Some kind of monster

Going along with the trend to not give Hillary Clinton proper credit, many have not appreciated the many things she has done right with her campaign. It is a good campaign with a good staff and strong policies. She has great debating skills. Still, with all of the things she is doing well and has going for her, a lot of her success is attributed to the horror that is Trump.

It is easy to wish someone more acceptable had won the Republican party nomination. Less people would have to feel conflicted about their votes, and a reasonable comparison between the two candidates could have been more likely to happen, but it has been feeling like this is inevitable.

Based on the way Clinton has been covered, there is no reason to assume that the press would take an interest in her policies against anyone else. We have pretty diametrically opposed candidacies now, so if the media can't take an interest in that, what would interest them?

Based on the way the Republican party has continued to race-bait and promote profits over people, this was eventually the type of candidate that they were going to get; it might as well happen now when we are on the verge of electing the first woman to the presidency.

If you really want to see how ugly racism, misogyny and greed - corporate or otherwise - are, perhaps there is no better candidate than Trump to point out the difference in direction. And, based on how modern politics has been going, with no desire to even know that someone on the other side can possibly have anything good about them, perhaps Clinton is the only candidate who makes sense.

I should specify that in this pre-election political writing, I am not trying to convince anyone to vote for Clinton who wasn't already going to. I doubt my ability to, and I have been pretty sure that she already has the votes (though I admit feeling some fear as we get closer). However, if some people can at least make peace with a Clinton victory, and know that it is not rigging or fooled people but that there were legitimately many voters who chose her with good reason, I would like to help with that.

That is partly remembering one women at church the Sunday after the 2008 election, so mad at me for getting what I wanted, but also so scared because this was going to trigger such horrible times. And, with marriage equality, maybe her worst fears did come true, but it felt like she had something more apocalyptic in view, and here we are, still.

It is also knowing how many people say that racism is worse today and blame President Obama. Well, racism may be more visible - which is not quite the same as being worse - but is it really his fault? If racist people can't handle that a Black man was elected twice, is that on the Black man or the racists?

I know sexism is more visible now because people who haven't noticed it before are noticing it now. Having a viable woman running has increased the feeling of threat, and having Trump spewing his garbage has empowered it.

On the same day two Twitter contacts shared stories. One's mother was told that she couldn't really understand politics as a woman. The other's sister was hit on by a guy, politely declined, and was told that he couldn't wait until after Trump won and women would have to be on their knees. Those are the kinds of people Trump is bringing out of the woodwork, and helping them feel legitimized when before it wasn't okay to say those things.

Trump has appealed to the worst, and then made it worse. I don't know how far that spiral can go.

Whatever I can do against it, I will.