Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters as he takes the stage for a campaign event in Dallas, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
You may be one of the many “silent Trump supporters” that isn’t socially allowed to voice your alliance with the real-estate mogul. You may be a moderate, torn between choosing Trump and Clinton, siding with whichever candidate you find to be “the lesser of two evils.” You may be a traditional conservative that has decided to vote for McMullin, thus allowing you to sleep well at night. Perhaps you’re a lifelong liberal, and Hillary has been the presidential hope you’ve been waiting your entire life for. Or, in some cases, you may be a disgusted Sanders advocate, extremely unhappy with the establishment and both candidates.
Whatever your political outlook may be, you’d probably agree that Donald Trump has said a few things you wish he hadn’t, and that he should wish he hadn’t. It’s apparent that Mr. Trump doesn’t care for political correctness, basing his campaign on the fact that he isn’t a career politician.
As I write this, I hope you restrain from proving me right and writing angry comments about how Trump is “racist”, “sexist”, “evil”, etc. Let’s try to look at the Republican candidate through neutral glasses.
However regretful some of his rhetoric may be, many Americans love it. As such, he’s been labeled a “populist” candidate. Thousands of Americans, feeling disenfranchised and distant from DC, agree with what Mr. Trump says. Among his supporters are many white men and women that didn’t attend university, and haven’t been political involved in other elections. Because of this, national media outlets are labeling his supporters as being uneducated, white, red-necks; which seems to be acceptable. It may shock some to know that a few of Trump’s supporters have, in fact, graduated college, and that some of his supporters aren’t neo-nazis. We’re keen to criticize these first time voters, while having praised the increase in African-American voting during the Obama campaigns.
Perhaps his ideas are popular because many Americans actually agree with them. Whether you and I agree with the unorthodox and sometimes offensive platform Donald Trump has taken is our own matter. It is unfair for us to label him and all his supporters as bad people, as they are often depicted. We criticize him for being politically incorrect and insensitive, yet when we talk about the republican nominee, we ourselves are politically incorrect and insensitive.
Though this post was centered on Trump, seeing as it’s seemingly socially unacceptable to support him, the same goes for Mrs. Clinton. I hope that we can disagree with someone’s political opinion without reverting to primative name calling to get our point across.
It will all end tomorrow. Hopefully.
Read more about the madness here.
BYU Kennedy Center Live 
I am guessing that this post will get a lot of interesting commentary. I do agree that I have been guilty of judging Trump supporters, because I have so much against him. I understand that it is so important to respect and appreciate everyone’s opinions even if you do not agree with them. However, what does still make me sick is the idea that so many people relate with his ideas. Isn’t that a bad thing? That racism and sexism still exist so much in the United States and that people agree with what he has said? Those are two things that I would LOVE to see eradicated out of this country and I just don’t know if Trump is the leader that would make that happen.
Thank you for this post. I’m trying to live by what Elder Dallin H. Oakes taught at BYU Devotional in September: “The few months preceding an election have always been times of serious political divisions, but the divisions and meanness we are experiencing in this election, especially at the presidential level, seem to be unusually wide and ugly…. We should also remember not to be part of the current meanness.”
First of all, I completely agree with the idea the civility is difficult to come by in this election and equally difficult to achieve. Understandably so, this election has brought out some of the most fiery rhetoric and commentary. Yet, we have to display a high level of civility in order to preserve our Democracy. Whether it is a good post or a horrible post, every comment and post deserves respect.
On the other hand, just because I am not able to label Trump with “sexist” or “bigot” this does not mean that there aren’t any other arguments against him. For one thing, I am a pretty staunch conservative and he presents a serious threat to the movement towards small government. To me, conservatism represents the brakes for the U.S. and modern liberalism is the gas. Although Trump is running as a candidate for the “Brakes Party”, he actually has nothing about him that says “I will push the brakes”. In fact, his most specific policy and talking point (the wall) is actually a big government expansion costing the tax-payers billions of dollars. Obviously letting up on the gas would help from driving off the cliff, but I worry that Trump winning is like ripping out the brakes altogether. By seriously damaging the electoral changes of the party, I worry that the longer Trump remains the face of the Republican Party, the more people will leave and the more dominant the Democratic Party becomes.
In many cases, the media has completely shaped this campaign, specifically liberal sources. Although Trump has said some very crude things, he has offered some very valid points that republicans deeply support. It is just as easy to call trump a “sexist” as it is to call Hillary a “liar”. It its very clear that both candidates have their fair share of weaknesses. However, putting down the opposing candidate does not make your candidate any more qualified.
I liked your post. I have been thinking a lot lately how blind we are on both sides. We are all hateful in some ways. Republicans will say that many are idiots for voting for Hillary, while those that are voting for Hillary say those voting for Trump are idiots. I honestly believe that there is no right way. We have the right to have different opinions and we should be able to voice them in a civilized manner.
It has been a tough election. There has been no clear choice for presidential candidate for me, as there has been on every other election I have voted in. Trying to decide who would best represent my ideals has been a very tough decision. With hard options, and a lot of disagreement everywhere, I think you are right to remind everyone that there needs to be a level of kindness and respect no matter what. No matter what happens anyway, like you said, it will all be over tomorrow.