I want to be completely transparent about Donald Trump, because I donât ever want there to be any question about where I stand.
I hate this man.
And my feelings about him didnât start when he became president.
I remember when The Apprentice came out in 2004. I watched a few episodes. I knew virtually nothing about Donald Trump. To me, he was just some rich guy from New York.
And I couldnât stand him.
I was disgusted by the way he spoke to people. The humiliation. The arrogance. The way he treated women. The way he seemed to enjoy having power over people and embarrassing them on national television.
America turned it into entertainment.
Looking back, I think The Apprentice was part of something much bigger happening in our culture. Cruelty became entertaining. Humiliation became funny. Women were objectified. People were rewarded for being outrageous, insulting and ruthless. Being rich became confused with being smart, successful and worthy of admiration.
And Donald Trump became a television-created symbol of the billionaire American success story.
Then he announced he was running for president.
I genuinely thought it was a joke.
This guy?
The reality-TV star with a long history of failed businesses, casino bankruptcies, lawsuits and controversy? The man I had watched belittle people for entertainment?
There was no fucking way America would elect him president.
I was wrong.
You elected him.
And then you elected him again.
And now I watch him approach the presidency with the same mentality I saw on television more than 20 years ago: winners and losers. Loyalty and punishment. Spectacle and humiliation. Everything is a transaction. Everything is a competition.
Except this isnât The Apprentice.
This is the real world.
Real economies.
Real families.
Real wars.
Real alliances.
Real human beings.
The rest of us arenât contestants in Donald Trumpâs game show.
And this doesnât affect only America. When the United States destabilizes alliances, economies and international relationships, the consequences travel far beyond your borders.
So yes, I hate Donald Trump.
I hate what he represents. I hate the cruelty. I hate the misogyny. I hate the racism. I hate the narcissism. I hate watching one of the most powerful offices on Earth treated like another episode of reality television.
Iâve never felt this strongly about another political figure in my lifetime.
And Iâm done softening my language because it makes some people uncomfortable.
If that makes you want to unfollow me, you are completely free to do that.
But Iâm not going to stop talking about it.
America, you elected this man twice.
Now you have an opportunity in November to limit his power through Congress.
Show up.
Vote.
And when the next presidential election comes, choose something better.
Because the rest of the world has to live with your choices too.