I considered staying silent on this matter. I really did. But then this morning I watched a powerful video that I really wanted to share with you. Here it is, courtesy of ABC News: goo.gl/Wgl2lb

It’s no secret that I’m a Democrat, a registered Democrat in Massachusetts. I’ve posted about it here on the blog. This year, though, I feel more strongly than ever before about what I see going on in the U.S. presidential campaign. This year, I really fear for my country…and this has never happened to me before, not even when I really disliked the other party’s candidate.

And this year, for the first time, I asked myself: “if the Democratic party had chosen a candidate like Donald Trump, would I vote for him?”

No. I couldn’t. I would vote for someone else, even a Republican (yes, I would, if the other choice were a Trump-like character)…or I wouldn’t vote at all, for the first time in my life.

So I don’t follow party lines. I vote because it is my duty to vote, goes without saying, but I also vote because I KNOW that my candidate is going to do a good job and not screw things up for my country and, let’s not forget!, the entire world…

There are a bunch of reasons why I’m bringing up this unusual topic (unusual for a myeloma blog, that is). First and foremost, because, as I mentioned, I am really SCARED. I’m scared about WHOM we might end up electing…

But I am also OFFENDED…deeply offended by what Mr. Trump said, and by all those offhand snide and sneaky remarks he said during Monday night’s debate with Hillary Clinton. (By the way, many thanks to CNN International for re-broadcasting the entire debate, which I was able to watch on Tuesday, around lunchtime.)

It’s not by chance that I am writing this post today, that is, just a few days after the first presidential debate. Here are a few things that really disturbed me while I was watching it…

Let’s start with the housing crisis. When Clinton accused Trump of rooting for the housing crisis, in which thousands of Americans lost their homes, their jobs, their futures, their children’s futures, Trump lowered his head toward the microphone and remarked, and I quote: “That’s called business.”

In other words, he actually bragged about making a profit off the terrible misfortunes of so many Americans. I don’t know about you, but that REALLY bothered and still bothers me. It shows what kind of person he truly is…

Moving on to taxes…Clinton brought up the fact that he has NOT released his tax returns (which is simply OUTRAGEOUS and unheard of for a presidential candidate, btw). The only tax returns we know about are a couple that date to the late 1970s (I forget which years exactly, but that isn’t the point here). These returns show that Trump had paid ZERO income tax. While she was talking about that, he interjected, “That makes me smart.”

Smart????? Really? Now, I’m hardly (hah!) a billionaire, but I have paid my taxes all my adult life. On time, to boot. I have paid taxes in the U.S.A., in Canada (where I did my Ph.D.), and in Italy. It’s our DUTY to pay taxes. It’s the LAW. It’s the right thing to do. But I guess I’m not “smart.”

I would like to add that even though I pay taxes in Italy now, every year I still file my tax return in the U.S.A. (I don’t make enough money to pay taxes in both countries, but I still have to let the IRS know how much I make over here, etc.).

It’s the LAW. The law, Mr. Trump.

Now, I know that NOT paying taxes is a felony in the U.S.A. So I can’t help but wonder how a candidate for the highest office in the country can get away with saying, indeed BOASTING, that he didn’t pay any income tax. In fact, that is almost certainly why he hasn’t released his other, more recent tax returns yet…and why he will undoubtedly NOT release them before the election, mark my words. He doesn’t want us to know that he has always dodged paying taxes.

Shameful.

Are we going to let him get away with it? But, even more importantly, is this the sort of person we want in the White House? Do we think that Trump is a good role model for future generations?

Of course, I could go on and on about all of Trump’s outrageous LIES (according to all the fact checkers, during the debate he told a lie every three minutes or so…every THREE minutes!), his misogyny, his rudeness, his temper tantrums, his ignorance, his womanizing, and even his inability to speak proper English and stay on course whenever he begins a sentence…But that would lead to a very long laundry list. Besides, it’s all there on the Internet…

I would like to end my post with an appeal, an appeal from the heart: fellow Democrats, fellow Independents, fellow Republicans, we NEED to prevent this rude, arrogant, self-centered, dangerous man from getting anywhere near the White House and the Gold Codes…

I pay taxes, I don’t speculate on other people’s misfortunes, I don’t interrupt people, I’m not rude and obnoxious, I don’t call other human beings “fat” “pig” or “slob,” I don’t tell lies (EVER!)…And I vote…

How about you?

P.S: The photo above, on the right, by the way, is of my absentee ballot, which I received yesterday. I am about to fill it out (voting for Clinton, obviously!) and send it off.