3. Donald Trump Promotes Political Violence

Trump has brought disgrace upon the presidential primary process by inciting and promoting violence throughout his campaign. At a rally in Missouri earlier this year, Trump lamented that “nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.” At another rally he tacitly encouraged violence against protestors: “If you do [hurt them], I’ll defend you in court.” In Las Vegas he said of a protestor: “I’d like to punch him in the face.”

In Iowa he told his fans: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you?” (He again promised to pay legal fees if his fans were taken to court.) After a protestor was removed from an event in Birmingham, Trump mused: “Maybe he should have been roughed up.” When faced with the possibility of a brokered convention in Cleveland, Trump implied that his fans could get violent: “I think you’d have riots,” he said.

Let’s be brutally honest: a man who pits Americans against one another—who encourages American citizens to hit, punch, and strike each other, as well as destroy property and cause domestic mayhem—has disqualified himself from being considered for president. He is not fit to be even a clerk at a city council meeting. This is a stain upon the American ethos and a debasement of our political system. And Trump revels in it.