Trumped

Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a hangar at Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona. Photo by: Gage Skidmore

By: William Glover

Independence High School – Charlotte, NC

Donald Trump. The one candidate that has surprised a good portion of America in this election, with his polls going in at a solid 34%, compared to the other 12 people running. Many news stations have him pegged as the winner of the Republican Party’s nomination, with Cruz right behind him. But will that be enough?

While Trump supporters are much harder to find in person, there is one small chance he will win. In the human phenomenon known as ‘social desirability bias,’ you say you do something in public, like say… donate to charity, but then do the exact opposite when in private. This could happen in the election, where someone says they’re voting for say.. Ted Cruz, then turns around and votes in the polls for Trump.

 

Trump’s radical policies against Muslims has gotten him a lot of flack too. He stated that he wishes to close down mosques in the US and went as far as tosuggest a database to keep track of Syrian refugees. This was three days after the Paris attacks.  His egotism doesn’t help him either (“My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”), as well as his blatant sexism (For example, he was once in a trial in 2011 for god knows what, and his opposing lawyer asks for a medical break, to ‘feed’ her child milk. Trump immediately goes up to her, says “That’s disgusting.”, and exits the room.)

 

The third factor in the election is the fact that the media has hyped Trump up to extreme proportions, even in unexpected places.. CNN has given the most airtime to Trump, than Democratic underdog Bernie Sanders, who’s received 0.4% of the airtime that Trump has. Controversy sells, and the media knows this.

 

Controversy may not be enough for Trump, however, to be elected as America’s first in command. Controversy gets you famous, but it is not enough to make you the representative of a diverse nation. He’s insulted Mexicans, Asians, Muslims, Rosie O’Donnell, and every other minority out there.

His xenophobia will likely be his downfall. To prove this, I’d like to compare Trump’s reaction to the Paris attacks to the reaction of the French president, Francois Hollande. Francois Hollande, despite having allegedly been attacked by Syrian refugees sympathising with ISIS (I say allegedly because the passport was likely a fake), has kept his offer of accepting 30,000 Syrian refugees. Meanwhile, despite the fake passport, Trump and many conservative governors have gone on record, stating that their states won’t accept them, one of them being our very own Pat McCrory. This is despite the fact that this is out of their legal powers granted by the Constitution. Not to mention that not accepting them is practically playing into the hands of ISIS’ thirst for blood.

Therefore, this is why Trump will likely lose the race. His policies are radical enough to lead to a police state, and his xenophobia being on par with GOP hero Ronald Reagan (which, knowing the GOP, might be enough to win the Republican nomination). Will he win? I don’t know, for I’m not omniscient, but I have enough faith in our country to state that he’ll likely lose.