Printed in the Bloomington Herald-Times, February 7, 2016 (Comments)

To the Editor:

Donald Trump's popularity demonstrates a disturbing trend in our culture that will have implications long after he is gone. That trend is that our culture has largely abandoned learning, reason, and logical argumentation for entertainment and the flashy new thing. Trump's primary appeal is that he is loud and obnoxious and "does not back down."

It is astounding that so many genuine conservatives support Trump. Trump supported the assault weapons ban and reflexively supports restricting gun rights for people on the no-fly list, even though the list has been proven to be wrong and even banned Ted Kennedy from flying at one point. Trump is so radically pro-abortion that he even opposed banning partial-birth abortion. Trump praised ObamaCare and donated thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and Chuck Schumer

Now Trump says he has become a conservative, just in time to run for President as a Republican. Have we so abandoned discernment that we believe this obviously false claim?

Even his "conservative" statements have been profoundly disturbing. Trump actually said he wants to go after the innocent families of terrorists, which would qualify as a war crime if implemented.

Donald Trump will never get my vote.