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Act I: The Unfortunate Rise
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Donald Trump emerging as the top Republican candidate is absolutely not a mistake and not a coincidence---this was years in the making. He had always been the vision of success that Americans strive for, with his reality shows, books, big boy demeanor, and his name being a financial commodity---even back in 1992 when he randomly appeared in Home Alone 2. There had always been murmurs of the man who is never quite satisfied to run or president and keep that branding of Trump going. But Trump hadn’t made as strong a push until he got eviscerated by Obama during the peak of the Birther movement when Obama busted out a video showcasing his birth----which was the opening to Lion King.
Trump got embarrassed right out of the White House. Any talks about Trump making political noise got replaced by Obama mocking and tearing him apart in a span of a few minutes (While referencing 2Pac and B.I.G. for crying out loud, that deserves a million extra points). I personally believe that right then and there, Trump had to run. He had to stick it to the Democrats and those who stopped taking him seriously. He had to have the last laugh, no matter what. His name, his brand got personally attacked and humiliated, and he wanted to earn the respect back.
With the 2016 run, the Republican door was wide open, especially with Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney deciding not to compete. Republican America in the meantime was watching Obama continuously go against their beliefs and their stances with gay marriage (becoming the first president to openly campaign for gay rights), Obama Care, gun control desires, among dozens of other issues. Barack Obama is arguably the most unique president in generations because of his look, because of his swagger, and because of his vocal ability to not only inspire but also destroy. Obama has strong potential in stand-up, especially in the roasting department. And because of his ways, it was polarizing the country in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War.
Suddenly the KKK was on the rise, neo-Nazis went on the rise, and White Pride became an actual movement through Tea Party, Confederate flags re-emerging again, and a subtle race war hitting unfortunate new levels. The America Republicans know and love is rapidly fading, and they needed someone to blame, they needed a way to stop their mental bleeding. And look, I am not defending any of these actions, this is just explaining why we are where we are, and why the GOP is where its at currently. It boils down to most Republicans struggling to accept America’s changes and the fact that a prideful confident Black man is running the country. He even got criticized for receiving a Nobel peace prize, which is something he didn’t even campaign for. Even his wife, his wonderful wife, gets critiqued for being too involved and for being part of the Beyhive.
Obama was blamed for the struggling economy that he didn’t create but inherited. He was blamed for the rise of ISIS---which started developing during the Bush era (not blaming Bush either entirely, it just happened under his campaign), he was even blamed for the police controversies against Black communities. He doesn’t get enough credit for saving the economy, for helping defeat Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, among other accomplishments. This is because of the growing bitterness of the Obama campaign. I’m not saying the man was perfect, but he did indeed improve the nation as a whole during his 8 years.
Republicans knew that Hillary was around the corner, and the Clinton name would give the Democrats an extremely good chance of winning a 3rd consecutive time for White House supremacy---which hasn’t happened since 1988 when Bush replaced Reagan. After all, the 90s were good to nearly everyone and Bill Clinton remains synonymous with the decade of Seinfeld and prosperity--even if it gave way to a few economic disasters of the 2000s. So instead of gunning for a politician with experience and the strongest voice the Republican community aimed towards the man that sounds the least like a political candidate and instead sounds the most like “one of the boys.” Trump was the answer to their back-to-back losses featuring two men that were strong but simply not strong enough.
Donald Trump campaigning in Midwestern America was the equivalent of a rock star coming into town, and dishing out love and saying all the right things to get Republican America excited. He didn’t sound or look like a politician, he looked like the American Dream, he sounded like a celebrity, he behaved like a rock star, and has the unpredictable demeanor that made him extremely exciting. His campaigning around the Midwest felt like a rock band tour, with avid followers lining up for hours just for the chance to see him. The competition had no chance against a Republican field that was desperate for a win. Rubio was too political, Cruz was too unlikable, Bush was too boring, Carson was nine levels of boring, and Kasish sounded like your boss---who makes sense but you just can’t see yourself having a drink with.
