Trump voters ask me to respect their choice. I can’t. It’s
not a respectable choice. This is a democracy. I respect their right to make
that choice. If you want to vote for him, I will not lock your door or chain
you to the bed or hide your car keys. In a country where Republicans are disenfranchising
their opposition wherever they can by pushing “voter I.D. laws,” I will respect
your right to make up your mind and cast your vote. Nor would I support any
trickery that would try to prevent you. But I cannot respect your choice.
Donald Trump is a demagogue. Mike Pence criticized President
Obama for calling him this. He said that name calling has no place in our
democracy. (Someone ought to introduce Mike Pence to his running mate.) But it
is not name calling to call Donald Trump a Demagogue. “Crooked Hillary” is name
calling, “Lying Ted,” “Lazy Jeb.” These are examples of name calling. If I
called Donald Trump the bloated host of the hirsute, Day-Glo alien attached to
his scalp, that would be name calling. “Demagogue” is a descriptive term—wholly
accurate: “a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires
and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.” It is a negative term
because it labels a negative thing, like “murderer” and “rapist.”
Donald Trump is a demagogue. And that’s about the nicest
thing I could say about him. To choose to vote for him is a mistake. It may be
one made out of a sincere and heart-felt desire to make America Great. But it
won’t do that. You don’t make a shirt clean or a country great by dragging it
through the mud.
