You can’t put lipstick on a pig.
Recently the Trump campaign has hired Kellyanne Conway and other spokespeople in attempt to put a positive spin on Trump. They look nice and speak well. But you can’t put lipstick on a pig.
I am a Jew. I was born in New York in 1955. I may not practice or believe much, but had I been born 15 years earlier in Germany I would have been put to death because I my mother was Jewish. The death camps were the outcome of years of anti-Semitism, words that people acted upon, taken to its despicable, criminal, and murderous end.
In my 60 years on this planet, I have been grateful to be a citizen of a country where enshrined in our Constitution, the highest law of the land, is a requirement that people not be discriminated against on the basis of race, nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference. I have always thought “It can’t happen here.” After all, this country has made such incredible progress in the struggle for equality during my lifetime. But now I am scared.
Yes now instead, a presidential candidate has crossed that red line and made racism and bigotry his program. Trump’s first speech as a presidential candidate started out with the false slur against people fleeing from drug gangs for their lives that these Mexicans are rapists and criminals, that Mexico is not sending its best, and that there might be a few good people. He proposed building a wall to be paid for by Mexico, followed later by a slur against the judge handling a lawsuit against Trump University, born in Indiana, because his parents were from Mexico. He proposed a ban on Muslims entering this country. Ideas have been floated requiring Muslims to get special ID cards, and inspecting mosques. Syrian refugees are compared with skittles because there are some bad ones.
This is unacceptable. It is not OK. It is repugnant to American values. It is un-American.
Apparently it is acceptable to Trump supporters. It is ok to his supporters and the perverse notion that bringing back racism and bigotry will make America great again. This acceptance or willingness to look the other way by so many Americans is repulsive and sickening.
Why is this ok? Because Hillary had a private email server? Because Hillary said a video contributed to the attack in Benghazi? Sorry, this kind of racist bigoted rhetoric is never acceptable. These attacks on decent people are despicable.
We are all Muslim, we are all Mexican, we are all Black, we are all Jewish. We will never forget.
You can’t put lipstick on a pig.