But there’s another reason why Republicans seemed keen on using a man with no political experience and none of the political requirements to be president. And that is because of the meteoric unexpected rise of another man:
Bernie Sanders.
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Act II: The Unexpected Split of the Democratic Party
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Hillary was supposed to take the torch immediately after Obama. This was planned since 2012, this was potentially expected since 2008 after she lost a tight race but still got a nice seat under Obama as Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton has the experience, has the popular name, and has the willpower to become the first female president and someone that will play by the Democrats’ game and continue the agenda. But out of nowhere comes a candidate that launches an extremely friendly and attractive campaign that starts breaking records in donations and amount of donations.
Bernie Sanders was the anti-thesis of the political climate. He spoke to millennials, he was the indie underground rock star whose track record can be entirely viewed on YouTube thanks to C-Span. The Bernie Legend was growing the more you dug into his life. He would start campaigning for things long before it became accepted. He fought for civil rights and even wound up in prison fighting for Blacks. He campaigned for gay rights in the 80s, way before it was even considered in the highest offices. In the 90s he fought for the middle class, fought against the ridiculous numbers of Blacks and minorities in jail, and battled against the bailouts of Wall Street and the auto industry.And today he had drastic new ideas, crazy ideas that would borrow from other successful countries. He wasn't war-hungry, he was hungry for more equality and more rewards for being an American citizen.
Bernie Sanders was Hillary’s kryptonite, and was rapidly taking all the independent and millennial votes. And was doing this without insulting anybody, did this while accepting everyone, including the controversial Black Lives Matter movement. He didn’t fight political parties, he fought the 1% entirely, which was totally in line with the disorganized Occupy Wall Street movement started up by the youngsters. He was a millenials’ dream come true as he was the first major candidate to openly criticize the idea that millennials are lazy and they are the blame for the current state of the country. Sanders knew capitalism and big business was the biggest setback in America, not the change in culture.
All of a sudden what was expected to be a surefire victory, what was expected to be a surefire momentum-riding trip to grabbing the Democratic candidate ticket became the biggest fight in Hillary’s career. No way she could lose another primary, and especially against a candidate with a third-party voice and basically no major political backers. Losing two consecutive primaries would have tainted her career to a point of no return. Sanders was strictly riding on the support of celebrities and facebook/Twitter followers, and was shockingly doing well against Hillary’s popular circle of backers. And then during the debates Bernie was winning not because of mud-slinging, but because he remained extremely firm on the issues and wouldn’t back down from any questionable decisions or questionable quotes during his extremely long career. This man told it like it is, but did so with the utmost respect of the competition. Sanders had the charisma and energy that Hillary lacked, and it was showing throughout the entire campaign. Sanders’ followers were far more vocal than that of Hillary’s and even Trumps’. This was going against everything the DNC was planning.
You know the Republican Field saw this as a crack in Hillary’s shield, and saw Bernie as the Democratic Socialist version of Trump (not in policy but in attitude and willingness to shake up everything). The Trump Train would rise at around the same time as the rise of the Bernie Bros., and I firmly believe this is no coincidence. Trump fans saw this race as wide open, and saw this as a chance for a major major upset. And it got much worse as it started looking more and more like the DNC was making it harder for Bernie to win. Not saying it was fully rigged, but it was quite biased. And say what you will about Hillary’s involvement or lack of involvement, it looked disgustingly bad. The Democrats weren't ready for potentially Bernie taking the ticket, and altogether tweaked and stacked the race. It's unfair, but Bernie knew this was happening from the start, which is why he fought for change to the entire process during his quest for the presidency.
