La Opinión (Editorial)
March 15, 2016
In
yesterday’s primaries, Donald Trump continued his vertiginous path to
becoming the Republican candidate to run for the U.S. presidency.
At
the same breakneck speed, the country gets closer to an unprecedented
social and political vortex, a historic crisis in which the tendencies
that have
been taking shape in recent years will materialize.
The
most powerful country in the world is at risk of sliding – through
democratic elections – into an authoritarian, racist, divisive,
aggressive and belligerent
regime.
To
Latinos, Trump is a candidate who has insulted their community and
whose political campaign has been based on promoting hostility towards
them and on
the chimerical idea of deporting all undocumented immigrants.
And,
to all Americans, he is someone who has turned violence into an
ideology. The candidate has very clearly threatened and attacked
Latinos, women, African-Americans,
Muslims and everyone who does not agree with his extremism. That is why
it must have been no surprise to him that the targets of those attacks
reacted last Friday by showing up at his meetings to protest.
Even
though Trump’s personality is usually blamed for this dismal vision of
the future, he is only a mirror being held up to a polarized country,
divided
by race and political opinions that refuse to allow any possibility of
compromise.
We
are dealing with an existential crisis within the Republican Party –
which once was Lincoln’s party. The GOP has been aware of this schism
for years,
but it repeatedly postponed dealing with it. That is, until Trump came
along and broke all precedents, interrupted historical continuity and
accelerated the party’s dissolution.
Trump
is at once an instigator and a provocateur, the creator of a new
movement and ideology and the result ‒ and promoter ‒ of a situation
already in
existence. He does not respect the social rules of tolerance and
protection of the rights of others. His campaign has roused white
supremacists and neo-Nazi groups, who are now among his supporters. We
cannot be indifferent to this.
Our
community is under attack. A political party based on self-improvement
and opportunity for all has become a chaos ruled by hatred and
fanaticism. The
years-long efforts of the GOP to get closer to Hispanics seem to be
disappearing behind the racist rhetoric.
This
is a threat against all of us. Even if Trump does not win the
presidency, we will have to deal with the movement he has created ‒
which has changed
the root of the country’s political structure ‒ for years to come.
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