Why I’m a little scared this Super Tuesday

By: Cody Boteler, Senior Editor

By the time most of you read this, it will be Super Tuesday—a day in the primary season where a dozen states will vote in Republican contests and 11 states will vote for Democrats. Maryland will vote in April.

Super Tuesday will be really, really important for both parties. There’s a real chance that, when the results are all announced tomorrow, we’ll have our nominees for the Democrats and the Republicans. And, I mean, I’m not a pundit or anything, so I’m hardly an expert, but I’m beginning to be more and more worried that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll admit that, yeah, watching Trump say ridiculous things on TV is entertaining, in a “I-love-to-hate-this-guy” kind of way. But it’s reached a point where it’s scary.

Somewhere along the course of the campaign, Trump stopped being a joke candidate, stopped being the reality TV candidate and became a real, bona fide, contender for the presidency. I’m scared of Super Tuesday.

I’m scared that voters or caucus-goers in a dozen states will say that they want Donald J. Trump to be the next president of the United States. I’m scared of what that will mean for our country, politically. And I’m scared of what it will mean for our national identity. I don’t give a damn about political correctness. Be PC if you want, be considered rude by polite society if you don’t want to. Fine. To each their own. So don’t talk to me about political correctness.

Donald Trump doesn’t represent an anti-political correctness agenda. He’s not “just straight-talking.” He’s spewing hate. He’s someone who’s made racist comments, bigoted comments, has a history of sexist comments and who has shown, on the campaign trail, that he doesn’t have the strongest grasp of policy.

I can’t tell you if Trump will win the nomination, or if he’ll win the general election if he’s the candidate. I can tell you that my friend and colleague Matt Teitelbaum, of the SGA, thinks I should be more cautiously optimistic than I am absolutely terrified.

If Trump wins the primaries, there’s a real chance it will tear the Republican Party apart and leave conservatives scrambling to reform something new. There’s a chance it will cause an even wider split between the moderate conservative wing of the party and the Tea Party.

And there’s also a chance that there will be a brokered convention—meaning, you know, there’s no clear winner going in and a candidate will be chosen on the floor. That opens the window for people not currently running to get the nomination.

So, like, that’d make for some great television. As a journalist/general-observer-of-news, it’d be exciting to see that kind of political drama. We don’t get big fights like that very often.

But I’m not willing to sacrifice national security for political drama. I’m not willing to risk electing a president who denies the science of climate change. I’m not willing to risk electing someone who thinks all Muslims should be denied entry to our country and that we should build up a giant wall on our southern border.

One of our greatest national prides should be that we’ve become a diverse society and that so many cultures can find a home in America. We should be proud that people looking for a better life flee their countries to come here.

People are angry, I get it. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are both popular because people are angry with the establishment. Fine. Be angry.

But please, for the love of all things holy. Do not, do not cast your ballot for a man who would close our country off and make us an international embarrassment. We can overcome the issues facing our country and plaguing our globe by coming together, not by ripping ourselves apart.

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