The fallacy of “two evils”.

Ok, folks, I know this is a contentious election. But here is what worries me about the rhetoric of “lesser of two evils”… We could easily end up with Trump as President, which could lead to Mike Pence as President, if/when The Donald resigns. Both options scare me. Pence, even if you are only looking at his anti-woman position, scares me, simply from my perspective as a woman. With Pence, we will regress at least fifty years. Women will lose the right to determine their own lives. There will be a police state by any other name. Trump and Pence are racists. Here is what I see if they are elected. I see the police knocking on my door, asking me to relinquish my dual nationality. I see my father not being allowed to visit the US. I see my niece not being able to make her own reproductive choices. I see the worst of America coming to the fore, and not the best.

The Republican primaries really reminded me of the first Egyptian primaries after the revolution. Not that all the politicians were from the same party, but just the sheer number of them. A LOT of candidates from a lot of different parties and venues. Everyone was “yay, Democracy! I’m going to run!” So the Egyptian primaries ended up fragmented, while we all know what happened in the Republican one... But since Egypt only had two well-organized groups running (The military and the Brotherhood), then those were the two groups represented as candidates in the Presidential election which Morsi, from the Brotherhood, won. And then, less than a year later, the military staged their own coup and took back power, and Egypt now has Sisi (who incidentally has praised Trump, not, as far as I am aware, Clinton).

But here’s my immediate issue. The Egyptian election WAS really a choice between equal “evils”. The military, which was what had hypothetically been overthrown, and the Brotherhood. The concern with the Brotherhood was that it would be too religious and would foist religious law onto the country. The Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt, had been an organised entity for a long time, with lifetime members. The military, on the other hand, are not that invested in Free Speech, as proven by current events. Egypt is actually a country of educated, intelligent, aware people. People who care deeply about their country and the issues it has. That being said, people mustered and got out to vote, in both the primaries and the Presidential elections. They were so excited that their votes MATTERED. I remember going to work and rushing back home to watch the videos, the lines down the block, the people waiting for hours and hours because they finally had a choice, even if it was a choice between might and religion.

Here in the US we really have a choice between competence and an “evil”. I grew up in two countries that were nominal democracies (Kuwait and Egypt) and Trump really reminds me, in some ways of the leaders of both those countries. Both countries had posters/billboards of the Fearless Leader around. Images on tv. The leader was a brand, not a representative.

That is what worries me about Trump. He is a brand. I get the same feeling from him that I did when I was in Kuwait and the image of the sheikh came on tv with the national anthem playing (which we had to sing in school), or going to the government offices in Egypt where there was a picture of Mubarak on every wall, watching you. (Even at the doctor’s office). There is an egomania there, that Trump recalls for me.

We have a choice, folks. We have a real choice not to vote for a would-be dictator, a narcissist, an egomaniac. He is not stupid. He is canny. But he is the wrong kind of leader for America. He has said he would “make America Great Again” while also admitting that Pence would be doing the governing. We have a choice between a would-be dictator and someone who sees the flaws in America, in herself, and wants to fix them. No, Hillary is not perfect, but for our country, she is our only choice. She is competent, experienced, and wants to lead us upward, not for her glory, but for our country. Let us vote against the evil that Trump represents, let us vote against billboards of Trump, against “Make America Great Again” and remember what makes this country truly great. Our ability to choose, our ability to fight evil, our ability to rise.