Some in conservative media will argue that it is American and true to speak your mind, without considering how it might affect other people. The fact that Donald Trump says whatever is on his mind, without considering the consequences, is something his supporters found attractive in him as a candidate. Indeed, this country is great because we have the right to believe and say whatever we'd like.
Conservatives like to rail against "political correctness". They say it exerts a societal pressure on individuals to conform to agreed upon rules about language. The thinking goes: "Why can't I attack a woman's argument in a political debate, as being wrong, because she might be on her menstrual cycle and unable to think straight? I have the right to free speech."
The problem with this thinking, is that when one is speaking their mind while asking to represent our nation at the highest level, in a manner that denigrates groups of people, whether it be women, Mexicans, Muslims, non-college educated white males, or New York Yankees fans, you are attacking a part of the country you say you want to lead.
Members of the conservative media, including Rush Limbaugh, use the term "cuckservative", for those who are afraid to "speak their mind". If one isn't masculine enough to insult people, because they don't care how other people feel, they are feminized as having been cuckholded (a term that describes a man who has been cheated on by a woman. In effect, they are pushing the notion that it is masculine to offend people, and feminine and therefore weak, to speak in a way that does not offend people.
During this year's presidential campaign, Donal Trump attacked Fox News anchorwoman Megyn Kelly, after she questioned him heavily during one of the primary debates. He alluded to her having “blood coming out of her wherever.” The insinuation of course, was that she was asking him hard questions because she was menstruating and in a bad mood. What Trump and his followers don't understand, or don't care about, is that by extension, this comment insinuates that women in general cannot think effectively, or be effective journalists or hold other professions, because they would simply be out of control once a month due to basic biology. Not the newest of insults, but indeed he used it. There has also been devise language against Muslims, hispanics, and plenty of dog-whistle arguments once perfected by Richard Nixon, against the black community. It shouldn't be hard to understand why this is insulting and scary to a great many people. But those railing against "politically correct" language would say it was Trump's "right" to speak this way.
In response to Trump's attack on Kelly, right wing radio host Rush Limbaugh remarked “If Trump were your average, ordinary, cuckolded Republican, he would have apologized by now.” In other words, men who are willing to attack and stereo type great swaths of the US population are true men. Those who do not do it are weaklings. Limbaugh apparently feels that a Presidential candidate should speak all of their thoughts out laid, including their prejudices and the stereo types the hold, aloud, without concern for who they may scare, insult, or injure. They should do this, simply because it is their right to do so. Limbaugh must hold this right more important than the ability for our country to try and live together in understanding and unite around our common values and interests. At its core, it's a lazy, selfish and un-American argument.
Certainly, nowhere in the constitution does it say that we cannot insult and stero-type our fellow Americans. But it is worrying to look back on the times and regimes where the politics of nations have been driven by racial and cultural divides. It is path that leads to fear and violence. It's a path backward, rather than trying to harness the best of this nation, to continue it's journey toward "a perfect union."
This is how free speech can be un-American. When running to be President of the United States, one is seeking a job that will affect the lives of all Americans. And when, instead of trying to understand the incredibly complex tapestry of stories that make up the American experience, you are simplifying, stereo-typing and denigrating parts of it, you are damaging the fiber of what makes this country great.
Even more damaging, by doing so, you are encouraging others to attack and denigrate our fellow citizens. In less than a week since the presidential election of 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center as well as a number of news outlets have reported a sudden spike of news reports about racially motived verbal and physical attacks and acts of intimidation across the US. Many of these threats and acts of intimidation have been accompanied by victory cries for "Trump". This is the obvious effect of people emboldened and encouraged by the victory of a candidate who was racially inflammatory rhetoric during his campaign, and who to this day, has failed to condemn the endorsement of his candidacy by the Ku Klux Klan.
While some claimed that Trump's comments were a welcome breath of fresh air, even if they were poorly conceived, they were harmless comments by somebody who doesn't think through everything they say. The very fact that an individual running for the presidency is not concerned about how his words affect the country's citizens, is a red flag. It means that either he understand the importance of the role he seeks, he doesn't care about some groups of people in our country, or that he was simply willing to do whatever it would take to win an election, despite the fact that it may cause great internal strife. Either way, in my mind, this would not be a person qualified to be President of the United States.
The big question is, does Trump not understand the importance of his words, or are his words indeed being used to execute a plan of racial divide in this nation, in a last chance gasp to hold together an aging, angry, and white political party.
