I’m not with her — I just hate him. This represents many attitudes at Choate and in the greater United States towards the coming presidential election, including my own. It’s the first presidential election during my political consciousness and that of my generation, and I want nothing more than to close my eyes and scream for the rest of this travesty. I don’t understand how we got here. We’ve chosen two candidates who to many represent everything that is wrong with American politics and mass media: a crook and a reality TV star. What a fantastic roster for this year’s ballot.
Just take a step back and look at the candidates. Secretary Clinton is an old Washington politician: she’s experienced, her interns make great campaign ads, and she didn’t know that ‘C’ stood for classified. She’s been embroiled in scandal from the day she announced her candidacy, and according to a New York Times/CBS poll 67% of voters don’t view her as trustworthy. According to CNN, 11% of her supporters say that Trump is more trustworthy, and polling data this cycle suggests that trustworthiness is as important an issue to voters as foreign policy and jobs.
I don’t like Clinton, but do not take that as an endorsement for Trump. In fact, it’s anything but. Trump has the potential to be the worst American executive since George III. He’s a racist, sexist, sometimes-bankrupt bully. He’s changed political parties at least five times, he’s called Mexicans rapists, and he’s spoken lewdly about women in public too many times to count. A tape of him making disgusting comments about women surfaced last week, and it just solidifies the fact that this man would be an atrocious president. This egomaniac did what the Tea Party seems to have been trying to do for a decade: make a mockery of the GOP, the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan. We owe it to ourselves and our future children to deny this man the office of the presidency. In case President Putin and Rosie O’Donnell ever hang out, I don’t want “the Donald” anywhere near the nuclear football.
That being said, I and many voters like me are left in a bit of a pickle. I’m really not a fan of Hillary. I don’t like her capital gains tax plan; I don’t like how she stigmatizes “Wall Street” and then turns around and speaks at Goldman Sachs about how it’s awful that people in Washington demonize them because of their success; and I don’t like how her Twitter bio so obviously went through two polls, four focus groups, and a PR firm before being posted by an intern. She doesn’t seem genuine, and she represents the type of career politician that controls Washington who I simply don’t like.
But — and this is a a big but — she has experience. Successful lawyer. First Lady. Senator for New York. Secretary of State. Self-proclaimed pant-suit aficionado. That’s a hell of a CV, even for a presidential candidate.
Let’s compare that to Trump. Wealthy heir to a real-estate fortune. Failed casino investor. Reality TV star. Fear monger. Shameless liar. Male chauvinist. Racist. Republican in name only. I honestly have trouble thinking of anything that qualifies this man for the most powerful job in the world. I guess I heard that Celebrity Apprentice was good. His lack of qualification, deplorable statements on just about everyone except for white, Christian men, and awful hair should disqualify Trump as a viable candidate for anyone voting in this election. I’m a strong fiscal conservative, and I’d rather write in Senator Sanders than vote for Trump.
In four years, I challenge my readers, students, faculty, and alumni, to work to have two good candidates vying for the presidency. I want to choose the best candidate, not the lesser of two evils. It’s up to us, the future of this country, to effect change in the political system and to clear out the primary election clown car before the general.
All this being said, I implore those of you on the fence to vote for Clinton. She’s flawed, she’s awkward, she’s like that aunt on Facebook who really wants to understand social media but just doesn’t understand what Pokes really mean — but she is the better candidate. She has experience in Congress, with foreign policy, and with crisis situations. I don’t like her, but I hate him. So I ask those in the center of the aisle, like me, to step out, to make history, and to elect our first Madam President.
