“Men with good intentions make promises. Men with good character keep them.”  ~ Unknown

Donald Trump backing out of the debate against Bernie Sanders told me all that I needed to know about his already questionable character.

As many other Bernie or Trump supporters, I found myself pretty damn excited by the prospect of a Trump/Sanders debate—even more intrigued once I caught wind that the proceeds were going straight to charity per Trump’s request. However, the fashion in which the events played out are simply embarrassing for Trump.

Mr. Trump initially agreed to the debate; he then waffled and said he will only debate if all of the proceeds go to charity. He knew the people wanted to see this debate and he took a stand and pushed for the money to go to a good cause—which is a win in my book.

However, after it is agreed that all of the money will, in fact, go to charity, Mr. Trump adds one more stipulation—he will only debate if the donations exceed 10 million dollars. At this point, it is becoming increasingly more frustrating to watch Mr. Trump waver and add more conditions to the debate, but the offers flood in. Once the offers reach a whopping 20 million dollars, Mr. Trump officially backs out saying that he does not want to debate the democratic runner up and that it would be “pointless.”

I am not sure if Mr. Trump never wanted to debate Sanders in the first place, so instead of initially declining the offer he chose to create conditions to make it less likely to happen, as the interest of the public grew like wildfire. Maybe he seriously underestimated the interest of the American people. Maybe Mr. Trump is that friend that enthusiastically makes plans and then flakes out at the last minute.

Whatever the true reasoning may be, it speaks volumes to me in regards to Mr. Trump’s presidential character. Not merely the fact that he flaked on the debate altogether, I understand, I have been the flaky friend before. It is certainly not a strong presidential quality to have, but the flaking is not what bothers me the most about the situation.

The most aggravating part of the entire situation, to me, is the fact that Mr. Trump made a respectable request that all the proceeds go to charity. And as a result, prospectively raised 20 million dollars. Which is incredible. We teach our children that every dollar counts, that no amount of donation is too little. Well, Mr. Trump has a massive amount of 20 million dollars ready to be delivered to the charity or charities of his choice, and he turns it down. Why? Simply because he no longer wants to do it. Debating who he assumes to be the runner up is “pointless.” Maybe so, but what isn’t pointless is that 20 million dollars that could have made an incredible impact on so many lives.

Mr. Trump going back on his word—twice—does bring up concerns about his presidential abilities, of course. However, greedily turning away 20 million dollars for charity—more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetime—is the most revealing action of all. Seeing all of the possible good that could have been done with those donations vanish at the hands of Mr. Trump is what, once again, revealed his true colors to me as a voter.

For a man that runs a campaign with the slogan, “Make America Great Again,” it seems that he has no issue with turning his nose up to the things that may actually make America great—helping others and showing compassion.

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” ~ John F. Kennedy

Make America Kind Again.

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Relephant market item:

The UnTrump Hat

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Author: Emily Cutshaw

Image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Editor: Travis May