The Twitter feeds of many presidential candidates don’t exemplify what we should expect from presidential hopefuls. Our president should embody dignity, grace and respect because they are the face of the nation and inspiration to the American people.
The president must appear before other world leaders with class and strength to be taken seriously. No one, not the American people, military or other foreign world leaders, are going to take a catty president seriously or give him or her the respect the position calls for.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are the frontrunners in Twitter negativity. The media regularly criticizes Trump for degrading female opponents and Rosie O’Donnell. Fox News host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly confronted Trump for calling women “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “slobs” and “disgusting animals.” Trump later took to Twitter to attack Kelly, even retweeting a statement calling her a “bimbo.”
Trump also took some heat for criticizing fellow Republican candidate Carly Fiorina’s face. “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” Trump said.
Fiorina released an ad Monday in response to Trump’s comment called “Look at This Face.” It shows pictures of other women with Fiorina speaking at a Republican women’s event.
“Ladies, look at this face, and look at all of your faces: the face of leadership. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman. I am proud of every year and every wrinkle,” she said.
This is an excellent example of a clever, mature response to a rude, immature comment.
Ben Carson took a shot at Trump’s faith but later showed great respect and maturity, admitting he crossed the line. He apologized to Trump, which Trump commended.
If only all candidates could be nice, unlike Bernie Sanders, who seems to hate everyone and everything.
He has criticized Republicans, the wealthy and pharmaceutical companies alike.
It seems he doesn’t like our political system in general.
“The American political system has been totally corrupted, and the foundations of democracy are being undermined,” he Tweeted.
Fellow candidates like Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal haven’t kept their sarcastic comments about Sanders to themselves.
“This is how extreme the left has gotten. Why stop at $18 Trillion in spending @BernieSanders ?? $100 Trillion next?” Bush tweeted.
Jindal had possibly the funniest Tweet of the election season thus far: “Happy Birthday @BernieSanders. Quick question: at a socialist’s birthday party does everyone get a present, and if so who pays for it?”
Among other catty and unprofessional comments is Mike Huckabee’s use of the word “snob.”
“I’m more happy to stand w/ #KimDavis than I am w/ any of those snobs who look down their nose at her,” he said.
Bottom line: No one can get along or follow the “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all” advice from “Bambi.” Fiorina and Carson are the most appealing candidates because they focus more on issues and deal with conflict with grace and maturity. Carson has even gone the extra mile to apologize when he hasn’t acted with the utmost respect. Other candidates’ tweets and comments are as unprofessional as the comments from everyday people.
The role as president should be filled by someone confident enough in themselves and their policies to promote them with criticizing or comparing themselves to other candidates. These adults who hope to hold what should be the most respected and esteemed position in our nation sound like hormone rattled teenagers half of the time.
They talk about who they hate more than what they stand for. In Trump’s case, it’s hard to tell what exactly he does stand for, besides less immigration.
It’s time our presidential candidates grew up. They’re trying to run a country, not get through middle school.
Caitlyn Atkinson is an 18-year-old mass communication sophomore from Pride, Louisiana. You can reach her on Twitter @catkin105.