海角大神

The Republican Party still has time to change its mind. Right now it鈥檚 supporting for President of the United States a man

1. who聽divides us by race and ethnicity and religion.

He says undocumented Americans 鈥渂ring drugs, crime, they鈥檙e rapists.鈥澛燭hat the Mexican government 鈥渟ends bad ones over because they don鈥檛 want to pay for them.鈥澛燗nd who says he鈥檒l round up and deport all 11 million undocumented workers in the United States.

This is a man who聽equivocated聽on repudiating an endorsement from David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan.聽And when asked to repudiate the vicious anti-semitism of some of his followers said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a message to the fans.鈥�

A man who claimed 鈥渢housands and thousands鈥� of Muslims in New Jersey聽celebrated the Twin Towers collapsing, when there鈥檚 no evidence at all to support that statement.聽And whose response to terrorism is to prevent all Muslims from coming into the United States.

A man who, in聽response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, did not mourn the victims, but instead crowed 鈥淎ppreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don鈥檛 want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!鈥� and repeated his call for his temporary Muslim ban 鈥� even though the shooter was an American citizen. 鈥淲hat has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough,鈥� he said.

A man who says聽black criminals are responsible for 81 percent of homicides against whites, which turns out to be a聽racist myth.

2. whose聽incendiary lies are inciting violence across this land, but he excuses them.

When he learned that some of his supporters punched, kicked and spit on protesters of color at his rallies, he said 鈥減eople who are following me are very passionate.鈥�

When a handful of white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester at another of his rallies, he said 鈥渕aybe he should have been roughed up.鈥�

3. who聽bullies, humiliates, and threatens those who dare cross him.

He mocks their physical characteristics, makes up lies about them, degrades them, tries to intimidate them by unleashing hostile attacks on the Internet 鈥� announcing, for example, that a family who donated money to a political opponent 鈥渂etter be careful, they have a lot to hide.鈥�

He calls a federal judge who鈥檚 considering a case against Trump University a 鈥渢otal disgrace鈥� and a 鈥渉ater,鈥� and alleging he鈥檚 Mexican although he was born in the United States.

4. who聽spreads baseless conspiracy theories.

He conjectured that President聽Obama was not born in the United States, and聽that the聽government hid information about the Ebola virus聽and a plague would start in America if flights from Ebola infected countries weren鈥檛 cancelled. He opined聽thatTed Cruz鈥檚 father was with Lee Harvey Oswald聽during the Kennedy assasination in Dallas, and聽that聽child health vaccinations cause autism.聽

And he suggested聽that the聽death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia聽might have been a part of聽a plot.

Such baseless conspiracy theories can do great damage, when, for example, parents don鈥檛 vaccinate their children because they fear autism.

聽5. whose聽hateful and demeaning attitudes toward women and boastful claims of sexual dominance have been filling the airwaves for years.

They鈥檙e best summed up in an interview where he said 鈥渨omen, you have to treat them like shit.鈥�

聽6. who聽believes聽climate change is not caused by humans, contrary to all scientific proof.

And he calls for more fossil fuel drilling and fewer environmental regulations, vows to cancel the Paris agreement committing nearly every nation to curbing climate change, and to rescind Obama鈥檚 rules to curb planet-warming emissions from coal-fired power plants.

7. who聽proposes using torture against terrorists, and punishing their families,聽both in clear violation of international law.

And if all this weren鈥檛 enough,

8. who聽wants to cut taxes on the rich, giving the wealthiest聽one tenth of one percent an average tax cut of聽more than $1.3 million each every year聽- exploding the national debt and endangering the future of Social Security and Medicare.

This man is Donald Trump, and the Republican Party wants him to be President of the United States.

Why are there so few statesmen left in the Republican Party? Are there no principled Republicans whose loyalty to the nation is greater than their eagerness to win back the White House? No Republican leaders with the courage to stand up and say this is wrong 鈥� that this man doesn鈥檛 have the character or the temperament to be president, and his election would endanger America and everything we believe in and stand for?

If not, shame on them.

Republicans still have time to dump Trump. For the good of the country and the world, they must.

This story originally appeared on RobertReich.org.