Decency in the 2016 election

As of this week, the United States Presidential election is less than fifty days away. In July, Bill Maher voiced that this race is not about Democrat vs. Republican, nor insider vs. outsider; rather, it is a “referendum on decency,” an idea he repeated on his Sept. 16 show…spot on. With the 2016 election cycle lasting over a year and a half, it’s challenging to fully remember some of the events that have led to this election being such a referendum.

In a sensational video delineating the 170+ fallacies that Donald Trump has committed in his political ascension, Keith Olbermann makes arguably the strongest case against the Republican nominee yet. Don’t get me wrong, I understand there are serious flaws in Hillary Clinton, the candidate. Her ties with the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as Secretary of State should raise legitimate questions, and she represents a more hawkish foreign policy wing than the large majority of the Democratic Party. She does not possess the charisma of a Barack Obama or a middle-aged Bill Clinton, a gender bias frequently exploited by Republican Party leaders.

However, thanks to Bernie Sanders, the most progressive Democratic platform is set, and given the historical relevancy of these party planks, Hillary Clinton and a Democratic Congress should act on these progressive issues. Hillary Clinton believes in marriage equality. Trump does not. Clinton believes that climate change is accelerated by humans. Trump does not believe climate change exists. Hillary believes we need immigration reform for undocumented residents. Trump’s vision of sound, fiscally-responsible immigration reform rests on building an international wall and rounding up millions of illegals (at least that’s what it once was, some ten stance shifts ago). Clinton believes women should have access to their health care needs. Trump stated women should be punished for having abortions. Clinton wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest individuals. Trump wants taxes slashed across the board, without a way to offset these cuts. Clinton wants us to ally ourselves with Muslims to collectively combat domestic, ISIS-inspired terrorism. Trump wants to keep Muslims out of this country.

Most importantly, Hillary Clinton will appoint the Supreme Court Justices of the future who will overturn Citizens United. Trump will not.

So let’s end this petulant nitpicking, this liberal-on-liberal purity argument which dictates that this election is somehow a choice between the lesser of two evils, that spoilers Jill Stein or Gary Johnson deserve your vote of conscious, or even worse, you don’t vote at all. One candidate, though mired in constant media hounding over the Benghazi witch hunt and the FBI-resolved email scandal, knows the ins and outs of policy, has been at the forefront of the political arena for twenty-five years and would likely enact a left-of-center agenda that is at the very least something similar to President Obama’s. Hillary is decent. Time and time again—whether it be his inflammatory, braggadocios comments, his scamming of students via Trump U, his mistreatment of casino employees and minority residents on his properties, or his refusal to release his tax returns, Trump has proven that he embodies indecency.

It’s time to be scared, liberals. As of Sept. 20, Clinton's post-convention bounces in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Nevada and Iowa have all evaporated into Trump leads. She maintains a thin advantage over Trump in New Hampshire; however, without New Hampshire in her bag, assuming that she wins other states where she has more comfortable leads, Hillary slips to 268 electoral votes, two shy of the necessary 270 to become President. Trump is not an overnight phenomenon—he is a crude product of years of pent-up white working class frustration. There will be more polished Trumps who intend to flesh out the same type of support and social angst in the future. But for now, it’s time for liberals to turn out, to elect other progressives in down-the-ballot races, and to recapture some sort of common decency by electing Hillary Clinton.

Kyle Gornick is a Trinity sophomore. He is a member of Duke Political Union’s social media and outreach committee.