Dear Republican politicians announcing that you will not support Donald Trump for the presidency,
It is heartening to see that you have finally had enough of this thin-skinned, xenophobic, narcissistic, arrogant, racist, belligerent, misogynist blowhard. Now, at long last, you have had enough.
But it was not enough when he announced his bid for the presidency in a speech denouncing Mexican immigrants as criminals, rapists, and drug smugglers, a theme that has continued throughout his campaign.
It was not enough when he proposed a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico, a ludicrously foolish, expensive, and impractical notion.
It was not enough when he repeatedly demonized Muslims as violent terrorists, reaching a climax when he called for a 'suspension' of Muslim immigration, tarring 1.6 billion people by the actions of dozens.
It was not enough when his history of comments demeaning women in prior decades, including admissions that he had cheated on his wives and had affairs with married women, continued with insults against Megyn Kelly and Hillary Clinton.
It was not enough when he responded to terrorist attacks in Belgium and France by extolling his own genius and prescience in condemning an entire religion.
It was not enough when he mocked the erratic movements of a disabled reporter, an action later defended by Ann Coulter as mocking all handicapped people as if that were somehow better.
It was not enough when he rebutted the labeling of John McCain as a war hero. John McCain, who was shot down over Vietnam, badly wounded in the crash, and subsequently taken prisoner for five years. John McCain, who refused an offer of early release after three months in captivity because it would be dishonorable to go home before men who had been captured earlier. John McCain, who was forced into a staged confession after four days of brutal torture, but refused any further action even with further beatings; he never fully recovered from this treatment. This behavior, to Donald Trump, was unworthy of the title 'hero'.
It was not enough when he quoted 'Two Corinthians' at a speech at evangelical Liberty University, and stated that he had never felt a need for forgiveness.
It was not enough when he claimed to have seen news footage of thousands of Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey, of which there is no evidence.
It was not enough when news broke of 'Trump University', a scam purporting to instill real estate expertise condensed from Donald Trump's experience and personal instruction, but in fact preying on vulnerable people, defrauding them of tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for virtually no information or contact with the real estate magnate.
It was not enough when he insulted Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina during a debate, claiming the latter didn't look presidential and the former offered plenty of material for derogatory remarks about his appearance.
It was not enough when he proclaimed that the president had co-founded ISIS along with Secretary Clinton, and that the two were the MVPs of the terrorist organization, later incoherently characterizing his statements as 'sarcastic, but not that sarcastic'.
It was not enough when he displayed near-total ignorance of the nuclear triad, promoted nuclear proliferation in the expressed desire to have nuclear weapons possessed by Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea, and professed great admiration and appreciation for the destruction wrought by nuclear weapons, devices capable of ending humanity if unleashed again.
It was not enough when he claimed that his schooling in a military-themed academy made him better trained than actual soldiers, extolled his love of and skill at warfare, and professed more knowledge of ISIS than the generals advising the President and directing our concerted efforts against them.
It was not enough when he lambasted two Muslim Gold Star parents for criticizing him at the Democratic National Convention, suggested that the silent mother, who had already explained that she finds it too difficult to remain composed when reminded of her dead son, had perhaps not been allowed to speak, and argued that his success in business was a sacrifice equivalent to the loss of their child.
It was not enough when, at the town hall forum, a woman asked him about veteran suicides and he opened by inaccurately correcting the figure she quoted, and days later proclaimed that some veterans are strong and can handle their experiences in combat, and some are weak and cannot.
It was not enough when he suggested that women who had abortions should be punished, countering decades of arguments from opponents of abortion that they are victims in this situation.
It was not enough when he claimed that African-American communities were the worst off they have ever been, apparently sinking below the depths of slavery and Jim Crow.
It was not enough when he claimed that the only way he could lose the election was if Secretary Clinton cheated, adding that there has been massive voter fraud for years, and pointed to Pennsylvania specifically as a state he should rightly win, despite Pennsylvania last voting for a Republican president in 1988.
It was not enough when he accepted a veteran's Purple Heart, commenting that getting it that way was much easier, having earlier expressed the desire to be a soldier. Donald Trump dodged the draft when he was of age.
