, too.
We simply deserve better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will get it this year.
Can it be football season already?