Those e-mails being leaked out just made matters worse as they arrived right before Bernie was surrendering his campaign. It was awkward timing as not only did Bernie have to give up the race (The gutsiest move this entire election season by the way) but he had to find a way to convince all his fans to switch over to Hillary to ensure that Trump’s momentum can finally stop. But his campaign was so successful in making Hillary look bad the transition became murkier and uglier than anticipated. Between Hillary’s questionable tactics, her history being brought up by the Bernie team, her lack of effort to truly squash the Bernie threat, the leaked e-mails, the still-strong love for Bernie, and lastly not using Bernie as vice-president (which despite their differences in policy would have clinched the election easily) Hillary Clinton was suddenly looking less presidential and less like a sure shot. And the Republican field was enjoying every moment of it, and the Trump support only became stronger.
Suddenly third-party candidates started rising, the Republicans started joining forces with Trump, and the race was looking far tighter than it should. Donald Trump actually has a chance, in spite of all the nonsense he has spewed.
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Act III: “You’re Too Late”
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Paraphrasing a story a friend once told me: a guest in Blizzard Beach was in line to go down the tallest slide in the park. 120 feet drop. When it was his turn, he started going but immediately stopped. He put his legs in front and loudly exclaimed that he couldn’t do it, and wants to exit the attraction. The cast member on top of the slide gave the horrifying words: “I can’t save you. You’re too late.” The man had passed the point of no return, and had to finish going down the slide. The Cast Member loudly gave him directions, and down he went. He would survive, but I bet you there was horror in his heart for that split second when he was told that he had no choice but to take on his fear and finish what he started.
That is the Trump Campaign in a nutshell.
The deeper we go towards the election, the uglier it has become trying to be a Trump supporter. Donald Trump was embroiled in a controversy seemingly every single day. He had already attacked Mexicans, Muslims, Veterans, and his opponents. He had already linked Ted Cruz’ father to the JFK assassination. He had already insulted Cruz’ wife. But now there was the potential relationship with Putin. There was the lack of tax returns, there was the revelation he hasn’t paid taxes in two decades, there was the footage of him discussing groping and sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because he can. Then came all the accusations. Then came his lack of Twitter skills, which has ignited feuds against beauty pageant contestants and prominent GOP figures---and apparently Rosie O’Donnell.
Whenever Hillary Clinton looked bad, Trump looked twice as bad. He started going after any Republican that was joining in line with him. He started bullying his way around the Republican field, splitting the GOP into pieces and repeatedly creating scenarios which called for him to drop out of the race. He is bombing the debates because he can’t answer questions and hasn’t developed a true plan. His followers continue becoming more and more racist and ridiculous and he doesn’t fan the racist flames or denounce any of the actions. His numbers are dropping, the former Republican presidents want nothing to do with him, and his most popular surrogates are digging deeper and deeper holes trying to defend him---with Ben Carson and Rudy Guilliani crashing and burning through interviews.
The consistency of his fanbase is cracking under pressure, while the Clinton campaign has remained strong and has stopped losing supporters post-Bernie. Then the digging into his past continuously showcases his racist tendencies, all the way back to the 70s when he refused to rent property to Blacks. Some will argue that he was never accused of being a racist until running for president---but the truth is money trumps personality, and under Wall Street you can be whatever you want to be as long as you can afford it. That subject is for another time…
Trump’s solution has been left field from the very beginning, but it wasn't yielding negative results until he started turning on his own people. He loses Paul Ryan, the highest-standing Republican in current politics, and starts catering to his remaining rowdy followers by announcing the race as being rigged, by suggesting that they should keep an eye out for fraudulent votes, and in a subtle manner suggesting that they need to bully their way to earning the win. The election is an interesting one because any other Democratic candidate would have been leading by at least 25 points (especially Bernie Sanders, whom would have annihilated him in the debates), while on the flip side nearly any other Republican candidate (especially Romney, Ryan, McCain, and Kasish) would have been tied and perhaps even beating Hillary in the current election field. The GOP is in shambles, has realized the mistake, but it’s too late to make any changes.
