Column: Don’t play the Trump card

In a logical world, when the day comes to vote in the Republican primary, one lonely soul, most likely a disgruntled, middle-aged white dude, would be the only person to pull the lever next to Donald Trump’s name.

In the past months, the Donald has degraded the way women look, making references to horse faces while his own flowing mane blows in the wind. He’s mocked the handicapped, mimicking a palsied man. He’s shouted down his Republican opponents, calling them names as he lords over the debate stage like a schoolyard bully.

He’s alienated immigrants and Mexicans, threatening to build a wall along the Southern border (so he’s apparently not too concerned with the Canadians) and bragged about his immense wealth and acts like an all-around pompous jerk. He has seemingly caused every cultural group to feel his wrath at some point.

Yet, if the voting started today, millions seem eager to elect a blowhard as the Republican candidate. With each insult, I figure people will finally wake up to the insanity. Even Trump insinuating that Muslims should be barred from entering the country isn’t completely derailing him.

As an American, I’m in disbelief, but as a Republican, I’m scared. It is one thing to lay out a campaign plan and to tackle the issues. It is another thing to recommend measures that violate the Constitution, border of bigotry and reek of fear of the unknown. Trump isn’t offering any rational recommendations; He’s smearing a lot of people with broad strokes and playing off others’ raw emotions. He may think that he’s coming off as a leader, but he sounds like the angry drunk at the end of the bar yelling at the TV. Maybe that’s what appeals to people.

But would you want that drunk guy to make decisions on international relations and policies? I sure wouldn’t. But that shows just how weak a class of candidates is present today.

I’m not a political guy. For the most part, whomever you throw into office is the same. At least on that point, the Donald has made me rethink some things. I won’t go down the tired road of equating behavior to Nazis and other over-reactions to the rhetoric. I’ll just point out one key: In a world that requires nuance and complexity to solve issues, you can’t have somebody prone to knee-jerk reactions in charge. You can’t have a guy who thinks it is feasible to build a wall on the border or keep legal citizens who are Muslim out of the country if they travel abroad. You can’t have a person in office who ridicules the way people look, whether they have unusually long faces or even deformed.

That isn’t a view from a Democrat or Republican of from a liberal or a conservative. It is a view from a human.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Column: Don’t play the Trump card."