Here is what we all should be asking Republicans who are, albeit in many cases with trepidation, climbing aboard the Donald Trump yacht: Tell me, how quickly would you support a Democrat . . . let's say a Democratic woman--oh, and let's say she's an African American--who, in no particular order:
■ had been married three times and bragged about her numerous extramarital affairs while simultaneously attacking her male opponent because his wife had cheated on him
■ had no policy or plans whatsoever, but just said she would cure everything--"I'll bring back all the jobs," "I'll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it," "I'll eliminate ISIS," "I'll erase a $19 trillion national debt in eight years while drastically cutting taxes" . . .
■ when asked "How?" she would accomplish any of these goals, she just says "Trust me!" and "Believe me!"
■ changes her positions on almost everything from one day to the next
■ conducts her campaign as a mixture of grade-school name-calling and junior high "mean girl" bullying
■ rates men on the basis of their looks and physical attributes, says she will only "date" men who are "10s," and that a man without large muscles cannot be more than a "4"
■ routinely calls men himbos and other degrading terms
■ says she might default on the good faith and credit of the United States and pay creditors only 50 percent of what is owed to them
■ says she had it so hard getting started that she had to take a million dollar loan from her mother
■ brags about what a great businesswoman she is, but took four companies into bankruptcy
■ says her own country is in terrible shape economically and militarily, even though its economy and military are in fact by far the best in the world
■ praised Vladimir Putin as a strong man and hired as top advisers people who worked for Putin
■ promised repeatedly over many years that she would release her tax returns if she ran for office, but now refuses to do so
■ said it's disgusting that men urinate
■ bragged in a televised debate about the size of her breasts
■ poses as a great Christian but knows virtually nothing about the religion
■ favors many other nations getting nuclear weapons
■ refuses to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe, the Middle East, or anywhere else
■ says we should abandon NATO
■ brags that she is "really rich," "really smart," knows lots of words . . .
■ consistently uses vulgar language in public appearances
■ cited as her foreign policy experience that she had run a beauty pageant in Russia
■ said she had never before heard anyone say she had small hands when in fact she had been complaining for decades about a magazine that had made that accusation against her
■ was featured in Playboy
■ insisted that a white president was born outside the United States and rejected all the clear evidence that the charge was not true
■ said that that white president was ineligible to hold office
■ had a longtime maid who says the current president should be shot or hanged
■ said she would like to date her own son because he's so hot
■ was pro-choice before she was anti-choice and favored arresting women who had abortions before she was against it (the same day)
■ gets her information from the "most reliable sources": Twitter posts and other internet gossip
■ accused an opponent's father of being involved in the JFK assassination on the basis of a doctored photo in the National Enquirer
■ used to pretend to be her publicity agent and call reporters to tell them how great she is, how many top actors and singers want to date her, that she's currently going out with three men while engaged to another man
■ now denies that she made those calls, even though she had sworn years ago that she had done it
■ and so on and on and on
Would you, our dear Republican friends, not conclude immediately that this candidate is a narcissistic blowhard who would be likely, if she became president, to do the exact opposite of "make America great again"? Can you honestly say that you would not classify her as the most dangerous and incompetent person ever to be nominated for president by a major American party?
How, then, can you even consider supporting for the presidency of the United States--THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA--a Republican white man who says and does all these things?
{Robert S. McElvaine is Professor of History at Millsaps College and the author of ten books. He has just completed a draft of his first novel, WHAT IT FEELS LIKE ... }