They have to continue to attempt to support him if they have any shot at Clinton. Some with 2020 plans have already run in the other direction (something I truly thought Ted Cruz would do, until he reluctantly joined Trump), leaving the Republican Field which had gone to the deepest pits of hell to make a deal with the Devil to avoid a third straight loss in pure disbelief. They have no choice anymore. November is right around the corner, Trump is trailing nearly double-digits, and has pretty much lost every Black, Hispanic, Muslim, and educated Woman vote (his reaction to the tapes could not have been worse, he tapped into the sexism/sexual assault culture women have been fighting to eradicate for decades. White Males remains his biggest ally, and even that number is sliding a bit. At least the racists have stuck around.
Hillary Clinton’s victory is within the crosshairs. She can coast, as long as she doesn’t attempt anything too wild or do any majorly stupid moves. Bernie Sanders practically knocked her down several notches, but luckily for her the opponent is self-destructing. But the election has been absolutely ugly from the start, and to this day she still has a strong unfavorable rating which will challenge her the second she sits down on that chair in Washington.
Clinton is going to win, and it might be a massacre, but it should have never gotten this close. Clinton screwed up in several instances and should be praising the heavens for having such a good opponent in the Democrat side to toughen her up and having a blowhard as the main opponent.
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Epilogue: My Final Words
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A funny thing happened during a cruise I was on. The ship was nestled in Cozumel, Mexico. They had a “Mexican” playlist in the buffet area while serving Mexican-influenced breakfast. The playlist consisted of music from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. They were missing…Mexican music. No ranchero. No Selena. No mariachi. No Vincente Fernandez. No Marco Antonio Solis. Not even some Rodrigo y Gabriela. Of course, knowledge of Mexican music isn’t actually widespread, and the result was instead putting on a Spanish station that was playing mostly Caribbean music. It is a simple mistake, it is a harmless mistake, and it’s not like I am exactly offended by what occurred.
Hispanic culture is an immensely misunderstood culture in the United States of America, arguably the most misunderstood aspect of immigrants in the country. And it has always, always, always been this way. And I will be the first to admit that learning about Hispanic culture and every country under the umbrella cannot be learned in a day, or even a week. It takes some time to understand the language, cultural, and other differences between nations of Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. All three nations for the most part get along, as do the people, but we are not the same. I jokingly talk about how all the Caribbean/Central/South American nations have three things in common: beautiful people, wonderful food, crazy government. Even me though---I’m not fully knowledgeable on all the Spanish nations even though I really would love to someday immerse myself in the countries of Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and the often forgotten Uruguay. My dream is to visit all these countries and learn more about the differing cultures of the Americas.
This lack of Hispanic knowledge in America is understandable, can still be improved upon, and up to this point hasn’t been much of a threat to our livelihood.
Enter: Donald Trump.
Since the emergence of the Orange Savior for the White American crowd, Hispanic tolerance has taken a heavy hit. Suddenly Neo-Nazis, KKK members, and other White Supremacists groups under his banner are not accepting of Spanish-speakers, suddenly chants of Trump and “Build a Wall” has been occurring when white schools take on Hispanic-dominated schools in athletic events. Mexico has been blamed for providing most of the rape/drug/violent crimes happening in the country (even though America has been darn good at killing each other sin nuestra ayuda). Mexico has been blamed for drugs overall, taking jobs from American citizens, and apparently also thriving off of free stuff apparently offered in this country. Whatever. The wall has been the most-mentioned step in his racist tirade of a campaign.
When the blaming started I didn’t take it too seriously because I thought America on the Red Team would be smarter than to accept the words of a politically inexperienced businessman that has spent years doing shady activities under the watch of New York business---which has proven many times that as long as there is enough money they are willing to look the other direction. New York City is great for many things, controlling money of the 1% and Big Business is not on that category. I didn’t see it as a big deal because I thought things would even out and the Republicans would choose someone and we can all move on with our lives.
Didn’t happen.
