As a businessman whose name carries an appearance of wealth and power, Donald Trump has used the persona that precedes him to enter a US Presidential election and persist within it to an as-yet unprecedented degree. A large subsection of America, especially of the Republican Party, rallied behind him as a harbinger of fresh perspective and “realness” that’s seemed to them absent for a significant number of years. However, while Trump certainly can be said to be unlike his contemporaries, his fitness for presidency is called seriously into question by both his policy positions and temperament. Over the past year, he has consistently demonstrated that should he be elected president he would bring about negative consequences for Americans and citizens across the world socially, and economically.
       

An outspoken proponent of a series of social policies and viewpoints that are commonly held to be socially unacceptable, Trump has set for rhetoric that amplifies racism and xenophobia and will create a dangerous environment for minority groups should he be elected. Prior to the election, the Republican Party commonly employed a technique referred to as dog whistling, or the use of political messaging that seems to mean one thing but carries additional meaning or significance for a targeted subgroup. In particular, this was employed with regard to women, and minority groups, and used to manipulate or target racial or gender-based fears. One common example of this would be the use of “illegal alien” to refer to unregistered immigrants living in the United States. This terminology is almost exclusively applied to immigrants crossing the border the US shares with Mexico, as opposed to Canada, and thus serves primarily to spread dangerously negative rhetoric about people of Latino descent. In this election, Trump has turned the dog-whistle into a bullhorn: taking statements meant to carry an undercurrent of racism and stating them flatly and without preamble. In saying that Muslims should be prevented from entering the US without extremely detailed vetting processes, he creates an “othering” environment that tells his supporters that these people should not be trusted or treated as true citizens. This is more dangerous, in that it legitimizes the racial intolerance of the alt-right (Alternative Right) and enables them to be open in their racism in a way they were not able to be beforehand. As a distinct effect of this election, the young son of a Muslim professor at my sister’s university was told to “go back home wherever he came from” by a self-proclaimed Trump supporter. It is these incidents that show most starkly the divisive effect of Trump’s campaign: we are all people, separated by less than 0.1 percent of our DNA. Leadership should unite a country’s people, not seek to divide them.
       

Although Trump’s demeaning views on women have been made clear, as the election has progressed, the recent revelation of his lack of respect for women’s consent only supports his unpreparedness to take the highest elected office. In a world where 1 out of 5 women will experience sexual assault in college, and the majority of them will be assaulted by someone they know, his casual disregard for women’s bodies and their right to bodily autonomy demonstrates that as president he would not be equally concerned with the rights of both genders. Being president requires an impartiality and equal concern and respect for all people. When trump tells that he “doesn’t even wait” before kissing beautiful women, it’s clearly understood that he very much does not care about their opinions for whether or not he proceeds to do just that. He also continues for some unknown reason to publicly seek to humiliate Rosie O’Donnell with statements like “Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting, both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she's a slob.”  She to date has never sought to do the same and it remains unclear why she’s been the target of such continued verbal degradation. Without a deep respect for women and view of women as something to be manipulated, judged, and controlled for his own benefit, Trump will never be able to truly relate to half of the citizens who are looking for their next true leader.
       

He states clearly and frequently that he has “plans, and very good plans” to rebuild the US from the inside out and “be the greatest jobs president that God ever created,” and yet the specifics on those plans are startlingly scarce. In the past, he’s been a Democrat, an Independent, a Republican and even a Reform Party candidate. He refers to his views as having “evolved” but instead they seem to much more closely align with a candidate who says only what he believes will garner him the greatest amount of support and ultimately land him in the White House. He’s proposed large tariffs on China and Mexico, and yet the consequences of those tariffs would likely result in strong backlash and a potential trade war between the US and those countries. His willful ignorance and refusal to seek education in matters of economic trade and policies could lead to dangerous consequences for our already-fragile relationships with some key allies. He has also not held a single perspective on taxes throughout his campaign, alternatively suggesting no tax cuts for the wealthy, some cuts for the wealthy. Trump has called out Wall Street players for running up too much debt, and yet his plan to cut income tax would itself create significant debt.
       

Apart from the dangerous words he espouses, Trump’s inability to accept criticism and respond to accusations with civility is a clear omen of how poorly he would handle tense foreign relations between the US and other countries. In debates with Hillary, when she levies criticism against him he responds by lashing out, and turning to debasements of his opponent’s character or appearance instead of the platform she’s running on. When the media points out logical errors that he makes, he responds by asserting that the th media itself is flawed. By failing to recognize that a President must be open to constructive criticism, Trump positions himself to make critical errors that could jeopardize the United States both internally and externally.
       

Across each of these spheres, Trump demonstrates a willful ignorance for his own potential for growth that hurts both him and has the capability to irreparable damage those living under the office he seeks to hold. In caring more about himself then about those he seeks to represent, he will constantly be held back and prevented from making the positive difference in the lives of US citizens and in the world that’s so integral to a true Presidency.