Stop Pretending You're A Progressive If...

As it becomes more evident that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, the faux-moral and grossly uninformed outrage over her character have sharpened. It has now become fairly common for self-styled liberals to publicly question how they will ever choose whom to vote for: Clinton or Trump. How horrible the choice! God please inform my decision and watch over America since we are doomed to at least four years of either Hillary or Don.

If you’re one of the independents who has temporarily been brought into the Democratic fold by Bernie then this isn’t about you, but if you are and have been a liberal and you’re asking yourself this question then I have a newsflash for you: you’re not a progressive, and you should grow out of pretending to be high and mighty because you think it makes you look cool. In no rational universe are Trump and Clinton even remotely comparable, and by pretending otherwise, you’re not only proving you’re no progressive, you’re playing a risky game with America’s future. Your willingness to be so careless about America’s well-being by considering Trump and his hateful ideas isn’t just illiberal, it’s dangerous.

You may not like Clinton, although like many, you’re likely buying fallacies about her scandals, but whatever. I’m not going to try to convince you to like Clinton here, what I am going to tell you is that if you’re considering Trump, you’re not a liberal.

By publicly airing your oh-so-noble internal struggle over whom to vote for you’re sending a very simple message: you’re actually considering voting for a man who turned a $100 million head start into five bankruptcies; who, when questioned assertively by a woman explained her behavior by telling the world that it’s just her time of the month; who with limp wrist and folded elbow mocked a reporter with a cognitive disability. You’re telling the world that you think a man who considers at least a few Mexicans to be good people, and who swears to keep out all the bad ones by coercing Mexico to build a wall under threat of nuclear force might be the best person to run the country. All the other stupidity of that idea aside, it’s worth asking Don if he’s considered that as radiation from a nuclear attack on Mexico spreads how it would harm and kill uncountable Americans. You’re considering a man whose strategy for winning the War on Terror involves killing the families of terrorists, a plan that is not only grossly immoral, but could be accurately dubbed the “create more terrorist” plan.

And these are just a few examples of the man’s laundry list of stupid, hateful bullshit.

So let me make this as explicitly clear as is possible: if you’re actually considering voting for Trump over Clinton, you are not a progressive. You don’t get to feign concern for the well-being of people and then publicly toy with the idea of a man who threatens nuclear force if others won’t play by his rules. You don’t actually care about the well-being of others if you’re considering a man who mocks everyone and who has been accused of sexual and housing discrimination. You’re not interested in building a better world if you may actually vote for a man who panders to the status quo and its ugliest elements.

So if you were — and still are — a liberal then stop playing this middle school game where you try to look thoughtful on social media because you’re so stressed and concerned about the choice facing America in November. There is no choice, there is a real — if imperfect — candidate and then there is Donald Trump. Step back from the echo chamber of rage that is normal during any election cycle and which is now exacerbated by social media, and ask yourself honestly, is there any possible way for me to justify my progressive values with a Trump presidency? If you’re a true progressive, the answer is a resounding NO.

#DomesticAffairs