This morning, I was a guest on a public affairs television show and I was asked by the host to give my "best Trump joke and my best Hillary joke." He seemed a bit taken aback when most of my political humor targeted Trump, with only one light hearted line about Clinton. Just as this election is not politics as usual, it should also not be political humor as usual, by taking benign potshots at both sides equally.
Seven months ago, I wrote a Huffington Post article calling for all of the Republican candidates to renounce Donald Trump because of his racism, misogyny, ignorance, and hate.
The Trump revealed on the Access Hollywood tape is not new or surprising. There has always been ample public evidence of Trump's disgusting attitude towards women. But that didn't stop Saturday Night Live from having Trump host the show. That didn't stop every cable network from running every Trump speech live and in its entirety. And that didn't stop almost all Republicans in Congress from endorsing him. So let's not applaud SNL because of a mild mocking of Trump in a sketch. Let's not give praise to the cowardly politicians who only now are withdrawing their support for Trump. And let's certainly not congratulate CNN, Fox News or MSNBC for adopting a less forgiving approach to Trump, while they still breathlessly use his ugly words to promote viewership for Sunday's debate.
And for those voters who still stand by the most ignorant, unqualified, hateful candidate a major party has ever nominated for President, you share his ignorance and you channel his hatred. And I include in that group, those who support a third party candidate because they perceive Trump and Clinton to be equally evil.
Donald Trump has unleashed ugliness and hatred in our country. He should have been called out and stopped immediately after he announced his candidacy. Those who waited until now to do so are much too late, and bear full responsibility for letting this sorry debacle go this far.