Not only did it not happen, not only did Trump win by a ridiculous amount, but now he is still within reach of Hillary Clinton. This is no longer a red/blue issue. This is a civil rights issue. This is a historical problem as for the first time in my life I personally feel threatened by a specific presidential candidate and his bloodthirsty followers. For the first time I feel like my culture is under attack for being different from the American norm. For the first time I have heard of friends, colleagues, and others being victimized by supporters, being told to “speak English,” to “go back to Mexico,” to “Behave more American,” etc. And guess what, some of them are actual Americans and some of them aren’t even Mexican! Those poor student-athletes being taunted with Trump chants are for the most part just as American as the hicks chanting the disgusting epithet.
What is happening is that Spanish-speaking is being rounded up as being “Mexican”, even though we have Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Venezuelans, Cubans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Chileans, Argentineans, and even Spaniards living in America, each with its own culture, own brand of Spanish, and its own flavor. And the #1 piece of evidence as to what his mindset is and the mindset of his followers came from a simple Tweet in Cinco De Mayo.
It was a picture of Donald Trump with a massive taco salad on the top floor of his building. He says Happy Cinco De Mayo, and mentions how he loves Hispanics. This is one of those photos where there is so much wrong, you couldn’t even know where to start. But, I’ll give it a shot:
1) Mexicans don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo---it’s an American excuse to get drunk on tequila. Which is acceptable in any other instance except for when it comes from a presidential candidate declaring war on “illegals.”
2) Taco Salad is definitely not a Mexican delicacy to even eat on a day that hardly embraces Mexican culture
3) He didn’t even get it from a Mexican restaurant, adding to the inner screaming I engaged in upon seeing the photo
4) He mentions he loves Hispanics on Cinco de Mayo, pretty much rounding up all Hispanics under the same group of Mexican while mentioning his supposed love for a culture he has spent his campaign blaming for America’s supposed issues---on a day that DOESN’T CELEBRATE A SINGLE SHRED OF INDEPENDENCE.
5) THERE ARE NO HISPANICS ON THIS PHOTO. NOT ONEEEEEEEEE.
This is everything wrong with this current election. Hispanics have been grouped together and suddenly has taken the blame for what is happening to America. Puerto Rico’s downfall has been blamed on Puerto Ricans---when it was the United States that had the biggest hand in messing things up in that beautiful island (Another reason Bernie was my pick, he wanted to save the country and spend money fixing it). The War on Drugs have been blamed on Mexicans---even though the NRA has done a great job profiting off it, as well as every area except for Mexico itself. Illegal Immigrants (which according to him are only Mexicans) have been accused of making life harder for Americans through welfare system, “paying less taxes,” and having a stranglehold on underground jobs that take away from hard-working Americans.
Hispanics are being accused of “refusing to conform to America” by speaking a different language and by not necessarily changing our cultural ways to resemble “American culture” better. And upon this, Trump has taken the mantle to not only attempt to rid the country of all the illegal immigrants (as opposed to trying to make the actual process easier to become American), but also somehow pin Mexico to follow along with his racist plan and help pay for some wall that will somehow keep out the bad ol’ Mexicans…
Blaming others for their own downfalls is embedded in modern American culture. Obama has been blamed for literally everything in the past 8 years (he may have been blamed for Batman vs. Superman, who knows…), and now that the president is on his way out the focus has shifted into Mexico. Even though Mexican immigration has actually gone down, even though more Mexicans have moved back, and even though Obama’s administration has actually deported a grandiose amount of Hispanics over the years (one of the less favorable things happening under his administration), the target remains on our back. And it’s wrong, and utterly disgusting.
This is why Trump has to lose, and by a wide, wide margin---his thoughts are dangerous and continues to attract quite deplorable people from the sneaky racists, to the systematic racists, all the way to the outright full-grown racists spending their days telling people that look Spanish to go back to Mexico. This has to stop, immediately. This has to cease, immediately. We need to not only make sure that Trump gets roadkilled in the election, but we need much stronger education about other cultures, about other countries, about other types of people so we can avoid racist campaigns and can avoid people like Trump ridiculously gaining power.
