I like your piece, but if I may? I’ve voted D in every presidential election I’ve ever voted in (I was 18 for Bush v Gore). I’m not sure how you couldn’t have seen this coming a long time ago. You shared a picture of Reagan at his convention but don’t mention how Reagan elevated racist dog whistles to an art form. After all, how far apart are “welfare queen” and “Mexicans are rapists” at their cores. Both are designed to say “They’re not one of us.”

You can try to say that it’s just one guy, but the current slate of presidential contenders for the most part agree with most of Trump’s ideas on immigration and torture.

You say you want the Republican party to support everyone’s rights, but I see a party trying to legislate my existence away (I’m transgender), just as your party tried to do with gay people (also note how the Reagan administration laughed when asked about the AIDS epidemic of the early 80’s). I think you should take a step back and look at which party has supported the rights of marginalized American populations in the last 40 years. It’s not the Republican party, sorry. ☺