#NeverTrump: Donald Trump for president? That joke isn't funny anymore

I really don't like talking politics on the internet, and even less so in this blog. Jon and I have tried to keep this blog as an escape from the "real world." I get into enough arguments about Yankees-Mets or Yankees-Red Sox; I don't need to fight political arguments, too!

Until now, that is. I really feel compelled to say something about Donald Trump. I want to add my voice to those who are trying to stop this demagogue and bully from getting the Republican presidential nomination, or, (heaven forbid) becoming president. 

So I feel like not saying something in the bully pulpit of this blog when I feel so strongly on this would be cowardice, And I never want to be a coward. To quote both Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and soul singer James Brown, I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. 

That's because I went through multiple bullying horrors in my childhood, which have made me have a pretty visceral reaction as an adult to bullies. Nowadays, I stand up for myself pretty well (some might say too well!) because I never want to experience that feeling of powerlessness as I did back then, when I wasn't able to fight for myself. 

Nor do I ever want to be the type of person who sees something awful happening to other people, and just pretends to ignore it.  That's not how I live my life. In fact, I actually get angrier when I see others, especially loved ones, being bullied than I would if it were myself. Because at least I know I can do something about it and not put up with it. Other people can't always do that, for various reasons..

Anyhow, all this is to say is that the more this Trump candidacy goes on, the angrier I get. For our country's sake. And like any bully, he's been getting away with this because almost nobody has taken a stand until now. The media has been in the tank for him because he's good for ratings. The Republican Party has been afriad of alienating his voters. And a lot of us were hoping that this was a bad dream, and he would go away before long. So much for that.

Several things really sent me over the edge this past week and compelled me to speak out. The first was Trump stumbling over disawoving David Duke -- and the criticism Mitt Romney got from professionals who should know better for calling him on it! Romney got compared to Mother Jones (Laura Ingraham) and President Obama (Tucker Carlson) for doing so. Is that how far we've fallen as a nation in 2016, that we're actually arguing on whether or not to denounce the KKK? Not to mention how nasty and insulting Trump is with anybody else who annoys him, but he had such a hard time attacking Duke and the Klan. Very telling.

The second was Trump's campaign giving a white supremacist radio host full media credentials (at the same time they were refusing credentials to the Des Moines Register, Buzzfeed, and Fusion.net because they didn't write 100% positively about him) and even having his son Donald Jr.appear on the cretin's radio show, at the same time African-American students were being ejected from his speech at Valdosta College in Georgia without actually doing anything worth being thrown out for.

The third is the way Trump uses and would, if he were president, abuse the military. Over and over, he has talked about using the U.S. military as his personal goon squad, suggesting that they do torture worse than waterboarding, and that they kill suspected terrorists' families. These things happen to be war crimes. And when it was pointed out to Trump at the last debate that these things are illegal, he scoffed at the very notion, saying about the service members: "They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse. Believe me," and claimed that this was what "leadership" was all about. No, that's what being a dictator is all about. He finally backed down on this, but who knows what he would do in office?

The fourth was the revelation that the anti-immgration Trump, who talks tough about American jobs, brings in captive (and white) staff from countries like Romania to staff  his resort Mar-a-Lago, instead of hiring American workers. As Ted Cruz very effectively pointed out at the latest debate by asking ex-waiters and waitresses in the audience to raise their hands, American workers would not turn down such a job, as Trump claims.

And finally, the idea of Trump getting anywhere near the Oval Office terrifies me. His thin-skinned attitude, which was amusing in "Celebrity Apprentice" (he refused to pick the deserving Penn Gillette to win because Penn said something about Trump in a book that he didn't like) would be horrifying if he were in the Oval Office. He's already threatened to throw out libel laws so that he can sue writers who say mean things about him. He thinks judges sign bills and thinks he can have 11 million deported on his say-so. As my friend Joe says, Trump doesn't even show a sixth-grader's knowledge of civics class. God help us all if he gets his finger near the button. Will he start World War III if some world leader mocks his combover?

The worst thing about Trump is that instead of being a candidate who brings this country together, he has cynically fomented the divisions in this country, and made them worse. I have friends throughout the political spectrum, but I really have to wonder about the Trump acolytes. Are they naive or wicked? Do they not know any better, or do they know all too well what he wants to do? Do they agree with his racism? His sexism? His xenophobia? His dictatorial beliefs?

I do expect that there is at least one "Face in the Crowd" style audio or video of Trump trashing his followers. According to a former Romney aide, that may be the case:

I recorded a lot @realDonaldTrump better hope I didn't record him telling us to use birther argument bc "rightwing crazies will believe it"

— Garrett Jackson (@dgjackson) March 4, 2016

So I'm hoping some patriot releases such a recording. In the meantime, I hope that all good people, no matter what their political persuasion, speak out against Trump. It's not too late, by any means, to deny him the Republican nomination for president.

And I have to wonder about the cowardice of those who act like this is all inevitable, and don't seem to want to do anything to stop this runaway train of Trump, other than to give in. This, even though Trump is currently fewer than 100 delegates ahead of Ted Cruz, and Trump only has a quarter of the delegates needed to get the nomination. I have to wonder about such people who are telling the #NeverTrump crowd to just give up. Is that what they tell kids when they're bothered by bullies -- just give up your lunch money and hope the bully doesn't bother you again? Surrender without a fight? That's a terrible way to live.

One of the saddest things I've seen this past week is how Chris Christie, a smart, talented, take-no-prisoners type of politician, has been completely emasculated by Trump. He now calls him "Mr. Trump," while being called "Chris" in return. And who could forget how forlorn Christie looked standing beside Trump at Super Tuesday?

If we don't do something soon to stop Trump in his tracks, we're going to be the ones looking forlorn while Trump pushes us around.

I was heartened over the past week to see some pushback -- both in the presidential debates and among voters -- against Trump. (And how he can't seem to handle the attacks at all!) Let's hope it sticks, and that we don't have to face the horror of a Donald Trump presidency.