My history with my culture and American culture has been a convoluted one because I’ve become too Dominican to become American, yet too American to be fully Dominican---and this comes after I wasn’t taught to write/speak/read Spanish post-1st grade for whatever reason. Still remains a mystery to this day because I was too young to acknowledge what was happening. Heritage is an extremely important and vital asset to your upbringing and who you are in Spanish culture. This is why although we leave our Spanish country, the Spanish country never fully leaves us. This is why we still wear the flags. This is why we still speak the Spanish, and our kind of Spanish as well. We can’t shake off the Spanish. Nor do we ever really want to, because our culture is absolutely beautiful. And up until this election season I had never felt threatened by being a Hispanic-American.
I feel threatened now. I feel under attack. And it’s a disgusting feeling six ways to Sunday. Whenever I see those Godforsaken red hats being worn at my work location, I ponder how they view me, as I speak Spanish to the guests in front of them. I never felt that with Romney hats in 2012, with McCain hats in 2008, with Hillary stickers, with Green Party buttons, etc. But under the Trump merchandise there’s a layer of hate I can’t help but notice---even if the person wearing it doesn’t notice.
The wave of hate has to stop. And yes, this means voting for Hillary Clinton. And trust me, it’s not my favorite option but the most necessary one up to this point. I was a Bernie fan from start to the bitter finish, and my opinion on him has not swayed in the least bit just because he withdrew and handed his support to Hillary.
(And if you need more support to vote Hillary, or feel disgusted by voting Hillary, call me up. That day I will buy you a shot, two shots if necessary. I’m voting and taking a swig of rum, because I’m disappointed that politics reached this point. But between the man that spews hate and the woman that will do whatever it takes to become president, I will take the accomplished woman any day of the week. But I’m still drinking heavily to it)
And its not just the Hispanics, I pointed that out specifically because it personally affects me. He’s gone after Blacks and Muslims as well. He has always lived a racist sexist life, and that should never ever be rewarded with a trip to the presidency. That is dangerous and will destroy everything America has worked towards in the past century. He needs to go. He needs to be embarrassed just like on that fateful night to the hands of Obama. People are using this election to try to nullify the current process by going third party or not voting at all. I understand your frustration, I seriously do. As a Bernie fan I personally felt cheated by the process, whether Hillary knew about the rigging or not. But now is not the time for drastic change, now is the time to make sure racism and White America Bigotry doesn’t win---by any means necessary. Besides, Gary Johnson is most definitely not the answer.
I want him not defeated, I want him destroyed. In spite of his awkward amount of support, The United States of America and all its (sane) citizens deserves much better than this election, but we deserve far far far far better than the prospect of Trump winning. That is not an opinion that is a fact.
Vote Hillary. This isn’t the ideal choice, and yes her past is a bit scattered, but this year it’s the wisest choice to prevent the nation from going backwards and ensuring Trump doesn’t get the chance to rise to this level ever again. 2020 I predict will be the year third-parties will have a stronger voice and we will have more political revolutions to the level of Bernie Sanders, but as of now, we just need to prevent the country from going out of control.
A vote for Trump means this: you accept that he is a racist, sexist, bigoted, xenophobic, sexual assaulting un-Christian-like pig that has thought of himself and only himself during this entire campaign. A vote for him means you fully accept the fact that he has attacked and gone after specific groups of Americans in favor of keeping his feverish fanbase happy. You vote for him, you are basically willing to ignore everything he has done and said simply because you don't like the other candidate--even though she is obviously more prepared and much more experienced to be president. A vote Trump is a vote to send this country to hit the reset button against all the equality we have been trying to achieve for the last century. A vote for him basically means that you are willing to flip the country upside-down just because you believe it doesn't affect you. I'm done trying to convince you, because the evidence is everywhere you look. You aren't swayed by now, I'm disappointed in you, end of story. Hillary isn't the best choice, but in this election has become the only choice to make sure America at least stays above water.
Please vote for Hillary. Por favor.
End this mess, once and for all.
*drinks shot of rum*
P.S. If Hillary wins, Bernie gets control of the Senate. In case you needed more convincing.
*drinks another shot*
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