Stand Up To Trump
The most sacred duty of the President of the United States of America is to defend and protect the Constitution and the principles it enshrines: freedom, fairness, and equality. Donald Trump, a racist and a liar, has become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination by standing in opposition to these principles.
America faces very real challenges. The climate crisis, inequality, stagnant wages, student debt — the list goes on. Rather than address these serious problems, Trump uses hate-filled rhetoric to divide America by race, religion, and ancestry. He deliberately incites violence against those who dare question him.
Donald Trump is unfit for office and endangers our nation.
But it is important to understand that Trump is simply the latest in a long line of authoritarian figures that prey on deeply held fears. Conservative candidates have stoked those fears for decades pitting Americans against one another for electoral gain. If Republican leaders support his candidacy now, they support his values and become part of the problem.
Trump manipulates the fearful by promising that he will use his fraudulent deal-making prowess to protect and take care of his supporters. He is a schoolyard bully promising protection, even as he runs for President of the world’s greatest country on a platform that will worsen the real threats America must face. He preys on America’s prejudices and scapegoats entire races of people, all for the sake of his own ego.
Trump’s vitriol attracts large crowds and may even win him the Republican presidential nomination but dishonors our best traditions. It spits in the face of every protection and opportunity our Constitution promises. We have a moral obligation — and a patriotic duty — to speak out against this hatred and intimidation and to fight for an America that our children and grandchildren will be proud to call home.
Across the country, Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs are doing just that, standing up to Trump’s hatred. I am proud to stand with them, and I thank them for leading the way. Together, we are proclaiming to the world that Trump is not ours. We will not be silent. We will not stand back and let him put a torch to the ideals and principles that Americans hold dear.
Our country is better than Trump’s rhetoric. We are better than his hatred and better than his racism. And we will embrace the values of freedom, fairness, and equality — values that have already made America great.
