Michael A. Clarke: Trump exposes ugly truth about some ugly beliefs
A lot of folks wish that Donald Trump would just go away. However, Trump has done the American people a real service. His various comments, and his bragging that he is not “politically correct,” has made it possible for many people who share his views to come out of the shadows and reveal their true nature. In a nation whose founding documents list equality and religious freedom as core principles, we see that a lot of our citizens apparently don’t share those values.
Prior to the emergence of Trump as a political candidate, most people tended to keep their bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, racism and homophobia as secrets to be shared only with family or like-minded acquaintances. Now that some of these beliefs are being expressed in public by so many of Trump’s followers, we see the United States is not as good a country as it should be. We realize that we still have work to do.
We need to thank Trump for revealing the real “hidden America.” Knowing this will help our people to continue working to fulfill the principles stated in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Michael A. Clarke, Salida
This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 7:28 AM with the headline "Michael A. Clarke: Trump exposes ugly truth about some ugly beliefs."