"A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that they be wicked but only that they be spineless." Nelson Mandela
It is time to recognize that Trump has ushered in the age of "Roadkill Politics" and now it is time to reject it and him. Trump has perfected the practice of running over his political opponents, and that is not a compliment. He has brought to the political arena his scorched earth approach to his business dealings, that is, ruining anyone who disagrees with him. Thus, he has taken negative campaigning to new heights, or actually in this case new "lows." It is time for Democrats and Republicans alike to reject this type of roadkill politics.
In response to years of Trump questioning her husband's birthplace, the incredibly classy Michelle Obama reminded Democrats that "when they go low, we go high." As for Republicans, I have come to admire Ana Navarro for being one of the few Republicans who, from the beginning of his candidacy, has denounced Trump's behaviors as not fitting of a presidential candidate. Yesterday when I was texting a good friend about my admiration for Navarro, my friend replied, "I'm going to go a step further and say SHE should be the new face of the Republican party." I wholeheartedly agree. It is time to follow the advice of these two strong, brave women and denounce Donald Trump and his roadkill politics.
How did we get to this point? Well, I admit it was hard not to be somewhat amused by Trump's quick wit as he cleverly nicknamed his various opponents, for example, "lying Ted," "little Marco," and "crooked Hillary." Such phrases catch on quickly. However, we must also recognize that the efforts of journalists to fact-check Trump's derogatory claims about other candidates before those claims became widely believed, have fallen by the wayside. For example, news channels immediately reported Trump's claim (made with absolutely no evidence) that Hillary Clinton was unfaithful in her marriage when Trump asserted "I don't even think she is loyal to Bill..." http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-accuses-hillary-of-cheating-on-bill-229011
It's not like we don't all know that Trump tells these whoppers to gain attention. As the NY Times recently explained, they finally decided to call Donald Trump a "liar;" a term that journalists do not use lightly: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/494919548/new-york-times-editor-we-owed-it-to-our-readers-to-call-trump-claims-lies
The only silver lining in this age of roadkill politics is that Trump's outrageous behavior has resulted in many more people following this political campaign. More than 84 million Americans watched the first presidential debate on September 26th, which was an all-time high. There may be an even greater number of viewers for the second and third debates. Unfortunately, I attribute this new-found interest in politics to the "road kill" effect: you see something grisly on the side of the road out of the corner of your eye, and you are powerless to look away as you drive past. In this campaign we have begun to look forward to the next horrible thing we can hear about the candidate we dislike. The roadkill politics of these past months has taken divisive and denigrating rhetoric to an extent that has rarely been seen in the history of our country. It is time to recognize that these words could tear our country apart.
How has Trump managed to lie repeatedly about other candidates without serious consequences? It is well-documented that Trump gets away with lying (and other questionable behaviors) by restraining those who would speak out against him through the use of non-disclosure agreements, gag orders, and fear of retaliation. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Ted Cruz claimed that he held back on attacking Donald Trump because he had seen Trump make "roadkill" out of the other Republican primary opponents: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/ted-cruz-donald-trump-roadkill-221217
Ultimately, Cruz became roadkill anyway. So, it seems that while everyone is aware of Trump's lies and mistreatment of others, few are interested in holding him accountable. This is somewhat curious since just last year the well-respected journalist, Brian Williams, was almost ruined when people learned that he had "embellished" a few times during his career. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/business/media/brian-williams-suspended-by-nbc-news-for-six-months.html
So, we understand the need to hold journalists to a higher standard than the general public, but not a candidate for the presidency of the United States? Do we really not care when a potential POTUS is outright lying more than any candidate in history, as reported by PolitiFact? Have we become so cynical that we accept when Trump supporters defend his lying with the casual comeback, "Oh well, all politicians lie." Of course, those same Trump supporters applaud him for "telling it like it is." Now, you don't have to be a logic teacher (although, actually I am) but those two claims cannot be held at the same time. They are contradictory. One cannot be both lying and telling it like it is at the same time. I'm afraid that truth and consistency seem to be the biggest losers in the 2016 Presidential campaign. Can we sue Trump for his violence against truth and reason?
Last week, I wrote a blog about how we might hope to heal the divisiveness of this presidential campaign by speaking well of our preferred candidate while declining to speak badly of the opponent. My son remarked to me (after reading the article) that while I had made a well-reasoned argument for embracing decency in our political discourse, the essay probably would not become popular or be widely read because it was a bit long and it wasn't vicious or sensational enough to keep people's interest. I immediately agreed with him and we began to laugh. You have to love the irony! The very thing I was writing about made it almost certain that no one would read it. Well, as my good friend and budding author, Rebecca Rodarte, often says, "This is the world we live in."
I guess it is. However, now that we have all heard the 2005 audiotape of Donald Trump in which he says horrible things about women, I am writing a new blog today. I have to take back my advice to "speak well of the other candidate" if that candidate is Donald Trump. I stand by my advice to focus primarily on defending your own candidate, yet I withdraw my advice to try to speak well of Trump. In my earlier article I quoted my mother's advice, "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all." But, I hereby reconsider that advice as not the appropriate adage in these circumstances. I think that in this case there is an overriding moral principle to employ. When you know something is wrong, you must speak up.
In the words of Mathama Ghandi, "Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly." I now ask everyone to damn the gag orders and screw the non-disclosure agreements! Trump can't sue everyone, can he? Can we file a class action law suit against him for ripping off the American public when he "roadkilled" the other respectable sixteen Republican candidates? I implore everyone to reject Trump's roadkill politics and not let it become the norm. Roadkill politics is just a fancy name for lying and name-calling and we must reject that. It is time to leave Trump's outrageous candidacy dead on the side of the road. If this causes more divisiveness in the short run, then we will just have to work on healing the divisiveness in the long run. At least we will be heading in the right direction and looking away from the roadkill.