Donald Trump Crosses the Line

As our regular readers know, we typically do not delve into the subject of national politics.

However, we feel it is incumbent upon each and every American, including ourselves, to express in whatever forum we may find ourselves — whether in the columns of our local newspaper or at the water cooler with our colleagues at work — our disgust and denunciation of the recent comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump concerning those who are of the Muslim faith.

Although Trump’s campaign often has veered into the realm of buffoonery, he has served a useful purpose — similar to the jesters in Shakespearean plays — by exposing the hypocrisy of our so-called democratic system. He has made it clear to the voters that the typical candidates are for sale to the highest bidder — i.e., their campaign donors —  and that when he himself has given money to candidates, both Democratic and Republican, they do what he tells them to do.

In other words, Trump has exposed once and for all the notion that our so-called democracy essentially is for sale to the highest bidder.

However, Trump’s hyperbole on other matters all too often spews a hateful message. His most recent statements regarding members of the Muslim faith boil down to this: The only way we can preserve our American ideals is to stop adhering to those ideals when it comes to our treatment of Muslims.

Trump has spouted similar un-American messages about other groups (most notably when he referenced Mexicans in his opening announcement), but his most recent rantings about Muslims are as un-American as anything we have heard from someone on the public stage in our lifetime, evoking the shameful period of McCarthyism in the early 1950s.

Donald Trump’s candidacy has made us laugh (usually at him, not with him) these past few months, but he now is making a mockery of American ideals and values on a global stage that not only is discrediting us, but also is dangerously provocative to those who might be our enemies.

Donald Trump should be shunned by all of us and his candidacy disavowed by all who believe that American values — while certainly not perfect — represent the best hope for world peace.