 When I turned 18 three years ago, one of the first things I thought about was the fact that I could vote. I was excited and looking forward to participating in the next presidental election.
But now, three years later, I am 21 and finally getting that opportunity. But I am not excited like I was before. I am embarrassed. The first election I get to vote in is the most controversial presidential race our country has seen yet. Most people cannot even take this race seriously and because of that, they do not even want to vote. Unfortunately this is not an equal competition. Many Democrats and Liberals support Hillary Clinton, but most Republicans and Conservatives feel betrayed that their voice is now Donald Trump. I’m an Independent and I even feel betrayed that he is even an option for this country. Here are the top 10 reasons…counting down to number 1 on why I would never vote for Trump:
10) He’s a joke.
I do not know how else to put it. I cannot take the man seriously. His only defense in debates is saying “no”, “nope” and “wrong”. He does not even use real words; “Bigly”? He called his opponent a puppet and a nasty woman. He got in an immature twitter war with Cher. His arguments and vocabulary are very childlike; actually, that’s even too nice to say. My 7 year old nephew could argue better than he can. Come on Trump.Â
9) He barely knows his own policies.
Besides his grand idea of a wall between America and Mexico, Donald Trump has not done a good job of explaining his policies. One example (out of a million) was when he was interviewed by Chris Matthews on Hardball and the topic of abortion came up. When asked by an audience member what his stance was on women’s reproductive rights, his response was: “As you know I’m pro-life. I think you know that. And um with 3 exceptions, but uh pretty much that’s my stance. Is that okay?” Mattews urged Trump to elaborate but he had no answer. In fact, to avoid the topic, he turned it on Matthew’s religion, which was irrelevant to the question. If a presidential candidate cannot even answer to why he believes in his policy, how can Americans believe in it? Watch the full video here
8) He called his own party “dumb”.
Trump scandals have been in the public eye for quite sometime. According to People Magazine archives from 1998, Trump called the Republican Party, which is now his party,  the “dumbest group of voters in the country.” While it is possible his opinions have changed or the quote was misconstrued, Trump has never defended or denied the interview. How can I trust a man who has spoke low of his own party? How will speak of his entire country with people of many different political views?
7) I shouldn’t have to change the channel when my nephews are in the room
How can we teach our children about the presidential race when we cannot even watch the news with them in the same room? How can Trump be a role model for children with accusations of sexual assault, fraud, felonies, racism and so much more? I even feel uncomfortable hearing about his scandals alone. I cannot imagine how families feel. I do not want a sleaze ball running the country my nephews are growing up in and learning about.
6) He has absolutely no political experience.
While it is pretty remarkable that Trump is the first presidential candidate that does not have a political background, it’s also pretty unfair. I go through four years of school, two jobs and three internships and still struggle to get an entry level position in the workforce. Yet Trump is a celebrity and business man–and an unsuccessful, unethical one at that and is eligible to run for president of the United States. From countless bankruptcies to thousands of lawsuits, Trump’s resume is far from squeaky clean. I mean he was kicked out his own organization–Miss USA.Â
One of his biggest fradulent scandals was “Trump University”. The so-called educational institution for real estate and business programs charged between $1,500 to $35,000 PER COURSE. When New York state authorities found out about the program, they sued Trump for $40 million dollars because he was running an instuition without accreditation, a business license an educational license and using the word “university” in it (which is all extremely illegal). Degrees from the institution were deemed “fake” and on top of the $40 million state lawsuit, Trump was sued by thousands of students. How’s that for an alma matter?
5) IÂ have morals.
Anyone with morals should feel challenged when considering voting for this man. This man doesn’t care about children. He doesn’t care about education. He doesn’t care about minorities. He doesn’t care about the LGBTQ community. He doesn’t care about women. He doesn’t care about the middle class or low income citizens. Everything he says is contradictory and unethical. He only cares about money and power. Seems like we are moving back in time doesn’t it?
4) Members of my family are Muslim
How can I support a man who has intense prejudice against a religion that many people in my family and that I know practice? He made extremely rude comments about the parents of a Muslim U.S. soilder who was killed in war. Instead of respecting the sadness of their loss, his response was that he believed the mother of the soilder had stayed quiet because “maybe she wasn’t allowed to” speak, due to her Islamic faith. She responded to his racist and offensive claim by saying, “The grief for the loss of my son is still so strong that when I see a photo of him, being quiet is all I can do to keep my composure.”Â
He kicked a muslim woman out of his own rally for silently protesting when he made claims that Syrian refugees were associated with ISIS. ISIS and radicals do not represent Islam and any educated person would know that. President Obama recently said to stop adding on the word “Islamic” to describe these disgusting people. Just call them what they are, which are terrorists and murders. Nobody TRULY following a religion could do horrible things. Evil people are evil people. He wants to have extra surveillience of every muslim in America. He wants to ban them from coming to the United States and deport ones currently living here. How does he or anyone else have any idea what religion someone practices based on how they look or their name? Millions of Christians, Jews and Athesists live in Middle Easten countries. Not to mention, people with “Islamic” sounding names are not neccessarily muslim. This is discrimination and that is not a quality the president can have.
3) I’m a minority
I’m Indian. I have friends of every race, every religion and different sexual orientations. I do not expect Trump to treat me or any of them equally. He may claim to be the “least racist person you’ll ever meet” but I strongly disagree with that. In May, Trump implied that Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over a his Trump University lawsuit, could not make a fair decision about the case because of his Mexican heritage. Dude…you scammed thousands of people, that has nothing to do with the judge’s race. But long before calling Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists,” Trump was a huge supporter of the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is thus an illegitimate president. When Trump was serving as the president of his family’s real estate company, the Justice Department sued the company for racial discrimination against African American people looking to rent apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Not to mention just recently he condoned the beating of a black lives protester. Lastly, remember when he said “There can be no discrimination against gays, but I am against gay marriage”? This was an incredibly contradictory statement. No discrimination but no equality either?
2) I’m a woman.
Aside from the hundreds of sexual assault allegations against him, Trump is very negative about women in general. He’s used words like “fat”, “pig”, “dog”, “slob” and “disgusting animal” to describe women. He rates them like they are objects. He’s even made disgusting comments about his own daughter Ivanka. According to ABC News, in an interview Trump said: “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” Not to mention he told Howard Stern it was okay to call his daughter a “piece of ass”.
On top of that, Donald Trump body shamed Hillary Clinton at a rally in North Carolina. Trump told the crowd he was “not impressed” with Clinton’s behind. “I’m standing at my podium and she walks in front of me, right. She walks in front of me, you know. And when she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn’t impressed,” he said. He’s unsupportive of women’s rights. Believe me I do not need some disrespectful man telling me what I can and cannot do with my body. I do not need a man who says only if my work is good enough as a man, then I will get equal pay, As a woman, I could never support Trump.
1) Most importantly, I AM AMERICAN.
This is the number one reason I am not voting for Trump. He does not support the people that make up this nation, he has ridiculous policies and he makes no promise of a better future. We are lucky to live in this country. I want someone who will make changes to benefit the economy, social issues, PEOPLE of all walks of life, the enviornment, our job market, our educational system and much more. I am not voting for Trump because I do not believe he has the capability to do any of these things.He does not want people to have basic human rights. So how could he promise anything of substance? It’s simple, he can’t. Mr. Trump, my friends and I have laughed at you, joked about you and been incredibly entertained by you; which is why most of them are not voting. But the fact that you could be president of the one of the most powerful countries in the world only makes me want to vote more.Â