It has not been enough that he has repeatedly criticized Secretary Clinton for her husband's infidelities, despite both cheating on his wives countless times and seeing nothing wrong with those perversions of his vows.
It has not been enough that he has spoken of his own daughter as a hypothetical potential romantic partner, and posed for numerous unsettling pictures with her.
It was not enough when he claimed to have come to the conclusion that the first African-American president was born in the United States, and took credit for resolving the issue that he first began spewing nonsense about several years ago.
It was not enough when he stated that he would have a deportation force, going door-to-door to find and expel undocumented immigrants, splitting families and endangering people who were brought to this country as infants or toddlers and know no other land.
It was not enough that he claimed it was smart that he had paid no taxes for years in the 80s and 90s, having taken advantage of a billion-dollar loss to write off income for later returns while simultaneously being a tremendously successful businessman.
It was not enough when his spokeswoman inadvertently admitted that he had violated the embargo against Cuba, apparently believing that spending money there is only illegal in large amounts, or perhaps if one visits personally.
It was not enough when, after several contractors told stories of doing work for him and not being paid, he defended the practice by claiming that he was unsatisfied with their work, without naming a single flaw in any construction project.
It has not been enough that he has refused to release his tax returns, a practice begun by Richard Nixon while he was being audited, as Donald Trump claims to be as his excuse for not releasing them, with Eric Trump admitting that the returns have not been released and will not be due to embarrassing information contained within.
It has not been enough that since he announced his bid for the presidency, his campaign has been conducted in insults and lies.
It was not enough when he called for further punishment for five men wrongfully convicted of rape in Central Park, and released years ago, despite the real assailant having confessed, having his DNA matched to evidence from the crime scene, and being imprisoned before their release.
It was not enough that he showed no remorse for having called Alicia Machado, a winner of one of his beauty pageants, Miss Piggy, for gaining weight after she won, and Miss Housekeeper, for being from Venezuela, even reiterating the accuracy of the first insult.
It was not enough when he tweeted attacks at her in the wee hours of the night after the debate, proclaiming himself virtuous for being awake then to slur her further, and suggested without a shred of evidence that Secretary Clinton had somehow wielded her influence to smooth and shorten Ms. Machado's path to citizenship.
Only now is it enough, now that a tape has emerged in which he boasts of his power to grope women, because of his celebrity status, and discusses his pursuit of a married woman, with his own wife newly pregnant at the time. A tape, moreover, that tells us nothing we did not already know: Donald Trump is a vulgar, unfaithful, predatorial man who believes he is entitled to whatever he wants, including women. That, it seems, is your sticking point. Everything else you could accept, but not that.
Now, you say, you cannot support Donald Trump. Now, you urge him to resign the nomination, or pledge to write in another candidate. Now, you attempt to avoid electoral consequences for your backing of this horribly damaged and dangerous individual. There are two possibilities with this action – perhaps you know that it is far too late for ballots to be reprinted, many having been sent out or returned already, or for any candidate to register as write-in, without which status any vote cast for said candidate is discarded and meaningless, and you are liars. Alternatively, perhaps you do not know any of that, and you are fools. Now, you attempt to stall this beast you have helped to create.
No. There shall be no forgiveness for this utter cowardice at the eleventh hour from those who see Donald Trump as despicable. Nor will there be acceptance for this betrayal, from those who see him as admirable, and even the comments on that tape as utterly ordinary. Those supporters are the ones truly in control of the Republican Party now, for they are the ones who nominated him, and they are angry at the failure of those they have elected to satisfy the desires that were encouraged with years of bile and vitriol.
You are stuck between a rock and a hard place, those of you who never fought against the rise of Donald Trump, and you deserve every bit of it.
(Note: this diary was initially published on Daily Kos by another user, after I posted it to Facebook, the Penny Arcade fora, and the Something Awful fora. I have not written a diary here in years, and I vaguely planned for the end of my hiatus to be on the anniversary of my father’s death now nearly three years ago, but I decided when I saw someone else had taken credit for my work that I wished for it to be recognized as mine here.)
